Cricut Maker 3 + Essentials Bundle Review: Unleash Your Creative Potential

• Cricut Maker 3 machine
• Premium Fine-Point Blade + Housing
• Welcome card
• USB cable
• Power adapter
• Free trial subscription to Cricut Access (for new subscribers)
• 100 free, pre-designed projects in Design Space

The Cricut Maker 3 is beautifully designed and includes tons of storage space, yet it takes up a small footprint.

The Essentials Bundle has everything you need to get started. It includes many materials and the important tools you will need for various projects. The bundle lets you jump in with projects as you learn and experiment with the Cricut Maker 3.

Here’s what you get with the Essentials Bundle:

• 48″ long by 12″ wide Silver Premium Permanent Vinyl
• 48″ long by 12″ wide Black Premium Permanent Vinyl
• 48″ long by 12″ wide Parchment Premium Permanent Vinyl
• 12″ by 12″ Maritime Premium Removeable Vinyl Value Pack
• 24″ long by 12″ wide Red Cricut Glitter Iron-On
• 48″ long by 12″ wide Cricut Vinyl Transfer Tape
• 12″ by 12″ Cricut LightGrip Mat
• 12″ by 12″ Cricut StandardGrip Mat
• Metallic Marker Set with five pens
• Grey Cricut Basic Tool Set
• 24″ long by 11.8″ wide True Blue SportFlex Iron-On
• 12″ by 12″ Brights Sampler of Premium Permanent Vinyl
• 48″ long by 12″ wide Cricut Gold Adhesive Metallic Foil
• 24″ long by 12″ wide Kelly Green Cricut Everyday Iron-On
• 18 Cutaway Cards in the Mix Pastel Sampler R10
• 24-pack of 6″ long by 4″ wide Metallic Transfer Foil Sampler Pack
• Peacock Gel Pen Set with five pens
• A Wine Bag
• 19″ long by 12″ wide Gold Glitter Cricut Iron-On
• A Cricut Cutie in True Vermillon

Cricut notes that the materials in the bundle may be substituted based on availability.

There was a great assortment of materials included, but I would have loved it if there had been an alternate blade or tool so I could use the Cricut Maker 3 to emboss or cut wood.

Our projects have not yet utilized all the possibilities that the bundle offers, but we’ve had a lot of fun using it to make a variety of personalized gifts and other projects.

The Cricut Maker 3 looks and works like a printer. Two tool holders allow you to use a variety of blades and writing utensils to create projects. We used the standard blade and markers for these.

My sister-in-law’s birthday offered us our first opportunity to get creative. We created monogram decals for a custom gift, and the process was not only easy but also a lot of fun.

I had some .svg files I had used for laser engraving, so I uploaded them to the design app Design Space. This app is easy to use and straightforward. I was able to jump right in without issues and create my first project within minutes.

Once the design is cut, you must weed the material you do not want; this is as simple as peeling the unwanted vinyl from the workspace. Plenty of tools are provided to help with this task, and it can be super easy or quite difficult, depending on the size and detail of the design.

I found weeding to be therapeutic and satisfying. Once the design is prepared, transfer paper is applied to prepare it for use.

When using the transfer paper, it is important to apply it smoothly and use some tools to ensure it is stuck down over all of the vinyl pieces. You will then carefully peel the transfer off, ensuring that all of the vinyl details come with it and remain in place. You now have a personally designed decal!

Once the design is transferred, you can get creative. To apply the decal, you basically reverse the steps to transfer the design.

Make sure the surface is clean, and carefully align the design exactly as you want. Using the tools provided, smooth the vinyl out and slowly remove the transfer paper, ensuring the vinyl stays in place.

This first project hooked my wife and me. Seeing the final product’s design was so much fun, and it inspired us to continue creating. Be careful; using the Cricut Maker 3 is addictive!

We created a custom organizer for my sister-in-law’s gift, and we think it came out amazing. As you can see, the Cricut Maker 3 allowed us to transform a boring gift into something really special. From now on, we will probably design personalized gifts for every holiday and birthday.

No gift is complete without a card, so I used some of the free design items from Design Space and created one using other Cricut techniques.

The Cricut Maker 3 cut the cupcake and balloon designs out of card stock, and various colored vinyl was behind them. It is amazing how well the Cricut cuts intricate designs. The words were drawn using one of the supplied markers in the A slot. Virtually any font can be used, and the Cricut will write your text perfectly.

While my first attempt was imperfect, the card came out great, and my sister-in-law loved it.

While at it, I created a great temperature guide for my pellet smoker that came out even better than I expected. As you can see, we are now customizing and making all kinds of projects with Cricut 3.

My wife just turned 50, and we planned to go camping with friends to celebrate. I ordered some cheap koozies online and created custom party favors for the guests. We enjoyed making and using them, and all our friends loved them.

It looks like we will now be creating custom koozies for every special occasion! You can create shirts and other wearables using the same iron-on vinyl.

The Cricut Maker 3 + Essentials Bundle is a product limited only by your creativity. For the review, I only created a few projects using the basic blade and markers, but there is a huge list of other tools that can be utilized and projects that can be made. Design Space is an easy-to-use way to get the projects cutting, and Cricut has a huge database of design and project ideas.

Our project list and abilities will expand greatly as we continue to explore the possibilities.

The Cricut Maker 3 is intricate and exact, allowing endless ideas to come to life. One of the main things I learned is that using Cricut products is extremely fun and addicting. I love using it, and I find it so satisfying to turn everyday objects into something special, whether for gifts, personal use, or sale.

If you’ve ever considered opening a personalization business as a sideline or want to make one-of-a-kind gifts for family and friends, you can do that with the Cricut Maker 3. It’s such an easy-to-use device, providing professional outcomes every time.

The Cricut Maker 3 + Essentials Bundle retails for $680 (currently on sale for $469); it is available directly from the manufacturer.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

What I Like: It’s easy to operate, and you can use over 300 materials with the Cricut Maker 3; The Design Space app is intuitive; The device can make precise cuts in many materials; This setup offers endless project creation opportunities

What Needs Improvement: A minor quibble, but it would be nice if an alternate blade or tool was included in the bundle for embossing or cutting wood