Top 10 Cricut Ideas to Sell: Learn How to Create a Successful Cricut Business
Let’s face it…while we Cricutters adore our crafting, it’s not exactly an inexpensive hobby. The costs of the various types of vinyl, transfer tapes, tools, and the many other supplies that we need (yes, we NEED them 😉) can really put a dent in your budget!
So why not sell some of your finished projects? Whether it’s a small crafts business that you are interested in, or just a little side hustle selling to family and friends, you can absolutely fund your craft hobby with these Cricut projects to sell!
Cricut Projects to Sell
How to Turn Your Hobby Into a Business
- Cricut Maker
– Engraving projects
– Wood projects
– Vinyl and HTV projects - Cricut Explore
– Paper and cardstock projects
– Vinyl and HTV projects
– Faux leather projects - Cricut Joy
– Vinyl and HTV projects
– Paper and cardstock projects
- Am I Allowed to Sell My Crafts?
- How Do I Use the Cricut Machines?
- How Much Profit Can I Expect to Make?
- What Price Should I Charge?
- Where to Find Designs, Blanks, and Supplies
How to Turn Your Hobby Into a Business
Getting Started
When it comes to turning your hobby into a business, there are quite a few things to consider before just jumping right into opening your shop. What will you sell? What’s your company name going to be? Will it be an online shop or a brick-and-mortar? Startup costs will need to be addressed as well.
Creating a business plan and researching the market and your competition are your keys to success! Without this, you will most likely lack the knowledge to effectively target your niche audience and stay within your costing budget.
If you’re more interested in only funding your hobby, selling to friends and family at cost alone isn’t going to do it either. You’ll need to make a little profit so that you can continue to repurchase supplies without dipping into your personal finances.
Company Name
While this part of deciding to turn your hobby into a business might be fun, it’s also extremely important! Choosing just any name isn’t going to help you with marketing your new business, and you need to be careful about trademarks and copyrights. You most definitely cannot use brands (ie: Cricut) in your company’s name, nor can you snag another company’s name that you liked the sound of.
In short, get creative! Grab a pen and paper and start brainstorming some ideas. Is there a word or phrase that has meaning to you? Or perhaps you can incorporate your loved ones’ names into it?
My husband and I called our crafting business “Entre Nous Designs”, which translates from French to “Between Us”. To me, this pulls from his french roots and at the same time, delivers a meaningful message that is short, simple, and memorable – making my marketing strategies more effective!
Design a Logo
Once you have decided on your new business name, it’s time to start designing your logo.
A company logo is one of the most important parts of branding yourself as a designer, and it should be reflective or symbolic of you and your business.
For my business, I chose to use the Celtic knotwork symbol for family – which pulls from my own Irish heritage – thus, incorporating a little bit of both my husband and myself into the logo!
Just remember that keeping it simple is much more eye-catching and memorable than a busy, distracting graphic.
Creating a Workspace
Now that you have both your name and logo designed, next up will be planning out your workspace.
This is a must! Starting your craft business in your own living room might become overwhelming as the orders start rolling in (hopefully!)
If you have a larger home, find a space in the basement or a spare guest room to create your work area. This will not only keep your home free of the crafting chaos, but it will also help to keep you organized and efficient – especially around the busy holiday seasons!
Plan an area to keep all of your shipping supplies, and then create some crafting “stations” if you plan on selling a variety of different projects. Rolling carts are very handy for the extras such as glitters, tape, glue, paints, etc.
Practice Makes Perfect!
You have your business name, logo, and workspace…now what are you going to make and sell?
If you are a beginner to the Cricut “world” you will most definitely want to take some time to hone your skills. Practice working with the machines, all of the different vinyl types, tools, and application methods.
Try your hand in a variety of different projects to find your favorites and the ones that you really shine in. Making some gifts for family and friends also helps to get some extra practice in. Eventually, you’ll discover where your biggest talents lay, and those are sure to be your best sellers!
Best Cricut Projects to Sell
Determining which crafts you want to sell might just be determined by which machine you have. You can’t very well sell engraved pet tags if you only have the Cricut Explore, nor can you sell larger-sized decals with a Cricut Joy. If you are limited by one machine, or even if you have all three, check out some of these inspirational projects by machine type:
Cricut Maker Projects to Sell
So many things can be made using the Cricut Maker! Whatever the Explore and Joy can do, the Maker can too…and then some!
Engraving Projects
- Metal pet tags: Engrave a client’s pet’s name onto a dog bone aluminum pet tag. I bought my blanks here and you can learn how in my tutorial “Engrave Your Own Pet Tags”.
- Leather keychains: Use Design Space to create a uniquely shaped keychain. You can even apply HTV to leather to add a little extra flair!
- Acrylic sheet art: Did you know that you can engrave on acrylic? Just make sure the blank is no more than 2mm in thickness.
- Aluminum and copper bracelets: Design a metal bracelet! You can engrave a pretty pattern, name, or quote.
