If you follow me on Instagram, you may remember when I went to Salt Lake City in January, posted a few airplane photos and then proceeded to never told you why I was there… and that’s because I was sworn to secrecy by Cricut. I’m so excited to finally be able to share what I got up to while I was there… and it’s HUGE!
Well, technically it’s little.
Meet the new Cricut Joy! It’s tiny, but mighty. We flew out to SLC to learn all about it and take it for a test spin (spoiler alert: it’s awesome) and I’m so happy to finally be able to talk about it.
I’m seriously so excited about this product. Cricut Joy can cut more than 50 materials, including brand new new Smart Materials without a mat, (more on that later) and the regular vinyl, iron-on and paper materials with a mat. It can also write using Cricut Joy pens. (Note: the pens are different from the ones you would use in your Maker/Explore machines.) It’s bluetooth enabled which means less cords.
If you already have a Cricut machine it’s the perfect companion, and if not it’s great as a stand-alone product for anyone who wants to start dabbling in Cricut made crafts!
One of my many favourite features about this little guy is it’s size. It’s perfect for small spaces, is lightweight and conveniently portable. It’s so quick and easy to whip out that I honestly see myself crafting more frequently.
Don’t get me wrong – I love my maker and this machine could never completely replace it but sometimes it can take some time to get out and set up. I love how easy it is to just grab the Joy and whip out some vinyl stickers, a card or a simple iron-on design in under 5 minutes.
It’s small size also means it’s perfect for any room. If you don’t have a dedicated craft room, or want to make something while you multitask, then Cricut Joy is your new best friend. I love that I can set it up in my bedroom or even my kitchen and have it do it’s thing while I’m watching TV or making some food – talk about a win!
It also makes storing it super easy if you don’t have a large space. Cricut Joy is so cute that it looks good even just chilling on a bookshelf.
Another one of my favourite things about the new Cricut Joy is how incredibly easy it is to make cards. I honestly never was the type of person to make cards with my Cricut Maker – it just seemed like too much of a hassle.
The new Cricut Joy card mat and card inserts makes it SO incredibly easy and quick to make customized cards. The card insert sets come with 10 pre-scored cards, 10 insert pieces and 10 envelopes. They’re designed to work with something called “Quick Corner” card images in Cricut Design Space. You literally just select a design and go!
I’ll never buy a card again! Thanks to Cricut Joy, you can make a card in literally under 5 minutes and in less than 3 steps, which is perfect for someone like me who often forgets to pick up a card for any occasion. I’m going to always keep some card insert sets on-hand for this reason.
I’m usually pretty organized when it comes to things like birthdays or Christmas, but when it comes to hostess gifts I’m always scrambling last minute. For this post, I thought I would show you how easy it is to create personalized hostess gifts in no time at all, including a card!
DIY Custom Cards in 5 minutes:
- Cricut Joy
- Cricut Joy Card Mat
- Cricut Joy Insert Card sets
Step 1 – launch Cricut Design Space and select and cut your designs:
Cricut Design space has tons of ready-made projects, including cards. Once you find a design you like, click on “make” to navigate to the next screen and connect your Cricut Joy.
Once the screen is loaded, you’ll see a pop-up menu asking you to select a load option for your materials for the project. In this case, we’re using the card mat so select that and then get your materials ready.You’ll have a chance to review your artwork and ensure everything looks good to go.
Place the insert card inside the card mat, as shown above. Next, remove the protective plastic sheet covering the top part of the mat and press down the front of the card so it sticks to the mat. Once you’re ready, click continue.
Step 2 – loading the machine
When prompted, load the mat into the machine – this is where things will differ a little bit from your other Cricut machines so I wanted to draw special attention to that.
Cricut Joy is smart loading.
Yep, you read that right. It has sensors in the base so all you have to do is line up the card mat or Smart Materials to the machine and it will auto-load. Once it’s loaded, follow the prompts on your device screen and click “cut”.
It only took my Cricut Joy less than a minute to cut my design. Once the machine is done cutting, click on the “unload” button from your device’s screen.
Step 3 – weeding your design and placing the insert
Weeding the insert cards is super easy. Simply carefully peel back the front of the card off the mat. The negative pieces will be left behind. Remove the card from the card mat and grab your insert and insert it through the cut corners of the card. That’s it – you’re done!
