Silhouette Portrait 3 and the WRMK Foil Quill

Links in the article below may be affiliate links.

Hi Everyone! A few months ago I finally crossed over and got a Silhouette Portrait 3, and I love it!! It works like I always thought my Cricut should work.

Last week I tried the Spellbinders Glimmer Foil with the WRMK Foil Quill in my Cricut Maker. The results weren’t great on cardstock, but it looked really nice on my clear sticker paper. So this week, I decided to try it on my Portrait 3 because I can adjust the speed and pressure with the Foil Quill, unlike the Cricut.

I have to use the D adapter for the Foil Quill with the Portrait 3, the usual A adapter for Silhouette doesn’t fit the newer machines.

Use Adapter D for the Silhouette Portrait 3.

First I tried the regular copper metallic foil on my favorite black cardstock. I’m using the Standard Grip mat with a Force of 22 and Speed 2. It looks fantastic!

Copper Foil, Medium Foil Quill Tip

Then I tried the regular gold foil, also on black cardstock. It looks pretty nice, there are a few spots where the foil didn’t stick great, but I might not have had my foil taped down tight enough (very important when foiling).

Gold Foil, Medium Foil Quill Tip

Next I tried the Silver iridescent foil with the same Force of 22, Speed 2. It looks sooooooo much better than it did on my Cricut Maker! There are a couple fo spots where the foil didn’t stick so I’m going to try a few more settings.

Iridescent Silver, Medium Foil Quill Tip

I tried a bunch of different pressures and speeds, but none of them are as good as the Force 22, speed 2.

Iridescent Silver, Medium Tip, different pressures and speeds

I also tried the gold holographic foil, it did much better on the the Portrait 3 than with my Cricut Maker, but there are still a few spots where it didn’t stick to the cardstock.

Gold Holographic Foil, Medium Foil Quill Tip

Then I wanted to try it on some black vinyl for stickers. It came out pretty good, but there are some gaps in the solid hearts.

Gold Holographic Foil, Medium Tip on Black Adhesive Vinyl

I changed the fill for the solid hearts from just diagonal lines to a crosshatch fill. Which is SUPER EASY to do in Silhouette Studio, and the results are much better!

Silver Iridescent Foil, Medium Tip on Black Adhesive Vinyl

I wanted to try using the Light Grip mat since the backing of the vinyl sticks a lot to the Standard Grip mat. The Light Grip mat is slightly thicker than the Standard Grip and it’s just enough difference that no matter what force I use, it’s too much and it even melted my vinyl.

Silver Iridescent Foil, Medium Tip on Black Adhesive Vinyl using Light Grip Mat

So I switched back to the Standard Mat and it works much better! There are still some little gaps where the foil didn’t cover, so I decided to do a test with the Bold Tip Quill to see if it gets better coverage with the filled shapes.

Gold Holographic Foil, Medium Tip using crosshatch fill

Yes! The Bold Tip does an even better job with the filled shapes!

Gold Holographic Foil, Bold Tip using crosshatch fill

Silver Iridescent Foil, Bold Tip using crosshatch fill

One final test with the Bold Tip on cardstock. I ended up having to switch my mat to the Light grip mat, I wasn't getting enough pressure with the Standard mat. The Bold Tip gives a really nice flat fill, but I think I like the Medium tip better for lettering.

Gold Holographic Foil, Medium Tip using crosshatch fill, Light Grip Mat

An important lesson learned this week is that the cutting mat can have a really big impact on the outcome of the project!

Silver Iridescent Foil, Bold Tip using crosshatch fill. Top is using the Light Grip Mat. Bottom is using the Standard Grip Mat.

Spellbinders Glimmer Foil with the WRMK Foil Quill

Links in the article below may be affiliate links.

Hi Everyone! Last week I tried out the Spellbinders Glimmer foils with the Cricut Foil Transfer tool and my Cricut Maker, and I got some pretty decent results. This week I want to try the foils with my WRMK Foil Quills since they are actually intended to be hot foils. So here we go!

I am most excited to try the holographic foils. They transferred okay with the Cricut Foil Transfer tool, but the holographic effects were kind of lost.

