How to choose which Cricut Machine is best for YOU!

How to choose which Cricut Machine is best for YOU!

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This post and the photos within it may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.

Are you in the market for a new cutting machine?! Are you overwhelmed with which machine to choose?! I can help! The video below will walk you through how to choose which machine is best for you. Of course I have my favorite machine, but it is such a personal decision so before I tell you which one I’d choose, watch the video and let me know which one is best for you!

How to choose?

There are two questions I want you to think about!

1. What is your budget?

2. What types of crafts do you enjoy making? And do you think that will evolve or change?

Budget

The Cricut Explore Air 2 retails for $249.99 but you can usually snag it on sale for around $199.99! The Cricut Explore Air 2 is a power house of a cutting machine, but if you are looking for the top of line, and your budget allows, you may want to consider the Cricut Maker. The Cricut Maker retails for $399.99, but usually you can find it for $349.99. The Cricut Maker is the ultimate smart cutting machine and does everything that the Explore Air 2 does and then MORE! 

Now that you know the numbers, the real fun starts! Let’s talk about what each machine can do.  

Comparing machines

Materials

Both machines have the ability to cut 100s of materials! More materials than I have ever tried! To see a comprehensive list of all of the materials, check out this article from Cricut.

The main difference between the machines is that the Cricut Maker has the ability to support more tools… which means you can cut more materials! With 10x more force, the Cricut Maker you can cut unbacked fabric, crepe paper, basswood, balsa wood, 2mm chipboard, mat board, tooling leather, etc!  

Tools

The Explore Air 2 supports the following tools:

As you can see the Explore machines can support a lot of tools! The Fine Point Blade comes with the machine and will be the blade you will use most! It can cut hundreds of materials! The fine point blade may be silver or gold depending on the machine color you pick! In addition to the Fine Point Blade, there is a Deep Point Blade for thicker materials. I use the Deep Point Blade to cut chipboard, craft foam, even some thin wood veneers. In the comparison video, you will see me cut wood with the Deep Point Blade! The last blade you have is the Fabric Bonded Blade. This blade should be treated the way you treat your fabric shears. You will use this blade to cut bonded fabric. Bonded fabric means that the fabric is backed with some type of stabilizer. I don’t recommend cutting unbacked fabric using your Explore machine. 

You also can use the scoring stylus to score paper (and other materials too) to create cards, add dimension, and create 3D projects. 

The black fine point pen comes with the machine. In addition to cutting and scoring, your Cricut machine can draw and write! You will want every color of the pens! 

As you can see by the graphic, the Maker supports all of the tools the Explore machine does and more! While the Explore tools work in the Maker, the Maker tools do not work in the Explore machine. Any of the blades that have the gears on top are known as the Adaptive Tool System and only work in the Maker machine. 

The Rotary Blade comes with the Maker and it may be my favorite blade! It is a mini circular blade that rolls along the material. It will cleanly cut unbacked fabric, felt, and crepe paper. If you are a fabric crafter, you need the Maker just for that blade.

The Knife Blade can cut through thick, heavy chipboard and even wood. The knife blade requires several passes, but with each pass the blade will cut deeper and deeper. In the comparison video, I was shocked to see just how well it cut the basswood.

I saved the best for last– the QuickSwap Housing! This one housing works with all of those little tips! So instead of having to buy a blade housing for all of the tools, you just need one and can switch out between the tips. The tips that are currently available are: Scoring Wheel (double and single), Perforation Blade, Debossing Tip, Wavy Blade, and Engraving Tip. 

This is where you can see you get more for your money! Cricut has promised to continue to develop additional tools for the Maker… I am excited to see what else they come up with!

Side by Side Cutting Challenge

Originally I was going to blog the side by side cutting comparison, but I decided I really want you to watch the machines in action so you understand how the heck these machines operate! Check out my video to see a head to head cutting comparison where I show how long the cutting takes and which machine cuts better. Just remember that whichever machine you choose, it will be the right decision! This is a personal decision that can’t go wrong. Having worked at both Silhouette America and Cricut, I do whole heartedly believe that Cricut has superior cutting machines than ANY of the competition! 

Let me know which machine you end up with!  

 

Have questions or want to connect!?

I know you are just itching to buy your machine! I get it! I was there too and my cutting machine completely changed the trajectory of my life! So much so that I now teach people to use their machines as my full-time job. If you found this comparison helpful and it led you to purchase a machine, I would love for you to consider purchasing a machine through one of the affiliate links below. Affiliate links show retailers that I sent you to shop and they may reward me with a small commission. Since prices are changing often, I have added my affiliate links to several retailers so that you can price compare! Thank you in advance for shopping through my affiliate links and supporting my blog!

