Cricut Design Space has gotten quite a few updates recently, and one of the bigger ones is the new Create Sticker tool. This tool allows you to easily make both die cut and kiss cut stickers using images from the Cricut Image Library or images you upload yourself. You’ll need an inkjet printer as well, since your Cricut doesn’t print!

You can also learn more about making other types of stickers in my post Make Cricut Stickers using Clip Art, SVGs, Photos, and More!

Get everything I use in this post in my Amazon shop!

But in today’s post, we’ll walk through using the Create Sticker tool!

Watch the Video

Want a video walkthrough of this new tool in Cricut Design Space? Just hit play below! Or keep reading for a written tutorial.

Accessing the Create Sticker Tool in Cricut Design Space

Using Cricut Design Space Beta

If you don’t see the Create Sticker tool in your version of Design Space, you may need to switch to the Beta version. To do so, go up to the menu on the right, click Settings, and ensure you have Beta checked under Application Experience. Design Space will restart after you choose Beta, so make sure you have anything you’re working on saved before switching.

Note that Beta can be glitchy! This is where they are testing things out and finding bugs. So you’ll probably have to deal with some annoying glitches along with getting early access to new tools.

At some point this tool will be moved to the general feature set and you won’t need to have beta turned on to access it. That being said, I pretty much always run Design Space in beta because it allows me to see what’s new more quickly!

Cricut Access Members Only

Additionally, Cricut Create Sticker tool is only available for Cricut Access members. Cricut has been really pushing their Cricut Access subscription by adding more tools that are only available for Cricut Access members, like the Monogram Maker and the Warp Tool. Cricut Access members also have access to 300,000+ images, 700+ fonts, and other perks. At less than $10 a month, I do think Cricut Access is a good deal for most Cricut crafters.

If you don’t want to pay for Cricut Access, you can do a lot of this using the Offset Tool.

Which Machines Work?

You can use the Create Sticker tool on any Cricut Maker machine, any Cricut Explore machine, Cricut Venture, and Cricut Joy Xtra. You cannot use it with Cricut Joy because Cricut Joy does not support Print then Cut.

I’m using my Cricut Maker 3 for this project today.

Desktop Only…For Now!

This feature is currently only available in the desktop version of Cricut Design Space, but Cricut has it roadmapped to be included in the iOS and Android apps in the near future, so keep checking your app.

Print then Cut Calibration

Because creating stickers is a Print then Cut project, you may need to calibrate your Cricut. You can follow the steps in my post How to Use Cricut’s Print then Cut Calibration.

What is the Cricut Create Sticker Tool?

The Cricut Create Sticker tool is a feature in Design Space that gives you more options for designing stickers. While the Offset Tool allows you to create a border around any image, the Create Sticker tool takes it a few steps further, but allowing you to create certain types of stickers:

• Die cut stickers: Die cut stickers are cut all the way through the liner sheet so you have single stickers. Think of these like stickers you might buy one at a time to put on your water bottle or laptop.
• Kiss cut stickers: Kiss cut stickers are more like stickers you’ll find on a sheet, like those you may have had as a kid (or, let’s be real, as a grown up as well!). You can have multiple stickers on a kiss cut sheet and you’ll peel up the sticker from the liner, leaving the liner behind.
• Kiss cut stickers with a die cut edge: This adds a border to your kiss cut sticker that cuts all the way through the liner.

I’ll show you all three of these, plus there are also some other features in this tool that we’ll get into as we use it.

How is the Create Sticker Tool Different than the Offset Tool?

The Cricut Create Sticker tool is sort of like the Offset tool and the Flatten tool in one. When you create an Offset of a cut image, your layers remain cuttable. But when you create a sticker, your layers are automatically flattened into a Print then Cut image.

And, like I said above, there are other functions that are unique to sticker making that are not available in the Offset tool.

Where is the Create Sticker Tool in Cricut Design Space?

On desktop (Mac and PC), the Create Sticker tool is found at the top in the toolbar. It’s right in the middle next to Offset.

Using the Create Sticker Tool

You can use this tool on most images in Cricut Design Space, including images you upload yourself. I am going to show you three different sticker options, so I’m uploading three of the cute little houses I have as a free download for you above.

Go to Upload in the left-hand toolbar. From here, click upload file and navigate to the file you want to upload. Then you’ll see a Select Image Type screen. We’re using print then cut, so choose Complex and click continue.

Uploading Images

In the next screen, you’ll remove any background. My files have a transparent background (indicated by the gray checkerboard), so there’s nothing to remove. But if you have a file with a background, you’ll want to remove it here. Click Apply & Continue.

Then you’ll select your upload type as a Print then Cut Image and choose Upload.

Then you can add your images to your Canvas. I have three images here to make three different types of stickers.

Creating a Kiss Cut Sticker in Cricut Design Space

Select your first image and click the Create Sticker dropdown in the top toolbar. Here you’ll see two options: Die Cut and Kiss Cut. Choose Die Cut first.

Then you’ll see some more options. You can choose to have a border around your image and there are several sizes here. I chose Standard. You can also change the color of your border fill if you’d like.

There’s also an option for Cut Interior Shapes. My images don’t have any interior shapes, but if you were, for example, cutting letters of the alphabet, you could have Design Space cut the insides of the letters A, B, etc.

Click apply and you’ll see that your sticker is created. It has a dark gray line around the edge of the border you chose and your image is flattened if you started with a cut image. You’ll also see Sticker in the Layers Panel on the right.

