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You're Home! » The Cricut Explore Design-and-Cut Machine

September 23, 2014

The Cricut Explore Design-and-Cut Machine

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*Product was received. Opinions are my own. This post includes my personal affiliate link.

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Once upon a time, I was VERY artistic and crafty! I drew ALL the time, I created things ALL the time and I loved it! I had so much time, when I was younger, to do those things and I was good at it!

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Now that I am older, I do not have time to sit down at a table to scrapbook or create something from scratch. I WISH I did, but logically I just don’t have the time. Maybe when my little 20 month old is a bit bigger and not so needy, but right now? No way.

Cricut Explore

So, when I was contacted if I wanted to review the new Cricut Explore Design-and-Cut Machine, you better believe I was excited! Maybe now I COULD make some crafts and get creative again!!

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This machine is supposed to do pretty much everything. No more doing it on your own. This machine can cut so well.  It can get the perfect cut on nearly any material, by simply using the Smart Set™ dial. It can cut paper, vinyl, cardstock, fabric, wood, leather, and much more!! Oh the possibilities!!!!

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I can’t believe how nicely and perfectly this machine cuts. It can cut as small as  ¼ inch tall with exceptional precision. It can also cut a wide range of shapes and sizes and it looks sooo good!!

One of the MANY things I love about the Cricut Explore is that you can browse the ‘Make It Now’ (which is a FREE companion app) projects in Cricut Design Space™ and be inspired with projects for home décor, parties, cardmaking, scrapbooking, school projects, and more. There are SO many projects/ideas in this section!! It makes creating things a cinch!! There is SO much to this area that I am STILL learning.

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Gosh, browsing the hundreds of ready-to-make projects (over 50,000 images!!!), is draining!! LOL. Oh the ideas, oh the possibilities! My goodness the projects I can make. It makes my head spin! I can even upload my own images, so I have a lot of possibilities!! The holidays are coming and I can see a lot of fun projects coming into play! What is also pretty cool is that you can even use the Cricut cartridges you already own if you happen to have some lying around from another Cricut you own!

happy birthday card

So far, with my Cricut Explore, I have made a few birthday cards and a decal for the back of my sons phone (a cute, perfectly shaped little rhino!!!). I love how this machine cuts so well. It is so neat to watch this machine go to work, after you tell it what you want it to do. It is pretty easy, once you figure it all out. That took me a bit and I am STILL learning and have SO much to learn about this machine.

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Setting up this machine was very simple. Then I hooked up the cord it comes with, to my laptop and downloaded the Cricut app/icon to my desktop. Now, when ever I want to use my Cricut, I just hook the cord to my laptop, click on the Cricut icon and the library of ideas pops up and I can get to work. That part was the easy part! Finding what to make, is the hard part! So many choices!!!

The only part I am having problems with  understanding is how to create my own project from scratch. That is proving to be quite difficult for me as I have yet to figure it out. I will have to watch more videos on that and ask around!

Machine Features & Details

  • Smart Set™ dial for material selection
  • Dual carriage heads
  • Integrated storage compartments
  • Cricut Design Space™ software
  • 50+ free project ideas
  • 100+ free images
  • Compatible with PC/Mac
  • Included in the box:
    • Cricut Explore® machine
    • German carbide blade
    • Metallic silver pen
    • USB cord and power cord
    • 12″ x 12″ StandardGrip Cricut®cutting mat
    • Getting started guide
    • Black and jade Cricut® cardstock
    • Silver Cricut® vinyl
    • White Cricut® iron-on
    • 2 Duck Tape® sheets

About Kim Delatorre

Kim Delatorre is a mommy to three beautiful, smart kids and wife to an amazing husband of 24 years! She enjoys reading, writing, spending time with her family, and blogging.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sonya says

    October 12, 2014 at 10:28 pm

    I’d love to make some awesome personalized Christmas gifts!

  2. AEKZ2 says

    October 12, 2014 at 10:19 pm

    I love greeting cards, so I’d probably make some really nice Thank You cards.

  3. RICHARD HICKS says

    October 12, 2014 at 9:36 pm

    I would use it to make cards for birthdays, anniversaries, xmas and more

  4. Thomas Murphy says

    October 12, 2014 at 9:06 pm

    I would make Christmas cards.

  5. Ashley M says

    October 12, 2014 at 6:39 pm

    I have some ideas in mind for my scrapbook!

  6. Julie Myles says

    October 12, 2014 at 6:30 pm

    Cards cards and more cards.