- Metal plaques: Engraving a unique design on a metal plaque can make for a fantastic gift! You can even turn this project into a heartwarming memorial for a loved one.
- Round acrylic ornaments: Spruce up a Christmas tree with a round ornament, engraved with holiday designs.
Wood Projects
- Decorative initials: Using Cricut’s balsa wood blanks, you can cut out decorative initials. Once cut, you can paint, decoupage, or apply vinyl for a “wall-worth” art piece!
- Earrings: Wooden earrings can be cut out with your Maker, then add on some decorative embellishments for added beauty.
- Coasters: Cut out some wood rounds to make coasters. Just be sure to seal them to protect against moisture.
- Tree ornaments: If the engraved acrylic ornaments are a little too modern, create them with balsa wood to add a rustic touch to your tree!
- Custom wood signs: Use your Maker to create some customizable wood signs. Your signs can be functional or strictly for decorative purposes!
Vinyl & HTV Projects
- Wall art: Create larger-sized wall decals for photo walls, bedrooms, or just about any room in the home! Hint: Using the all-new Maker 3, you can create a decal up to 12 feet long in one fell swoop!
- Customizable decals: One of the best-sellers in my shop is custom decals. Just be sure to offer a variety of vinyl color choices and different fonts to attract more customers.
- Mugs: All three machines can cut or write with infusible ink, so making professional-looking mugs could not be easier. Mug Press required of course!
- Porch signs: Another best-seller in my shop are porch signs. My signs are 48” x 6” and again, using the Maker 3 makes this process so much faster. Take your design up a notch by creating some fabulous holiday-themed welcome signs!
- Custom oven mitts: Perfect for every occasion and holiday, Apply some HTV to some oven mitts to offer a gift-worthy project. You can even use sublimation-ready blanks if you have a sub printer!
Paper & Cardstock
- Wedding invitations: Use your markers and pens to create gorgeous and unique wedding invitations and “save the date” cards. Sure to be a best-seller!
- Table place cards: Offering event materials, such as table place cards, can really “up” your small craft business game.
- Christmas and other holiday cards: Create a set of Christmas and other holiday cards to offer clients an alternative to mass-produced stationery.
- Birthday cards: Create custom birthday cards for an added personalized touch.
- Custom stickers: Using your Maker to create customized stickers and sticker sheets has never been easier! You can even offer name labels for the upcoming school year.
- Meal planners: Using print then cut to create meal planners are a great way to market to parents.
Cricut Explore Projects to Sell
The Cricut Explore is your best friend when it comes to all things paper and vinyl crafting, but this machine can also pack a punch with faux leather!
Paper & Cardstock
- Invitations: Offer a well-packaged set of customizable birthday invitations to parents.
- Holiday cards: Again, use some markers and/or pens to offer unique holiday cards. Idea: finish off the look with a small box and some twine.
- Stickers: Along with the name labels, you can even offer a custom sticker sheet with a chore chart – or even decals for laptops and phones.
- Paper flower bouquets: The perfect addition to any event decor. You can even make a paper-flower display in a shadow box for wall art!
- Pop-up cards: Almost everyone loves surprises, so offering a pop-up card is a great, and cost-effective way to offer a new twist on standard cards.
Vinyl & HTV
- Custom t-shirts: Who doesn’t love a custom shirt? Just be careful to keep your personalization options to a minimum. The more complicated the design, the more time it will take to make it!
- Mugs: Again, create some customized mugs using the new Mug Press! Take your designs up a level by offering “adult-only” mugs.
- Personalized keychains: Acrylic, wood, leather, faux leather, metal – the options for designing are plentiful!
- Canvas wall art: Offer some canvas wall art by painting a plain canvas and applying HTV to it. Try your hand at a reverse canvas project!
- Decals: You can offer decals for just about any surface! Just be sure to use the right type of vinyl for the specific application. You don’t want to apply removable vinyl to a car, or permanent vinyl to a window!
- Labels: Create custom labels for another small business. Product labels, logos, etc can all be designed and created with the Cricut Explore!
Faux Leather
- Bookmarks: Create unique bookmarks for both kids and adults. There are plenty of templates available from Creative Fabrica to make designing a breeze!
- Earrings & Bracelets: Use some metallic or patterned faux leather to create stunning jewelry.
- Custom pouches: Design a pouch using faux leather. A cost-effective way to make small pouches for coins, sunglasses, or cards.
- Key fobs: Instead of keychains, you can design some keyfobs! Add some HTV for a personalized touch.
- Cord keepers: Offer a pretty cord keeper using patterned faux leather.
Cricut Joy Projects to Sell
While I don’t actually have this machine, it does make smaller projects so much easier!
Vinyl & HTV
- Kitchen canisters: Using some blanks from even the dollar store, add some personalized flair to a set of plain kitchen canisters.
- Mini art tiles: Offer a set of vinyl art tiles. These tiles are easy to make and add a gorgeous decorative touch to walls, bookshelves, and tables.
