5 Cricut Hand Tools Every Crafter Needs and What You Can Use Them For

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Whether you own a Cricut cutting machine, or your still saving up, these are 5 essential Cricut hand tools every crafter needs for their craft room! We’re sharing why we love them and why you need them in your craft life!

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

You all know that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Cricut Maker but did you know that Cricut has a line of hand tools that are totally awesome too? Next week I’m going to be sharing with you a project for a shirt that looks like it was cut with the Cricut Maker but in actuality was cut by hand using Cricut tools but in the meantime I thought I’d introduce you to each of them, how I use them and some of their amazing features!

Having beautiful tools are incredible, but when their function doesn’t match their beauty, no crafter is happy! Luckily Cricut’s hand tools not only are gorgeous, they also work incredible and a lot of thought has been put into their design. I use my Cricut Maker multiple times a week, but even with such an incredible cutting machine I find myself frequently reaching for my other Cricut tools! Here’s why I love each of them so much!

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Cricut Self Healing Mats

The tool that gets used EVERY SINGLE DAY in my craft room is my Cricut Self Healing Mats. I love these mats so much that I actually have 3 of them! I have a very large craft island that I used to cover with paper to protect the surface, now I cover it with the self healing cutting mats. I have two decorative self healing mats in mint and lilac. One side has a pretty design on it (you’ve seen these before as the background in my step by step photos for my projects) and the other side has ruler marks and multi-angled grid lines to make cutting super easy.

I usually leave my two decorative self healing mats with the pretty designs facing up on one side of my craft island, then on the other side I have my “big daddy” 24 inch by 36 inch Self Healing Mat set up. It’s by far the biggest self healing mat I’ve ever owned and I use it constantly for cutting fabric as well as for doing quick measurements when I’m too lazy to pull out my seamstress measuring tape.

Not only do I love using my self healing mats as an Instagram worthy photo background, I also love how functional and durable they are. They are extra thick, wipe down easily if you happen to get paint or glue on them, have large easy to read numbers (which is SO nice as I get closer and closer to my 40’s), and they also have 12″ x 12″ and 12″ x 24″ reference marks to match Cricut machine mat sizes so you can easily see how your materials will fit on your different cutting mats.

I have used my mats for cutting all kinds of materials from fabric, to card stock, to cardboard, to chipboard. I’ve been using two of my three mats for over 6 months now and the self healing properties on them are amazing. I’ve used both my rotary cutter and my precision knife with them and I can’t find any slices or dings in my mats.

If you don’t own a Cricut Self Healing Mat I highly suggest that you add one to your craft room. You won’t be disappointed. Find them here.

Cricut Rotary Cutter

I’ve been through my fair share of rotary cutters but I’ve never found one that I truly loved. Most of the rotary cutters that I’ve used in the past, I’d need to make multiple passes to make sure that it cut all the way through the fabric across the entire area I was cutting. 90% of the fabric would be cut , but then I’d have small areas every 6 inches or so where the fabric wasn’t cut all the way through. It was super frustrating. I finally invested in an expensive rotary cutter which was light years better than the ones that I had used previously. It did a good job cutting through one layer of fabric but as soon as I tried cutting multiple layers at once I would run into issues. Then the Cricut 60mm Rotary Cutter entered my life. It had been sitting on my craft table for quite awhile, but since the price point is so low on it compared to my other rotary cutter I didn’t think it would be as good. One day I was getting ready to cut fabric and when I went to grab my rotary cutter the Cricut one was closest so I decided to give it a try. I was cutting batting for a quilt. The first time I did a cut I tried cutting through one layer of batting– the carbon alloy steel blade cut through like butter. Then I decided to try it through two layers– same thing! It cut smoothly through without a problem. Then I decided to really put it through the test and cut through 4 layers of batting at once! Honestly it was like I was cutting through one layer! It sliced all the way through cleanly and with very little pressure or effort from me. It felt like I was cutting through one layer of batting!

The Cricut Rotary Cutter fits comfortably in my hand and because it’s symmetrical it’s equally as comfortable for lefties too! I love the quick release blade button and the sliding blade cover.