Cricut Explore Air 2:

Cricut Maker:

If you are looking for a promo code for Cricut, join my Cricut Facebook Group for the most up to date code since it changes each quarter! Don’t forget to check out my social media sites below so we can be new craft besties! 

Happy Crafting,

Karley

Hello

I’m Karley

Welcome to my blog! A place where I can share my love for all things crafting with you! If you are obsessed with your Cricut… I’m sorry to inform you that your obsession will only get worse while you’re here! I will teach you everything you need to know to get up and crafting with your Cricut. I am here to help! To reach me, use any of the social links below! 

Have specific Cricut questions?  Join Our Facebook Group!

Join Now!

Using Infusible Ink on a Baby Onesie or T-shirt

Using Infusible Ink on a Baby Onesie or T-shirt

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This post and the photos within it may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.

When Cricut launched Infusible Ink, it was a BIG deal. I remember on the launch day thinking, “Wow, Cricut has done it again… this is revolutionizing the craft industry!” But soon after, the hype kind of just died down. I think most people thought it was too similar to sublimation. Sublimation printing uses a special ink that you print (using a sublimation printer) and then apply to a polyester substrate using heat. The ink changes into a gas state and then fuses to the fibers or polymer material. It is really magical! 

For me, I didn’t think I would use a sublimation printer enough to justify investing in the printer, paper, and ink. And if you don’t use your sublimation printer daily, the print heads can clog… so for me it wasn’t the right investment. Cricut’s Infusible Ink uses the same science, but instead of printing the image, Cricut created sheets of the ink that you can cut on your Cricut machine. Instead of having to buy a printer, I can pick up the color of Infusible Ink that I want and then design my image in Cricut Design Space and cut it out. From start to finish it takes me about 30 minutes to complete a project.

Just like sublimation, Infusible Ink completely fuses to the fibers of your shirt blank (so long as it has a high amount of polyester)! The science works with poly fibers so it, unfortunately, will wash out of natural fibers like cotton or linen. You do not need to use Cricut blanks. You can use fabrics with a polyester content of 90% or higher! In addition to polyester fibers, the ink will also fuse to polymer glazes! Check out this video to see how I used Infusible Ink to make coasters.  

 
For this project, I will walk through how to use Infusible Ink on a baby bodysuit. If you just want to watch the video tutorial, check that out below!

Materials List

For this project, you don’t need much! You may even have some of these things on hand already!

Inside each box of Infusible Ink transfer sheets, you will get 2 sheets of butcher paper. It’s important to note that it does make a difference if you use butcher paper. Cricut tested several different types of paper and their heat guide settings were developed using butcher paper. Freezer paper and wax paper are definitely not recommended since they have a waxy coating. Parchment paper can be used in a pinch, but also has a waxy coating. If you run out of butcher paper, I would recommend using drawing paper from IKEA or Michaels! They sell it in rolls and it’s super affordable. I also recommend using white since the kraft color may discolor your t-shirt blanks! I know thats a lot of info on butcher paper, but using the correct supplies really will make a difference!

Now that you have all your supplies gathered, let’s get started.

Designing Your Image   

For this project, I used a plain sans serif font paired with this font to create a snarky little “social distancing” baby outfit.

Before you cut your design, make sure to toggle on the “Mirror” slider so that your image is reflected horizontally. 

Then continue on to set your material to “Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets”. If you are using an Explore machine, make sure your dial is turned to custom so you can browse all materials. 

Load & Cut Your Material   

Okay! Before you tear into your Infusible Ink box, let me give you a few tips! Infusible Ink is just that… ink! When handling these sheets, make sure your hands are dry, free of any lotions, or oils… even sweat! Wipe your hands dry before handling them.  

I like to trim my sheets down before I cut them, but you can leave them as full sheets if you’d like. Once you are ready, place the sheet on a StandardGrip Mat (the green one) with the ink facing up. 

Once your machine finishes, unload the mat from the machine. To remove the material, I like to peel my mat away from my material so it doesn’t curl. Click the image above to take you to the full video tutorial if you need help! 

Weeding Your Image   

If you have ever worked with vinyl or HTV (heat transfer vinyl), you are very familiar with weeding. But, weeding Infusible Ink is a little different. Since it’s paper and not plastic, it is a whole new ball game. It isn’t more difficult… or even easier… just different. 