- Cork coasters: Purchase a bulk set of cork coasters from Amazon, then apply HTV for a must-have set!
- Mugs: Yes, even with the Cricut Joy you can make some mugs! These also make for a fantastic gift for teachers!
- Personalized stuffies: While I don’t sell these, I find they are a great seller for many small craft businesses. Appy HTV to stuffed animals to create a keepsake for newborns and birthdays!
Paper & Cardstock
- Cake toppers: A perfect option to offer for weddings, birthdays, or just about any occasion a cake is involved. Also adds a personal touch to cupcakes!
- Gift tags: Step up your holiday game by offering a set of custom gift tags!
- Mini paper flower shadow boxes: Instead of creating a larger-sized paper flower box, design a mini one using a small 6” x 6” shadow box. A more cost-friendly craft for customers.
Setting Up Your Online Shop
If you are planning on opening a brick-and-mortar shop, that will involve heading to the bank, realtor, and your local municipality office, among dealing with other legalities. For that reason, I suggest starting up online.
Creating an online shop could not be more simple in this day and age. There are quite a few platforms on which you can host your store, or even build one up from scratch. I chose to start up with Etsy; not only is this crafty marketplace becoming more and more popular, but it was incredibly simple to populate my products onto my storefront.
While the initial setup can be quite a time-consuming task, once you have your store up and running it’s a breeze to add/remove products and edit them to market to the seasonal shoppers. Here are a few hosting sites to get your research bug flying!
- Etsy is my personal favorite for all things handmade. Yes, some of the fees can get costly over time, but for a startup, it’s affordable and easy!
- Shopify is a little bit costly to start with, but as you start making more sales the price might be worth it.
- Wix is another hosting site with a beautiful web editor to create a very nice online shop. This also has a monthly fee, but it’s a little more affordable than Shopify.
- Square allows you to create a free online store (with limits) I am currently working on creating a secondary shop with this one.
- Woocommerce allows you to create an online shop via WordPress – making it especially easy if you already have a WordPress account!
- Ecwid is another hosting service that allows you to start up with a free membership. Even their paid membership packages are priced quite fair.
Whichever site you wish to start up with, keep your initial product line small until you know what sells and what doesn’t.
Q & A
Am I allowed to sell my crafts? Absolutely! But be sure to check with your municipal regulations regarding home businesses and sales of goods.
How do I use the Cricut machines? Here are some guides that will help you get started:
How much money can I expect to make selling my crafts? This really depends on your costs, time, market research, and marketing. Be prepared to start slow…it takes time to build up your shop and get the word out! Patience and hard work are key.
What price should I charge? Again, this depends on the craft, the cost of the supplies to make it, as well as your time and effort. Also, you will want to research the prices of similar crafts to use as a guide.
Where can I buy designs, blanks, and supplies? This really depends on where you are located. There are countless vinyl and paper suppliers around the globe. Here are my favorites in Canada:
Vinyl
Cricut Shop: Machines, supplies, blanks
StickItVinyl: Vinyl, HTV, blanks
HappyCrafters: Vinyl, HTV, blanks
HeatTransferVinyl: Vinyl, HTV, paper, blanks
CraftVinyl: Vinyl, HTV, glitters, blanks
Amazon: Almost everything you need!
Michaels: Almost everything you need, however, the supplies are more expensive.
Blanks
TshirtIdeal: T-shirts, long sleeves, tanks, hoodies, pants, & accessories
DesignBlanks: Clothing & accessories (including drinkware, koozies, baby, kitchen items, and sublimation)
FillInTheBlanksCanada: Clothing & accessories (including drinkware, koozies, baby, kitchen items, and sublimation) Some really unique items here!
CraftingBlanks: Vinyl & tumblers
Designs
For designs, I highly recommend Creative Fabrica. Not only do they have incredible membership packages, but TONS of free designs and daily gifts! Check out these links to get you started on your new crafting business ideas:
All Crafts: An endless supply of crafting and SVG designs!
Fonts: Thousands of fonts that are all Cricut friendly.
Craft Freebies: All free SVG files.
Free Graphics: Tons of free graphics and cut files for just about any project!
Graphics: Unique and Cricut-friendly graphics for a multitude of different crafts.
3D SVG Files: Create stunning 3D projects with these cut-friendly designs.
How To Use Installed Fonts: Visit the ultimate font guide to learn how to use and install your new fonts.
I also suggest you check out some of the categories at The Artistry for even more inspirational ideas! The Artistry is chock full of informational articles and a seemingly endless supply of crafting tutorials that are sure to inspire you!
No matter which machine you have, or plan to purchase, there is a multitude of different Cricut projects to sell…just remember to stay creative, efficient, and most of all, have fun! You’ll be sure to start raking in some moola soon!
Check out some of my other tutorials over at my author’s page at The Artistry!
Keep on Crafting! 💖
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