Vinyl cutters are fun to use. Well for me, it's the whole process of converting PDFs and IMGs to vectors and then seeing your plotter do the rest of the work. I like building more than the cutting sometimes. It's almost as time consuming as cutting it by hand, but if you're good with vector art programs, it's a bit easier and once it's done, you can almost mass produce them, kinda like the models you can buy in books with the perforated lines that you can punch out from. In the program, I would make a print layer and a cut layer. Once you vector something, you can easily scale it or change the design and coloring, so it's a process that has more than one use.
Most vinyl cutters has some sort of alignment method for their print to cut process, like tracing key marks for identifying correct starting axises. If you have the fancier cutter and printer combo, it makes life easier as the alignment issue is completely automated. You got to remember to setup before cutting that few people forget to mention between vinyl and paper cutting. Vinyl for stickers are pre-setup to go into the cutters with their backings. With normal paper, you need a backing that will stick to the paper, otherwise, if you just put the paper in, it will jam and gunk up the cutter. What I do is use quality chipboard board or super heavy card stock and use something like removable glue for photos.