What Cricut Accessories & Materials do I really need?

If you feel you don’t know what accessories or materials you truly need to take advantage or your Cricut Machine. This is the right place for you!

Before I got my Cricut I felt bombarded with all of the shiny and beautiful things I could get. However, my pocket isn’t infinite and little by little things can really add up. My promise to you on this article, is to really show you what you truly NEED!

To make this post extra good and valuable to you I am going to tackle this question with two often ignored, and extremely important considerations and three different scenarios:

• Considering your Machine’s Limitations
• Considering things you are planning to cut
• Must have Accessories & Materials
• Hobby and profession Based accessories
• Money is not an issue, just show me the possibilities

What to expect from this guide? This is not a post where I am going to spit out tons of accessories and non sense materials. Here you are going to learn WHY is that you need them. So I encourage you to take your time, and go and grab some tea while you read this guide.

Before we dig into this post, and If you are still learning what a Cricut is and which one you should get; I highly recommend you to read this post where I walk you through 50+ questions before and after I got the Cricut. FYI I spent multiple hours of research and a whole week to put together this ultimate guide.

What Cricut Accessories & Materials do I really need?

When I hit the buy now button with my Cricut I had no idea what I was truly getting into. I just know I got a nice bundle with everything I needed to get started.

Although I read multiple articles, and watched tons of YouTube videos I couldn’t really understand the things I really needed to rock.

Right now I am committed to help you avoid the confusion and frustration I felt when I was just getting started.

Are you Ready?

Let’s dig in

Consider your machine’s limitations

Have you ever tried cutting bread with a butter knife? I have and let me tell you that the bread wasn’t edible at the end of my attempt.

The same things happens with the Cricut Machines they are designed with different purposes in mind.

There are 3 things you must have for you to cut any type of project: 1) Machine 2) Blade 3) Mat

Let me show you a quick summary

Machines

• Cricut Explore Family: There are 3 machines in this family – Explore One, Explore Air, Explore Air 2 – and they all cut the same materials. The Explore Family can cuts up to 2.0 mm thickness – no wood, or very dense materials)
• Cricut Maker: cuts up to 2.4 mm thickness, but it has 10x the strength of any the explore family machines so it can cut very dense materials like wood and thick fabrics.

Blades

• Fine Point Blade: Medium Weight Materials
• Deep Point Blade: Thick Materials (2 mm)
• Bonded Fabric Blade: Only to use with fabric and backing material
• Rotary Blade (Cricut Maker only): Fabric, not backing needed
• Knife Blade (Cricut Maker only): Thick and dense materials like basswood

If you want to learn everything there’s to know about blades, check out this ultimate guide I put together. This post can’t cover all of the explanation for each blade

Cricut Mats

Mats are where you lay your projects to be cut, this is very important because if you use the wrong mat then your materials can get ruin.

• LightGrip Mat – Blue: Thin materials like paper
• Standard Mat – Green: Medium Weight Materials like cardstock
• StrongGrip Mat – Purple: Thick materials like poster board and wood
• FabricGrip Mat – Pink: Designed for fabric only.

If you want to become an expert for Cricut Mats I encourage you to read this article where I go in depth about all of them! 

My point of showing you this summary is to make you aware of your machine’s design and specifications.

For instance, if you already have a Cricut Maker it might be silly for you to buy a Bonded Fabric blade, because the maker comes with a Rotary blade designed to cut all types of fabric.

Or if you have an explore machine, a knife blade will be useless because it’s not compatible with any of the explore family machines.

What projects and things are you planning to cut?

So you got a Cricut!

What are you going to cut? There are tons of projects you can create but if you don’t have any idea of what to cut or how to design, then you won’t even know where to start.

You see all of these amazing ideas on Pinterest and Social Media, but where did those designs come from?

That’s a good question, and something to consider.

If you are a designer and illustrator you might already know that you can cut pretty much anything you create, but if you are not one you might need a little extra help.

Although this is not a physical product. Cut files are one of the most important “accessories or materials” you will need.

The first option is to find free cut files – SVG – over the internet. There are tons of bloggers that offer them. In fact I have a growing library with not only SVG files but also other printables and is FREE for my subscribers. You can see a full preview here. Or, you can get access right here.

I care so much for you that you can just get these three SVG files for personal use 🙂 

Right click on each SVG file and select save! ?

Ok, let’s get going on 🙂

The second option is Cricut Access, let me explain you better:

Cricut has a software called Cricut Design Space, and you MUST use it in order to cut your projects. This Software is very cool, but it’s not like a super powerful tool to design from scratch like you would do on a program like Illustrator, or Photoshop.

Design Space is Free, and if you have your own files you can just upload and cut them. But if you have no idea or any files and want to do something cool, they also have something called Cricut Access.

