A Guide to the Cricut Machine and All of Its Accessories
Courtesy of Cricut
For any crafter, the Cricut Maker is considered the holy grail of craft supplies. It quickly and accurately cuts over 300 different types of materials, from the most delicate paper and fabric to tough stuff like matboard, leather, and basswood. Because of this, the creative possibilities are endless. You can use yours to design and cut vinyl to iron onto baby onesies or cut garlands, cards, and other birthday party decorations. You can also use it to personalize nearly anything, from water bottles to wine glasses to canvas bags. There really isn't much the cutting machine can't do.
How does it work? The Cricut Maker pairs with a companion app called Cricut Design Space. The cloud-based app, which is accessible via your smartphone or desktop, lets you design and wirelessly cut with Cricut Explore and Cricut Maker machines. You can create a project from scratch or browse thousands of images, pre-designed projects, and fonts. (Gain access to these by signing up for Cricut Access, a monthly or yearly subscription to the Cricut Image Library.) Once you're ready to cut your project, the app connects wirelessly to your Cricut Explore or Cricut Maker machine to bring your project to life.
Ready to get started? Here's a comprehensive look at the different tools and accessories available in the suite of Cricut products.
Top Picks
Basic Tools:
Cutting Mat: Cricut Machine Mat Variety Pack
Writing Tools: Cricut Infusible Ink Markers
Heat Transfer Machine: Cricut EasyPress 2
Mug Press: Cricut Mug Press
Related: Things You Didn't Know the Cricut Machine Could Do
Basic Tool Set
This five-piece set gets you started with the basic tools you need for a Cricut crafting session. You'll be equipped to precisely and expertly handle most DIY projects, from vinyl for decals to iron-on décor projects to card stock masterpieces.
Shop Now: Cricut Basic Tool Set, $16.19, cricut.com.
Machine Mat Variety Pack
This variety pack of machine mats ensures you can cut everything from delicate paper to heavier specialty card stock, vinyl, iron-on, and more. As the interface between your material and your Cricut machine, each reusable mat holds your material in place as it cuts, and they make it easy to cleanly remove finished pieces once a cut is complete.
Shop Now: Cricut Machine Mat Variety Pack, $24.59, cricut.com.
FabricGrip Machine Mat
Add this mat to your collection so you can cut most fabrics, including cotton, polyester, denim, felt, and canvas.
Shop Now: Cricut FabricGrip Machine Mat, $11.99, cricut.com.
Brayer
Extend the life of your Cricut FabricGrip cutting mat with the Cricut Brayer. It firmly adheres material to your cutting mat and helps eliminate every last wrinkle, kink, bubble, and pucker.
Shop Now: Cricut Brayer, $10.19, cricut.com.
Heat Resistant Tape
Use this special tape to keep your material in place as you apply your custom designs to T-shirts, tote bags, and more.
Shop Now: Cricut Heat Resistant Tape, $4.19, cricut.com.
EasyPress Mat
This durable cover provides thermal conductivity and even heat distribution during iron-on applications. It's also great for pressing sewing projects.
Shop Now: Cricut EasyPress Mat, $29.99, cricut.com.
Knife Blade and Drive Housing
The Knife Blade slices through thicker and denser materials—like balsa wood, leather, mat board, and Cricut Chipboard—with ease and precision. It's perfect for projects with extra dimension, like puzzles, school projects and models, leather goods, dioramas, wood décor, and more.
Shop Now: Cricut Knife Blade and Drive Housing, $27.59, cricut.com.
Engraving Tip and QuickSwap Housing
Use this tool to write personalized text or create monograms, draw decorative flourishes and embellishments, or inscribe your favorite quotes on a keepsake.
Shop Now: Cricut Engraving Tip and QuickSwap Housing, $26.99, cricut.com.
Fine Debossing Tip and QuickSwap Housing
To create crisp, detailed debossed designs—dimensional wedding cards or flourishes on gift boxes, tags, and more—snap this tip onto the QuickSwap Housing.
Shop Now: Cricut Fine Debossing Tip and QuickSwap Housing, $26.99, cricut.com.
Scoring Wheel Tip and Drive Housing
These tool helps you extra-deep score lines and a flawless finishes on everyday crafting materials like paper and card stock, so you can make tags, cards, and gift boxes or even wearable art, 3-D home décor, structures, and more.
Shop Now: Cricut Scoring Wheel Tip and Drive Housing, $29.99, cricut.com.
Wavy Blade and QuickSwap Housing
To add a whimsical wavy edge to any design, snap this tip onto the QuickSwap Housing. Use it for vinyl decals, iron-on designs, envelopes, cards, gift tags, collage projects, or anything else you want to finish with decorative edges and accents.
Shop Now: Cricut Wavy Blade and QuickSwap Housing, $29.99, cricut.com.
Foil Transfer Kit
Make your projects—cards, invitations, gift boxes, and more—shine with stunning foil accents.
Shop Now: Cricut Foil Transfer Kit, $23.99, cricut.com.
Double Scoring Wheel Tip
This tool allows you to get extra-deep double score lines and a flawless finish on thicker and specialty material projects, like tags, cards, and gift boxes.
Shop Now: Cricut Double Scoring Wheel Tip, $23.99, cricut.com.
Card Stock
With square-foot sheets of Cricut card stock you can make greeting cards, party and holiday décor, and so much more right at home. This high-quality textured card stock is acid-free, lignin-free, and buffered.
Shop Now: Cricut Card Stock, $2.50 for 20 sheets, cricut.com.