For starters, I recommend using your fingers to weed it. I avoid using any types of tools because the ink could scratch off and unintentionally end up on a portion of the project where it shouldn’t be. Using your fingers will work great… and it’s one less supply you have to worry about. 

In the video, I talk about how the Cricut Joy settings didn’t cut through as well as I had hoped. I reported this issue to Cricut and they said they will investigate it. For my second project, I used more pressure and it helped… but I hope they sort out the cutting issues. I have never experienced any issues cutting Infusible Ink on the Maker and Explore machines.

Weeding this was more difficult than it should have been, but that’s because of the faulty Joy settings. I imagine they will be sorted soon, but until then, I will be performing a small test cut to ensure my material is cut all the way through. 

It looks like I didn’t weed out the insides of the letters, but I actually did. When I pulled away the insides, the ink layer peeled off but left the paper liner. Luckily, it didn’t affect my final project, but if it happens to you, rest assured that as long as the ink is peeled off, the backing paper won’t mess up your project.   

Prepping Your Project Blank   

Before we can apply our design to our shirt blank, we need to prep it. To determine the correct heat settings, check out the Cricut Heat Guide. 

All you need to do is choose which EasyPress you have and that you are using Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets. Click apply and all of the settings and instructions will be available to you!

To start, place your shirt on top of your EasyPress Mat with a sheet of cardstock inside. Since I am using a baby bodysuit, the instructions recommend that I put the EasyPress mat inside of the my shirt. 

Before we apply our design, we need to lint roll your shirt. If you skip this step, you may end up blue little lint spots all over your project. I like using a fresh lint roll sheet for each project blank. Even if it looks clean, lint roll it, you’ll be shocked at what comes off your shirt! After your shirt has been lint rolled, preheat it according the the Heat Guide recommended settings. For the baby bodysuit I preheat it for 15 seconds at 385 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Transferring Your Design   

Now that we have prepped our shirt by lint rolling and preheating, we are ready to transfer our image. I like to let my shirt cool just a bit before I place my design, ink side down, onto my shirt. This way the ink doesn’t start to transfer before I am ready.

Once your design is placed on your shirt, cover it up with a piece of butcher paper and press using the recommended settings from the heat guide. For this project, I pressed for 40 seconds at 385 degrees Fahrenheit.

And now for the reveal!

After you press your design, let it cool until you safely can touch it. You can even let it cool completely. For Infusible Ink projects it will not make a difference if you peel the design while its hot, warm, or cold! The key takeaway is just to be safe when you pull the design off since it was just under an extremely hot surface for almost a minute.

Peel the liner away. I peel mine slowly to make sure all the pieces have been removed. If any of the pieces are still on the shirt, you can grab those with your fingers or tweezers and remove those too. You’re all done! 

Care Instructions

Since Infusible Ink is permanent the second it is applied, you really don’t have to worry about any special care instructions and you can wash it immediately. I wash and dry my shirts normally and they have held up perfectly in the wash. There is absolutely no fading. If you do notice any type of fading, ensure your shirt blank has at least 90% polyester. Without polyester, the dye has nothing to fuse too, so if you use a cotton shirt, your design will most likely wash out after a while.

Video Tutorial

If you want to check out the entire video tutorial, you can watch that here! While you’re there, I’d love for you to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss any future tutorials. 

Have questions or want to connect!?

Check out any of the social media buttons above or comment below if you have questions! Thank you so much for checking out this tutorial. If you try Infusible Ink, make sure to tag me in your projects. You will love it! Don’t forget to check out my Cricut Facebook Group so you can find the most up to date coupon code for the Cricut website so you can order all of the Cricut things for 10% off! 

Happy Crafting,

Karley

Hello

I’m Karley

Welcome to my blog! A place where I can share my love for all things crafting with you! If you are obsessed with your Cricut… I’m sorry to inform you that your obsession will only get worse while you’re here! I will teach you everything you need to know to get up and crafting with your Cricut. I am here to help! To reach me, use any of the social links below! 

Have specific Cricut questions?  Join Our Facebook Group!

Join Now!

How To Download a Font to Cricut Design Space (for computers)

How To Download a Font to Cricut Design Space (for computers)

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This post and the photos within it may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.

Did you know you can use ANY font you download on your computer with your Cricut machine?! Yep! Any font. I know a lot of people are afraid to buy a Cricut machine because they think they will be locked into a subscription plan with Cricut and will only be able to use the fonts they offer. But that’s not the case. All those fonts you already have on your computer, you can use those! All the fonts you want to download for free, you can use those too (for personal projects)!

