You don't have to be a crafting enthusiast to love the Cricut Joy cutting machine. Have you ever heard of this adorable little crafting tool? It's a small electronic machine that's ready to cut and bring all your big creative ideas to life. 🤩
In today's article, we're going to cover everything you need to know about the Cricut Joy so you can decide whether this little gem is made for you (or not 🤷)!
What is the Cricut Joy?
video generated by bonega.ai
The Cricut Joy is a small cutting machine that lets you cut and draw on a variety of thin materials, including adhesive vinyl, cardstock, heat-transfer vinyl, and more. Thanks to its small size and ease of use, you can take it into any room in your home and craft with complete simplicity. 👍
Items included with the Cricut Joy
Inside the box, you'll find:
- The Cricut Joy cutting machine with the fine-point blade and its housing.
- A power cord
- A 0.4 mm black pen.
Inside the Cricut Joy, you'll find the blade and the housing already installed.
The Cricut Joy software also gives you free projects, so you can easily make practice projects. ✅
Key features of the Cricut Joy
Cricut Joy is the smallest member of the Cricut cutting machine family. But don't let its size fool you, this little cutting machine can do a lot!
Compact and portable
As we mentioned above, Joy is the smallest cutting machine from Cricut! It can be stored in a cubby or set on a countertop. So this machine is easy to put away and quick to set up, which makes it very handy if you often move from room to room to cut your designs.
Not having to carry a mat, combined with the small size of the equipment, makes the whole system lightweight. No need for a dedicated room to make your creations.
Cutting mats aren't necessary!
The Cricut Joy cutting machine offers a full range of materials that don't require a mat, which means fewer purchases, fewer steps, and faster results. 😀
Cuts up to 6 meters long!
The Cricut Joy can cut single designs up to 1.5 m long and repeated designs up to 6 m long! The Cricut Joy lets you complete projects in less than 15 minutes, a real treat for quick crafting. ✨
Which materials can I cut with the Cricut Joy
- Heat-transfer vinyl
- Cardstock
- Adhesive vinyl
- Paper
- Infusible ink sheets
- Cardboard
- Poster board
- Cardstock
- Glitter paper
- Pearl paper
And much more! 😊
Projects to make with the Cricut Joy cutting machine:
With the Cricut Joy, you can make all kinds of projects:
- Cards, creating die-cut or drawn designs
- Invitations for parties or weddings
- Place cards for dinners or weddings
- Labels for jars or drawers, lunch boxes.
- Adhesive vinyl logos for walls, mugs, water bottles, anything you can imagine for decoration!
- Iron-on logos for clothing and textiles
- Party decorations and banners
How much does the Cricut Joy cost? 💸
The Cricut Joy sells for 190 euros, which is an attractive price for a cutting machine. The Cricut Maker, which is Cricut's best-known cutting machine, sells for around 290 euros.
Do I need the Cricut Joy if I already own a cutting machine?
No. If you already have a Cricut Explore Air or Maker, the Cricut Joy cutting machine can't add any new features for your projects.
If you're already an experienced Cricut user and you have one or more Cricut machines in your workshop, you don't need the Cricut Joy.
It could, however, be worth adding the Joy to your arsenal (when you already have a cutting machine) if you're looking for a machine that can easily be carried with you or to keep in a second location.
Who is the Cricut Joy for
The Cricut Joy cutting machine certainly has its limits, but it also has its advantages... mainly the fact that it's portable! This machine is handy for people on the go, small crafting spaces (like in a camper van) that don't have much room, teachers looking to do quick projects in their classroom, card makers, people who take part in craft fairs...
Basically, anyone who has limited space, who needs a portable machine, or who has a specific project. 🙄
If you're a card maker, this little machine is the perfect companion for your craft room.
Or if you're not a crafter at all... but organization is close to your heart ❤️. This little machine would be perfect in an office (or a kitchen!) for making personalized labels on demand.
Pros and cons of the Cricut Joy
If you've read this article, you may already know the pros and cons of this machine.
Let's start with the pros:
✔️ Fast cutting on many types of materials
✔️ Cuts up to 6 meters long
✔️ Easily take it into any room in your home or on a trip.
✔️ Easy to get the hang of compared to older machines.
Now let's move on to the cons:
❌ It doesn't have a USB port (in case you don't have a Bluetooth device).
❌ The project width is limited: only 12 cm wide
❌ Can't cut materials that are too thick and hard, such as wood. For that, you'll need to move up to a Cricut Maker
How to use the Cricut Joy?
The Cricut Joy cutting machine works with the Cricut Design Space software, so please install this software to start your projects 😉
In this example, we're going to assume that we're using adhesive vinyl as the cutting material.
Start by opening a new project in Cricut Design Space on your phone or computer. If you want to reproduce some text, click the "text" tool in the left sidebar to open a text entry box.
Add the text you want. While the text is still selected, you can change the font.
You can also upload a project that you made yourself by clicking "upload" in the sidebar. Resize your project by changing the font size or by dragging the corners of the design.
When everything is perfect, click "Create"! 👈
To load your vinyl into the machine, you don't need a cutting mat! Just place it under the clamps on each side of the tray when the screen prompts you.
The machine will see that you've inserted it and will start pulling it into place.
Now that you've designed the artwork and loaded the vinyl, here are the steps to finish cutting and applying your project:
1️⃣ - Once the vinyl is loaded, Design Space will activate the Go button in the bottom right corner of the screen. Press it and let the Cricut Joy work its magic! When the cut is done, the machine unloads on its own, you don't have to do anything.
2️⃣ - Use scissors to cut around the outline of your design on the sheet of vinyl. Then remove the excess vinyl, starting from the corner and pulling it back to reveal your design.
3️⃣ - You can use our weeding kit to remove any remaining excess vinyl. The inside of the letters can be tricky to weed if you don't have a hook or a tool made for this purpose.
4️⃣ - Cut a piece of transfer tape slightly larger than your design. You'll use it to stick your label onto your container in one go.
5️⃣ - Peel the backing off the transfer tape, keeping the clear, sticky grid. Place the transfer tape over your design and rub it to make sure the letters or design stick to the tape.
6️⃣ - Pull the transfer tape up, which should bring the artwork along and leave the white backing on its own.
7️⃣ - Press your new sticker onto the surface of your choice, rubbing over the artwork, then peel away the transfer tape to leave only the design.
And there you have it!
We hope this tutorial helped you figure out whether or not you need to get yourself a Cricut Joy!
Our company specializes in selling heat-transfer vinyl and adhesive vinyl. These materials are popular with people who own a cutting machine (Cricut Joy or otherwise)
- Heat-transfer vinyl lets you transfer designs onto your textiles (t-shirts, sweatshirts, cushions...)
- Adhesive vinyl lets you transfer designs onto solid surfaces (furniture, desks, windows...)
Order our heat-transfer vinyl and adhesive vinyl now in the Paper Transfer online shop! ⤵️
Heat-Transfer Vinyl Shop
