BRILLIANT CRICUT HACKS TO SAVE YOU MONEY
Do you have a Cricut Maker? Or maybe you are thinking about buying a Cricut Maker in the near future?
One thing is certain, a Cricut Maker is an investment!
It can be intimidating to start making things with your machine. I get it. My Cricut Maker sat in a box for a LONG time before I got up enough nerve!
Not to mention, Cricut has A LOT of extra tools and materials on the market! How do you know what is worth it to buy and what to skip?
Let me help you save some serious cash! You can make incredible things with your Cricut Maker with a few hacks to save you a ton of money down the road!
Ready to save some money?
This post does contain affiliate links. This means if you click a link in the post and purchase a product I may receive an affiliate link at not extra cost to you.
1 CREDIT CARD
Use a credit card or old hotel room key to burnish your vinyl! You don’t need to buy a fancy new tool. Use what you have!
2 CRICUT BLADES SHARPENING
Are Cricut blades getting dull? Use foil to sharpen your blade!
Grab some aluminum foil and roll into a ball. Press down on the plunger of the blade. Then press your blade into the foil. Press your blade into the ball of foil a few times to sharpen!
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3 KEEP VINYL SCRAPS
When you are done with a vinyl project, don’t throw away your scraps! You can use those scraps for future projects.
Try using the Cricut Snap Mat feature to use up all those amazing scraps!
Simply layout all your scraps on a Cricut mat. Take a picture of your mat with Snap Mat and place your new designs over the scraps in Cricut Design Space.
AMAZING!
4 COVER YOUR MAT
Each mat comes with a clear plastic cover. Don’t throw those away!
Place the cover over your mat after every project. The clear covers protect your mat from dust, lint, and hair. They keep your mats sticky and will extend the life of your mat!
5 HOW TO REMOVE PAPER AND CARDSTOCK
Working with paper or cardstock? Remove the mat from your paper NOT the paper from the mat. When you remove the paper first, the paper will curl. Simply flip your mat over and remove the mat from the paper.
How fun is that!?!
6 CRAFT BLANKS
Do you like crafting with blanks? Check bulk pricing before you buy. Oftentimes, buying in bulk will save you a TON of money. You never know when you need a blank for a gift so stock up!
7 LINT ROLLER
Use a lint roller to remove leftover smaller pieces of vinyl, glitter, or leather backing from your mat. Have a really detailed vinyl piece that needs weeding? Try a lint roller! Sometimes it works better at weeding small details than your weeding tool!
TIP: The dollar store is a great place to stock up on lint rollers!
8 PAINTERS TAPE
Use painter’s tape to secure thicker items to your mat. If your times tend to shift or bunch during cutting try using painter’s tape to secure your material to your mat.
9 PAINTERS TAPE TIP #2
Painters tape is also a great option when your mat is losing some of its stickiness. You can extend the life of your mat by securing your materials with painter’s tape on the outside edges of your mat. Be sure the painter’s tape will not touch your blade during cutting!
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10 MARK YOUR MAT
If you are making multiple versions of the same project, mark your mat with a sharpie in the upper corner. Keep track of how many cuts you can make with your mat before your mat has lost its stickiness. This is especially helpful for shop owners to keep an accurate account of the cost of goods sold!
11 PENCIL HOLDERS
Cricut pens are great to use but can be expensive. You can use your own pens and sharpies with your Cricut. To do this, grab some pencil holders at the Dollar Store OR Amazon! Pencil holders will help hold your pens and markers in place in your machine! You will need to cut your pencil gripper in half to fit around most markers!
12 PEN HACKS
You can use pens OTHER than Cricut pins in your machine. Be sure to test your pens and markers BEFORE you begin any project to make sure your pens are inserted correctly!
13 REUSE TRANSFER PAPER
Yep, you CAN reuse transfer paper. Of course, it all depends on how you use transfer paper so keep that in mind. If you are working on multiple projects back to back consider reusing transfer paper. We do this with bulk vinyl projects!
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14 SAFETY PIN
Don’t have a weeding tool? No problem. Use a safety pin to weed your vinyl!
15 SHELF PAPER
Clear shelf paper from the dollar store is an excellent replacement for transfer paper. Transfer paper can get expensive. If you are using a lot of transfer paper for your projects, consider trying clear-shelf paper at the dollar store.
16 TURN IT
If you are making the same cut over and over again on one part of your mat, consider turning your mat around and feeding it through your machine from the opposite end.
I do this a lot when I’m making leather earrings! It helps to extend the life of your mat!
FREE LEATHER EARRING RESOURCE LIBRARY
17 STENCIL HACK
Contact paper is a great and affordable option for making stencils with your Cricut! This would be a great alternative for sign making and other projects where you use a stencil to create crafts.
18 FIND THE LIGHT!
When you are weeding vinyl, be sure to use a well-lit area. Weeding vinyl can be hard to see so avoid making costly mistakes by weeding under light or by a window during daylight.
19 T-SHIRT RULER
Making custom vinyl t-shirts? Use a t-shirt ruler to measure exactly where to place your vinyl. Figuring out the size and placement of vinyl can be tricky. Don’t waste your time or materials with ill placing vinyl. This pack comes with multiple sizes of shirts!
20 SAMPLES!
When cutting leather, make a sample of your design on paper first!
Making a paper sample of your design is a cheap way to make sure the sizing of your leather project is what you need. Pull out a green mat and some leftover cardstock to make samples of your leather crafts BEFORE you cut into expensive leather.
Related:
Free Leather Earring Tutorials
21 FONTS
Consider purchasing fonts from Etsy. If you have a particular style you like and know you will use again and again, buy a custom font from Etsy.
TIP: I love THIS shop!
Be sure to read the terms of use!
22 STAY ORGANIZED!
Make a system to keep your vinyl organized. Try to keep your vinyl in ONE place. Keep the labels your vinyl is wrapped in so you know EXACTLY what type of vinyl you have on hand!
23 BABY POWDER
If you are weeding dark-colored vinyl, sprinkle baby power on top of your vinyl and brush away. You will immediately see the cut lines so you can weed properly!
24 FREE SVG’S
Use FREE SVG’s when you can. Many bloggers have great FREE files for you to use. Tip: I have a growing free library HERE! Be sure to read the terms of service. Most FREE files are for personal use only.
All you have to do is upload those FREE files to Cricut Design Space and cut!
RELATED:
How to upload a file to Cricut Design Space
25 MAKE YOUR OWN SVG CUT FILES
Do you want to use files for commercial use? Learn how to design your own cut files. You don’t need a ton of graphic design experience to design cut files. All it takes is time and a little internet research! Give yourself time to learn. You’ll be amazed at what you can do!
What other Cricut hacks do YOU use to save money? Leave a comment below!!
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