I’ve had a Cricut Explore Air 2 for almost 6 years, and over the last few years it has been slowly wearing down from use. I don’t use it every day, but when it’s time to start making box cards for certain holidays, it’s turned on daily and for at least 4 hours straight.

The first problem I had was the doors stopped opening when I pressed the button, I’d have to press the button and then help the doors open, and then when I cut my cardstock, the lower door would lift which caused the cutting mat to lift up while cutting. I don’t think that affected its cutting function, but it was rather annoying. Then it started making a grinding sound. The final thing it started doing is cutting the paper all wrong. This is 1 leaf cut 4 times for 4 cards of the same design. You’ll notice the 2 on the top are thinner, which caused them to break when removing them from the cutting mat, and they wouldn’t be very stable if I had to use them in my box card. I wasted 3 sheets of paper trying to correct this, and it wasn’t just this leaf, it was other leaves and all the twigs.

So we went to Michaels to buy a new Cricut Explore 3, but they were out and the salesperson brought out a Cricut Maker 3. I decided a long time ago if I were to need to buy a replacement Cricut that I would buy the Maker, but I didn’t feel like I should because I couldn’t justify the extra cost. Well, I decided you know what, screw it, I’m getting the Cricut Maker 3.

I used to use chipboard to make the box cards sturdier because the 65lb cardstock is a little flimsy and can cause the cards to sag over time. I think that put a lot of strain on my Cricut and eventually it wouldn’t even cut the chipboard anymore. I discovered Michaels sold 110lb cardstock, and so I’ve been using that for the pieces that need to be harder like the actual box part of the card and the layers inside that need to stand up straight that hold all the elements. and I’ve been using the 65lb cardstock for the elements that will stack on each other to create the different things, like leaves and flowers.

I discovered the Cricut Maker 3 needs a special tool for cutting thicker material like leather, wood and chipboard. I went to Amazon and bought a Cricut Maker 3 knife blade and housing for such things, and now I know they have wood and I’m going to see what I can make with wood. I knew it could cut leather, and now that option is on the table.

The score tool on my Cricut Explore Air 2 stopped scoring cardstock years ago, and now I can use the Cricut score wheel tip and housing. Because the score tool stopped working, I’ve been cutting the score lines for everything that I buy from SVG Cuts and Simply Crafty SVG’s. They come with score lines that actually cut the lines into your projects, so it’ll be nice to see how well the score wheel works.

I haven’t really cut many things that are vinyl or iron on, and my Cricut Explore Air 2 was able to cut those, and I only cut them when I needed to, but not very often. Now they sell vinyl and iron on that will cut without the need for a cutting mat, which will be nice if I ever make those things. I would love to make my own T-shirt designs, but I haven’t had very much luck with the iron lol. I’ve burned 3 shirts. I need to buy the Cricut heat press because it has a timer and will fit on most or the entire iron on, but I can’t justify the cost.

Oh I bought the foil thing when it first came out and I didn’t have very much luck with that. But I think it’ll work better with the Cricut Maker 3. I’ll find out eventually.

I did use the new Cricut Maker 3 to finish making all the leaves and twigs for the card I was going to make for Christmas, and they cut them out normally, which was a huge relief. I have many more box card designs for Christmas to make and I think I’ll have an easier time making them. I’m going to use the new score tool. It’ll make it go so much faster.