If you’re a visual person like me, this video from Cricut is really handy to learn more about making cards with Cricut Joy!
I got in the habit of always keeping an extra bottle of wine on hand for when I’m in a pinch and needed a last-minute hostess gift.
One day my local grocery store had blank canvas wine totes. I ended up picking up a bunch to keep on hand as well to customize and go along with said bottle of wine. Thanks to Cricut Joy, it’s easier than ever to personalize anything even when you have only a few minutes to spare!
For this DIY, I’m going to be using one of Cricut’s new materials made exclusively for Cricut Joy – Smart Materials.
Smart materials are available in iron-on, infusible ink and vinyl. What makes them so different from the other materials is that you don’t need a mat for them! The backing is thicker and rolls are available in lengths of up to 20 ft long in select colours! To learn more about Smart Materials, check out this video from Cricut.
DIY Wine Tote/Hostess Gift:
- Cricut Joy
- Smart iron-on material (or regular iron-on plus Cricut Joy mat)
- Blank wine tote
- EasyPress or an iron
Step 1 – creating your designs:
For the most part, this step is similar to when making projects with other Cricut machines. The main difference is to ensure you have the right machine selected from the drop down menu once you open Design Space.
Create your design using Cricut Design Space. Cricut has loads of fonts, images and read-made projects available for free. There’s also tons more available through Cricut Access. If you’re graphic design savvy you can also upload your own designs in any of the following formats: .jpg, .gif, .png, and .bmp.
For this project, I simply searched for “wine” in the images and cartridges section and looked through the results until I found one that I liked.
Step 2 – loading the machine, cutting and weeding
Once you’re ready to make your project, click on “make”. You’ll see a pop-up menu asking you to select a load option for your materials for the project. In this case, we’re using Smart Materials so select the “without a mat” option and then get your materials ready. Make sure you have turned “mirror image” on.
Just like with the card, this step is a little different with Cricut Joy. When prompted, simply take the Smart Material, shiny side down, and line it up with the base of the machine to load it, no mat needed.
Once the material is loaded, click cut and Cricut Joy will do the rest. Once it’s done cutting, click the “unload” button from your device’s screen.
The weeding process for Smart Materials is basically the same as the regular materials. Once your design is weeded, it’s time to iron it onto the tote.
Step 3 – iron-on transfer:
Before you iron-on your design, make sure that you iron your tote/canvas bag to remove as many wrinkles and lines as possible to help ensure a better transfer. It also helps if the material is a little warm to start.
Using the Cricut Heat Guide, set your EasyPress to the right temperature and place your design onto the tote bag. Once the EasyPress is heated, set the timer and place your EasyPress machine on-top. For canvas, use 340°F and heat for 30 seconds with light pressure.
So now that we’ve gone over the basics and some things that you can make with Cricut Joy, I’m sure you’re all dying to know the price point and when you can get your hands on it.
Cricut Joy, along with the insert card sets, card mat, accessories and Smart Materials, will be available to purchase online and in stores on March 1, 2020 and retails for $179.99 USD. The specs from Cricut’s website are as follows:
Cricut Joy machine
This smart little cutting and writing machine is ridiculously easy to set up and use, so you’ll find endless excuses to personalize, organize, and customize every single day. With plenty of projects that take just 15 minutes, Cricut Joy makes it possible to make something unique for you – or anyone – at a moment’s notice.
Features:
- This smart little cutting and writing machine makes it easy to personalize anything
- Cuts 50+ materials, including iron-on, cardstock, vinyl, paper, and Smart Materials – super-easy, super-long cuts without a cutting mat
- Draws any shape and writes in a variety of styles
- Cuts individual shapes up to 4 ft long or makes repeated cuts up to 20 ft long*
- Fits in a cubby, packs away easily, sets up instantly
- Bluetooth® wireless technology
- Design Space® software for iOS, Android™, Windows®, and Mac®
For more info, head on over to Cricut’s website.
Raise your hand if you want one of these little guys in your life! I can’t wait to make more projects using my Cricut Joy and share them with you.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. While I may have received compensation and/or product mentioned in this post, the opinions and text are all mine. This post also contains affiliate links.
