I'm new to scrapbooking and looking for something that will both cut complicated embellishments and emboss paper.

I saw these two and they seem reasonably priced, which is better?

Is there one that uses all brands of dies?

Are these like manual versions of the Cricket?

Is there a way to make your own dies to use in either of these?

I have literally spent hours online searching for answers and I am even more confused and with more questions.

I'd also like to emboss on larger paper 12" x 12", unless its simply too expensive to get a machine that embosses that size.

Any ideas or opinions?