Cricut Joy Projects to Inspire You Now!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine.

Learn all about the new small smart cutting machine, the Cricut Joy! Step by step tutorials and inspiration for Cricut Joy projects to get you started.

Have you seen the cute little Cricut Joy in my craft room pictures? It’s Cricut’s smallest machine and it is not only super cute and tiny, but it can make all new projects!

If you want to get into Cricut cutting machines, but with limited space and money, the Cricut Joy is great for little projects.

I received a Cricut Joy and some new Smart materials and I have been crafting away with it. So I wanted to share what I have learned about it and what things I have made.

So, What is a Cricut Joy?

The Cricut Joy is a compact and portable cutting machine that you can use anywhere. And when I say compact, I mean compact. It is only 5.5 x 8.4 inches big and weighs under 4 lbs.

So you can craft with it anywhere! It’s easy to carry from the kitchen counter to a bedroom dresser to the coffee table. I’ve even seen people use it in their car! It can be stored in a cubby or even a drawer.

It has Bluetooth capabilities so you can hook it up to any device to use with Cricut Design Space.

There are no buttons on the new machine! Once you plug it in, the power goes on. You load materials simply by putting them under the side guides on the Cricut Joy and then wheels will load the material in.

You do everything else in Cricut Design Space or the Cricut Design Space App (there is no longer a specific Cricut Joy app). There will be prompts to load the cutting mat, cut, and unload. All of which you do by clicking buttons on your tablet or computer (green Go buttons).

Make sure to watch the video, because I will show all of these steps in action!

Who is a Cricut Joy good for?

Obviously, this little machine, can’t do as much as the Cricut Maker, but it can do a lot for its size. It’s perfect for people who want to personalize a variety of materials, make labels, make greeting cards, and don’t have a lot of room to work with.

What materials can a Cricut Joy cut?

While the Cricut Joy can not cut wood and fabric like the Maker can, it still has a huge list of materials it can cut.

It has a precision blade that cuts over 50 different materials and with the new materials, you don’t even always need to use a mat. So less stuff to buy and store!

Being that this is a tiny machine, the one drawback is the size limitation of what it can cut. It can cut super long lengths without a mat (4 feet for an image or 20 feet for a repeating image), but the maximum width of an image is 4.5 inches.

Let’s take a look at the materials listed in Cricut Design Space:

Art Board, Cardstock, Iron-On, Leather, and Paper:

Art Board, Corrugated Cardboard, Flat Cardboard, Foil Poster Board, Glitter Cardstock, Insert Card – Cardstock, Medium Cardstock – 80 lb (216 gsm), Everyday Iron-On, Everyday Iron-On Mesh, Everyday Iron-On Mosaic, Glitter Mesh Iron-On, Holographic Iron-On, Holographic Iron-On Mosaic, Holographic Sparkle Iron-On, Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets, Smart Iron-On, Smart Iron-On – Glitter, Smart Iron-On – Holographic, Smart Iron-On – Patterned, SportFlex Iron-On, Leather, Faux Leather (Paper Thin), Deluxe Paper, Foil Embossed, Deluxe Paper, Adhesive Backed, Foil Paper – 0.36 mm, Pearl Paper, Shimmer Paper, Smart Label Writable Paper, Sparkle Paper, True Brushed Paper, Foil Acetate.

Vinyl: Adhesive Foil, Chalkboard Vinyl, Dry Erase Vinyl, Holographic Sparkle Vinyl, Premium Vinyl, Premium Vinyl – Frosted Glitter, Premium Vinyl – Frosted Gray, Premium Vinyl – Frosted Opaque, Premium Vinyl – Holographic, Premium Vinyl – Holographic 3D Texture, Premium Vinyl – Holographic Art Deco, Premium Vinyl – Holographic Bubbles, Premium Vinyl – Holographic Crystals, Premium Vinyl – Holographic Threads, Premium Vinyl – Mosaic, Premium Vinyl – Pearl, Premium Vinyl – Textured, Premium Vinyl – Textured Metallic, Premium Vinyl – True Brushed, Smart Label Writable Vinyl, Smart Vinyl – Holographic Patterns, Smart Vinyl – Matte Metallic, Smart Vinyl – Permanent, Smart Vinyl – Removable, Smart Vinyl – Shimmer, Stencil Vinyl, Party Foil, Window Cling

That’s a huge amount of some of my favorite materials!

Smart Materials

You’ll notice that there are new “smart materials”. Smart materials are vinyl and iron-on that the Cricut Joy can cut up to 20 feet of repeating patterns at a time, 20 feet, holy moly!

No mats are used, just a long roll of vinyl! And the new smart vinyl and iron-ons come in a wide variety as stated above.

Did you notice the smart label writable vinyl and writable paper? No need for a label maker anymore! Now, I love a good label maker, but the Cricut Joy can write and cut much cuter labels than my label maker can.

If you love to organize or even have an organizing business, then the Cricut Joy will most likely become your best friend. With it being so portable, you can cut labels wherever you are!

The Cricut Joy has small pens and markers that are specifically for its size. Learn more about it at Cricut.com.

Cricut Design Space and the Cricut Joy

Cricut Design Space now has a drop-down menu for all the different Cricut machines. When you open up design space, you can choose which machine you will be using on the top right-hand corner (or under the three lines on the left if you are on a tablet).

With a new Cricut Joy, you already have access to 50 free projects!

Click on the drop-down menu of My Projects and then click on Free for Cricut Joy. Your first project is only a few clicks away.

