Your Cricut machine is a ticket to a world of creative crafting, as millions of happy users around the world know well. The Cricut machines are die-cutting machines that operate digitally and allow for great ease when cutting through various materials like vinyl, fabric, and lightweight woods. If you’re looking to use your Cricut Maker, Explore, or Joy to create playful, functional, and personalized gifts for family and friends, there are tons of great projects out there.
In this article, we present 10 DIY gift ideas that you can do with your Cricut machine. Whether you’re new to the Cricut world or have been using your machine for years now, there’s a project for everyone here. Many are easily customizable, so they can be altered to suit a range of audiences and purposes. Last but not least, all the tutorials and directions for these projects are free to access!
Note that it’s helpful to have Cricut Design Space for many of these projects, as a large amount of Cricut projects require the software or highly recommend it.
Wooden Serving Tray
This decorative wooden serving tray is an elegant and practical project for the kitchen or elsewhere in the home. It would be a fantastic gift for friends and family alike. The project itself is simple and straightforward, requiring very few materials besides the Cricut Maker, tray, and vinyl. The decorative design – accessible in Cricut Design Space – is free and can be edited and customized as desired.
The project’s creator provides helpful videos and visuals, plus written instructions to guide readers through the project.
- Difficulty: All levels
- Project page: 100 Directions
- Cricut equipment: Cricut Maker
- Key materials: Vinyl, cut design, wooden tray
Guess Who? Board Game
Get ready to surprise your loved ones with a customizable Guess Who? board game! This would be an excellent choice for kids who are learning to recognize family members who might live far away.
The supply list isn’t too overwhelming or expensive, and the project itself is a fairly straightforward endeavor, thanks to well-written instructions and visuals. Its creator provides a template in Cricut Design Space that you can replicate or edit if desired. Clarks Condensed also gives links to all the product items used to make the Guess Who? game.
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Project page: Clarks Condensed
- Cricut equipment: Cricut Explore or Cricut Maker, StandardGrip mat, fine-point blade
- Key materials: Wood, vinyl, mini hinges, glue
Tooth Fairy Pouch
Check out this totally sweet gift for a young child: a tooth fairy pouch! Perfect for keeping teeth safe for the tooth fairy. Alternatively, this project could easily be customized for something else (like earrings).
This simple project is ideal for all levels of Cricut users. Customizing the design is easy, and you can definitely get creative with things like font and color. Its creator gives helpful visuals for each step of the way as well as some extra information about the Cricut Explore and EasyPress machines.
- Difficulty: All levels
- Project page: Hey Let’s Make Stuff
- Cricut equipment: Cricut Explore , Cricut EasyPress, weeder tool
- Key materials: Mesh pouches, vinyl
Photo Magnets
Making a custom photo magnet with your Cricut Joy is a sweet memento that’s perfect for family members such as grandparents. The project’s YouTube video walks users through each step with clear directions and very crisp visuals. All of the needed materials are listed in the video description.
Magnets are one of the easiest and most versatile gifts you can make with your Cricut Joy, so have fun and get creative!
- Difficulty: All levels
- Project page: YouTube
- Cricut equipment: Cricut Joy, Cricut Joy StandardGrip mat, Cricut basic tool set
- Key materials: Magnetic photo frames, vinyl
Leather Earrings
These stunning leather earrings are a lovely, classy gift for anyone in your life with pierced ears. The project’s creator provides clear step-by-step instructions with photos as well as a thorough materials list. Additionally, she’s very responsive to user questions and comments.
This one is a bit more complicated than some of the other projects on this list, so it’s better for users with more Cricut experience under their belts. If you enjoy making these earrings, she’s got a lot of other fun gift projects to explore on her page.
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Project page: That’s What Che Said
- Cricut equipment: Cricut Explore Air 2, LightGrip and StandardGrip mats, Cricut EasyPress, deep point blade, weeder tool
- Key materials: Leather, jewelry tools, earring hooks
Coffee Mug
Coffee mugs are an ever-popular Cricut project for good reason: They’re simple and very easy to customize. Minimal materials are needed to complete the project (mostly a lot of vinyl).
The YouTube video for the project has extremely clear step-by-step visual instructions for both the software and the cutting aspects of the project. You’ll end up with a beautiful gift for your favorite coffee drinker.
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Project page: Bethadilly and YouTube
- Cricut equipment: Cricut Joy, Cricut Joy StandardGrip mat, Cricut basic tool set
- Key materials: Vinyl, mug
Monogram Necklace
With this project, you’ll be able to craft a custom monogrammed necklace to surprise someone special in your life. The creator lists all required materials needed for the project and walks you through the process with instructions and helpful photos.
She also provides details about engraving with your Cricut Maker if it’s an activity that you’re looking to explore further. Overall, it’s an excellent project for starting out with engraving jewelry with your Cricut machine.
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Project page: Pineapple Paper Co
- Cricut equipment: Cricut Maker, engraving tip
- Key materials: Blank jewelry round charm, lint roller, tape
Acrylic Ornament
If you’re searching for a simple gift project that’s perfect for Christmas or as a year-round piece of home decor, this project has you covered. Making an acrylic ornament is a short, straightforward but fun process.
Kayla Makes has created an informative video tutorial, which walks you through all the steps needed to create these cute ornaments with your Cricut Maker, as well as a blog page you can look at for additional written instructions. She also has a whole channel full of other great Cricut projects to check out.
- Difficulty: All levels
- Project page: Kayla Makes and YouTube
- Cricut equipment: Cricut Maker, cutting mat
- Key materials: Vinyl, ornament base, paint, transfer tape
Christmas Reveal Puzzle
If you’re looking to reveal a surprise gift for the entire family (a trip, for example), check out this fun customizable reveal puzzle. This project uses a premade file for the puzzle that can be customized by editing the text inside the tree. Alternatively, you can just keep it as a cute Christmas puzzle and remove the text if you’d like.
- Difficulty: All levels
- Project page: Play Party Plan
- Cricut equipment: Cricut Maker, StrongGrip mat, EasyPress 2, Cricut EasyPress mat, knife blade
- Key materials: Cricut heavy chipboard, printable iron-on vinyl
Grill Set
On the hunt for a fun gift set for the grill master in your life? Look no further than this customizable grill set, which allows you to personalize a case, grill set items, and an apron with your Cricut Explore and EasyPress equipment.
This project is ideal for Cricut newbies, and the creator provides thorough step-by-step instructions with photo illustrations to guide you through it. Elements of this project can also be used as a template for customizing other gift sets, such as other cooking items.
- Difficulty: All levels
- Project page: The Best Vinyl Cutters
- Cricut equipment: Cricut Explore, StandardGrip mat, Cricut EasyPress, Cricut EasyPress mat, scrapper tool, weeder tool
- Key materials: Vinyl, apron, grill tools, insulated box
License: The text of "Cricut Gift Idea: 10 Amazing Presents to DIY" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.