  7. tina reynolds says

    October 12, 2014 at 6:26 pm

    Scrapbook pages and christmas cards for sure first thing thanks for the chance

  8. Rebecca Lock says

    October 12, 2014 at 6:22 pm

    I would make items to decorate my son’s team bus.

  9. Terry Bellender says

    October 12, 2014 at 6:07 pm

    Actually I would be gifting this forward to my daughter for a Christmas present. I have an 18 month old grandson that she would be able to do crafts with him on this machine(she’ll run it of course not him lol)

  10. ET Pruitt says

    October 12, 2014 at 3:28 pm

    I would make retirement decorations and invitations.

  11. Lacey Burd says

    October 12, 2014 at 3:13 pm

    I would make all the decorations for my daughters birthday party!

  12. Theresa D says

    October 12, 2014 at 11:41 am

    The first think I would use it for is to make this years Christmas cards. I would also use it to make album pages for my sons scrapbook.

  13. Amanda Sakovitz says

    October 12, 2014 at 11:25 am

    Id make a scrapbook

  14. Cheryl B. says

    October 12, 2014 at 10:25 am

    I would make some holiday window clings with this new Explore.

  15. Susan Chester says

    October 12, 2014 at 8:59 am

    I would like to create some holiday signs for my office windows!

  16. Patricia Wojnar Crowley says

    October 12, 2014 at 8:05 am

    My first project would be Christmas cards!

  17. Ryan Origon says

    October 12, 2014 at 7:40 am

    I would make Christmas decorations with my daughter!!

  18. Deb C says

    October 11, 2014 at 10:44 pm

    I’d make templates for some glass etching projects.

  19. Leela says

    October 11, 2014 at 9:13 pm

    I’d use it for scrapbooks first.

  20. Jill Myrick says

    October 11, 2014 at 5:24 pm

    I would make cards for family and friends, a wall border for my sons room and some wall decals for my daughters room.

    jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com

  21. Kimberly Hilbert says

    October 11, 2014 at 12:48 pm

    I would love to use this for my journals, art journals and scrap books. I’d also love to see how it works on vinyl and put that on my water bottle that’s stainless steel.

  22. ellen casper says

    October 11, 2014 at 11:51 am

    Christmas and birthday cards!

  23. Bridget Hopper says

    October 10, 2014 at 4:36 pm

    I would make a couple scrapbooks:)

  24. Birdiebee says

    October 10, 2014 at 3:41 pm

    I would make scrapebooks for two of my my grandkids of their mother before she passed away.

  25. Sarah Cool says

    October 9, 2014 at 3:15 pm

    I would make flash cards and birthday and holiday cards and eventually wedding invitations 🙂

  26. Da-Hedgehogi says

    October 8, 2014 at 8:53 pm

    Oh, I would love to make some Christmas cards or small decorations for the play room.

  27. Daniel M says

    October 8, 2014 at 4:42 pm

    i’d make lots of cards!

  28. Cassandra Eastman says

    October 7, 2014 at 11:06 am

    I would love to use it for scrapbooking and making cards! Christmas cards would be super fun to make with it!

  29. Dominique says

    October 6, 2014 at 6:41 pm

    I love your pillow designs! That’s what I’d start with! Cute pillow decals!

  30. april taylor says

    October 6, 2014 at 6:27 pm

    I would make wall decals for my bedroom.

  31. alena svetelska says

    October 6, 2014 at 4:55 pm

    i would make birthday and christmas cards for my friends and family.

  32. Stephanie B says

    October 6, 2014 at 3:59 pm

    All of my holiday cards this year! I did homemade cards last year and they were a hit! Continuing the tradition this year will be great!

  33. Betty Wojnar says

    October 6, 2014 at 9:20 am

    Start making scrap books for my boys and little girl

  34. Jessica H. says

    October 5, 2014 at 6:47 pm

    I really need to work on my girls baby books. They are 10 and 9 now, so I am a tad behind. 🙂 Thank you so much for this wonderful giveaway!

  35. Marlynn Pulido says

    October 3, 2014 at 4:24 pm

    What would I do with the cricut explore? Just what couldnt I do with it. I would really use to help family on their kids birthday parties and also for my own personal arts and crafts. I feel it will allow to do a greater amount of work in less time and I would really love that since I am always working projects and sometimes two or three at a time

  36. Katherine says

    October 2, 2014 at 3:19 am

    I want to make name tags for my thanksgiving table

  37. Wanita says

    September 30, 2014 at 8:50 pm

    If I were to win the Cricut Explore, I would make beautiful cards and unique jewelry/gifts. It would enable me to really amp up my business.

