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There’s not much of a shopping list this time, because to make a list you kinda need more than one thing!

My art spending is strictly budget-based though, so when I discovered this beauty I had to funnel all my funds towards it… and if you’ve been reading my Studio Notes series you may already know what I’m talking about. Let’s have a look at my big buy then:

Brother Scan N Cut CM300 machine

A few months ago I watched a video of a Cricut Maker cutter-plotter machine for the first time. I was researching some art supplies and I don’t know why I ended up there, but I was hooked on the possibilities.

I could tell that it would be an amazing tool, but I knew nothing about cutting machines, and it seemed like an entirely new language to learn -software, hardware, brands, all the technical jargon, comparisons between old and newer models… it took a while to figure it out.

Eventually I settled on a Brother Scan N Cut CM300, which I bought second-hand on eBay.

You might remember that as early as May I was wondering whether I could use it to cut out kraft paper pieces to make a 3d form – well, that’s exactly what I did.

As for the original Cricut machine that caught my eye, it probably is better, as it has a higher cutting pressure and can cut thicker materials. Still, I like the scanning function on the Brother machine, as I naturally want to scan a lot of my hand-drawn designs.

You can click here to get a Cricut Maker at CraftStash*. Here’s the video that got me hooked: