Just Might DIY

Do you ever have one of those “man, that happened fast!” moments? That’s exactly how a Cricut Maker ended up here. I went from getting a surprise gift card to buying a Cricut–a machine I had never given a second thought to–in the span of about 24 hours.

It truly happened so fast that I can’t remember what even led me to think about adding one to our DIY arsenal in the first place. Hell, I even thought it was pronounced “cry cut” until I started watching YouTube videos about them. Turns out, it’s pronounced “cricket.” 🦗

Good to know.

Anyway, in the same week I was drooling over my new Bosch Jigsaw, which was my birthday present to myself, I was unboxing my shiny new Cricut Maker. It seemed like such a dichotomy on the maker tool scale…mostly because it was.

In case you’re not familiar, a Cricut is essentially a die-cutting CNC machine that’s used by crafters to create many different things, but mostly from what I can tell, paper and vinyl crafts. There are a few of the more crafty type projects on my list; however, what excites me the most with the Cricut Maker are the other possibilities.

As soon as I learned about all the different materials the Cricut Maker could cut, I started dreaming up ways to push the creative bounds with it. You see, the Maker edition cuts way more than vinyl and paper–it can cut wood, chipboard and similarly sturdy materials. It does have its limitations on the thicknesses and species of wood, but it cuts wood nonetheless. And it’s in those capabilities that I see the most application–and possibility–for what D and I can do with it.

We actually snuck a little something like that into our most recent project, the Resin Ocean Mirror Tray. When we needed a way to attach the dock cleats to the mirror, we created bases for the cleats with stacked basswood pieces. Could we have cut them with some other tool and out of some other wood? Sure. BUT, we couldn’t do it as quickly and with the same level of precision as the Cricut Maker.

This was just the first example, and I was able to make the cleat bases with very little Cricut experience. I can’t wait to see the limits I push when I actually know what I’m doing! For now, I’m just having fun, cutting lots of different materials to get the hang of it. I’m super impressed with the machine itself (though I’m less enthralled with their design software–more on that in another post).

Here are the first two things I made with the Cricut Maker:

If you’ve been thinking of getting one yourself, 100% go for it. You won’t regret it. You can shop these on Amazon through our affiliate link below, and we’ll get a small commission if you buy (though you don’t pay anything extra – it’s just bonus for us for referring you):

Shop Cricut on Amazon

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Stay tuned for much, much more on the Cricut front. (And the jigsaw, too, because that thing is also amazing.)

jz