4 Surprising Materials You Can Cut with your Cricut Maker

More than likely your first few projects are going to be vinyl related because that’s what most of us think of first when we start using our machines. But the thing is, once you start using your Cricut Maker you’re going to LOVE IT. And not long after that, might start to set your sights on new projects that go beyond vinyl… Perhaps into materials that you wouldn’t even imagine a cutting machine could handle.

I know that I was SUPER surprised when I found out my Cricut Maker could cut wood. Like, I was totally amazed. And so stunned that I called my dad. Because he likes to make things like I like to make things but cutting heat transfer vinyl is never going to be on his radar. But cutting WOOD. “What type of wood? What thickness? How big can the pieces be?” We both had our minds BLOWN.

After this little discovery, I started poking around in the materials section of the Cricut online store I found myself well and truly amazed. And today we’re going to discuss cutting leather, chipboard, wood and fabric with your Cricut Maker. Such a range, right? Want to learn more?

But first, here’s a general tip that will really, really help you out…

Some of the sturdier materials we’ll be talking about today will take multiple passes to cut clean through. This takes time. And if you’re like me, you’re going to forget about your Cricut whirring and slicing and all even with it right beside you because after an hour, you sort of begin to tune it out. So. If you’re going to be on your computer always, ALWAYS make sure your Cricut Design Space window is out there ALL ON ITS OWN. Then you can have another browser window opened up, with however many other tabs you need to shop online, look for something to cook for dinner, or scroll endlessly through social media and you don’t have to worry about accidentally hitting that X in the corner when you’re done and ruining all of the progress your Cricut Maker has made (and the material, too)

I swear this tip is worth its weight in GOLD. Or HTV. Or whatever your crafty heart wants to cut the most. But seriously take heed :)

Now, let’s get back to these four amazing materials you can cut… First up, let’s talk about chipboard. This probably isn’t super blow your mind if you’re already a paper crafter and a scrapbooker, but not being either of those things I was well and truly amazed that something so thick and dense could be cut with a machine. And for my first ever chipboard project I decided to make a puzzle of my favorite gal, my kitty Marla!

Cutting Chipboard with a Cricut Maker

Now seriously, isn’t that one darn fine looking puzzle? And if you were wondering, YES, we did have a special catnip filled photo shoot JUST for the most perfect puzzle pic :)

For this project you will need:

• Cricut Maker
• Cricut 2mm Chipboard
• Cricut StrongGrip Mat
• Cricut brayer
• Cricut Knife Blade + Housing
• Painter’s Tape (blue masking tape)
• Photo paper and printer
• Adhesive (I like to use a strong glue stick)

First up you’ll need one of those Cricut StrongGrip Mats and a brayer. What exactly is a brayer? Well, it’s that rolly thing in that photo just up there that you roll over your material on your mat that helps push it down into the adhesive so that it REALLY STICKS and stays put during the cutting process. I just ordered my own brayer last week and I feel like such a clod that I didn’t get one sooner. But after I couldn’t get my materials to always stick to the mat well enough to not shift around during the cutting process, I straight up PAID FULL PRICE for one and had that sucker overnighted, to boot. So get you a brayer, folks. For real.

Place your Cricut 2mm Chipboard  onto your StrongGrip Mat and use your brayerto roll that sucker down into the adhesive. You don’t need to roll for days, or anything, just make one pass rolling left to right and then top to bottom like you would if you were painting a wall with a roller. Apply a good amount of pressure but not so much that you feel like you’re going to Hulk out or something.

Grab your roll of painter’s tape and secure the edges all of the way around the chipboard onto the mat.

FYI, even a brand new roll of painter’s tape that should release cleanly likely will not and when removed it will peel away the top layer ruining your work. So when applying the tape, only apply to as much of the board as you don’t need. Gosh, I hope that makes sense (you can kind of see what I’m talking about in the photo below, FYI).

Print and adhere your photo onto the chipboard using your fave adhesive and let it dry several hours, but overnight is best.

While in Cricut Design Space, search for “puzzle” and find the one that you’d like to use. We used that big guy right in the middle, bottom with 81 pieces, yeah buddy!

Move things around as needed in the Make It screen of Cricut Design Space to cut your puzzle out, so that it shows on the screen that it will cut in the same area as your photo is placed on the actual cutting mat. Load up your knife blade + housing, if necessary.

Sit back, give it a good hour or so and watch your machine work. You don’t necessarily have to babysit the Cricut Maker the whole time, but you want to be around to hear if anything goes awry so that you don’t damage your machine. In fact, I would always be sure to be in the room during the last 2 passes, just in case it cut a little bit deeper so it didn’t cut through the mat and into the machine. I figured better safe than sorry…

Ah! Cute, right? Now the puzzle cut file I used actually as some more pieces than what I chose to omit. I wanted something more like straight from the puzzle box that I used to put together with my Mimmie when I was a kid. As such, I omitted the backing piece and the top frame which is something you see more often on a children’s puzzle.

Chipboardin the Cricut Maker? Check! What’s next? Let’s talk about leather, baby.

Cutting Leather with a Cricut Maker

This adorable leather notebook isn’t my own design, it’s a cut file I used that was designed by Vintage Revivals and isn’t it just too cute? The drawn on design is one different, from the VR version though, and speaks a little more to my personality. After all, when I was coming out of anesthesia after surgery and asked how I was doing I instantly replied “I’m f-ing awesome”. To do? Be awesome. Chickety Check. :)

For this project you will need:

• Cricut Maker
• Leather (Cricut has FAB leather but I used something from my stash for this)
• Cricut StrongGrip Mat
• Cricut brayer
• Cricut Knife Blade + Housing
• White cardstock, 2 sheets & Color cardstock, 1 sheet
• Leather cord
• Cricut Design Space Cut File (and directions)

So, normally when working with leather you’re going to make sure that fuzzy, suede-like side is facing UP on a StrongGrip Mat. That’s because that fuzzy business will totally stick to your mat once your project is through.

