The Cuttlebug from Provo Craft is a great little machine as it does both Die-Cutting and Card Making Embossing.

The standard machine measures 12" x 7-4/5" x 9½" and its platforms fold up so it is very compact for storage. When you open out the platforms it creates a suction pressure so that the machine fixes securely to your work station.

The machine is totally manual so you do not have to worry about locating it near to an electricity supply, all you need is a flat surface to work on.
It also has a pop up handle so you can move your Cuttlebug easily from place to place. As the machine only weighs 10.8 lbs it is light enough to carry around.

To emboss with the Cuttlebug you will need some embossing folders. These are plastic folders which you slip the card stock you want to emboss inside. You then sandwich this between 2 of the plastic cutting pads onto the embosser spacer block. The cutting pads and spacer block are provided with the machine and it comes with full instructions on how to use it.

The embossing folders measure 4¼" x 5½", 5" x 7" and a larger size for embossing A2 sized cards.  There are also smaller folders available which maesure 2" x 2¾" and these are normally sold in themed sets of 4.

Recently border embossing folders have also become available and these can really make a diffrence to your card making and scrap booking.

They come in a multitude of designs and are reasonably priced so that it is easy for you to build up a good collection very quickly.

Whilst the larger folder designs can produce beautiful embossed backgrounds, the smaller folders can be used to produce a feature embossed image which can either be used to make a card topper of can be used as a feature in a larger design scheme.

The  Cuttlebug is a versatile machine as you do not have to use just Cuttlebug folders, plastic folders from other manufacturers will also work well in the machine.