Creating a Die Cut Sticker in Cricut Design Space

Next up, let’s do a Kiss Cut sticker. Choose Kiss Cut from the initial dropdown and again you’ll see similar options. I chose the same standard border and white border fill color. Don’t click Die Cut Edge…we’ll do that next. Again, you’ll also have the Cut Interior Shapes option if you’d like.

Click Apply and you’ll see your border around your Kiss Cut sticker. Notice that the Kiss Cut border is slightly lighter than the Die Cut border. This is so you can visually see that the darker border will cut all the way through the liner, whereas the lighter border will only cut through the sticker layer.

Note: you’ll see my error of “Review Warnings” at the bottom of my screen…but there are no warnings. This is a small example of how Beta can be a bit glitchy!

Creating a Kiss Cut / Die Cut Sticker in Cricut Design Space

For the final house, let’s do all those same Kiss Cut options, but this time choose a Die Cut Edge.

Click Apply and you’ll see there are TWO borders on your image. There’s a light gray border—this is your Kiss Cut sticker. And there is a darker gray border—this will be Die Cut all the way through the liner.

Printing and Cutting Your Stickers

Once you have all of your stickers ready to go, click Make It in the upper right. You’ll be taken to the preview screen where you’ll see your stickers. I made two copies to make use of the piece of printable vinyl I have, and I also used the tips and tricks in my post How to Fit More on a Cricut Mat and Save Material!

Click Continue to go to the Make Screen. Here you can print your image. I left the bleed on, but it doesn’t really matter since the bleed will be white because I have the border. If you have NO border, then definitely use the bleed option so you don’t end up with white edges where the image didn’t cut perfectly.

I also chose to print using the System Dialog box, so I could set my print quality to “Best.”

While your printer is printing your image, you can set the material for your project in Cricut Design Space. I’m using an older Printable Vinyl for these stickers so I chose the correct material.

Then place your sticker sheet on the Cricut mat and your Cricut will cut out your stickers! I was surprised that it cut all three types of stickers in one go—normally, you can only do one type of cutting on a single sheet, but here it did all three.

Results!

Now let’s look at how these three sets of stickers turned out! My registration on my stickers wasn’t perfect, even after calibrating my Print then Cut. So if you’re struggling with that, you’re not the only one!

First up are the Die Cut stickers. These stickers cut all the way through the liner sheet. They worked well, though I don’t think Printable Vinyl is the best material for die cut stickers, only because it’s a little thin.

Next up are the Kiss Cut stickers. I actually printed out a different sheet of Kiss Cut stickers just because I could’t photograph the whole sheet of stickers well with so many of them die cut out of it! These worked perfectly and are a great use of the Cricut Printable Vinyl.

And then finally we have our Kiss Cut and Die Cut stickers. This is basically a combination of both methods above. You can just see that it left my white border on the liner. This is not my favorite way to make stickers, only because it feels like it uses more material than necessary.

Did you find this tutorial for using the new Cricut Create Sticker tool helpful? If so, let me know in the comments!

Print

THE CREATE STICKER TOOL IN DESIGN SPACE

The following instructions will teach you how to use all of the options in the Cricut Create Sticker Tool in Cricut Design Space.

Author Cori George

Equipment

• HP ENVY 6055e Wireless Color Inkjet Printer
• Cricut Standard Grip Mat
• Cricut Maker 3 or
• Cricut Explore 3 or
• Cricut Joy Xtra

Ingredients

• Free Sticker Bundle #C478
• Cricut Printable Vinyl
• Cricut Printable Holographic Sticker Paper
• Cricut Waterproof Sticker Paper

Instructions

• Accessing the Create Sticker Tool in Cricut Design Space

  Using Cricut Design Space Beta

  If you don't see the Create Sticker tool in your version of Design Space, you may need to switch to the Beta version. To do so, go up to the menu on the right, click Settings, and ensure you have Beta checked under Application Experience. Design Space will restart after you choose Beta, so make sure you have anything you're working on saved before switching.

  Note that Beta can be glitchy! This is where they are testing things out and finding bugs. So you'll probably have to deal with some annoying glitches along with getting early access to new tools.

  At some point this tool will be moved to the general feature set and you won't need to have beta turned on to access it.
  
• Cricut Access Members Only

  Additionally, Cricut Create Sticker tool is only available for Cricut Access members. Cricut has been really pushing their Cricut Access subscription by adding more tools that are only available for Cricut Access members, like the Monogram Maker and the Warp Tool. Cricut Access members also have access to 300,000+ images, 700+ fonts, and other perks. At less than $10 a month, Cricut Access is a good deal for most Cricut crafters.

  If you don't want to pay for Cricut Access, you can do a lot of this using the Offset Tool.
• Which Machines Work?

  You can use the Create Sticker tool on any Cricut Maker machine, any Cricut Explore machine, Cricut Venture, and Cricut Joy Xtra. You cannot use it with Cricut Joy because Cricut Joy does not support Print then Cut.

  The Cricut Maker 3 is being used for this project.
• Desktop Only…For Now!

  This feature is currently only available in the desktop version of Cricut Design Space, but Cricut has it roadmapped to be included in the iOS and Android apps in the near future, so keep checking your app.

  Print then Cut Calibration
• Print then Cut Calibration

  Because creating stickers is a Print then Cut project, you may need to calibrate your Cricut. You can follow the steps in this post How to Use Cricut’s Print then Cut Calibration.
• Where is the Create Sticker Tool in Cricut Design Space?

  On desktop (Mac and PC), the Create Sticker tool is found at the top in the toolbar. It's right in the middle next to Offset.
  
