This post is sponsored by Cricut. However, the views and opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Have you been wondering what the difference is between Cricut Vinyl, Iron-on & Infusible Ink are and what projects to use each for?
In addition to having (in my opinion) the BEST crafting machines on the market. Cricut also offers some amazing crafting materials. It makes sense that they would want to offer their customers all the equipment, materials, and tools needed to craft to their heart’s content. However, due to how versatile and diverse their many materials are many beginner crafters get confused about the difference between some of the materials like Vinyl, Iron-on & Infusible Ink.
I created a Youtube video talking about the difference between Vinyl, Iron-on & Infusible Ink about a month ago. You can view it below:
Let’s discuss these three materials and what sort of materials they can be used on and projects you can make with each of them.
We will start with Vinyl:
Vinyl, is basically a sticker that you cut out with your Cricut and using transfer tape put on the surface of various materials. It has an adhesive backing that causes it to stick firmly you your surface and can be very detailed in design if desired. Just remember you have to weed it. Vinyl is most popularly used to make labels and design decals. You can use Vinyl on a variety of surfaces including glass, plastic, wood, cardstock, and faux leather.
Cricut offers a variety of Vinyl for you to use with your Cricut Explore Air and Cricut Maker Machines. Their Vinyl comes in both permanent and removable options. They even have specialty-sized Smart Vinyl for the Cricut Joy (that doesn’t require a mat!)
Depending on what project you are doing you will want to use either Permanent or Removable Vinyl. You would use Permanent Vinyl for projects that you want to be well permanent. Due to its permanent nature, this kind of vinyl is great for outdoor projects for it will wear better through various weather (like signs, car decals, and mailbox decorations.) You can also use it for projects that you want to be able to hand wash (like mugs) as well as permanent indoor decorations (like signs, and permanent labels.) As you can see above, Cricut has a wide variety of fun Permanent Vinyl styles and colors to suit your crafting needs.
Removable Vinyl is great for projects that are low wear (like general labels, party decorations, and home decor items), indoor projects (out of the weather that doesn’t need to be washed) as well as temporary projects (like wall decorations that you eventually want to take off without damaging the paint.) Honestly, unless your project specifically needs Permanent Vinyl then Removable Vinyl will work just fine for you. As you can see above, Cricut has a wide variety of fun Removable Vinyl styles and colors for your crafting needs.
Here are 10 Fun Projects You can make with Vinyl.
DIY Vinyl DIY Projects
Here are 10 fun DIY projects you can make with Cricut Vinyl
DIY School Themed Hershey Kiss Stickers
Learn how to make your own Hershey Kiss Stickers with Printable Vinyl, here at The Quiet Grove
DIY- Personalized Water Bottles with Cricut
Learn how to make your own Personalized Water Bottles with Vinyl over at Surban Wife City Life
Harry Potter Lumos || Nox Light Switch
Learn how to make your own fun Harry Potter Lightswitch with Vinyl over at Sisters. What?
DIY Mermaid Makeup Brush Holder Dollar Store Craft
Learn how to make your own Mermaid Makeup Brush holder with holographic Vinyl over at Tastefully Frugal
DIY Minnie Mouse Nail Tips - Vinyl Appliques Made on the Cricut
Learn how to make these adorable Disney Vinyl Nail Decals over at Jennifer Maker.
DIY Labels For Lego Storage Containers Made With Your Cricut
Learn how to make your own Custom Lego Organization labels with Removable Vinyl here on The Quiet Grove.
Vinyl Phone Charger Decal
Learn how to make your own vinyl decals to decorate your phone chargers over at A Girl And a Glue Gun
DIY Harry Potter Mugs With Romantic Quidditch Theme
Learn how to make these fun Harry Potter Mugs with Permanent Vinyl, here at The Quiet Grove.