Ultimate Fine Point Pen Set
There are 30 fine-point pens for beautiful writing and drawing with your Cricut Explore machine. Use these to personalize cards or invitations, draw gorgeous coloring pages for both adults and children, and add phrases to framed art or scrapbook pages.
Shop Now: Cricut Ultimate Fine Point Pen Set, $20.99, cricut.com.
Everyday Iron-On
Use this material to make a T-shirt with an inspirational quote, design heartwarming home décor, embellish accessories with one-of-a-kind designs, and create handmade gifts.
Shop Now: Cricut Everyday Iron-On, $7.19 per roll, cricut.com.
SportFlex Iron-On
Use this material to customize team jerseys, or embellish uniforms, caps, yoga tops, leggings, and more. It's a flexible, stretchable iron-on material that bends with the body and keeps uniforms and team gear lightweight.
Shop Now: Cricut SportFlex Iron-On per roll, $7.79, cricut.com.
Permanent Premium Vinyl
This vinyl lies flat on your cutting mat, so you can cut your design, weed with ease, and apply even your most intricate designs effortlessly. It's water-resistant and UV-resistant and meant to last for up to three years, even outdoors.
Shop Now: Cricut Permanent Premium Vinyl, $4.79 per roll, cricut.com.
Removable Premium Vinyl
Just like the permanent premium vinyl, but designed for more flexibility: This vinyl stays removable for up to two years without residue.
Shop Now: Cricut Removable Premium Vinyl, $4 per roll, cricut.com.
Transfer Tape
Transfer your custom vinyl cuts to a variety of surfaces with ease and precision. Use it to create custom-made media covers, personalized labels, unique décor, and more.
Shop Now: Cricut Transfer Tape, $4.79, cricut.com.
Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets
These ready-to-cut sheets come in complementary patterns and colors that transfer to material using high temperatures, creating peel-proof, flake-proof, and wash-proof inked designs on things like T-shirts, totes, and more.
Shop Now: Cricut Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets, from $6.50 each, cricut.com.
Infusible Ink Markers
These 30 heat press transfer markers allow you to draw freehand designs or use your Cricut smart cutting machine to draw or write your custom design on plain laser copy paper to create inked transfers that never flake, peel, wrinkle, or crack.
Shop Now: Cricut Infusible Ink Markers, $29.99 for 30, cricut.com.
Infusible Ink Pens
Like the infusible ink markers, this is a set of 30 colorful fine point pens.
Shop Now: Cricut Infusible Ink Pens, $29.99 for 30, cricut.com.
Foil Transfer Sheets
These sheets make it easy to add foil effects to almost any project.
Shop Now: Cricut Foil Transfer Sheets, $4.79 for 24 sheets, cricut.com.
Poster Board
Thick, reflective, white core material for making eye-catching embellishments, dimensional décor, and more.
Shop Now: Cricut Poster Board, $4.79 for six sheets, cricut.com.
Chipboard
This versatile and strong material is perfect for projects that need a little more support, like 3-D crafts, photo frames, party and home décor, and more.
Shop Now: Cricut Chipboard, $6.59 for five sheets, cricut.com.
Aluminum Sheets
Consider aluminum sheets as a blank slate for engraving fabulous flourishes, detailed designs, or your favorite quote.
Shop Now: Cricut Aluminum Sheets, $4.79 for four sheets, cricut.com.
Genuine Leather
Use this smooth, rich leather to create fashion, accessories, jewelry, and more.
Shop Now: Cricut Genuine Leather, $4.25 per sheet, cricut.com.
Felt
This 10-piece sampler of felt helps you customize everything from fun décor, to kids' crafts, to baby toys, and more.
Shop Now: Cricut Felt Sampler, $6.29 for 10 sheets, cricut.com.
Blank Ceramic Mug
This set includes two premium blank mugs with a smooth ceramic finish and straight walls for flawless transfers every time. Use Cricut Mug Press and Infusible Ink products to personalize your mugs with a name, logo, inside joke, or favorite quote. Unlike an iron-on transfer or vinyl applications, where artwork is attached to a base material using adhesive, your Infusible Ink heat transfer becomes one with the mug, so it's dishwasher- and microwave-safe.
Shop Now: Cricut Blank Ceramic Mug, $6.99 for two, cricut.com.
Blank Coasters
Like the mugs, you can use Infusible Ink heat transfer to make your design one with the coasters themselves.
Shop Now: Cricut Blank Coasters, $7.79 for four, cricut.com.
Unisex T-Shirts for Infusible Ink
Give your next T-shirt project—whether you use Infusible Ink or another method of heat press transfer—a rich background with this exceptionally soft, heathered gray unisex crewneck blank.
Shop Now: Cricut Crew Neck Unisex T-Shirt, $4.79, cricut.com.
Baby Bodysuit
Just like the T-shirts, this sharp white baby bodysuit is the perfect blank canvas for any heat press transfer.
Shop Now: Cricut Blank Baby Bodysuit, $2.99, cricut.com.
EasyPress 2
Cricut EasyPress 2 is a heat press with adjustable heat up to 400℉ (205°C) to help you get fast, effortless results that last, even after repeated washes. It's lightweight, portable, easy to store, and compatible with most major brands of heat-transfer vinyl and all Infusible Ink products.
Shop Now: Cricut EasyPress 2, $149.99, cricut.com.
Mug Press
With the Cricut Mug Press, making personalized mugs is as easy as can be. Just create your design using Cricut Infusible Ink materials, attach it to your mug, and let the press do the rest—there aren't any manual temperature or pressure settings to contend with.
Shop Now: Cricut Mug Press, $199.99, cricut.com.
