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You’ve been dreaming of this day for so long, and it’s finally here. You finally got your Cricut machine. But, instead of being excited, you are overwhelmed and intimidated by it. It’s here, now what?

The first thing you need to do, is force yourself to take it out of the box and set that bad boy up! If you don’t do that, it will continue to sit in the box and collect dust. That’s no fun, not to mention it’s a waste of the money spent on the machine!

I know that it can be a lot to take in, but trust me, you won’t regret jumping in! I have learned some things since starting my Cricut journey this fall.

  1. You WILL make mistakes. It’s inevitable, and we all do it. The very first project I did, I bombed. I didn’t use the right setting, and it cut all the way through the vinyl. My second project I messed up as well, because I didn’t know about the weld feature (don’t worry, that will be in the next post!). So, don’t let mistakes, or the thought of making them, turn you off of being crafty. We all make them, because we are human! The goal is to learn from them 🙂
  2. Don’t jump straight into selling things. I did this, and I got overwhelmed and slightly burnt out. I was pumped to make things for my first craft fair, about a month after getting my Cricut. I worked hard for weeks to get a ton of stuff done for it, just to have it bomb. Seriously, I made about $10 that day. It wasn’t because my projects weren’t good enough to sell, though, it was because we are a small town and didn’t have many people come to the craft fair. But, going straight into the selling aspect sort of took out the fun of it. I decided that I was going to do fun stuff for a while!
  3. Materials don’t have to be expensive! This is one of the best things I’ve learned. You see all of these cool projects and all you can think of, is how much it’s going to cost to make them. Wrong! Dollar Tree will be your friend! I get most of my items from the Dollar Tree to make my projects with. I also have a few places I order vinyl from to save money (blog post coming soon for this!). You can make things and not go broke doing it!
  4. You don’t need to start with a big craft room. A lot of people are of the mind that they need this big crafting area and everything to go with it, when they start. It’s simply not true. I am currently sitting at my desk, in a small area of my bedroom. My small stand (handed down to me from my son) has my Cricut on it. I don’t have a giant area, or even a dedicated room. I will even sit in the living room with hubby and weed while watching television. Do what you can do, and make do with what you have 🙂
  5. Decorate your machine! Make it yours, and have it reflect your personality.

Most of all, though, is to have fun with your new machine!!!