If you just purchased a Cricut you might be wondering what crafting supplies you should stock up on. This will help you get started and understand which items are craft essentials and which items you could wait to purchase. There are some crafting supplies that you will need no matter what Cricut crafting project you choose to do, and others that you can wait on purchasing.
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Additionally, you should know that you do not always need to purchase the Cricut supplies and materials. There are some other brands that might actually be a better fit for your crafting needs. Over the years I have used a variety of products and the list of items where I feel that the Cricut supplies are the winner include
- Cricut cutting mats
- For tips on how to make your cutting mats last longer click HERE
- Cricut blades
- Cricut pens
- Cricut printable vinyl for decals
- I use this product for making stickers, as the backing is thinner than the Cricut sticker paper. The Clear Sticker Paper is also good, and I would use that again.
Cricut Craft Essentials
No matter what type of crafts you are making with your Cricut there are some items that you will need for every project. Those are the Cricut blades and the Cricut cutting mats. Your Cricut will come with a blade and a mat, but if you see these crafting supplies on sale I would recommend stocking up on them. You should make sure that you always have some standard fine tip blades and standard grip Cricut mats on hand. These are like the salt and pepper of your crafting supplies.
There are other types of Cricut mats and blades but each one has a specific reason to use them. For example, if you never plan to cut fabric with your Cricut then you probably do not need to purchase the Cricut Rotary Blade or the Cricut Fabric Grip Cutting Mat. Also, for blades and mats I recommend that you do purchase the Cricut brand ones and not the knock off brands. You can save money by shopping sales and following some simple tips and tricks to make your Cricut cutting mats last longer.
Other craft essentials include
- Scissors
- Cricut spatula and scraper – this will help you remove items from your Cricut cutting mat
Learn to use Cricut Design Space
One Cricut crafting item that I think a lot of people forget about is Cricut Design Space. This is the software that makes the Cricut run. I think that it is very important for Cricut owners to learn to use and understand this software. You can actually start to do this before you even purchase a Cricut machine or other supplies.
Luckily for you, I have the perfect tools for you to learn to use Cricut Design Space! My Teach Me Cricut Design Space resources that can be found under the Classes section of this site.
Since Cricut Design Space looks different from the computer version to the mobile app, I have created two handbooks to help you get started, the original Teach Me Cricut Design Space Handbook and the Teach Me Cricut Design Space for iPad Handbook. The handbook for the iPad will also be helpful for other mobile devices, but the screen size will be slightly different. These will show you the basics of using Design Space to get you started. I also have a Cricut Reminder Sheet that you can download. All three of these resources are free.
If you prefer a more personal one on one experience I also offer video lessons or private one on one project assistance sessions for a small fee. These are done over Zoom and are recorded, and then I email the recording to you. Since it is just you and me in the session you can feel free to ask my anything.
Personally I think my BEST value and most complete resource is my Teach Me Cricut Design Space Online Course. In this course I teach you everything I know about Design Space. If did the whole course in one sitting it would probably take you 5 -7 hours to complete . . . that is how much information is in there!
I break Design Space down into sections, so you could learn a section a day. There are also lessons for you to follow along with to practice what I taught you. I also give you my personal email address and I ask you to send me questions if you have them. I actually love questions from my followers, as this is how I know what additional material I need to add to my tutorials or resources. And if I make a new update to the course then I can just send out an email to everyone and the next time they open the course the new information will be there ready for them to view!
Now that you know that I can help you with the knowledge you need to use your Cricut, let’s get back to the crafting supplies you will need for your crafting space.
Paper Craft Essentials
If you plan to use your Cricut for paper crafts, such as making cards, scrapbooking or rolled paper flowers then there are very specific crafting supplies you will need for these crafts. The first one is some sort of adhesive to hold everything together. I like to have a tape runner and a glue pen on hand at all times. The tape runner will allow you to place double sided tape to the back of your paper crafts. The glue pen allows you to place glue in spots that are too small for the tape runner.
If you are looking for examples of paper crafting projects I have some suggestions listed below.
- Decorate some lollipops with paper hearts
- Create hearts that the lollipop sticks go through
- Create decorative characters
- Rolled Paper Flowers
- Layered 3D Mandala
Cardmaking Craft Essentials
One very popular paper craft is cardmaking. If you have never made a card with your Cricut I have a tutorial for a basic card HERE. Not only will you need the supplies we discussed above with general paper crafts, but you will also need a scoring tool and a bone folder. You will use these to make the crease or fold of your card.
If you really want to take your cardmaking to the next level and try shaker cards there is a whole separate list of supplies you will need. A fellow craft blogger from CraftaraDesigns.com has some great tutorials on shaker cards HERE.
HTV and Shirt Making Craft Essentials
If you plan to make shirts or any other projects with iron on vinyl, also known as heat transfer vinyl (HTV) you will want to get a weeding tool. This will help you to remove those small pieces from your designs. You will also need a roll of parchment paper to place over the top of your design so that the carrier sheet from the HTV is not in direct contact with your heat press.