DIY Pantry Labels - An Easy Cricut Project
Learn how to make your own easy Vinyl Pantry Labels over at The Suburban Mom
How to Quickly & Easily Customize and Label your Kid's Lunchboxes With Your Cricut Maker
Learn how to customize and label your kids Lunchboxes with Permanent Vinyl, here at The Quiet Grove
Next Let’s Talk about Iron-on
Cricut Iron-on is basically their version of Heat Transfer Vinyl. Instead of it having a sticker-like adhesive, Iron-on adhesive backing activates with heat and pressure. Though Iron-on is most commonly used on fabric materials (like for custom shirts, socks, hats, and bags, etc), Iron-on can actually be used on several surfaces including glass, wood, Cardstock, paper, and faux leather. My favorite materials to use Iron-on with are paper and cardstock materials for the iron-on gives a gorgeous embossed look. Especially when I use the foil or Glitter Iron-on.
As with Vinyl, Cricut has a wide variety of Iron-on products available. They also have several varieties of smart Iron-on sized specifically so that you can cut them with the Cricut Joy without a mat.
Because the back of the Iron-on is not sticky at all until activated by heat the peel-off backing for the Iron-on is sticky to help you place it on your materials. (That means you don’t need to use transfer tape. Though you will need to mirror image your cuts so it goes on right.) You will also need a Heat Press to apply Iron-on. Though you can use an Iron it doesn’t work as well since the temperature on the iron cannot be set with exactness and it doesn’t have even heating on the heat plate. You will get your best results using one of the Cricut Easypresses.
Here are 10 fun projects you can make with Iron-on:
DIY Iron-on Projects
Here are 10 fun DIY projects you can make with Cricut Iron-on
DIY Mr. & Mrs. Hats Made With Cricut's New Easypress Mini
Learn how to customize hats using Iron-on, here at The Quiet Grove
DIY Custom Workout Top with Cricut SportFlex Iron On
Learn how to use SportFlex Iron-on to make your own custom Workout top, here at the Quiet Grove
Birth Announcement Stuffed Animal With Cricut EasyPress Mini
Learn how to make this adorable baby announcement Stuffie with Iron-on over at Tastefully Frugal
Customized Pot Holders with Your Cricut
Learn how to make customized pot holders with Iron-on over at Hey Let's Make Stuff
DIY Animal Coloring Page Shirts with Cricut Iron-on
Learn how to make your own fun Coloring Page Shirts with Iron-on, here at The Quiet Grove.
Make Your Own DIY Koozie with Vinyl
Learn how to make your own customized Koozies with Iron-on over at Semi Gloss Design
DIY Harry Potter Hogwarts Socks made with Cricut Iron-on (+ Free SVG Cut File)
Learn how to make your own custom Harry Potter Socks with Iron-on, here at The Quiet Grove.
Personalized Back to School Gamer T-shirt & Backpack with Cricut Iron-on
Learn how to personalize your kids Backpacks with Iron-on, here at The Quiet Grove.
Disney Sleep Masks- Cricut Easy Press 2
Learn how to make these fun Disney eye masks with Iron-on over at Suburban Wife City Life.
DIY Mandala Faux Leather Earrings
Learn how to apply Iron-on to Faux Leather to make these gorgeous earrings, here at The Quiet Grove.
Lastly, lets discus Cricut Infusible Ink.
Cricut’s Infusible Ink is basically their version of Sublimation. Rather than your design resting on the surface of your material like Vinyl and Iron-on, Infusible Ink is a heat-activated ink that when you press at the right temperature the Ink will activate and sink into your material permanently fusing your design into the actual material. That means your design will never crack, peel or fade.
Infusible Ink Comes in Sheets (Solid & Patterned) as well as Pens & Markers. They also have specially sized Infusible ink Sheets for the Cricut Joy and for Mugs. The Infusible Ink sheets are cut with your Cricut machines just like Iron-on and pressed into your material. With the pens and markers, you can have your Cricut draw designs or your can draw, or color in designs by hand on a Laser printer then press to your material.
