Cricut Joy Review: The crafting tool to shop now | Best Buys

2022-05-14 01:56:53 By : Mr. Haoran Fu

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Do you love crafting and tech? This device by Cricut Joy combines the best of both worlds. It's time to ditch the scissors and start making professional-grade creations at home.

If crafting is one of your favourite pastimes, the Cricut Joy Cutting and Writing Machine should be on your radar.

Designed for working with paper, vinyl, and other craft materials, this compact device allows you to write and cut with precision. You can make personalised greeting cards, design cupboard organisation labels, create custom stickers and decals — and so much more.

If you have kids, are a professional crafter or simply love to make your own DIY creations, this is the next, cutting-edge innovation that will enhance your creative process to make crafting more satisfying, efficient and enjoyable.

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The Cricut Joy Cutting and Writing Machine is marketed as a 'pint-sized powerhouse' — and we can totally see why.

Weighing just 1.75 kg and measuring around 20 cm wide x 11 cm tall, this tiny-but-mighty crafter makes it possible to personalise almost anything. It can cut through over 50 materials, including iron-on, cardstock, vinyl, stick-and-peel paper and more. That way, as the brand says, you can just 'load-and-go' on projects that take about 15 minutes.

With its drawing function, the Cricut Joy allows you to draw any shape and write in a number of fonts, so that you can make beautiful birthday or greeting cards in minutes.

Also at Very for £159.99 (Was £179.99)

1. Decorative stickers & decals The Cricut Joy can cut out detailed stickers & vinyl for almost anything, including phone cases, water bottles, windows, furniture and more. Customise that boring coffee cup or mug with an inspirational message, image, or even a photo. Or, if you run your own business, you can create promotional decals and stickers.

2. Custom heat transfers & iron-ons for clothing & fabrics This little machine can cut out detailed heat transfers and iron-on transfers, which you can apply to clothing, textiles and fabric. Use these iron-ons to decorate t-shirts, baby grows, upholstered furniture, and more with special messages and images.

3. Unique greeting cards & gift tags With the Cricut Joy UK, you can quickly create custom greeting cards. Besides penning perfect writing and cuts, the Cricut Joy can also make cut-out cards with the use of the Cricut card mat (sold separately).

4. Fun banners & party decorations Get the party started with the Cricut Joy! It can cut out stickers or write text, perfect for party and special occasion banners. Alternatively, use it to write flawless invitations and craft other special decorations. Using the optional foiling tool (sold separately), you can also emboss foil images, lines and text onto paper to create gorgeous invitations and menus.

5. Organisational labels Get organised with the Cricut Joy UK. Use it to cut out custom labels for your food containers, drawers and storage. Alternatively, use it to create labels for your journals, diary, calendars, school books and more. The Cricut Joy can also be used for school or work projects and family arts & crafts.

These are the main differences between the Cricut Joy and its sister products, the Maker 3 and Explore 3.

You can easily set up the Cricut Joy using the Design Space app. Just make sure you have a wall outlet nearby, as well as enough counter space to position your Cricut machine properly.

Note that the Cricut Joy is also Bluetooth-enabled but doesn’t feature WiFi or an Ethernet or USB port. And so, the device you’re running the app on must have Bluetooth. If you are using an older computer that doesn’t, you may need to buy a Bluetooth dongle or find a way to get Bluetooth installed.

Follow the directions below to easily and quickly set up your Cricut Joy:

After giving the Cricut Joy a review, we can say that this nifty little gadget is a professional cutting machine in your pocket. Ok, maybe more so your handbag. But still, it’s quite impressive for such a small machine. It’s so portable you can easily take it with you to events, a friend's house, crafting group, work — or anywhere else you need it. We love that you can create your own custom designs or choose from the multitude of templates.

The Cricut Joy UK is also easy to set up and use. Mainly designed to work with the app, it doesn’t actually have any buttons. No, not even a power button. Everything you want to do with it must be done via your device, which simplifies things a lot. You don’t need WiFi or an internet connection to use it, either. Simply connect to it via Bluetooth for easy wireless printing, foiling and cutting.

The Cricut Joy is no Maker 3 or Explore 3 — but it’s not supposed to be. As a lower-range product geared towards those with a smaller budget, it can’t cut balsa wood, leather, or any other speciality smart materials. Yes, it is a bit slower, less powerful, and has a smaller workspace than other full-size Cricut products.

On the crafting tool spectrum, It’s not cheap, either. That said, if it suits your budget, we think it's a worthy investment due to the amount of entertainment and satisfaction it can bring.

Additionally, if you want access to more than just the basic Cricut offerings that come for free, you'll have to join Cricut Access for a cost of £7.49 per month. While it is an extra cost, this subscription comes with over 200,000 images, 700+ fonts and more.

Reading this Cricut Joy review, it’s easy to see that this machine has plenty of charm. Custom-designed yet professional creations are at your fingertips. Additionally, more productivity, as the Cricut Joy takes on those repetitive crafting tasks for you, leaving your hands free.

Overall, we think that it makes a lovely gift for yourself (or that crafter in your life). For the creative types, the various uses and capabilities of this machine may certainly inspire them.

--- Prices updated on 17/03/2022. We are not responsible for any changes to the prices mentioned above.

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