Yep, like that.

But since we’re using a marker to draw our design on the front of the notebook, you’ll want to place your leather like this. To refresh your mat and remove the leather fuzzies use a little bit of warm water and a clean soft brush (I have a brush JUST for mat upkeep I got from the cleaning aisle at the grocery store that never gets used with any kind of chemicals) and gently rub away the debris. Allow to fully dry and your mat is once again clean and sticky. Huzzah!

Since this project is from Cricut Design Space, I won’t reinvent the wheel, just head on over here for the cut files and details.

Boom. Lovely, right?

Now let’s get after material number 4… WOOD! And let’s make the neatest thing EVER, a Cricut tool organizer/holder that you make with your Cricut Maker.

Cutting wood with a Cricut Maker

Is your mind, like, totally blown? This is totally like “Inception” isn’t it? And if you ever find yourself not recalling the title of that film, just Google “Leonardo DiCaprio what is reality” and it’s totally the first thing to pop up, haha!

For this project, you will need:

• Cricut Maker
• Cricut  11″ x 11″ Basswood
• Cricut StrongGrip Mat
• Cricut brayer
• Cricut Knife Blade + Housing
• Painter’s Tape (blue masking tape)
• Adhesive (we went with a super strong adhesive but wood glue works, too)
• Cricut Design Space File

For this project, you’ll need 2 pieces of 11″x11″ basswood, which I am totally stoked that you can buy straight from Cricut! Attach it to your StrongGrip Mat, really stick that sucker down with your brayer and then follow up with some painter’s tape around the edge to totally secure it. Now, on the wood, you can overlap the tape and the cut area because it will peel away cleanly and won’t damage anything. It also doesn’t increase your number of cuts or anything.

Oh, and load up your Maker with the Cricut Knife Blade + Housing.

Along with the cut file at Cricut Design Space there are also some directions but it took me a while to figure out how all of the pieces actually fit together, so above is how they all go…

And this is how that biggest piece is made… You’ve got the 4 sides and then the bottom (which is at the forefront of the photo). In the middle of this largest cube is another piece with a slot. This holds the divider (that piece almost out of the shot on the right) that goes down into that slot once the box has bin built.

And this is what your 3 different sections will look like prior to gluing all 3 together and finishing up. Cool, right?

What’s EVEN COOLER is that I have some place to put the different housings for my various blades. Don’t you just love that? ME, TOO!

But let’s move on to the FOURTH material I’m so glad my Cricut Maker can cut… FABRIC because it means I can create adorable things for my doggos like this too cute for words bandana!

Cutting fabric with a Cricut Maker

Oh, gosh, guys. I just can’t. It’s cuteness overload, right?

Oh, gosh. Here’s another because I just can’t help it!

For this project you will need:

• Cricut Maker
• Cricut 12″x24″ FabricGrip Cutting Mat
• Cricut Rotary Blade
• Cotton Fabric in 2 prints
• Sewing machine & thread
• Thread Snips
• Washable Fabric Pen
• Cricut Design Space File

If you’ve been paying attention, uup, you guessed it. Bray that cotton fabric down onto your FabricGrip Cutting Mat with your brayer :)

Cut out your 2 pieces of fabric out of 2 complementary patterns and remove from the mat.

Draw a line using a straight edge and a washable fabric pen 0.25″ away from the bottom (angled) portion of the triangle shape.

Stitch along this line however you please. Something this fancy with hearts is NOT necessary but my sewing machine can do it and I’ve never used it so I figured, why not?!?

This stitching actually does have a purpose, though… to keep this a very simple and introductory sewing project we’re not going to bother with hems. Instead, we’re going to allow the fabic to fray for a cute finish that is way easier than all of that rolling under and pressing business. This line of stitching will act as the stop line so the fabric won’t fray beyond this point. You can make it decorative and stand out as I did, or you can match the fabric for a less visible barrier for the fraying.

Repeat the process of marking and sewing for your second triangle shape.

Now place your 2 pieces together like you see in the image above. Use straight pins to keep them securely in place and freehand a line 0.25″ away from the top edge of the kerchief to follow with your sewn stitching and then stitch along that line to attach the 2 triangle shapes together.

Using your thread snips, cut the edge of your fabric into a fringe making sure not to cut into the sewn line meant to keep the fraying in check. Take care not to cut tiny fringe, you’ll want something a little smaller than 0.25″ but nothing tinier or the fabric will just come apart totally.

Wash and dry your puppy bandana with a load of cool temperature laundry and watch the magic of simple, frayed edges. The rustic look is totally cute and suitable for this kind of project, don’t you just love it?

Ah, so cute! And she knows she’s cute, too!

While you can make this smaller in Cricut Design Space, you don’t have much mat room on a 12″x24″ to go more than a smidge bigger. This bandana measures right around 22″ once washed and frayed down and perfectly fits medium-ish dogs like Boston Terriers, Poodles, and dogs of that general size.

And that is that, my friends! 4 Fantastic projects to celebrate 4 materials your Cricut Maker can cut like a freaking champ, that might be a little bit of a surprise to you, including chipboard, wood, fabric, and leather. Which project is your favorite? Which material are you the most stoked to get out there and cut?