Hey.
I am waiting on the arrival of my new Cricut Maker 3. I am very new with Cricut. I am very excited to get started. I have already watched some great YouTube videos on how to do a few things.
The reason why I went with a Cricut Maker 3, is because I’m looking at learning and starting up a small business, and want more variety in cutting options in case I decide to make/different things. I want to keep my options open to learning lots.
Im starting with making cake toppers. I know many bakers and lots have said their customers are always asking about cake toppers. Figured this would be an awesome venture.
I am digging everywhere to investigate all the things I would need to know while starting up and practicing using my new Cricut. Any handy tips out there?
I’m also very new to Cricut, so the only tip I have is about money. Be prepared to pay a lot for different cutting instruments and mats, if you are planning on cutting different materials.
I have the Maker, and pulled it out around Christmas, wanting to make wooden and felt ornaments. Ended up paying hundreds of bucks for additional cutting blades and mats! (Luckily for me, the Cricut itself was gifted to me the previous Christmas, so the additional blades and mats were my only expenses.)
There are lots of YouTube videos with Cricut tips, and there are many people here who can give you guidance as well. Just thought if you had a business angle in mind, you’d want to be aware of budget concerns.
I bought a Cricut Joy last week and have been playing with it, trying to figure things out. I’m going to follow this thread to see what others say.
When yours arrives, you’ll be directed to download Design Space and you can opt in for a free month of Cricut Access. Take advantage of that at least for the free month. My DIL has been using her Maker 3 for just over a year for the daycare she works at and personal use and she said the Access is worth it for her as she doesn’t have time to design everything she wants. I probably won’t continue beyond my free month because time isn’t an issue and I’m not planning to make anything elaborate, more just to enhance my doodled cards.
I have a Maker three and really enjoy it. I don’t use it much beyond the occasional card/label but have been wanting to try cake toppers too. I recommend looking at third party options (on Amazon, etc) if you think you’ll go through inventory quickly with a business (blades, etc) for cost. If you think you’ll use the drawing function much, getting a set of adaptors so that you can non Cricut branded pens has been awesome. I much prefer using Sharpies or Crayola markers.
Thank you! I have heard lots of good things about the Cricut maker.
I will definitely look at Amazon for replacement parts and accessories. I have found some things in bulk already and at a great cost.
You can upload files from other places into Design Space–you are not limited to what they have in their subscription. Google search “SVG files” and you’ll see the bounty. You can even use files intended for Silhouette cutters (from the Silhouette Store–be sure to get svg format) and use those.
You can create your own designs in a program like Inkscape (free) or Illustrator or CorelDraw.
+1 to being able to use any image as a cut file, you just have to clean it up when you upload it. I’ve done tons of images I found online and have even used pictures I’ve taken with my phone. Access is really convenient but wasn’t worth it to me unless you want to make their canned projects or use their font library. DaFont is an excellent source for free fonts but they will all be cutting fonts (or will draw the outlines), I haven’t figured out if you can make a single line writing font yet.
Definitely spend some time watching YouTube videos to learn how to use Design Space, it will be well worth your time.
Edited to add - I was just looking around in Design Space and it looks like they’ve added A LOT of content to the Access membership since I looked at it a few years ago so depending on how you plan to use it, it might be worth it.