• Using the Create Sticker Tool & Uploading Images

  You can use this tool on most images in Cricut Design Space, including images you upload yourself. These instructions will show you three different sticker options. This project is using the cute little houses shown above in the Supply List and it is a free download for you.

  Go to Upload in the left-hand toolbar. From here, click upload file and navigate to the file you want to upload. Then you'll see a Select Image Type screen. We're using print then cut, so choose Complex and click continue.
  
• In the next screen, you'll remove any background. The free house files have a transparent background (indicated by the gray checkerboard), so there's nothing to remove. But if you have a file with a background, you'll want to remove it here. Click Apply & Continue.
  
• Then you'll select your upload type as a Print then Cut Image and choose Upload.
  
• Then you can add your images to your Canvas. This project is using three images to make three different types of stickers.
  
• Select your first image and click the Create Sticker dropdown in the top toolbar. Here you'll see two options: Die Cut and Kiss Cut. Choose Die Cut first.
  
• Then you'll see some more options. You can choose to have a border around your image and there are several sizes here. Here Standard was chosen. You can also change the color of your border fill if you'd like.

  There's also an option for Cut Interior Shapes. These free images don't have any interior shapes, but if you were, for example, cutting letters of the alphabet, you could have Design Space cut the insides of the letters A, B, etc.
  
• Click apply and you'll see that your sticker is created. It has a dark gray line around the edge of the border you chose and your image is flattened if you started with a cut image. You'll also see Sticker in the Layers Panel on the right.
  
• Creating a Die Cut Sticker in Cricut Design Space

  Next up, let's do a Kiss Cut sticker. Choose Kiss Cut from the initial dropdown and again you'll see similar options. The same standard border and white border fill color was chosen here. Don't click Die Cut Edge…that will be next. Again, you'll also have the Cut Interior Shapes option if you'd like.
  
• Click Apply and you'll see your border around your Kiss Cut sticker. Notice that the Kiss Cut border is slightly lighter than the Die Cut border. This is so you can visually see that the darker border will cut all the way through the liner, whereas the lighter border will only cut through the sticker layer.

  Note: you'll see an error of "Review Warnings" at the bottom of the screen…but there are no warnings. This is a small example of how Beta can be a bit glitchy!
  
• Creating a Kiss Cut / Die Cut Sticker in Cricut Design Space

  For the final house, you will do all those same Kiss Cut options, but this time you will be choosing a Die Cut Edge.
  
• Click Apply and you'll see there are TWO borders on your image. There's a light gray border—this is your Kiss Cut sticker. And there is a darker gray border—this will be Die Cut all the way through the liner.
  
• Printing and Cutting Your Stickers

  Once you have all of your stickers ready to go, click Make It in the upper right. You'll be taken to the preview screen where you'll see your stickers. For this project two copies were made to make use of the piece of printable vinyl used, and also the tips and tricks from this post were used: How to Fit More on a Cricut Mat and Save Material!
  
• Click Continue to go to the Make Screen. Here you can print your image. The bleed was left on, but it doesn't really matter since the bleed will be white because there is the border. If you have NO border, then definitely use the bleed option so you don't end up with white edges where the image didn't cut perfectly.
  
• Using the System Dialog box was also selected so that the the print quality could be set to "Best."
  
• While your printer is printing your image, you can set the material for your project in Cricut Design Space. An older Printable Vinyl was used for these stickers so the correct material was chosen.

  Then place your sticker sheet on the Cricut mat and your Cricut will cut out your stickers! It was surprising that it cut all three types of stickers in one go—normally, you can only do one type of cutting on a single sheet, but here it did all three.
  
• Results!

  Now let's look at how these three sets of stickers turned out! The registration on this sticker wasn't perfect, even after calibrating the Print then Cut. So if you're struggling with that, you're not the only one!

  First up are the Die Cut stickers. These stickers cut all the way through the liner sheet. They worked well, though Printable Vinyl is not the best material for die cut stickers, only because it's a little thin.
  
• Next up are the Kiss Cut stickers. These were actually printed out of a different sheet of Kiss Cut stickers just because the whole sheet of stickers didn't photograph well with so many of them die cut out of it! These worked perfectly and are a great use of the Cricut Printable Vinyl.
  
• And then finally we have our Kiss Cut and Die Cut stickers. This is basically a combination of both methods above. You can just see that it left the white border on the liner. This is not a favorite way to make stickers, only because it feels like it uses more material than necessary.
  

The post Using the Cricut Create Sticker Tool in Cricut Design Space appeared first on Hey, Let's Make Stuff.

Cricut released a new tool for Cricut Design Space recently—Cricut Warp! This new tool allows you to warp both Cricut fonts and your system fonts in 24 pre-determined warp designs. This tool is available only on the Desktop version of Cricut Design Space. In today’s post, we’ll talk about using this new tool and what I personally like about it and a few things I find frustrating.

Visit my Amazon shopping list for everything you need to get started using your Cricut!

Available to Cricut Access Members

The Cricut Warp tool is only available for Cricut Access members. Cricut has been really pushing their Cricut Access subscription by adding more tools that are only available for Cricut Access members, like the Monogram Maker. Cricut Access members also have access to 300,000+ images, 700+ fonts, and other perks. At less than $10 a month, I do think Cricut Access is a good deal for most Cricut crafters.

If you don’t want to pay for Cricut Access, there are other software programs that allow you to warp text, including InkScape and Adobe Illustrator.

Accessing the Cricut Warp Tool in Beta

If you don’t see the Warp tool in your version of Design Space, you may need to switch to the beta version. To do so, go up to the menu on the left, click Settings, and ensure you have the Beta Application checked. Design Space will restart after you choose beta, so make sure you have anything you’re working on saved before switching.