  38. Wanita says

    September 30, 2014 at 8:48 pm

    HSN had these on special and I procrastinated too long and they sold out. 🙁 I could really kick myself. I need on sooooo badly.

  39. nannypanpan says

    September 30, 2014 at 5:16 pm

    I would make birthday banners

  40. joni says

    September 30, 2014 at 12:37 am

    I would try to make greeting cards.

  41. Jeane Campbell says

    September 27, 2014 at 5:21 pm

    Next up are Halloween cards for all the grandkids! Then there are the October birthday cards to make. Better get busy!

  42. Tari Lawson says

    September 26, 2014 at 3:42 am

    I would like to make some silhouettes of my family to hang on my wall.

  43. amy pugmire says

    September 25, 2014 at 10:26 pm

    I would make my daughters b-day invitations.

  44. Carly D. says

    September 25, 2014 at 5:41 pm

    I love making homemade cards for friends and family!!

  45. Natalie F says

    September 25, 2014 at 9:29 am

    I would use it to make Halloween decorations. Like pumpkins and ghosts. I would decorate for my kids Birthdays and use it for scrap booking. And for making greeting cards. I would love to have it, thanks for the option to win!

  46. latanya says

    September 25, 2014 at 7:10 am

    I would make holiday cards

  47. Christina Foley says

    September 24, 2014 at 6:44 pm

    I would love to make cards for the holidays… and other crafts for gifts.. frames, wall decor, etc

  48. Darlene Carbajal says

    September 24, 2014 at 11:59 am

    I would make invitations!

  49. McKim says

    September 24, 2014 at 11:55 am

    My daughter is a 3rd grade teacher. I would use the Cricut to help her make things for bulletin boards.

  50. THRansom says

    September 24, 2014 at 10:50 am

    I would love to use it to make scrapbook pages for my kids

  51. D Schmidt says

    September 24, 2014 at 10:50 am

    I would make some scrapbook pages, its a hobby I have really wanted to invest time into.

  52. Trisha Haas says

    September 24, 2014 at 9:59 am

    WHAT WOULDNT I MAKE. Dang I want one of these so bad. I would label my camera, my bedroom door, frames, make cards, notes, OOOOOOOOOOH. I want this.

  53. Sarah D. says

    September 24, 2014 at 9:51 am

    I would love to make cards with this machine!

  54. nickie says

    September 24, 2014 at 9:49 am

    I would make greeting cards

  55. carol says

    September 24, 2014 at 9:48 am

    I am a real big scrapper and would make some great cutouts for my pages

  56. mona says

    September 24, 2014 at 9:42 am

    Christmas cards

  57. Ann Fantom says

    September 24, 2014 at 7:53 am

    I would make embellishments for my scrap books.

  58. Marcie W. says

    September 24, 2014 at 7:34 am

    I would make school projects with my children using the Cricut Explore

  59. Amanda Alvarado says

    September 23, 2014 at 8:14 pm

    I’d make wall decals to give out for Christmas!

  60. Colleen Boudreau says

    September 23, 2014 at 7:02 pm

    I would make greeting cards,

  61. Kathy Luman says

    September 23, 2014 at 6:32 pm

    I would make some home decor. Decorate picture frames, make my own cards and share it with my grand kids so we could do some crafts together.

  62. Kendallyn says

    September 23, 2014 at 3:38 pm

    I would make vinyl quotes and apple fritters!

  63. Amanda says

    September 23, 2014 at 2:16 pm

    I would love to use this to make thank you cards! My friend had one and we did that and also started my daughter’s baby book with it. I’d like to complete that and make two more for my twin boys!!

  64. Shari Klyn says

    September 23, 2014 at 1:16 pm

    I would be making wedding decorations for my son’s wedding that is in June of 2015.

  65. Ashley Bree Perez says

    September 23, 2014 at 12:21 pm

    I would make homemade cards and letters to send out to my family for the upcoming seasons. 🙂 My email is [email protected] 🙂

  66. Margaret Smith says

    September 23, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    I’d love to make some homemade cards for Birthdays & Christmas.

  67. Pamela North says

    September 23, 2014 at 11:27 am

    wow!! This looks like so much fun, I would love to have one of these!!

  68. Joanna Reed says

    September 23, 2014 at 11:23 am

    Oh gosh…If only there was more time in my life for crafts! ! I love scrapbooking and need some fresh ideas. This would be awesome as my old circuit has about seen it’s last project :-\ … fingers crossed for this one!

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About Kim

My name is Kim and I have three busy kids. I am married to my middle school sweetheart and we live in Idaho. You can easily contact me on my Contact Me Page!

Email: [email protected]

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