Introducing: Cricut Explore

If you are an avid Crafter you may well have heard of the Cricut brand and their range of design-and-cut machines, today I am going to be telling you about the next addition to this range the Explore which allows you to customise, accessories and create like never before. Cricut is a world leader in personal electronic cutting machines that enable people to achieve their creative best. For 50 years, Cricut has sold tools that inspire creativity, including the Cricut electronic cutting machine, Cricut Craft Room design software, and the Cricut Cuttlebug embosser and die cutter. Today, millions of people use Cricut products to create projects, and Cricut products have won dozens of industry awards. Having undertaken a large market research project, Cricut looked into the creative process discovering that most craft projects depend upon cutting as one of the main processes – and yet, cutting was one of the most annoying and time consuming steps. Wanting to make life that little bit easier and more efficient they looked into offering crafters a new way of preparing their projects without the hassle. Cricut has announced that in June 2014 the Cricut Explore will be released in the UK having been previously available in the US. The new design and cut machine gives us crafty types the freedom to be creative in making just about anything as I witnessed at the recent launch event held in the Millbank Tower. I really love the professional look that the Explore offers projects, not the slightly tatty home-made projects of the past – although I feel these still hold some charm! The sleek new Cricut Explore combines with an all new easy-to-use online design space, allowing users to create an array of items from home décor for interior design fashion designs, party decorations or cards and gifts. The Explore offers a number of features and effects including cutting, writing or scoring resulting in a more precise and faster way of preparing for craft projects . The new machine offers flexibility for materials including card, fabric, iron on, vinyl, denim, felt, poster board and even faux leather! Amazingly this means that you can now use the machine where you couldn’t previously, allowing you to easily create wall vinyl, upcycle old furniture or add a personal touch to an accessory, bring an old t-shirt back to life or brighten up a tired handbag. Don’t forget producing your own stunning wedding table plans, favour boxes, table confetti or place names and decorating your home with iron-on designs to funky bedding or cushions. For inspiration, there is a huge range of ‘ready to make’ projects from the Cricut Design Space where you can simply scroll or search for the perfect project from the 50,000 images and hundreds of ready-to-make projects and click ‘make it now’ to get making, simple! It can be hard to visualise and create from scratch with no way of knowing what your project will turn out in the end – users of the design space can start with a blank canvas template for popular items ranging from t-shirts to iPad cases and cushions to allow better visualisation of a design. Not only can users access and incorporate images from Cricut’s vast library but the Explore offers a new level of freedom with users being able to import images and fonts from the internet or their own personal computer to cut exactly what they want – the height of flexibility! A large number of designs and shapes are free, however, there are also paid items which you can purchase via a no-commitment monthly subscriptions to Cricut Design Space (25,000+ images) are available for £7.49 and annual subscriptions can be purchased for £79.99. Individual images from Cricut Design Space also start at 79p per image.

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I am excited to learn more about the additional upcoming iPad app that allows users to sync and cut a project to their Explore via Bluetooth technology, another new feature for 2014. The Cricut Explore will air on Create and Craft starting on the 16^th May. It will be available from June 2014 in the UK from selected Hobbycraft stores, Amazon.co.uk and other well-known craft retailers and etailers at £249.99 including VAT. I personally can’t wait to give the new Cricut Explore a go and jazz up my home, stationary and clothing! I think this is an exciting new tool for us crafters to emphasise our creativity and facilitate the making of some fantastic designs.