At some point this tool will be moved to the general feature set and you won’t need to have beta turned on to access it. That being said, I pretty much always run Design Space in beta because it allows me to see what’s new more quickly!

Warp in Cricut Design Space Video

Want to see this new tool in action? Check out my video on using this tool! Or read on for a written tutorial.

What is Cricut Warp?

The Cricut Warp tool allows you to change the shape of a text design in Design Space. You can warp both Cricut fonts and your own system fonts using this tool.

This tool expands the type of images you can make within Cricut Design Space, including cool retro designs that are really popular right now.

Where is the Warp Tool in Cricut Design Space?

On desktop (Mac and PC), the Warp tool is found at the top in the toolbar. It’s right in the middle next to Offset.

Cricut Warp Options

Here are the 24 different warp options in Cricut Design Space. You can see that some are better than others! Some of them are nearly unreadable, like the center one on the next to the bottom row.

When I first tried out the warp tool, I was bummed that I couldn’t change the “amount” of the warp. Well, good news! That’s now an option! At the bottom of the warp selector, there’s a slider where you can choose just how much warp you’d like. This gives you a lot more control and feels more similar to other programs, like Adobe Illustrator.

It also depends on the word and font you are using. I find longer words look better. So do words in all-caps. And some fonts are way better than others as well—block letters are better than script.

Using Warp to Create a Retro Design

Let’s take a look at an example. Start by using the Text tool to add some text to your canvas. I added Sunshine three times in a single text box to create a popular retro design.

I then changed my font to something a bit more retro. The font I’ve used here is called Nellie. I use it a lot in retro designs in my shop!

There was a lot of space between text so I decreased the amount of line spacing to -5, then selected the Warp tool from the top toolbar.

I selected this flag warp #11 (I really wish they had this same warp going in the other direction, too).

I thought the warp was a bit extreme (again, you can’t edit it), so I tried warp #13 and rotated it a bit to get this design. Not too bad.

If you’re using a single text box like this, you can only use a single color in your design—there’s no way to contour this or edit certain parts of it individually. That can be limiting depending on what you’re creating.

The Flatten tool is also grayed out, but you can make a Print then Cut file by going to Operation > Flatten.

One workaround to the colors issue is to add the words individually then warp. Then, select Align and Center Horizontally so everything is lined up correctly. You can see here that the warp is a bit different than it was when I had all three words in the same text box.

Now, you can change the colors individually!

Overall, do I love the Warp tool? It’s…okayish. I think Adobe Illustrator is much more accommodating when it comes to creating designs and being able to control just how much Warp to use.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Warp Tool

Hope you learned a little more about the Warp tool today! Have questions? I’d be happy to answer them in the comments!

The post Using the Cricut Design Space Warp Tool appeared first on Hey, Let's Make Stuff.

Cricut Print then Cut just got a big overhaul, and that means its time to recalibrate your Cricut Explore or Cricut Maker. Whether it’s your first time using Cricut Print then Cut or you just need to recalibrate it to use the new bigger sizes, this post will walk you through the instructions for this simple process.

If you’re unfamiliar, Cricut Print then Cut allows you to print a full-color image on your home laser or inkjet printer, and then have your Cricut cut around the edges of that printed image. You can make stickers, labels, photo artwork, sublimation prints, and more. You can learn more in my Ultimate Guide to Cricut Print then Cut.

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Which Cricut Machines Use Print then Cut

Print then Cut is only available on Cricut Explore (including the original Explore, Explore One, Explore Air, Explore Air 2, and Explore 3 machines) and Cricut Maker (Cricut Maker and Cricut Maker 3) machines. Cricut Joy and older machines do not support Print then Cut because they do not have the sensors needed to read where to cut.

How to Know When to Calibrate

There are two instances when you might need to do Print then Cut calibration.

1. You are using Print then Cut for the first time and you’ve never calibrated Print then Cut before.
2. Cricut makes an update to Print then Cut and you are forced to do a recalibration.

In the first instance, you’ll go to the hamburger menu in the upper left of the Cricut Design Space canvas and choose Calibration.

In the second instance, Cricut will “force” a recalibration and you may be prompted to calibrate in the middle of a project.

Print then Cut Calibration

Depending on the machine you are using, the Machine Calibration window may have more options here. The Maker, for example, also has calibration for the Knife Blade and Rotary Blade. But my Explore 3 just has the Print then Cut calibration option.

Click the Print then Cut button, and you’ll be prompted to choose your printer and print a calibration page on a sheet of paper.

Once you have the calibration page printed, put it in the top left corner of a Cricut cutting mat.

Click Continue in Cricut Design Space. Select your Cricut to connect to and then Cricut Design Space will prompt you to prepare your machine. It should have the fine point blade with nothing in the other tool clamp.

Then insert your mat with the calibration page on it into your Cricut. Once loaded, press the flashing Go button.

From there, your Cricut will turn on a light in its sensors and read the black marks on the page.

After that, it will make a cut around the square in the center of the page. WITHOUT unloading the page, see how close your Cricut got to cutting on top of the black line.

Mine is actually pretty close, but to demonstrate what a full calibration is I’m going to choose NO, the cut did not touch the black line all the way around. This will lead to a “basic” calibration. If your cut did touch the line all the way around, you can choose YES and it will skip the basic and do a “fine” calibration.

Your Cricut will do a series of cuts along the top and right edge of your paper.