I started out with the gold glittery foil on my heavy white cardstock with the medium foil quill. There are some little spots where the foil didn't transfer completely, especially in my filled shapes. But you can see the glittery effect much more that you could with the foil transfer tool.

I tried it out again on black cardstock with some different single line drawings. Again, some spots where it didn’t completely. The holographic effect was also not as noticeable on the black cardstock. So overall, the gold holographic glitter didn’t do great on cardstock.

Next I tried the silver holographic foil on black cardstock. Also, some spots where it didn’t transfer completely, especially in the filled shapes. But you can see the iridescent effect, especially when you hold the card at an angle. It’s really difficult to capture in a photo, but the iridescence is there!

Then I tried the regular metallics. First, the copper on black cardstock, still with the medium tip. It transferred BEAUTIFULLY!!

After that I tried the gold on my heavy white cardstock. It also worked beautifully!

I decided to give the holographic foils one last shot on some glossy clear sticker paper. First, I tried the gold holographic glitter with the medium tip. It transferred REALLY well to the sticker paper, and you can see sparkly holgraphic effect. (again, super difficult to photograph, but it looks really good in person).

Finally, my personal favorite, the silver holographic foil on the clear sticker paper. It is so pretty and transferred perfectly.

Overall, the holographic foils didn’t work great on cardstock, but they are gorgeous on my clear sticker paper. The regular metallics worked really well on cardstock, I didn’t test them on the sticker paper, but I imagine they would work great on that as well.

I’m really excited to try these foils with my Silhouette Portrait 3 machine where I can actually adjust the speed and pressure for the foil quill. I will post about that next week!

A Cricut Foil Transfer Sheet Alternative

Links in the article may be affiliate links.

Hi Everyone! Now that I’ve found some good black cardstock and decent pressure settings, I’ve been experimenting more and more with my Cricut Foil Transfer tool. One of the drawbacks to the foil transfer tool is that there aren’t really any pressure sensitive foils available, aside from the Cricut brand.

I’ve been researching other foils to use and came across some people having success with the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foils. They are labeled as hot foils, not pressure sensitive, but other people have been getting good results with them, so I thought I would give them a try. I purchased the essential metallics set, which includes a roll of gold, silver, copper, and pewter. I also bought a set of iridescents that contains a roll of silver, gold, purple, and teal.

These rolls are only 5 inches wide which is something to consider when laying out your design. But they are also 15 ft. long, so there’s a lot of length to work with. You’re not just limited to the 4x6 or 12x12 sheets like the Cricut brand.

I going to test some of my single line SVG files on heavy cardstock. I’m using the Cricut Foil Transfer Fine Point tip.

Since I use gold a lot, I’m first going to test the gold from the essential metallics set. I think the foil sheet is little heavier than the Cricut brand. It didn’t curl up and was pretty easy to tape it down flat even though I cut it from a roll.

Even though I’m using heavy 100lb cardstock, I set my material to Copy Paper 20lb, default pressure for the Foil Transfer tool. I’ve been getting the best results so far with these settings.

After my machine is done, I peel back the foil and the results are BEAUTIFUL!!!

Next, I’m trying the copper from the same essential metallics set. This time I’m testing it on my new favorite black cardstock. Again, the results are GORGEOUS! The copper is a little dustier than the gold. I was able to carefully clean it up with some blue painters tape, without the tape removing foil from the actual design.

Now, I’m going to try a couple of the colors from the iridescent set. First up is the silver iridescent. It transferred nicely, but the iridescence gets a little lost, most likely due to the thinness of the lines.

I also tried the gold confetti iridescent roll. Again, it transferred nicely, but the iridescent effect gets lost. Once again, probably due to the thickness of my lines.

Overall, I REALLY like this foil. I feel like I get more consistent and better results than with the Cricut foil. They also have a wider selection of colors than the Cricut brand. The only drawback I have found so far is the 5 inch width of the roll. But it shouldn’t be that much of an issue if I plan my designs accordingly.

I also plan on trying this foil with my WRMK foil quill. I’ll post those results later.

Tips for Using the Cricut Foil Transfer Tool - Cardstock Quality

Links in the article below may be affiliate links.

