I was very excited to be offered a free trial of a Cricut Joy machine by the Australian arm of the American Cricut company. I have to be honest and say that I hadn’t known about these drawing and cutting machines before. This is the perfect time to get crafty … I knew that I have time to give it a good go and report back for other craft-challenged people like myself.
What Is The Cricut Joy Machine?
This nifty little machine is a powerhouse. It can cut and it can draw. You connect it to your phone or laptop using bluetooth and then choose a design for it to make. The wee machine itself hasn’t got any buttons at all. It receives the image via bluetooth and then gets to work.
I was sensible and watched many Youtube videos on the Cricut channel and then from other people too. I am not a confident crafter and could not quite believe tall the things this machine could do.
- Make cards – cutting and drawing
- Print out tranfers to iron on to clothes
- Draw images
- Create cut out vinyl decals, names and images
- Make labels and decals
- Make your own iron-on lname labels
- Make bunting
I started off by making simple cards and then made more and more complex ones.
There are very useful videos on the Cricut website here.
I have joined a Cricut For Beginners Advice Group on Facebook and another called Cricut For Beginners too.
The Cricut Joy machine is widely available in Big W, Spotlight and many other stores, as well as online.
It would be easy to spend heaps of money on vinyl, transfer material and cards too. There are all sorts of options available. I have offered to make some pretty tags, labels and cards for my friend who has a potting business, so that will be my next challenge. I shall start by googling and youtubing to get some good advice!
Read more about the Cricut Joy and other Cricut craft machines here.
Are you a crafter who loves their Cricut machine?
What manageable projects can you suggest for beginners?