Cricut Access is a paid membership, and depending on your plan you can get access to fonts, images, and all kinds of projects. If you have not experience whatsoever designing, or you don’t want to search the internet for free projects. For me, this membership is a MUST.

I think the most expensive one is about 10 dollars a month. Quite frankly I spend that on a burger with fries and ice cream.

Check out Prices and Plans Here

Note: Cricut Design Space does offer free cuts every week, so you can take advantage of this too!

A life as a crafter is not a cheap life. However, it’s a really fun one 🙂

Must have Accessories & Materials

No matter what hobby, profession, or whatever else you want to do. I believe that these are the accessories YOU MUST HAVE at all times.

Basic Tool Kit: These little tools are extremely important because they allow you to remove your project from your Mat. This is the kit I personally have and these are the tools you’ll find in it:

• Tweezers: Great to manipulate delicate materials
• Weeder: Helps you separate and remove negative cuts
• Scissors with blade cover
• Spatula: For you to take your cut from the Mat
• Scraper: Cleans your mat and also helps transfer designs from one surface to other.

Scoring Stylus: This is so useful and ok, you might not use it, but it’s so affordable that I think everyone should have it. This is for scoring and helping you to make folds on your materials.

Pens: Cricut Pens are an extremely and important tool! They will allow you draw and write on the surfaces you want to cut. The Pens are specifically designed to fit in the machine. Unless you have an adapter (3rd Party Product) other pens wont really work.

Mats: All machines come with one type of Mat (Check your product description before you buy). However, I think that you should have all of them. Then when a project comes up you are ready to go.

Blades: All machines come with the Fine Point Blade – The Cricut Maker comes with the Rotary blade also – I think you should at least have the Deep Point Blade. You never know if want to cut something a little bit thicker than usual. And if you do, you’re ready to get cutting!

For the bonded fabric, I think you can plan ahead. No one wakes up one day saying: Today I am going to cut fabric, And if you do, must likely got the Cricut Maker with the Rotary Blade, therefore you are good to cut.

Materials: The materials you need will vary depending on what you like to work with.

This is a list of some of the most common materials people use with the Cricut. And depending what you like you should invest.

Keep in mind that some of these materials can be quite expensive – Especially Vinyl & Wood – So make sure you practice on paper first!

• Paper & Cardstock: Michael’s, Target and Walmart are your best friends!
• Vinyl and Transfer tape: There are all kinds of vinyl out there. This material sticks on pretty much any surface, but you need a transfer tape in order to do so. Note: If you are using Glitter Vinyl maker sure use a Strong Grip Transfer tape.
• Iron On Vinyl: This is what you would use to personalize your T-shirts. There so many different color and styles.
• Fabric: I really don’t know a whole lot of fabric, but check out the options Cricut has.
• Wood: Can only be cut with the Knife blade and Cricut Maker. Balsa and basswood.

Hobby and profession based accessories

On this section I just want to put in perspective some of the accessories and materials you might need when you are using your machine with just one specific purpose in mind.

However, I still believe that you should invest in all of the accessories that I just mentioned above.

The materials are listed above. I will not include them here because if you are using your Cricut for an specific purpose. Most likely is that you already know what you like!

What do I need if I am sewist?

If you just want to cut fabric, these are some of the tools you’ll must likely need.

If you have an Explore Machine:

• Basic Tool Kit: Must have to remove projects from the mat – When using a Green Mat – You could get away without having it, but seriously, just get it. This is a Must for me.
• Bonded Fabric Blade: This is the blade designed to cut fabric for the Explore Machines. Don’t use other type of blade.
• FabricGrip or StandardGrip Mat: With the bonded fabric blade you can use any of these two mats.
• Backing Material: You need to bond fabrics with a backing material – Heat and Bonded – otherwise your fabrics can get ruined.
• Sewing Kit: If you are a sewist you may already have some of these tools. But I think this is a nice set for you to have on hand.

If you have a Maker

You can use all of the accessories I just mentioned above, and/or:

• Rotary Blade: This blade comes with the Cricut Maker. And you can cut fabric without backing material – yay!
• FabricGrip Mat: Must have for the Rotary Blade.
• Sewing Kit: If you are a sewist you may already have some of these tools. But I think this is a nice set for you to have on hand.

If you haven’t bought a Cricut yet and you are planning to be cutting tons of fabrics I highly recommend you the Cricut Maker. This bundle will fit all of your sewing needs.

What do I need if I am teacher?

Unless you want to work with very dense and thick materials like wood and very thick craft foam (3 mm); If you are a teacher most likely you can get away with any of the Cricut Explore Family Machines.