Hi Everyone! I purchased the Cricut Foil Transfer Kit the day it was released back in September 2020. I was super excited about it and it’s a tool I’ve wanted to love, but mainly it’s brought A LOT of frustration and wasted materials. I’ve seen so many people get really great results with this tool and I keep thinking what am I doing wrong, or what am I missing?

I’ve gone though A LOT of trial and error when using the foil transfer tool. One of the biggest problems I have encountered is the foil just not sticking to my cardstock, especially my black cardstock. I decided to tested 3 different black cardstocks that I have and here are my results.

65LB Recollections Black Cardstock

I’ve had this 65lb cardstock from Michael’s for a while. It’s a multi-color pack, some of the colors take the Cricut Foil beautifully, others just don’t stick. I definitely have had issues in the past with the foil not really sticking to the black if I use the Lightweight Cardstock setting with default pressure.

I’ve seen people having success using the Paper + setting on their Explore Air machines, so I decided to try the Copy Paper 20lb setting on my Maker.

The results with the Copy Paper 20lb setting Default pressure are slightly better than using the Lightweight cardstock setting with the fine tip. The medium tip was OK a little bit of skipping, the bold tip was also OK but a lot of foil dust. Overall, the fine tip had the best results with this setting.

With some of the other colors in the cardstock pack I can get nice results with the medium tip, light cardstock setting, less pressure. I haven’t found a setting yet for the Medium or Bold tip that I am satisfied with yet for the black cardstock.

65lb cardstock using Copy Paper 20lb material setting, default pressure

LUXPaper Cardstock - 18pt

This is a heavier weight cardstock that I purchased on Amazon a while ago, in the description it’s referred to as 18pt. In general, it has really good reviews, but nothing in reference to using the Cricut Foil Transfer tool. It’s not super expensive so I decided to give it a shot. It’s pretty heavy, very smooth and more of a faded black.

First I tried the 100lb heavy cardstock default pressure setting, the foil barely sticks to it and rubs off if I run my finger over it.

LUXPaper Heavy Cardstock, Heavy Cardstock material setting, default pressure

Next I tried the Copy Paper 20lb Default pressure setting. The results were better, but still not super great. The fine tip worked the best and the bold tip left a lot of foil dust. I think this cardstock might be too smooth for the foil to adhere properly.

LUXPaper Heavy Cardstock, Copy Paper 20lb material setting, default pressure

Sirio Ultra Black Cardstock - 104lb

I just recently purchased this cardstock on Amazon after reading some articles about people using Sirio cardstock and getting great results with the Foil Transfer tool. This cardstock is a much richer black than the Recollections and LuxPaper cardstocks. It’s also not quite as smooth as the other two.

(Left) 65lb Recollections Cardstock, (Center) 18pt LUXPaper Cardstock, (Right) Sirio 104lb Cardstock

I first tried it out on Heavy Cardstock Default pressure setting. The fine tip did OK, medium tip was meh, the bold tip was not great at all.

Sirio 104lb Cardstock, Heavy Cardstock Material Setting, default pressure

Next I tried the Light Cardstock Default pressure setting. Again, the fine tip did OK. The medium and bold tips did better than on the heavy cardstock setting.

Sirio 104lb Cardstock, Light Cardstock Material Setting, default pressure

Finally I tried the Copy Paper 20lb default pressure setting. The fine tip did great. The medium and bold tips did ok, but still not as good as I would like.

Sirio 104lb Cardstock, Copy Paper 20lb Material Setting, default pressure

Overall the Copy Paper 20lb Default pressure setting worked the best with the fine point tip on the 65lb Recollections cardstock and the Sirio 104lb cardstock. Not the settings I would have guessed, but most things with my Cricut machine don’t work as I think they should LOL!

(Left) 65lb Recollections Cardstock, (Center) 18pt LUXPaper Cardstock, (Right) Sirio 104lb Cardstock

I would NOT recommend using the LUXPaper cardstock with the Cricut Foil Transfer tool. My top pick would be the Sirio 104lb cardstock. It is a little pricier than the LUXPaper, but in the end, the quality of the cardstock really matters!

