So as I have mentioned in the last few post, I have recently purchased a Cricut Maker machine. After spending the last few weeks playing around with my machine seeing what it can do, and get a good picture of its abilities before sharing my honest views and options on it.

I ordered mine through Amazon, it came with 2 cutting mats, the rotary blade, knife blade, black Cricut marker, the power lead, the lead to go from your computer to your maker and your welcome pack, and 2 pieces of paper for your tester print. It was super easy to set up, simply plug it, in turn, it on and follow the instructions on your screen. Once it is set up it asked you to run a test cut which there are a few choices to pick from. I picked the bear to cut out and was very impressed at the detail around the edge for his fur. I then made my own drawing project to try it out. This is where my love and obsession started.

The Cricut Maker can quickly and accurately cut over 300 materials, from the most delicate of paper and fabric to the tough stuff like matboard, leather, and basswood. There is also a wide range of tools for cutting, scoring, writing, and adding decorative effects so you can take on virtually any project you can imagine. Plus, with more tools coming, Cricut Maker grows with you as you master each new craft.

I love the basic design of the Cricut Maker. To open you simply lift the lid and the flap comes down on its own, this reveals 4 buttons and the holder for the blade/pen. The 4 buttons are very easy to identify what they do, there is the power button on the top row. Then on the second row, there is a button with a double-sided arrow which is for loading and unloading the cutting mat. Then there is a button with a C on it which is to start the machine cutting and finally, the last button is to pause the print if needed. The loading bays even though are easy to identify where the pen or blade goes they are labeled ‘a’ and ‘b’ and when you are ready to print your design space will tell you what needs loading into what bay for that project. Simple. There are also 2 handy slots on the side where you can put whatever you want while creating.

The first thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was the fact to access certain features you have to subscribe for £8 per month. At first, I thought this was going to be an issue if I wanted to be able to do everything I wanted and get the most out of my machine but after a little googling and asking for advice on a few Cricut Facebook groups I found out you can download different fonts off of websites like Dafont and input them into your Design Space, and there are also websites that let you download free SVG files. Of course, there are also independent sellers who sell their designs as an SVG file for you to purchase and use if you can’t want what you wanted for free. Yes, this does mean your spending quite a bit of time finding what you want however if you’re not going to use your machine a lot I don’t think it is worth the money. Needless to say, I have been able to create everything I have wanted to so far without paying for it.

Before I could start really creating anything I had to order some Vinyl, transfer paper, and weeding tools as these didn’t come with my setup. Again, I went over to amazon and found a well-reviewed pack of vinyl. I went with the Teckwrap 12×12 vinyl sheets. I then ordered a roll of transfer paper so I could take my designs and transfer them to where I want them. Before I order the weeding tools I did I looked at the official Cricut tools but they are pricey and again after talking to some people who already had the machine decided that a cheaper set is just as good if not better.

From all the projects I have made and designed I have to say honestly I love my Cricut Maker machine. Design Space can be a bit of a pain but after watching quite a few tutorials on youtube and asking advice from others I think I’ve mastered most of it. I am still learning but I’ve got this. So here are a few of my projects I have done so far:

This isn’t a sponsorship or gifted post and everything in this post has been my own opinion. I would 100% recommend anyone who is in the market for a Cricut to look into this one a little more to make sure it does everything you want. I honestly love it so much and recommend it.