This is what I would recommend you:

• Basic Tool Kit: Must have to remove projects from the mat
• Scoring Stylus: This will help to make really cool folds on your projects for your students!
• LightGrip, StandardGrip, StrongGrip Mat: I think you should have all of the 3 mats because you want to be able to cut all of the types of materials your students or you – as a teacher – are going to use. From thin like printer paper to thick like corrugated paper.
• Fine Point Blade – It comes with the machine – for thin and medium weight materials.
• Deep Point Blade: for thick materials like corrugated paper

What do I need if home decor is my jam?

If you like to do simple window decals and vinyl decorations for your jars, closet, etc. Any of the Explore Family machines will be perfect for you. However, if you want to ever cut wood for makings signs etc. A Cricut Maker is a must have:

If you have an Explore Machine:

• Basic Tool Kit: Must have to remove projects from the mat
• LightGrip, StandardGrip: Any of these two mats will hold your Vinyl in place while it’s being cut.
• Vinyl and Transfer Paper: With these material you can create and transfer beautiful signs for your windows, doors, walls, etc. Note: If you are using Glitter Vinyl maker sure use a Strong Grip Transfer tape.
• Fine Point Blade: This blade cuts any type of vinyl and it comes with your machine.

If you have a Maker:

You can use all of the above accessories, plus:

• StrongGrip Mat: If you are cutting vinyl, you’ll need a light or standard grip mat. But if you are working with wood, you’ll need the StrongGrip Mat.
• Knife blade: If you want to cut wood and thicker materials you’ll need this blade. With this tool you can cut wood signs, door hangers, and more!

What do I need if paper is my passion?

Paper is my passion too! That’s why I got the Explore Air 2 (In the future and when budget allows I will upgrade to a Maker, but mainly because I want to show all of the possibilities)

Whether you have a Maker or any of the Explore machines, this is what you will need:

• Basic Tool Kit + Scoring Stylus: Must have to remove projects from the mat and create folds for you paper.
• LightGrip, StandardGrip, StrongGrip Mat: You need different grip options to cut different materials. A LightGrip mat will hold your thin materials, and a StrongGrip mat will secure thick materials.
• Fine Point Blade: Ideal for thin materials like cardstock and printer paper.
• Deep Point Blade: Cut thick materials like corrugated paper.
• Scoring Wheel (If you have a Cricut Maker): The scoring wheel is so much more powerful than the Stylus, and if you have the maker and paper is what you love you should totally invest on this tiny but mighty tool.

What do I need if I am all about vinyl and personalizing things?

Whether you have a Maker or any of the Explore machines, this is what you will need:

• Basic Tool Kit: Must have to remove projects from the mat
• LightGrip and StandardGrip Mat: Any of these two mats will hold your Vinyl in place while it’s being cut.
• Vinyl and Transfer Paper: With these material you can create and transfer beautiful signs for your windows, doors, walls, etc. Note: If you are using Glitter Vinyl maker sure use a Strong Grip Transfer tape.
• Fine Point Blade: This blade cuts all kind of vinyl.
• Easy Press: This is an expensive accessory. However, If you are planning on doing tons of vinyl for your T-Shirts, I think this is a really cool tool to have.

Money is not an issue, just show me the possibilities

Cricut has so many cool an amazing accessories that if money wasn’t an issue I would totally get.

If you already have some of their machines and tools I am sure that we both can agree with the quality of their products. They are just so beautiful and well designed, that gosh I just want the all!!!

So let’s dream together shall we?

Cricut Bright Pad

If you are cutting very small details and don’t have a good light, the weeding process – removing negative cuts from the final cut – can be a little hard.

Hear me out, this is not going to make you fail, you don’t really need this tool. However, it can make your life easier because it will allow you to see every detail while you are weeding your project.

Plus we are dreaming right?

Learn more and check prices for the Cricut Bright Pad

Easy Press

This is a great tool if you are getting into personalizing your T-Shirts.

If you are using Iron On you can use your home iron right? But this baby heats up evenly and it will leave your second guessing out of the picture.

It sure seems like a cool tool to have, wouldn’t you agree?

Learn more and check prices for the Easy Press

Storage Bags

I live in a tiny apartment. So I could use something like these storage bags.

However, I love displaying my Cricut. They seem very cool and trendy, and they are very useful for keeping your craft station nice and organized.

There’s also a bonus point; if you move around a lot and always want to bring your machine and tools with you. Some of these bags are especially designed to keep your Cricut safe!

Learn more and check prices for the Storage Bags

Am I missing Something?

Is there an accessory or material that you can’t live without and is missing in this guide?

Let me know in the comments below 🙂

Also, remember that Sharing is Caring!

I spent multiple hours to put this useful content together! If you learned something and think someone else could benefit from this great article. Don’t be shy and share it on your favorite social media!

By doing that you are also supporting my work!