I really don't know if I'd recommend this to a friend. It requires a lot of patience and extra material. It's been one issue after another trying to use this. My wife and I used it to cut butterflies and little did we realize we were going to spend hours with an exacto knife finishing the cuts that didn't cut through. We tried single cut, double cut, different cut settings, only cutting one butterfly at a time, all with mixed results. The cutting mat becomes useless after about 5 pages of butterflies, it's not sticky whatsoever and is covered in cardstock "fuzz". We've attempted taping the cardstock to the mat with moderate success. If you're dedicated and not easily frustrated and have a lot of free time, then this unit can create some awesome stuff....