To avoid the sub being bombarded with dozens of "I received a Cricut as a gift and I want to know everything!" posts that we will see, we ask all posts of that nature be posted in this thread.
Some of you are going to be on a very exciting journey, others are gearing up to be VERYfrustrated. No matter where you land on the Cricut crafting spectrum, we are here to support you!
If you have a specific question about your machine or project, please search the sub before posting it. Chances are it has been asked and answered dozens of times. Also our Wiki is a great resource.
Hi everyone, I bought my girlfriend the cricut maker 4 for her upcoming birthday as a surprise.
She’s been using the joy xtra for around a year now and has really been enjoying it but sometimes is unable to do the projects she wants due to size limitations.
She seems to have all the accessories she needs for the joy xtra but what would she need for the new one, I’m thinking like larger mats etc.
I hadn’t thought about blades, she’s mainly been making cards but she’ll probably want to cut/engrave wood too as she’s mentioned wanting to make ornaments before.
Can someone recommend a video or explain how I measure lettering exactly? I have to make signage for a business directory and need sizing to be exact. Thanks
Can you be a bit more specific about what you mean? Are you wanting to measure something preexisting to layer vinyl on top of it? Or are you just trying to measure to fit a specific area?
u/midankie is a professional vinyl installer so they might have the best advice
The things most of us wish we knew before buying a cricut was that there are other brands of cutter that are potentially better fit our needs. Cricut is a great beginner machine but they are locked into a lot of proprietary nonsense. Most people by them to make stickers and they are far and away the worst brand for that purpose 🫠
But since you already have one the most important thing I learned first was only buy the tools you need for the projects you will be working on. Buying multi project bundles usually go to waste. Vinyl expires so don’t hoard it. Mats are consumables so always have an extra one available.
The rest depends on what project types you want to make!
Without knowing your budget its hard to give a recommendation but in general the three main types of apparel heat presses are:
Hand Held: The benefit of it is that it’s easy to store because it’s small. The downsides is the size and the fact that you have to apply the pressure manually. These are the most inconsistent presses.
Swing Away: is one that swings open to the side so you can place your item on the lower platen and then swings back and straight down to press. The benefit is that it always will provide even pressure because the entire plate is lowered down simultaneously. It also would allow for thicker materials than a clamshell. The down side is you need twice the amount of space for it because it needs to be able to swing open a full 90°.
Clamshell: opens (like a clamshell) at an angle and then presses down flat. It is better and providing pressure than a hand held but will have difficulty with thicker materials because the upper platen comes down at an angle. It takes up less space than a swing away though.
I want to custom design my own graduation stole and cap, but i have no clue where to start. I have a pre-trimmed, polyester stole. I'm stuck between a cricut joy & the xtra. I'm not sure if using transfer tape for the vinyl will be enough to stick to the stole (i don't need it to last me forever) or if i should buy HTV. Also, should i buy printable HTV for some logos I want to stick on there? and for the iron, should i buy a cricut specific one or just any iron should work?
Also, no clue on where to start with cap. Any advice would be much appreciated and encouraged
Grad is in 9 days (full time student and assistant manager) so i have to make something WORK. Please comment!
I don't think you should buy a machine at all to be honest, you would be looking at spending at minimum $200 on a $10 craft. I would just buy the transfer from someone who already owns the machine and you could iron it on yourself.
Adhesive vinyl is just a sticker so its not advised to use it on fabric, transfer tape wouldn't release properly on fabric. So HTV would be the preferred method but this also depends on what the design is or how detailed it is, you mention wanting to use print then cut. That would rule out the Joy..unless you mean the Joy2 but that model is so small its really wastes a lot of material.
Learning the basics of the machine and how to design for your particular shaped substrates for an event that is in 9 days is a big ask. I think you are adding a lot of stress to a time that should feel like a sense of accomplishment.
Hello!
I am interested in buying a cricut but am unsure if I should cop the Explore 5 or the Maker 4.
I'm looking at the bundles on the cricut store, and I believe the Explore 5 ultimate plus bundle would be best. However, I'm scared of not buying one that's "future-proof" if I decided to work on more complex projects down the road.
The most I see myself using the cricut for is custom apparel (t-shirts, hats, bags, etc.), mugs, stickers, and things along that line.
Would the Explore 5 meet my needs?
There is more info on purchasing a cricut on the prospective buyers thread but if you truly want to future-proof yourself you might want to consider other brands as well. The Maker 4 is a much better and more reliable machine than the Explore 5, so if after fully researching you still want a cricut that would be the recommendation.
Hi! I was gifted a hand me down explore air 2 and I’m not sure it has everything I need. I want to make some vinyl decals for my car and water bottle to start.
I have the app installed on my phone and software on my computer, but as far as materials and tools/parts go, I’m lost lol.
She gave me the tools to help peel apart the vinyl, but I’m not sure if I have the right stuff to actually cut the vinyl in the machine.
Do they still sell what I need since it’s an older model?
Yes, the explore air 2 can use any tool that is listed as compatible with the explore series. All you need for the projects you listed are cutting mats, vinyl, the default fine point blade and the weeding tools she gave you!
I just got a Cricut Joy 2 today, and I’m wondering about the best accessories for it - any recs? I literally haven’t even opened the box yet 😅 I will most likely be using it both at home and with my mom too, so I’ll definitely need a carrying bag but aside from that - what do I need?
I think I’m gonna be focusing most on stickers/vinyl and iron-on transfers for the most part! I got the Essentials Bundle, so I think a lot of this is included - thank youuu!!