If you don’t know what a Cricut machine is, check out this video. That video will explain the difference between two Cricut machines I love!

For this tutorial, I will be explaining how to download a font to your computer (or laptop) for free. If you are using a device or tablet, things will look a little different, so there is another tutorial for that.
 
All you will need for this tutorial is your computer. Ideally, your computer qualifies for all the system requirements that Cricut recommends here.
 
If you just want to watch the video tutorial, check that out below!

Finding Free Fonts

Free fonts can be found all over the internet. And while, yes, they are free, usually the free version is a demo version of the font that does not include special characters and all of the extras. Free fonts often only come with a personal use license. That means you are legally not allowed to sell anything you create using these fonts. You can use them to create gifts and projects for yourself, but if you intend to sell them, I would encourage you to buy the commercial license so that you don’t run into legal issues in the future.

Some of my favorite places to buy fonts are from Etsy and Creative Market. For free fonts, I love Dafont. 

Once you are on Dafont, you can search through what feels like 1,000,000 fonts! Choose one to download and click on the download button. 

I am using a Mac laptop and the download appears down at the bottom. Check to see where you download starts and once it is complete, double click to open the download. 

Opening Your Font and Installing It  

Once your download is complete and you have opened it, you will need to install the font on your computer. If you are confused, click the image below and it’ll take you to this step in my YouTube video.   

The file will unzip and should look something like the Bargain_Demo icon. Double click on that icon and you should see a little window pop up that will pop up. Click on “install font” and the font will be install onto your computer.    

If Cricut Design Space was open while you installed the font, save your project and completely close out of the program.  

Relaunch Cricut Design Space 

After you have completely closed Cricut Design Space, relaunch the program.   

When you reopen Cricut Design Space, you can search for your font or scroll through your “System Fonts” to find it.

Since Cricut Design Space currently does not space out the letters in fonts properly, you will need to play around with the letter spacing. I have an entire tutorial on how to do that! Check out that video here.

Check out the full tutorial on how to download fonts below! I also share my favorite way to keep track of all of my fonts in that video. It’ll blow your mind! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have a favorite font, I would love to check them out! Drop them in the comments below so all of us crafters can see them :) 

Have Questions or want to connect!?

Happy Crafting,

Karley

Hello

I’m Karley

Welcome to my blog! A place where I can share my love for all things crafting with you! If you are obsessed with your Cricut… I’m sorry to inform you that your obsession will only get worse while you’re here! I will teach you everything you need to know to get up and crafting with your Cricut. I am here to help! To reach me, use any of the social links below! 

Have specific Cricut questions?  Join Our Facebook Group!

Join Now!

Window Messages of Love

Window Messages of Love

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This post and the photos within it may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.

Hey! How are you holding up? The past few weeks have been a little rough for me. I am a complete homebody by choice… but I didn’t realize how much I like to leave and come back. Trips to Target, Ikea, and Starbucks make me so happy. Not having the ability to just run out without a care in the world has been tough for me. I miss seeing my friends and even though I am not a hugger, I miss squeezing them and telling them I love them. But I know just how important it is to stay home to keep our essential workers safe and slow the spread of the virus, so of course, I am happy to stay home… just missing the normalcy of my old schedule. 

Since I am only leaving the house to do a grocery pickup or walk Poppy, I thought I would join in on the Cricut Window Challenge and add a message of hope to my window for people to enjoy as they walk by. I hope you will join me in this challenge by creating your own beautiful window scene or by downloading the one I created and posting it in your window. 

Download the file I used here!

If you are looking for the SVG used for my window design, you can download that here!

Rainbow Window Art
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
By entering your email you will be subscribed to Karley Hall's email list and can INSTANTLY download this file. Your email will only be subscribed once and you may unsubscribe at any time. Image rights: For personal use only! You can create projects using this image for any individual, organization, or event so long as it is not with the intent of resale or other commercial purposes. Under no circumstances are you permitted to resell, give-away, or otherwise distribute any actual files associated with digital designs offered on KarleyHall.com Privacy Policy: We hate spam and promise to keep your email address safe. For questions, email karley@karleyhall.com

After you download the SVG, upload it to Cricut’s Design Space. If you need help with that, I have a few YouTube videos to help you out. If you are using an iOS device like an iPad or and iPhone, check out this video. Or if you are using a laptop/ computer check out this video. 