I also highly recommend getting a heat press of some sort. If you have the space for a full size heat press then that is great, but if not the Cricut Easy Press will get the job done. I personally did not have as good of results with only using a household iron on shirts.
You will also need some iron on vinyl. I have tried several brands, and hands down Siser is my favorite. Not only can I get it at a great price in a variety of colors, but it is so easy to work with.
Make sure to check out my shirt tutorials from the links below, including
Making a Shirt with your Cricut
Layering Vinyl on a Shirt
Multi Colored Layered Vinyl on a Shirt
Print than Cut Image on a Shirt
All HTV/iron on vinyl projects
I prefer to use Siser brand vinyl for my iron on projects. I feel that is the best quality brand of iron on vinyl out there, and it weeds the easiest. For permanent vinyl I like StarCraft vinyl. People have asked me why not Cricut brand, since I use a Cricut machine. Personally I just do not like the way the Cricut vinyl cuts or weeds. I think you should find the brand you love and work with that product. Test things out for yourself. Sometimes it is just a personal preference like how some people would rather have Pepsi products over Coke products.
So once you find your brand of vinyl, where should you buy it? If your favorite brand is sold at the local craft store, then you are lucky in the fact that you can pretty much garantee that you can run to the store and pick up vinyl when ever you need it.
For me, Siser was not always sold in the stores, as it is now, so I had to get it from online retailers. Again, this is where you can either go with your personal preference of stores or go where the best deal is. One day the best price might be at one store, and then the next week it might be from a different retailer. We all do this when we sometimes pick up toliet paper at the grocery store, but then we also get it at Target when it is on sale.
I also love that I can order large rolls or small sheets when ordering Siser online. This can give you a larger variety of choices and allow to to save money on larger orders. To make sure you are getting the best price for your vinyl, make sure to check out my Vinyl Buyers Guide. Because of that, I will always share all of the different resource I am connected to and you can choose which one is best for you!
When I first started this site, I had not even heard of MyCraftSource, and now I am an influencer for them! Since all of their inflencers have a special coupon code, that means when you shop at My Craft Source you can get an extra 5% off your order just by using coupon code ShawnMosch at checkout!
Heat Transfer Warehouse is another supplier that I love, and they are actually somewhat close to me. Their headquarters are in North Dakota and I am in Minnesota. They even have their own line of vinyl, and they are partnering with other companies to really bring you a wide variety of products.
You may have noticed that there are a lot of retailers that only ship to places in the United States. This is because shipping prices can really add up. I want to be able to help my followers find their products no matter where they live and that is why I was happy to find some retailers that ship world wide! That is where the next two compnaies come in as options.
Let me introduce you to Expressions Vinyl. When you go to their site, make sure to check out the rewards program. This way you can earn points as you purchase products! Then those points can be redeemed on future purchases.
Another retailer that I work with is Vinyl and Tulle. Use coupon code SHAWNMOSCH to save 10% off your order!
I cannot forget my Canadian followers! Madame Blanks is located in Winnipeg Use coupon code SHAWN10 to save 10% off your order of StarCraft products! If you click on the link and it does not work, just know that the owners are taking a little break but hope to have everything back up and running soon! In the meantime, you could follow them on social media!
A shirt form and a shirt alignment tool are some items I would consider nice to have, but not a craft essential. I purchased my shirt form at a local craft store. I tried to find some on Amazon for you but all of the ones online seem to be sized for kids only. The alignment tool can help you to place and position your designs on a shirt.
If you are thinking of taking your vinyl projects to the next level and turn them into a side business you might want to consider purchasing them in bulk. People will often call this buying blanks, since these are plain blank items that you will decorate or embellish in some way. I found a list of suggestions of places by buy crafting blanks HERE. This list has a mix of things for heat transfer vinyl projects, sublimation and permanent vinyl.
Sticker Making Craft Essentials
One really fun project that you can do with your Cricut is making stickers. I have an easy to follow step by step tutorial for making stickers that you can read HERE. For this you will want an inkjet printer, and I would recommend checking out the buyers guide HERE.
I have tried a few different printable sticker papers, and I have to be honest with you . . . I do not like the Cricut printable for stickers sheets. I purchased it once and the backing on it was so thick and not very flexible that it did not go through my printer well.
The Cricut brand clear sticker paper works GREAT, if you want a clear sticker. For a sticker with a white background what I found to work better was the Cricut Printable Vinyl that says for decals on the label. Additionally, if you are looking to make a waterproof sticker I found that the waterproof vinyl label sheets from Neato Labels works great!
Do you want more suggestions?
If you want more suggestions for my recommendations of the crafting supplies you need to purchase, let me know! Leave a comment below with the type of craft or craft project you are looking to make and I can add the craft essentials for that project to this list!