WITHOUT unloading, Cricut Design Space will ask you to examine the cut lines and see which two are the closest vertically and horizontally. Mine were 11 on the top and K on the right. Yours might be different. Put those values into Cricut Design Space and click Continue.

That’s your “basic calibration.” Now we’ll do a “fine” calibration to get it even closer. You will be prompted to remove your mat and print another calibration sheet. You’ll follow the same steps to prepare your machine and place the calibration sheet in the top left corner of the mat. Insert your mat into the machine and press that flashing Go button one more time.

Your Cricut will read the black lines and do more test cuts in the same way that it did before. If your cut is now entirely in the black square, click YES and it will proceed with the “fine” calibration. Choose the two values that are closest to the center of the line—in this case it was 12 and L for me.

Finally, your Cricut will cut the larger rectangle and it should cut on top of the black line all the way around.

In Design Space, choose YES and the calibration is complete! If not, choose NO and it will run through the same process again.

Once you’ve got it to cut all the way around the center of your black line, you’re done!

Have questions about Cricut Print then Cut calibrations or need help troubleshooting? Let me know in the comments!

The post How to Use Cricut’s Print then Cut Calibration appeared first on Hey, Let's Make Stuff.

If you’re not familiar with Cricut Print then Cut, it’s basically a feature of the Cricut Maker and Cricut Explore machines that allows you to print out an image on your home inkjet printer and then your Cricut will use its sensors and cut around the edges of your project. You can use it to make all sorts of projects like labels, stickers, magnets, and even sublimation projects.

You can read my full tutorial for Cricut Print then Cut here if this is your first time learning about this feature! Note that Cricut Joy does not support Print then Cut.

Print then Cut has always been a bit of a sore spot with some Cricut users. Compared to competitors, the print area size was the big issue. Over the years, they’ve increased it in small increments, but up until recently it was still smaller than most other Print then Cut competitors. Crafters have tried to find ways to hack the Print then Cut size, but a lot of them are fussy and often they don’t work well.

But I’ve got good news! The Cricut Print then Cut feature has gotten a redesign and they’ve increased the size of Print then Cut, including the ability to cut on larger page sizes. This post will go over all the new sizing details and how to maximize cut space, but refer to my full Cricut Print then Cut post for the nitty gritty on using Print then Cut in a variety of ways.

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Watch the Print then Cut Video

Want to skip the blog post and get all the information in a video instead? Watch it here!

Print then Cut Images

As always, you’ll need a printable image for Print then Cut. You can upload a JPG or PNG, use a printable image from the Cricut Image Library, or you can flatten the layers of an SVG file or Cricut cut image.

How to Access the New Larger Cricut Print then Cut

The increased Print then Cut size is currently in the Beta version of Cricut Design Space, but anyone can access it. Just go to the hamburger menu in the top left and in the dropdown, click Settings. From there, you can change from Live to Beta. Note that it WILL restart Cricut Design Space, so make sure you have all your work saved.

Calibrating Print then Cut

To use the new feature, you will be prompted to recalibrate Print then Cut. If you’re not prompted, I would manually recalibrate. To do so, you’ll go to the hamburger menu in the top left and click Calibration. Then follow the on-screen steps to calibrate Print then Cut. You’ll print out a test sheet, place it on a mat, and then your Cricut will make a series of cuts. You can follow the instructions until your Cricut is calibrated and your Cricut machine is perfectly cutting around the edge of your project. See my full tutorial for Print then Cut Calibration.

Cricut Print then Cut New Registration Marks

With this new release, the way that Cricut uses registration marks has changed. Before, they got in the way of the size of the image. But now they’ve changed things a bit so that the registration marks are only in the way a small bit. There’s more room at the top and bottom between the registration marks for your image, allowing the images to be a bit larger.

You can see these as red dotted lines in the Prepare Screen on the image preview. There are basically “tolerances” around the registration marks. So if your image fits within those tolerances, you’re good to go. If you have something like a square image with corners, it will have to be slightly smaller because the corners will get too close to the registration marks.

But an image like this cactus easily shows how much more space at the top and bottom we have to work with. In these two images, the one on the left has the previous cut size of 6.75″ x 9.25″, but on the right you can see the new print area is significantly bigger!

Cricut Print then Cut New Paper Sizes

Until now, I believe there was only one size of paper supported for Print then Cut: 8.5″ x 11″. This is the standard paper size in the US, but not everywhere. With this update, there are FIVE different paper sizes supported:

• A4: 8.3″ x 11.7″
• Letter: 8.5″ x 11″
• Legal: 8.5″ x 14″
• Tabloid: 11″ x 17″
• A3: 11.7″ x 16.5″

You can change the paper size in the Settings. Go to the hamburger menu in the upper left, then Settings, and then Load Type. There you will see all the options.

Note that you WILL need a home printer that can print these bigger sizes! Many printers in the US can also do legal paper, but you’ll need a specialty printer to use the large tabloid size. I currently do not have a large format printer, so unfortunately I can’t actually test these larger sizes.

Additionally, I hope Cricut will add a 12″ x 12″ size, since I do have a Canon TS9521C 12×12 Printer, which prints that large scrapbook paper size. Fingers crossed!

Cricut Print then Cut New File Sizes

Now let’s talk about the Print then Cut print area for these different paper sizes. Cricut hasn’t published the exact sizes for each paper size yet, but after some testing, I think these measurements are pretty close:

• A4: 7.19″ x 10.06″
• Letter: 7.44″ x 9.94″
• Legal: 7.44″ x 12.93″
• Tabloid: 9.94″ x 15.94″
• A3: 10.63″ x 15.49″

Hopefully Cricut will release the maximum print sizes so we can be more precise, but in the meantime these numbers should get you close.

