I get my cartridges at walmart now. When I first got my machine, they were $80 and up. I got a few off ebay too. It's a neat machine to have. My daughter ran for fair princess last summer and she made her banner with that. Hers looked so professional compared to the other kids' banners. She cut out a ton of starts and layered them in red white and blue paper. It was awesome and it lasted through the whole parade in the rain....lol. That was some good scrapbooking paper.