You’ll find all sorts of different ready to make projects here like cards, iron-on projects, labels, and so much more! I’ve had fun making quite a few of these projects already.

Cricut Joy Settings in Design Space

The other thing you’ll notice that’s different with the Cricut Joy is the size and ways to cut materials in Cricut Design Space. When you are ready to cut a new project, a screen will pop up asking you how you will load the materials.

You need to pick which way you are going to cut it so the machine knows what to do. You can cut long rolls of Smart materials (listed above) on Without Mat, or use different size materials on Cricut Joy Mats, or use the On Card Mat for cards (will talk about in a sec), or Multiple Ways where you will manually pick for each cut.

You can also pick which way to cut material by the drop-down menu on the side of the Prepare Screen.

Then the next drop-down menu will have you select the size for whichever load type you picked.

For example, if you are making cards with an On Card Mat, you have three different sizes to pick from. The standard Cricut Insert Card packs you can buy are 4.25″ x 5.5″.

For On Mat, you can pick from two different Cricut Joy mat sizes. They come in the standard 4.5″ x 6.5″ and the longer 4.5″ x 12″.

If you want a slightly larger machine that has print then cut capabilities to make stickers, you might want to try out the new Cricut Joy Xtra.

So let’s make a few easy projects!

How to Make Cards with the Cricut Joy

I used to make cards all the time but I kind of got out of paper crafting once I figured out what I could do with vinyl. But with the Cricut Joy, my love for card making is back!

It is so easy and there are a ton of free card projects available with the Joy. Here are a few cards I’ve already made.

Materials Needed for Cricut Joy Cards

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links from Shareasale, Cricut, Awin, CreativeFabrica, and Amazon.com. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my links (purple text). As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• Cricut Joy
• Cricut Joy card mat – Make sure to remove the plastic covering before you use it!
• Cricut Joy insert cards
• Cricut Joy tools
• Cricut Joy pens

The first thing you’ll want to do is find a card you want to make under “Free for Cricut Joy”. Click on Make It.

It will show you a preview of the card on the mat. Click Go.

Then you’ll need to insert a card insert into the card mat. Open up the card and slide the backside between the mat and the plastic guide. Slide the card all the way up so that it butts up against the top and side.

You’ll see that the card fits right inside the guidelines. Fold down the top of the card and press it down on the mat.

On your tablet or computer, select insert card as the material.

CDS is telling me to insert a pen first, so I removed the blade housing from the clamp and inserted the pen in it’s spot.

When Design Space prompts you, load the mat. Simply place it up to the rollers and the machine will start rolling it in. (No buttons to push!)

The machine will make sure it’s inserted straight and then the CDS screen will have a cut button. Push it and watch it go!

When the pen is done drawing, the Cricut Joy will pause and CDS will prompt you to insert the blade. Remove the pen and clamp in the blade housing.

Once it’s detected, it will cut the rest. Cricut Design Space will pause and show an unload button on the screen. Push it to unload!

Now gently pull off the front of the card from the mat. The cut out sections should stay on the mat (if they don’t simply, remove them from the cardstock). Then slide out the card.

Insert one of the background cardstock through the slits in the corners. No glue needed!

All done! So quick and cute!

Here are a few more!

And a few more everyday projects that you can make with the new Cricut Joy machine.

Stickers with Deluxe Adhesive Paper

I received this beautiful Natalie Malan deluxe adhesive paper so I decided to make some stickers to put on the cards and envelopes.

You’ll need a Cricut Joy LightGrip Mat to cut the deluxe adhesive paper with.

I found a few images in CDS and sized them to just a few inches. After I clicked on Make It, I selected On Mat and then 4.5 x 12 for my mat.

After I clicked on Continue, I found Deluxe Adhesive Paper in the drop-down material menu. Lower right hand corner on my screen!

Since one of my stickers, was a draw then cut, CDS prompted me to load a pen. I inserted the pen in the clamp and then loaded my mat.

Then click on Go and follow the prompts on screen if the machine pauses.

Click on Unload mat when it’s done. Then peel the paper from it’s backing and apply to whatever you want!

Easy Wall Decals

The Cricut Joy also makes it super easy to make some wall decals. My youngest was really excited to cut out some dog vinyl decals for his wall.

I found a bunch of cute dog silhouettes in Cricut Access and sized them all under 4.5 inches tall and cut them all out at once (about 4 feet!)

I even took the Joy up to his bedroom and cut them out on his floor using the app of my smartphone.

I opened the app and connected it to the machine with the Bluetooth settings and selected Cricut Joy as my machine.

I used a foot roll of Smart Vinyl and inserted it directly into the machine when I was prompted to load. No mat!

It pulled the vinyl all the way in and then cut all of the cute wall decals out.

Once it was done cutting I got an unload prompt from CDS that I tapped on and the vinyl unloaded.

I pulled and weeded the extra vinyl off. Only one of the images needed to be applied with transfer tape since it was multiple words.

I cut a piece of transfer tape, peeled off the backing, and placed it on the image. Then I used a scraper to scrape it down.

Then pull off the backing of the vinyl and you are left with the image on the transfer tape.

He decided he wanted this image on his dresser so I pressed it onto one of the drawers and then scraped it down really well. Then I peeled off the transfer tape.

Then he peeled off the other dog wall decals and put them where ever he wanted. Cute and easy wall decor for a dog lover!

Well there you have three easy Cricut Joy projects and some information on this fun new smart cutting machine.

If you need even more inspiration, check out these amazing Cricut Joy projects from some other creative Cricut crafters.

If you’d like to save these ideas for later, simply hover over the top left of the image below and Pin It now!

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!