Sharpie or printer?

[verymarried]

I am wondering what is the difference between using a Sharpie in the Cricut and printing the font / words on the (photo quality) printer I understand the ability to outline a shape and then cut it out so that the edges are colored, but for writing words, wouldn't it be easier just to print them? I know there has to be advantages to using the Sharpie or all the beautiful people wouldn't be doing it. You'll have to excuse me, I got my Cricut for Christmas and downloaded SCAL yesterday, so I'm new to the whole process. Thanks so much for your input!

[firstcut]

VM,
I had this same question, and when I started following the MBs I saw that people generally use the writing in conjunction with cutting, to put faces on a paper doll or outline a cutout...things, which unfortunately, the cricut can't easily do with a computer printout because of the loading tolerances. They also use markers to catalog the various shapes and sizes on a cartridge.
You can also get a neat hand written look since a sharpie is actually marking. See my tutorial here:
http://cleversomeday.wordpress.com/2009 ... t-markers/