Auto-Resize in Cricut Print then Cut

Because each image is different and those tolerances are now rendered differently, it may be hard to know just how big an image can be. This is where the Auto-Resize feature comes in. I find this a bit tricky to work with (I think it could be more easily accessible, if you’re listening Cricut engineers), but it’s not too bad. First, you need to resize your image LARGER than your final project. That is the only way you’ll be able to access the Auto-Resize.

When you go to make it, you’ll get a warning that says your image is too big and you need to resolve the issue:

In the Layers Panel on the left, you’ll see a warning symbol on that layer—a little red exclamation point in a circle. Click on it and you’ll see options!

From here, you’ll see that Cricut Design Space has detected a maximum size for your project. You can go and plug in those numbers into the Edit toolbar at the top, OR you can use the Auto-Resize feature! This will make your image the maximum size allowed within the Print then Cut boundaries. Easy!

You can also change your paper size here—it will just take you to that Load Type settings screen mentioned earlier in this post.

You can use the Auto-Resize with any paper size, meaning you can make HUGE print then cut crafts on that larger paper with a large-format printer and a large Cricut mat. I think this is fantastic in particular for larger sublimation Print then Cut projects (yes you can get tabloid sized sublimation paper on places like Amazon!), since many things like sticker paper or printable vinyl don’t easily come in these larger formats.

Frequently Asked Questions about Larger Cricut Print then Cut

The post New Larger Cricut Print then Cut Size and How to Use It! appeared first on Hey, Let's Make Stuff.

Cricut Design Space is updated every so often with new features. This post will help explain the more important features of each update. If you want to see the nitty gritty of every release (like small enhancements and bug fixes), you can go to Cricut’s help site and click on Release Notes to find other helpful information.

Knowing about Cricut Design Space changes means you can make the most out of the newest features in the desktop software so you can use it with your Cricut Maker, Cricut Explore, or Cricut Joy.

Visit my Amazon shopping list for everything you need to get started using your Cricut!

Checking Your Software Version

On a Mac

When Cricut Design Space is open, go to the menu at the top of your screen and select the Cricut Design Space dropdown, and then About Cricut Design Space to see your current version.

On a PC

Hover over the Cricut Design Space icon in the system tray and you can see the current version of your software.

Updating Cricut Design Space

Cricut rolls out their updates in “waves,” meaning that not every user gets the software update at the same time. There’s no way to force and update to get the newest version of Cricut Design Space. The best thing you can try is to exit and restart the Design Space program and see if it automatically updates to the current plugin.

If you are having software or plugin issues, reach out to Cricut Support.

Where did the Browser App Go?

In January of 2020, Cricut moved away from using a web-based software to a desktop app. You can still access design.cricut.com in a browser tab (Chrome is preferred), but it will have you download and install the Design Space plugin on your computer. Cricut did this for a few reasons:

• Automatic updates
• Faster connection between your computer and your Cricut
• A slow internet connection will generally not affect using the Design Space app like it could with the website
• Use your Cricut offline, without an internet connection, more easily
• No more cache issues or problems with cookies

Learn more about The Cricut Design Space Desktop App + Working Offline.

February 2023 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.26)

The biggest update in February is that Cricut Print then Cut is now larger! A lot larger! You can see my entire post about this update: New Larger Cricut Print then Cut Size and How to Use It!

Also included in this update is another bounding box update! Now you can resize projects using the sides of the bounding box, not just the corners. This allows you to change the height or width independently, instead of adjusting them at the same time. Honestly I would use this sparingly because from a graphic design perspective it’s generally not a great idea to stretch your images or text, but there might be some cases it would be necessary.

January 2023 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.25)

This update is all small glitch fixes—there are no bigger updates that you should notice.

January 2023 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.24)

A few small updates for this release. First, if you have a very small object on your Canvas, the bounding box handles will disappear making it easier to move around. You can zoom in to see the bounding box handles if you need to make any changes to size or rotation (or you can still use the Edit toolbar at the top).

Second, they’ve changed the way that bookmarked materials appear in the Make Screen when you select your materials. Instead of a star, it’s now a green bookmark to be consistent with the rest of Design Space.

December 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.23)

This update changed My Projects in the top navigation bar to My Stuff. My Stuff has a lot more than My Projects did, including your uploaded and saved images. When you bookmark a project, you’ll get more options for organizing your files within My Stuff, including accessing all of your collections.

Additionally, there’s a new and improved font picker (yay!). The interface is a bit different, but the best part is the “Recent Fonts” tab, which allows you to easily see fonts you’ve recently used.

You can also search the Cricut Fonts by different styles. Note that this does NOT apply to your system fonts, just Cricut fonts. Need to know more about fonts? Read my How to Use Fonts and Text in Cricut Design Space.

There are some other good smaller updates too, like the ability to sort searches by most recent, and that fonts come up when you search keywords on the Home page.

November 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.22)

There are more bounding box updates in this release. The height and width is now displayed along with the bounding box. It will also show your rotational degrees as you rotate your object.

There are other small updates, including quick links to Images, Projects, and Community on the home page, the ability to search creator profiles, and there’s now a Learning Plan link in the top navigational bar to easily access tutorials.

November 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.21)

This update includes a brand new tool called Cricut Editable Images. These are images where you can edit the text to completely personalize them. Because this is a big update, I created a video and a post so you can learn how this new tool works. You can watch my video about Cricut Editable Images or read about them in my post Editable Images in Cricut Design Space.