Because of the nature of Infusible Ink, it will only work with compatible materials. Because of this Cricut offers a whole line of Infusible Ink Blanks to use with their Infusible Ink products. (Shirts, Baby Bodysuits, Square Pillow covers, Mugs, Coasters, Totes & Bags) However, you can also use Infusible Inks with other Sublimation blanks. Fabrics need to be a high polyester count to work, and other non-fabric materials need a special poly coating applied to them to work. (aka sublimation materials)
Infusible Ink requires a high temperature (380-400 degrees) to activate the ink. Regular irons do not get hot enough. You will need to use either Cricut’s Easypresses/Mug Press (all Cricut’s Heat Presses are compatible with Infusible Ink) or other professional Heat Presses that have the ability to press at the needed heat to work.
Here are 10 fun projects you can make with Infusible Ink:
DIY Infusible Ink Projects
Here are 10 fun DIY projects you can make with Cricut Infusible Ink.
DIY Infusible Ink Makeup Bags
Learn how to make your own Custom Infusible Ink Makeup Bags, here at The Quiet Grove
Cricut Infusible Ink & Iron-On Layered Canvas Totes
Learn how to make these layered design bags using Infusible Ink and Iron-on over at The Denver Housewife
DIY 'Be Kind' Infusible Ink Mug Made with Cricut's Mug Press
Learn how to make this Be Kind Infusible Ink Mug with the Cricut Mug Press
DIY Baby Milestone Blanket using Cricut’s Infusible ink
Learn how to make your own Baby Milestone Blanket with Infusible Ink over at How Joyful.
How to use Cricut Infusible Ink! (with 2 DIY Project Tutorials!)
Learn how to make these Mandala Coasters (using Infusible Ink Markers) & Library Book Bag (using Infusible Ink Sheets), here at The Quiet Grove
Back To School Personalized Masks with Cricut Infusible Ink
Learn how to make personalized face masks with Infusible Ink over at Tried and True Blog
DIY Harry Potter Hogwart's House Shirts Using Cricut's Infusible Ink
Learn how to make these Harry Potter Hogwarts House Shirts with Infusible Ink Sheets Here at The Quiet Grove
Cricut Pillows with Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets for Beginners!
Learn how to make custom pillows with Infusible Ink over at Sengerson
DIY Personalized Gift: Name Coasters Made Using a Cricut Explore Air 2 & Infusible Ink
Learn how to make these Personalized Monogrammed Infusible Ink coasters, here at The Quiet Grove
Cricut Infusible Ink Mousepad
Learn how to make a custom Infusible Ink Mouse Pad over at Crafting In The Rain
I hope this informational post was able to more fully help you understand the differences between Vinyl, Iron-on & Infusible Ink materials and give you inspiration for how to use them. Cricut also offers a variety of other awesome materials (some of which are only compatible with the Cricut Maker with the adaptive tools) that you might want to check out.
If you found this post helpful, then check out these:
Can Cricut Print? – activateadda
Monday 7th of March 2022
[…] Their Vinyl comes in both permanent and removable options. They even have specialty-sized Smart Vinyl for the Cricut Joy (that doesn’t require a mat!) via […]
Is Cricut Printable Vinyl Iron On? – Pietroortolani
Saturday 26th of February 2022
[…] Cricut Iron-on is basically their version of Heat Transfer Vinyl. Instead of it having a sticker-like adhesive, Iron-on adhesive backing activates with heat and pressure. via […]
Can You Iron-on Permanent Vinyl? – Fallsgardencafe
Thursday 17th of February 2022
[…] Cricut Iron-on is basically their version of Heat Transfer Vinyl. Instead of it having a sticker-like adhesive, Iron-on adhesive backing activates with heat and pressure. via […]
Which Cricut Vinyl For Shirts? – Almazrestaurant
Monday 13th of December 2021
[…] Cricut Iron-on is basically their version of Heat Transfer Vinyl. Instead of it having a sticker-like adhesive, Iron-on adhesive backing activates with heat and pressure. via […]
Which Cricut Makes Iron On Transfers? – Erickkasysavane
Monday 6th of December 2021
[…] Cricut Iron-on is basically their version of Heat Transfer Vinyl. Instead of it having a sticker-like adhesive, Iron-on adhesive backing activates with heat and pressure. via […]