Never Use These Cricut Supplies

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When you’re a Cricut beginner, you may be wondering what supplies you should use with your die cutting machine. Sometimes it’s just as important to know what supplies not to use with your Cricut machine! In this post, we’re going to share ideas of Cricut supplies we think you should never use.

Now, don’t get us wrong. Cricut makes amazing machines and some of their materials are our favorites. But, in many cases, we have found materials to use with our Cricut machines that are just as good or even better than Cricut brand supplies AND they will even save you money on craft supplies!

Never Use These Cricut Supplies

Cricut Brightpad

We have found in our experience that the Cricut Brightpad really doesn’t do much and for the money, it’s just not worth it. The only time it ever improved our weeding situation was with glitter HTV. With anything else, we couldn’t see a difference.

You’d be much further ahead to invest in some better lighting that will work for a multitude of different crafting scenarios. You can even just put your material up to a window to see the weeding lines better.

Cricut Vinyl

Cricut brand vinyl was great several years ago but then they changed the formula and now it simply isn’t the easiest material to work with. There are other brands that are much better and easier to use and less expensive to boot. Try Siser, Starcraft, or Oracal. They make our crafting so much easier!

12 x 10″ EasyPress

You might be surprised by this one but we find that the 12 x 10″ Cricut EasyPress is not the best one to use. Once you pick it up to use it, it quickly begins to lose heat, giving you uneven heating of your project. The smaller ones are much better and the Mini EasyPress, in particular, is one of our favorites for applying heat transfer vinyl. If you find you need a larger heat press on a consistent basis for things like Infusible Ink or really large projects, we suggest investing in a clamshell or other industrial-type heat press that will give you more versatility and more even heating.

Pro Tip: The 9 x 9 Cricut EasyPress doesn’t have this same issue and is another great alternative!

Cricut AutoPress

Sometimes we invest in Cricut supplies to check them out and try them for ourselves but this is one we haven’t bothered to buy. Why? Mainly because of the price point. You can purchase good quality heat presses for half the price of this one so it simply doesn’t make economical sense to us. Now, if you’re someone who struggles with traditional presses because of physical conditions like arthritis, this may very well be the best investment for you, but for the rest of us, there are other better options.

Infusible Ink

Some people really enjoy working with Infusible Ink but we find that if you are someone who wants to make a lot of sublimation projects, we recommend that you invest in a sublimation printer and other sublimation supplies. This way, you can create custom designs and use any colors your would like. In addition, since Infusible Ink sheets are simply sheets of sublimation ink that you have to cut and then weed, it’s quite easy to damage them and waste material.

Cricut Hot Glue Gun

When it comes to the many hot glue guns on the market, there are simply so many other, better options than the Cricut glue gun. It’s small, it’s corded, and it’s expensive. Check out the Lynn Lilly glue gun. You can use it cordlessly for up to 2 minutes at a time and it has a precision tip. It’s our favorite!

What are your favorite craft supplies? Which ones have you tried that you wouldn’t recommend to a crafting buddy? Let us know on social media, tagging us with the hashtag #MakersGonnaLearn.