Additionally, there were some updates to Cricut profile pages and the way that Cricut contributor badges are shown.

October 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.20)

In this release, Cricut released four new “Combine” tools in Cricut Design Space. Because there is a lot to these tools, I’ve created a video and a post so you can learn how to use them. You can watch my video about the Combine Tools read about them in my post Cricut Combine Tools: Weld, Unite, Subtract, Intersect, Exclude!

There are also updates to the Layers Panel in Design Space to support the new tools, including the ability to rename your layers by right-clicking.

October 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.19)

This update also adds more learning tools to Cricut Design Space, specifically for Cricut Maker 3 and Cricut Explore 3. If you have one of these machines selected, you’ll see a Learning Plan link in the dropdown in the upper left of Design Space.

From here, you can get guided tours of Cricut Design Space basics.

No word if the learning plan will be available for Cricut Joy, Maker, and Explore Air 2 owners yet.

Additionally, there’s now a yearly option for Cricut Access. As of the writing of this update, the yearly subscription works out to $7.99 per month, saving you $2 a month over the monthly price.

September 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.18)

This update is for the images in the Cricut Image Library. The prices for images are now right on the preview image. If you have Access, the number will be gray and crossed out. And if you’ve previously purchased it al la carte, it will say Purchased.

August 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.16)

Another minor update. The Cricut Design Space home page is now the full width of your screen vs. being cut off on the sides if your Cricut Design Space window happens to be wider than their viewable limit.

August 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.15)

Another very minor update. When buying images or fonts within Cricut Design Space, there’s now a box that pops up to show the benefits of using Cricut Access.

August 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.14)

A few small updates. You’ll now get to preview a Cricut Design Space link in a browser vs. having to open the app on your computer or phone.

Additionally there is an improvement when reporting images for copyright or other violations. If you select “other,” there’s a box for you to write your reason for reporting the image.

July 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.13)

Font Updates

This update is almost exclusively about fonts! I’ve been wanting a bookmarking feature for fonts for years, and they finally released it. This works for both Cricut and system fonts, though the system font bookmarking won’t save from device to device.

All you have to do is click the little green bookmark icon next to the font you want to bookmark. In this screenshot I bookmarked three fonts.

Then when I go to the Bookmarks tab at the top, I’ll only see the fonts I’ve bookmarked.

Notifications

There are also some changes to the notifications in Cricut Design Space added in June. They are now more specific based on the type of action a user took on your profile.

July 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.12)

The biggest update for this round is the addition of keyboard shortcuts (sometimes called “hotkeys”) in Cricut Design Space. If you have used keyboard shortcuts in other programs, many of these function the same way.

You can download a cheat sheet for the Cricut keyboard shortcuts, and the keyboard shortcuts are also listed after the menu items. I’m on a Mac, so I can see that command-X is cut, command-C is copy, and command-V is paste. This is the same as other software.

I am a HUGE fan of this update because you can be so much faster in a program when you’re not constantly moving your hands from keyboard to mouse!

Another more minor update to Cricut Design Space is the ability to add a banner to your Cricut Community profile. Just go to your profile by going to the top left and clicking your avatar and selecting View Profile. From there, you can click the pencil symbol at the top of the banner and upload your own image.

June 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.11)

These updates have to do with the way that items are handled on the Canvas within Cricut Design Space. These changes bring Design Space more in line with other graphic design software.

You’ll notice that the old icons for rotating, locking, and resizing at the corners of the bounding box are now gone. Bounding boxes are the box around the item you’re working on in Cricut Design Space (a text or image).

Now, if you hover over the corner of a bounding box, you’ll see a double-sided arrow. You can click the corner and drag your image smaller or larger.

If you hover just outside of these corner bounding box, you’ll see a curved arrow. Click and you’ll be able to rotate your image.

In the March 2022 update, I said I didn’t have text wrapping even though that was part of the update. Turns out, it looks like they took that functionality away! But it’s back with this update.

On a text box, you’ll notice that there are also “handles” on the bounding box on the top, bottom, and right and left sides. This allows you to change the size of your text box.

If you make the text box narrower than your text, Cricut Design Space will automatically wrap your text (force it to another line).

If you make the text box bigger, you can then choose where in the text box you want your text to live in the Alignment dropdown at the top. In this case, I made the text box larger and chose right alignment.

I recently found one update that I can’t seem to find in Cricut’s release notes. When you create text that’s overlapping (like a script or cursive font), Cricut Design Space no longer requires you to Weld your letters together. That’s now done automatically! You can see here the un-welded word on the left becomes welded once you hit Make It in the upper right.

This works on both Cricut and system fonts. A great little update because a lot of newer crafters miss this vital step!

June 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.10)

These updates are mostly regarding Cricut Profiles and community content.

A notification bell has been added so you can see when people follow your Cricut Community profile. You can change your notification preferences by clicking the three-line menu in the upper left of your Canvas and going to settings.

You can also report images that go against Cricut’s Terms of Use policy. When you open a project, you’ll see a tiny flag icon (this is my friend Angie Holden’s project—just using it as an example!):

And then you’ll see a list of violation types to select from:

May 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.9)

This newest release had a great new feature for Cricut Access members—Cricut Monogram Maker! I’ve written about how to use this new tool in my post How to Use the Cricut Monogram Maker in Design Space.

The 7.9 update also has updates and improvements to the Background Remover feature when you’re uploading outside files (SVG, DXF, JPG, PNG, GIF, or BMP). If you remove a background and want to restore some of it, you can now see a vague shadow of what will be restored when you use the restore tool. In this example, you can see the corner of the wood bed frame.