Draw Your Window in Design Space

To begin, I measured the size of my window. My window slides open with a 3″ white divider down the center. I measured each side of the glass. From the inside of my house, the left side is 26.5″ wide by 56″ and the right side is 25.5″ wide by 56″ tall. To make my life easy, I decided to say they were both 25.5″ wide. 

I created rectangles to represent each side of the window and the center divide of my window. 

Resize Your Design to Fit Your Window

This part is a little tricky since Design Space doesn’t allow you to zoom out further than 25%. Place your uploaded design on top of your window and resize until you are happy with the size.

Now we know these images are all way too big to cut on our Cricut machine, so we are going to slice them up so that they will work with our machines. But before we start slicing, decide how you are going to apply your design. I used cardstock for the rainbow inside my window. So if you’d like to do that, mirror your image before you cut it. I used vinyl on the outside of my window so I won’t need to mirror that. 

Now that my rainbow is mirrored, I am ready to slice apart my design. 

Slice Apart Your Design

This next part is a little advanced. Your lettering will fit on a long 12×24″ mat if you are using vinyl, but the rainbow will need to be sliced apart creating a puzzle like rainbow. This part of the project took the longest! So please do not get discouraged here. Check out the videos below to see how I tackled slicing my rainbow in Design Space. I typically use Adobe Illustrator to make this process go a lot quicker, so I am curious if you would like to see Illustrator tutorials in the future! I wish all windows were the same so that you didn’t have to slice this all up, but hopefully this will result in the perfect rainbow for your window. Or maybe you’ll decide that you just want to free hand draw it and cut it out on some poster board haha!   

Tape Up Your Rainbow

Since your rainbow is mirrored, you will tape it on the inside of your window. I used a few small pieces of regular ole’ tape and taped the rainbow up in my window. I left the bottom of the rainbow free of any tape so I could slip my clouds in front of the arches once my rainbow was up. 

Apply Your Vinyl

Once your rainbow is up, apply your vinyl to the outside of your window. I tried to apply my vinyl to the inside of my window (mirrored) and I did not like how it turned out. It was super dull and difficult to read. I ended up taking it all down and applying it to the outside. So save yourself some time and just apply it to the outside if you can!

If you are unfamiliar about the hinge method, check out this post to learn all about it!  

I know this project is a little intimidating, but once you learn how to slice in Design Space, you will be making these large projects whenever you can! Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me if you get hung up! If you share your projects on social media, don’t forget to tag me and use the hashtag #cricutwindowchallenge so others can see your messages of hope! We will get through this together!

Have Questions or want to connect!?

Thanks so much for checking out this tutorial!

Happy crafting & stay safe!

Karley

 

Hello

I’m Karley

Welcome to my blog! A place where I can share my love for all things crafting with you! If you are obsessed with your Cricut… I’m sorry to inform you that your obsession will only get worse while you’re here! I will teach you everything you need to know to get up and crafting with your Cricut. I am here to help! To reach me, use any of the social links below! 

Have specific Cricut questions?  Join Our Facebook Group!

Join Now!

Easy DIY Face Shield Mask with Any Cutting Machine (Cricut & Silhouette)

Easy DIY Face Shield Mask with Any Cutting Machine (Cricut & Silhouette)

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This post and the photos within it may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.

In this tutorial I am going to share how to make this face shield using your Cricut machine– check out the video below.  

 

Looking for the SVG mentioned in the video?

If you are looking for the SVG used in the tutorial– here it is! The folder includes a file to use with your Cricut Machine (svg), Silhouette Machines (Silhouette Studio File), and a printable PDF!

Face Shield Patterns
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
By entering your email you will be subscribed to Karley Hall's email list and can INSTANTLY download this file. Your email will only be subscribed once and you may unsubscribe at any time.

After you download the SVG, upload it to Cricut’s Design Space. If you need help with that, I have a few YouTube videos to help you out. If you are using an iOS device like an iPad or and iPhone, check out this video. Or if you are using a laptop/ computer check out this video. 

Have Questions or want to connect!?

Thanks so much for checking out this tutorial!

Happy crafting & stay safe!

Karley

 

Hello

I’m Karley

Welcome to my blog! A place where I can share my love for all things crafting with you! If you are obsessed with your Cricut… I’m sorry to inform you that your obsession will only get worse while you’re here! I will teach you everything you need to know to get up and crafting with your Cricut. I am here to help! To reach me, use any of the social links below! 

Have specific Cricut questions?  Join Our Facebook Group!

Join Now!