Cricut Joy Review

The Cricut Joy is a small, lightweight cutting machine designed for quick and easy projects. It's compact size makes it perfect for home use, fitting comfortably on a desk or craft table without taking up much space. The cutting mat that comes with the Joy has 4.5" x 6.5" workable space. I purchased a separate cutting mat with 4.5" x 12" workable space which works better for most of my projects. Cricut also makes a matless vinyl if you need to create a project that's 4.5" x 6' long. If you have projects with larger width dimensions you probably want to look into one of the larger machines.

Despite its size, it offers a range of features that allow you to cut, write, and draw on various materials. This is a great tool for party and holiday decor and designs! You can create custom decals, labels, cards, and even iron-on designs for fabric. The machine handles vinyl, cardstock, iron-on vinyl, and paper with ease. The Cricut Joy also supports writing and drawing with compatible pens, allowing you to add personalized messages or artistic touches to your creations.

Setting it up is pretty straightforward, and the machine connects wirelessly to your computer, tablet or smartphone via Bluetooth. The companion app, Cricut Design Space, offers a simple interface where you can create or upload your own designs. Design Space includes a library of ready-made projects and fonts, which is helpful if you want inspiration or a quick start. There are a limited amount of free fonts and designs in Design Space. If you want to create your own designs or be able to use Cricut Design Space to its full capacity, you will need to pay for a subscription. It's usually $9.99/month, or if you want to pay for the whole year it's $7.99/mo. They periodically offer $1 subcriptions for a month, that ultimately bump back up to $9.99 the following months. It's pretty easy to cancel your subscription. I will periodically subscribe for a month when I have a bunch of projects I want to make and cancel when they're all finished.

The Cricut Joy is really great when it comes to Iron-On Transfers. You can create t-shirts with custom iron-on designs. Simply open Cricut Design Space. Select an image and/or words to add to a t-shirt. Then make sure it will all fit on your transfer material. Mirror the image or it will cut your image backwards. Then select Smart Iron-On Matless Heat Transfer Vinyl. Stick your vinyl on the Cricut Mat and load it into the Cricut Joy. It will say loading on Design Space. Then click Go and the Joy will start cutting your design. When completed, click unload and the Cricut will release the mat. Select done on design space and peel off the vinyl. There are tools you can purchase specifically for the Cricut that will help you when removing your patterns. We highly recommend purchasing these as they will make things much easier. Use the tools to help remove the excess vinyl and reveal your pattern. Position the iron-on vinyl where you want it on the shirt. Pull the shirt over an ironing board. Before ironing, place a piece of cotton fabric over the vinyl. Then start ironing the vinyl for about a minute. It may need a little more time. Peel back the transfer material and you're good to go! You may need to smooth out some parts by laying the cotton fabric over the vinyl again and going over with the iron for a few seconds. Cricut also makes a heat press for easy iron on vinyl transfers.

Whether you want to make personalized gifts, or decorate your home, this machine supports your creativity without overwhelming your workspace. While it may not replace larger models for heavy-duty crafting, it offers excellent value for casual users and those focused on smaller projects.

DISCLOSURE: This site contains affiliate links, meaning we get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through the included links, at no cost to you.

Back to Home