There are also minor improvements to the Automatic Background Remover tool, which helps with removing backgrounds on more complex images.

May 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.8)

The 7.8 updates increases the size of Cricut Print then Cut. Before, the largest paper you could use with Print then Cut was 8.5″ x 11″, but this update adds A4 paper, which is 8.3″ x 11.7″. This is helpful for places where A4 is the standard paper size, but it doesn’t increase the size of the Print then Cut area by much.

Maximum print size for Print Then Cut is 6.75″ x 9.25″ (17.14cm x 23.4cm) on 8.5″ x 11″ paper, and 6.51″ x 9.93″ (16.54cm x 25.22cm) on A4 paper.

You can change your paper size selection in the Settings Menu under the dropdown in the upper left.

April 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.7)

I’m excited about this first April update, and that is the addition of a guide layer to Cricut Design Space. If you want to make notes on your project for yourself or someone else (using the sharing feature), you can use the Operation Dropdown to make a Guide layer.

Your text will turn pink and this layer will automatically NOT cut. You’ll see the layer marked as Guide in the Layers Panel on the left.

April 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.6)

A couple smaller updates for today. Cricut recently started including more designers in their image library, and now the designer’s name or business name appears below files they have designed. Designers make a small commission on the files you cut, so support your favorite designers this way!

Second, Cricut improved the Print then Cut capabilities in the Prepare screen to match how other operation types appear in that screen. You can now rotate, move, and hide Print then Cut objects.

Check out my Ultimate Guide to Cricut Print then Cut!

March 2022 Cricut Design Space Updates (v7.5)

The updates this month are sort of all over the place. To start, you can now select a “load default” in the settings (use the menu in the upper left to access the settings). So if almost exclusively use Smart Materials, for example, you can now select Without a Mat as the default setting. There are other options here as well.

Second, there is apparently an update to the bounding boxes so you can wrap text. I have yet to actually get this feature, however, so I can’t say whether or not it works or if other folks actually have it. Here’s the image from Cricut showing the handles for resizing:

Let me know if you have this feature in the comments!

Third, there are some updates to uploading outside files, including:

• HEIC file uploads (this is the file type native to an iPhone and iPad now)
• Edge to edge background erasing
• 1px size eraser for detailed erasing

The post Desktop Cricut Design Space Updates: February 2023 appeared first on Hey, Let's Make Stuff.

Have you ever found an image in Cricut Design Space that was so close to being perfect, but something was just not right? Like maybe you found the perfect image for a 15th birthday…but you really need one for a 14th birthday. Or you find the cutest “best aunt ever” image, but you’re looking for a “best auntie ever” image. It can be really frustrating!

Enter editable images!

Cricut Editable images are basically what they sound like—they are images in the Cricut Image Library with text and numbers that you can swap out to personalize them for your own unique needs! In this tutorial, I’ll share how to find them and how to use them!

Editable Images are only available on the desktop version of Cricut Design Space at this time, not in the mobile iOS and Android Design Space apps.

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How to Use Editable Images Video

Where to Find Cricut Editable Images

When Cricut Design Space updates, you should see Editable Images in the Design Panel menu on the left-hand side.

If you don’t see it, you can try to restart Design Space to force an update. They may be rolling this out in phases, so if you don’t see it after updating, you may have to be patient. You can also go into Cricut Design Space’s settings (use the menu in the top left) and select “beta” to get the public testing version of Cricut Design Space. Editable images might be there!

What Are Editable Images?

Start with a new project. When you click on Editable Images, you’ll see an image library much like you would when you click the regular Images button in the Design Panel. The category in the upper left will say All Editable Images.

There are a few ways to tell if a file is an editable image.

The first is the icon that looks like a mouse cursor over a square with points in the corners. This icon will be on any editable image. Second, every editable image will have some sort of text or numbers that are gray with a blue outline. In the case of the Happy New Year image above, the “20XX” is designed so you can use this image for any year!

Editable Images will also show up in the regular image search if they fit your search criteria.

Instructions for Using Editable Images

When you add an Cricut editable image to your Canvas, you’ll be able to…edit it!

When you click on an editable layer, the font toolbar will appear and you’ll be able to edit your text. So in this case, I can change Christmas, Gabrielle, and the date. I can’t edit the text “baby’s first.” So my new image could look something like this for Easter instead of Christmas:

You’ll notice that the text you’ve edited changes to black (in other images it may change to another coordinating color for the image). Now it will all cut on the same mat as the “baby’s first.” The heart will cut on its own mat because it’s a different color.

You can edit this image even further if you’d like, changing things like the colors, the size, adding other elements (like replacing the heart with an easter egg from the Cricut Image library), or changing the operation type (like flattening for Print then Cut). Basically you can make any edits you’d make to any other image or cut file. You may need to ungroup and detach layers to make changes like this.

Now you can cut the image on your Cricut machine to make your project!

Editable Images Pricing

There are a very small number of Cricut editable images made with free images and free fonts that you can use without a cost. Just click Free at the top of the filtering window next to the image results.

Almost all of the other images are available as part of the Cricut Access subscription. If you do not have Cricut Access, you can buy these images a la cart. You’ll be charged for the image AND the font, however, so some of these images can get a little pricey. I do recommend Cricut Access if you’re using more than an image or two from the Cricut Image Library each month. It’s worth the price to get access to so many images and fonts for just $10 a month.

And that’s it! Have questions about using Cricut Editable Images? I’d be happy to answer them in the comments!

The post Cricut Editable Images in Cricut Design Space appeared first on Hey, Let's Make Stuff.