Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) is a beginner-friendly program for cutting pretty much any font or shape with a Cricut and many other electronic die cut machines too. You can combine fonts, pre-existing shapes/artwork, or draw your own. There is even a stencil tool so that you can easily create stencils.
This is by far my favorite svg designing program and I use this to create all my Simple SVGs to cut in Design Space. No, Sure Cuts Alot is not a free program like Inkscape but I have always found, you get what you pay for. You can try out SCAL to see if you like this idea too. I have talk many classes using older versions of the software but not this latest version. shhh....I have some exciting classes coming soon.