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Cricut Tips & Hacks!

We recently started posting some Cricut Tips & Hacks on our TikTok account & we wanted to make a blog post with all these tips! We will be adding more as we learn them!

CLICK HERE to check out our TikTok account full of Cricut tips, project inspiration, & other craft resources!
Make sure you follow us to stay up to date on all our videos!

This post contains some affiliate links for your shopping convenience. This simply means when you shop using our links, we make a commission & at no additional cost to you! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps us keep making great content for you all! Thank you for supporting our crafting community! See our privacy policy for more information.

You can click the links in each tip to take you to purchase each item included in these tips!

1. When pulling vinyl off your mat, turn it over & BEND & pull up on the mat (the mat is made a little flexible so you can do this!) while removing TO PREVENT PAPER CURLING!
BEND THE MAT, NOT THE VINYL!

2. TO CUT MULTIPLE COLORS OF VINYL ON THE SAME MAT
On the “Make It” screen, click the THREE DOTS (they appear when you select an image), & select “Move Image” and manually move every image onto the same mat & lay each color using the number guides.
You can also do this by making the entire image the same color. Then all parts of your project will appear on one mat & you can manually move them to arrange them how you’d like & just place the vinyl as described above.

3. Store your vinyl scrap pieces in a 3 ring binder with clear sheet protectors to separate each different color. (These items can also be found at Dollar Tree!!)

4. When dealing with stubborn vinyl that won’t come off your transfer tape, turn it over so the transfer tape is facing DOWN. Then almost fold/roll away, almost creasing the backing of the vinyl, SLOWLY away from the transfer tape.
Sometimes you have to PUSH DOWN (reburnish) another time on the transfer tape for the stubborn pieces BEFORE doing this to ensure your vinyl is adhered to the transfer tape good!

5. You can reuse the same piece of transfer tape over and over again!

6. Use parchment paper for easy layering! Put the parchment paper on the back of your vinyl (on the sticky part. Don’t worry it comes right off really easy!) covering about 90% of the design, leaving just a little of the design exposed on the top. Line up your vinyl (the exposed NOT covered by parchment paper) & once your satisfied with placement, slowly pull away the parchment paper, while slowly sticking your vinyl to the first layer.

7. Store your vinyl UPRIGHT for longer shelf life, or keep it in a roll tightly wrapped.

8. Use Slap Bracelets or rubber bands to keep your vinyl rolls rolled up tight.

9. Use Glad Press N Seal in place of transfer tape when transferring vinyl onto cardstock!

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How to write with Cricut Pens on Cricut Machines!

**This post contains affiliate links, and we will be compensated if you make a purchase after purchasing with our links, at no extra cost to you! As an Amazon Affiliate we earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting our crafting community! See our privacy policy for more info.

Cricut markers are also available on their site &
they go on sale all the time at Cricut’s Shop or on Amazon!

Step-By-Step Directions:

NOTE: These directions & screenshots are based on using Design Space with an IPhone (IOS Device) so there may be a few slight differences when using the desktop version.

1. Open Design Space and click “new project”.

2. Click “Text” from the options along the bottom of your screen.

3. To make it easier to find “writing fonts” click the circle with the three lines next to the text box where it says “Search Fonts” towards the top of your screen, as circled in the picture below.

4. Click the fourth option down that says “Writing” and there should now we a check mark on the right side of “writing” as shown in the picture below. Click the < arrow to go back to the fonts or “Clear Filters” to start over.

5. Select the font that you’d like to use.

6. Type your word out and make sure it’s selected (green box will be around it).

7. Click “Edit” form the options on the bottom of your screen.

8. Click the icon you see above “Style” and click “Writing” (as shown in the image below) & now you should see a checkmark next to the “Writing” option.

9. Still under the “edit” options scroll to the right and find “Operation” it may either say “cut” or draw”, either way click it, as shown in the image below

**If you see a warning message that says “Project Incompatible” click “Change”**

10. From the drop down menu at the top of your screen, if it says “cut” or anything besides “Pen” click the arrow and change the option to “Pen”. As shown in the images below

11. You can select your pens thickness across the top (.04 is the smallest tip and 1.0 is the biggest) and then choose your color. Ultimately it doesn’t matter what color you choose because your Cricut machine doesn’t know that, but it’s easiest to just stick to using the right settings for the right markers.

12. Select the color you want (same as above rule about Cricut not knowing the difference in what color pens you actually use, but its helpful for projects with multiple colors if you just choose the correct color)

13. Click the green “Apply” in the right corner.

When you are satisfied with your project & you are ready to “Make It”, you can select everything you want to stay together and click the “Attach” options from the “Actions” panel as shown in the picture below.

TIP: If your font looks like the image below and needs to be filled in, make sure “Writing” is selected in the “Style”.

**Also note that some fonts won’t fill in this way and you need to fill them in on a desktop version of design space. Check youtube for videos on how to do that!

Your Cricut will instruct you to insert a pen into your machine.

CLICK HERE for our video on how to install Cricut Pens into Cricut Explore Air 2 machine!

CLICK HERE for our video on how to install Cricut Pens into Cricut Joy machine!

You can get off brand ones from amazon, I personally love the XINART brand of mats & markers, just read reviews and pay attention to ratings!

You can get extra fine point pens, fine point pens, gel pens, glitter gel pens, or markers to have a variety of different colors and thicknesses!

Experiment with the “Draw” option and change some images from “cut” to “pen” to see how they look!

Most images turn into an outline but some of them look amazing that way!

Have fun & happy crafting!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns send us an email at maci@markyourworth.com