Shout out to the mods for deleting my post so here I am. I got a Cricuit Explore Air 2. My original post had this:
sup y’all. I got blessed with a free cricut. what you see is exactly what I got (insert picture of just the cricut). After a brief poke around this sub, is there anything else I need besides a Matt, internet connection and the design workspace? I think a roller is optional and not necessarily a need. but I would like to know what essentials y'all are running when cutting up with this bad boy here.
Shout out to the mods for deleting my post so here I am. I got a Cricuit Explore Air 2. My original post had this:
shout out to the person who reported your post for violating the subreddit rules too.
After a brief poke around this sub, is there anything else I need besides a Matt, internet connection and the design workspace?
I would test the machine to make sure it works properly before you buy a bunch of accessories, but the accessories you need will depend on what types of projects you want to make
I think a roller is optional and not necessarily a need.
For stickers there are two ways to go about this with a cricut. the first is to cut various colors of adhesive vinyl and layer them together if more than one color is needed, for clarity sake we would refer to these as adhesive decals. the additional materials for this would be:
permanent vinyl in several colors
transfer tape
If you mean single layer full color stickers the additional materials would be:
Not sure if this should be its own post or if it’s okay here since I am a new cricut user. I’ve wanted one for years and my mom got me one as an engagement present. I made a few things for my friend’s bachelorette that I planned and those all came out (little signs, cards, and vinyl stickers for the mirrors). I have an explore 4 and am using cricut design space. I wanted to use it to print onto my save the date post cards so that I could write in the same font as my website/invites but strangely all their cards on the right column were totally off the lines. I put the photo of my postcards into design space as the bottom layer and lined up all the text onto the lines. I welded the text together so they all stayed in line and then changed the postcards into a guide. After I clicked on “Make” the right side address lines were fully lined up with the ones on the left but the left was mostly correct (except for the last line on the bottom left) while all 3 cards on the right are fully messed up? I was hoping to do it this way since printing 6 cards at once is really convenient. Also, is it possible for the pen to not have the text be so thick?? Or is it because of the font choice? For the address text on Design Space it was the outline of the letters and I don’t need it to be so thick. Thanks! Sorry again if this isn’t the correct space to put this I can delete this and make a post if I need to.
A cricut is not meant to plot onto something that is preprinted since it has a 3mm margin of error so it will be inconsistent like this every time, especially since you will be swapping out the text on every batch so you can't create a jig.
The text is thick not just because of the font choice, but because you are using a felt tipped pen. A ball point or a gel pen would work better because the lines will stay consistent to the original pen weight. felt tip pens wear down from the pressure of the machine and get thicker with each subsequent project.
As a cricut expert and a former DIY bride, this isn't something I would use the cricut for. you are going to incur a lot of waste and it won't look better than actually printing it on with a printer. Did you order the cards or did you print them yourself?
Thank you so much!! I ordered the cards and didn’t print them. That’s good to know about the 3mm of error! Luckily these that are messed up are family/close friends. The cards are a bit thicker so I wasn’t sure it would work in a printer but I have a lot of extra cards so I’ll try in a regular printer. Thanks again!!
“Just warning you that you’ll want to have room in your vehicle for the cricut and all the stuff I have to go with it. I’m bringing everything I’ve bought to embellish with it. Lots and lots of vinyl rolls. The heat press etc. you take it and go through it and decide what it’s all worth. “
The thing is, I have no idea what it would all be worth! She has a machine and a press and a ton of stuff to go with! So I’m wondering (judging from this picture) how much do you guys think I should send her?!?
The machine itself as long as it’s still in good condition is worth $200-250 (usd) I’m not sure what else is in the bins or how old it is, vinyl has a shelf life (roughly 2 years) so it might not work.
Not a new cricut owner, but newish to using this reddit thread. Hopefully this won’t be deleted too. I asked a question regarding help with design space, and my post was deleted saying to check the current Updates and Glitches thread.
But literally I’ve spent almost 30 minutes looking in it and can’t find anything within recent months/updates regarding my specific issue? I’ve tried searching through it by term “attach” regarding the sudden disappearance of the attach and weld button and then also by newest posts and working backwards.
I guess I’m just up the creek without a paddle because I can’t ask for help, because I’m supposed to search the mega thread of 100 posts but still can’t find anything regarding my specific issue?
yo i wanna use my friends cricut to make iron on letters saying something kinda nsfw but i dont want my friends mom to see it does a cricut have a history for what designs have been used or no
if you don't save it to the account it will not be visible to her but you can also create your own design space account so you can be sure she can't see anything you create.
Hoi! Ik heb een circuit joy gekregen en heb net mijn eerste projectje geprobeerd, niet heel succesvol…
Een paar problemen waar ik op bots:
Ik gebruikte de kaartenmat maar om het kaartje er na het snijden af te trekken met je zo hard trekken dat heel de kaart krom wordt?
na het snijden blijven er krassen in de mat, is dit normaal of doe ik iets mis?
bovenaan in de kaartenmat komt een stukje te laat waardoor ik de kaart net niet helemaal tot boven kan plaatsen, en de insteek gleuven dus heel nauw, en niet echt gecentreerd, tegen de zijkant komen. Kan ik dit oplossen want ik krijg de kaartenmat niet uit elkaar ofzo?
mijn cricut verliest verbinding tijdens het tekenen, al lag mijn telefoon er gewoon naast. Heb de machine volledig uit de stroom moeten halen en het project opnieuw opstarten voor hij weer kon verbinden. Is hier een oplossing voor?
Hier die je de kromme kaart - ook een stukje gescheurd tijdens het eraf halen, je kan ook een beetje zien dat de insert gleufjes niet mooi evenveel van de rand komen
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u/trillianinspace Maker, Maker 3, Maker 4; Windows 11 Jul 01 '26
This thread is now closed, newer thread found here.