I use my Cricut Rotary Cutter for cutting all different types of fabric, but encourage you to think outside of the box and use it for cutting all kinds of materials like paper, card stock and leather!

A good rotary cutter is a must have item in every craft room and this one isn’t just good– it’s great!

Find the Cricut 60mm Rotary Cutter here. Also available in a 45mm size here.

Cricut Acrylic Ruler

If you sew, then having an acrylic ruler, rotary cutter and self healing mat is a must. I love the pretty lilac hue of my 6 inch by 26 inch Cricut Lilac Acrylic Ruler. Since getting my Cricut Maker I usually do the majority of my fabric cutting using the Maker, but you still need to cut your fabric down to fit on the cutting mat and for this, my Cricut Acrylic Ruler is amazing.

Available in a variety of sizes for all your crafting needs Cricut Acrylic Rulers have a frosted finish with easy-to-see measurements that are easy to read on both light and dark surfaces. They have measurement marks in 1/8” increments which makes it so easy to fussy cut all those tiny details. It also has angled lines at 30, 45, and 60 degrees which would make cutting interesting shaped quilt blocks super easy. Because the ruler is see through it’s very easy to line up exactly where you want it on your cutting material.

Find all of the different sizes of Cricut Acrylic Rulers here.

Cricut Cutting Ruler

You know when you’re trying to cut something using a ruler as your straight edge guide and the ruler keeps slipping and you mess up your cuts? It sucks right? You will NEVER have that problem again with the Cricut Cutting Ruler! With it’s non slip base that ruler isn’t going ANYWHERE! I (and my fingers) also love that this ruler has a protective guard shield so that you don’t have to worry about your fingers getting in harms way from any sharp blades!

Friends, you can use this ruler for cutting SO MANY THINGS with precision and control– fabric, paper, craft foam, plastic, cardboard, canvas, foam core, vinyl, iron-on… the possibilities are endless.

Also how pretty are the lilac, mint, rose and blue colors that it comes in? I love how pretty all of my Cricut tools look together!

Pick up a Cricut Cutting Ruler of your own here.

Cricut TrueControl Knife

This might be my very favorite of the 5 tools that I’m sharing with you and that’s why I saved it for last. I really feel like Cricut thought of everything when they designed this knife. At the end of the knife opposite of the blade there is a little knob. Turn the knob and through a window you’ll see a lock sign change to unlock. Press down on the knob and your blade pops out, put a new blade into the hole and press the knob again and the new blade is sucked into the knife housing! Turn the knob to relock the blade. Replacement blades come in protective housing so that they can be changed with this patented hands free blade changing system without ever touching the blade so you are never at risk of cutting yourself!

Another thing that I LOVE about the True Control Knife is that it doesn’t roll! It has an anti-roll design with a little nub on the side of the knife that keeps it from rolling off your table so your feet are never at risk.

It’s also super comfortable to use with the cushioned grip.

You can use this knife in a variety of ways from cutting materials like iron-on, plastic, vinyl, leather, cardboard, and even chip board to opening boxes and I’ve even heard of people weeding their vinyl with it!

I can’t even wait to show you how precise you can make your cuts with this knife in our project next week!!! Seriously I’m just so excited.

And as with everything Cricut does, this knife is beautifully designed and comes in a variety of colors including lilac, mint, blue and rose!

Pick up a Cricut TrueControl Knife Kit here.

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So there you have it! My 5 favorite Cricut Hand Tools. I love them all so much and think they all work so nicely in conjunction with each other! Whether you own a Cricut cutting machine, or your saving up for one, these tools are essentials for any craft room! Really the only question to ask is “What color am I going to buy them in?” and “Am I going to buy everything in one color or go for more of a rainbow effect?”

Make sure you check out this awesome DIY shirt design that you’ll think was cut with a Cricut cutting machine, but was cut using these incredible hand tools:

Disclosure: Thank you to Cricut for working with me on this post. As with all articles on Hello Creative Family all thoughts and opinions are 100% our own. We only share things we love and we love Cricut!