I have been doing all kinds of handcrafted stuff and little projects all my life. I have been eyeing these Cricut machines up but could not justify the cost in my head, so I delayed buying one. Finally got the courage to pull the trigger and I am extremely happy. First things first, I am not a tech-savvy person. Like, at all! I got this machine set up in less than an hour and I was doing trying out one of the sample projects already!
At first, I was a bit worried because I heard Cricut just implemen1ted a subscription-based plan to use their machines. Everything has become subscription-based and I hate that with a passion! Glad to hear that they backed down from that decision, and now you can still use their products without paying any extra money, which is the way it should be!
There is definitely a learning curve with this Cricut Maker, and you HAVE to put the time to achieve semi-decent results. RU-vid is a great source to make this process a lot easier. Once you get the main idea of this, the sky is the limit. Because you can do all the things you want with this neat machine. Once you get good enough with basic stuff, buy additional blades for cutting leather and wood to make even more intricate projects!
I just wanted to do some stickers for my t-shirts, and this Joy works perfectly for that! It is a lot simpler to use compared to other Cricut machines! I have no intentions of going pro so this suits me very well!
As my projects got more intricate and complex, I decided to upgrade to Cricut Maker. I started off with the Explore Air 2, and I LOVED that thing! However, it is mostly for beginners because you cant cut wood, leather, or fabric. It is meant to be used with paper and thats it. Now the Maker is a different kettle of fish, this can be used for all kinds of projects. Seriously, your imagination is the limit with this thing. You just have to use the correct settings and correct mats (because I saw people using wrong mats and blaming the machine, ugh!), as long as you do that, this will do whatever you ask it to do!
Since I am a newbie, I did not want to splash out for the Cricut Maker. I also did not want the Joy, because its use is very limited and I want to master this thing. I ended up getting the Explorer Air 2, which is the perfect middle ground between professional and amateur in my opinion.
Well, if you use it a lot you will eventually need to buy some replacement blades from Cricut. However, you can delay that process by sharpening your blades before and after each new project you are working on. The sharpening process is pretty easy, all you have to do is use the backside of an aluminum foil and the blades will become sharper!
Why is there a lot of price difference between the colors for the Cricut Maker, the mint color costs twice as much as the blue one! Is there actually a difference between them other than the color?
There is no difference between the machines except color difference. It is supply and demand, basically. The mint color was in demand, probably so they charged extra for it.
I wanted to make something clear because apparently there are a lot of reviews out there that are not true - you DONT NEED to buy a subscription for the design space, a subscription will let you access all the designs and fonts in the Design Space but it is completely OPTIONAL! There are a lot of great and free sources on the Internet, so stop complaining about the Design Space for Gods sake!
Hi there, great question! The widest Cricut Joy can cut is 6.5”, however as far as length goes, there is a lot more flexibility. It can more than 10” long!
Absolutely, it comes with a USB-A port just for that! Bluetooth connection is a pretty neat feature though, and I would highly recommend getting a Bluetooth adaptor for your PC!
