Cricut Smart Cutter

A Cricut smart cutter allows you to cut a variety of materials with precision and detail you wouldn’t be able to achieve when cutting by hand. You can cut paper, vinyl, faux leather, real leather, fabric, chipboard, and basswood to name a few. You can also use the machine for scoring, foiling, and print images then cut them on the smart cutter! It’s impossible to list everything you can do with one of these machines.

Every Cricut smart cutter includes access to the Cricut Library and their proprietary software, Design Space, that allows you to create designs, provides instructions for prepping the design for cutting and initiates your cut from within the app. Design Space is available for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

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Even if you’re not a designer there are thousands of pre-made designs to choose from in the Library and if you sign up for Cricut Access Standard, a monthly subscription service, you’ll have access to even more designs, officially licensed Disney, Hello Kitty, and Marvel images (for a small extra fee), over 500 fonts, ready-made projects,  PLUS 10% off licensed images and all purchases on their site, including machines. There’s also Cricut Access Premium which provides everything the Cricut Access Standard does plus 20% off materials and free shipping on orders of $50 or more. The difference is an annual subscription versus a monthly charge of $9.99. They actually come out to the same price so it’s worth it.

 

Cricut currently offers three models (in order of size and complexity):

1. Cricut Joy
   • This is their smallest model and is designed for small cuts, making labels, custom cards, and can do banners up to 20 ft!
2. Cricut Explore Air 2
   • This is their most popular model because it offers the most features for the value and meets the needs of most crafters. I have this model in Twilight (dark blue).
3. Cricut Maker
   • This is the workhorse, top-of-the-line, commercial-grade offering that handles the most materials and provides the most flexibility and precision.

Sources: Cricut,