LUXPaper 18pt Cardstock, fine tip, Copy Paper 20lb material setting, default pressure (sorry, my placement was off on my mat, that’s why it’s cut off on the top)

Sirio 104lb Cardstock, Fine Tip, Copy Paper 20lb Material Setting, default pressure

Once again, always make sure you have plenty of materials on hand to TEST, TEST, TEST before you attempt your final project.

Cricut Foil Transfer Tool with Silhouette Brand Foil Sheets

Hi Everyone!

(Links in article below may be affiliate links).

As many of you who work with the Cricut Foil Transfer tool already know, you MUST you pressure sensitive foil. Cricut has their own brand of foil that is designed specifically to work with the foil transfer tool. So far, I haven’t been a huge fan of the Cricut brand foil. It doesn’t stick well to to some card stocks. I have a very tough time using it with my black 100lb cardstock and some of the colors in my 65lb Recollections multipack from Michaels. Also, it will foil perfectly fine in some parts of my design and then the foil doesn’t stick in other parts of the same design. I dunno, maybe I’m being to picky.

So far the only other pressure sensitive foil I have found is the Silhouette brand. I’m going to give the Silhouette foil a try with the Cricut Foil Transfer Tool.

Cricut Foil Transfer Tool - Fine Tip

Unfortunately, the Foil Transfer tool can only be used with the Desktop version of Design Space. I don’t know why that is, but hopefully one day they will make it compatible with the app as well.

I started out with the default pressure on 100lb cardstock. Failure. Like with the scoring stylus in last week’s post, the foil is not sticking to the middle of the letters.

Fine Tip - Default Pressure

Then I tried less pressure on the 100lb cardstock, again, failure.

Fine Tip - Less Pressure

More pressure?? Nope, still a failure. To be honest, if I hadn’t written my settings on the back of the cards, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between them, they all look equally terrible.

Fine Tip - More Pressure

Cricut Foil Transfer Tool - Medium Tip

To cut down on wasted materials, I tried just the word hello and a filled in star. I can usually get sort of ok results on this cardstock with the Cricut Brand foil the default pressure setting and the medium tip. If any setting were to work, I would assume that it would have been medium tip, default setting. Still terrible results, not matter if it’s default, less, or more pressure.

Cricut Foil Transfer Tool Medium Tip, Top - Default Pressure, Middle - Less Pressure, Bottom - More Pressure

Cricut Foil Transfer Tool - Bold Tip

I also gave the bold tip a try. I only tried Default and less pressure, they were both absolutely terrible!

Bold Tip, Top - Default Pressure, Bottom - Less Pressure

65lb Cardstock

I made one final attempt on 65lb Recollections cardstock with the medium tip, less pressure. It’s pretty terrible as well.

65lb cardstock with Medium Foil Tip, less pressure

I think the Cricut Foil Transfer tool uses way too much pressure for this foil. Unfortunately, Cricut is really limited with the adjustments for each tool. I can’t make any other adjustments to the pressure other than default, less, and more. So I DO NOT recommend using this Silhouette foil with the Cricut Foil Transfer tool.

So far the only Cricut Tool I’ve had some success with the Silhouette foil is the Deboss Tip. You can check out my previous post about that here.

Foiling with the Cricut Scoring Stylus

Links in the article below may be affiliate links.

Hi Everyone!

My Cricut Design Space on my laptop has been very finicky this week, I was trying to do a project with the foil transfer tool and my Design Space became really slow and I couldn’t click on anything once I pressed the “Make It” button. Super frustrating!

The Cricut app on my iPad, however, works just fine. The only thing is, I can’t use the foil transfer tool with the app, again super frustrating.

So I decided to try out my Cricut Scoring Stylus with the same Silhouette foil transfer sheets from last week, and here are my results…

Foiling on 100lb Cardstock with the Cricut Stylus

I decided to start out with some black 100lb cardstock. Side note: I don’t really like this cardstock and I’m trying to use it up. So far the only foil I can get consistent results with on the cardstock is the We R Memory Keepers Foil with the Foil Quill. The Cricut foil will stick in some places, but not others and becomes very glittery/ powdery. Certain foil colors work better than others. I think the surface of this cardstock might be too smooth. Anyway, I don’t recommend the brand in my link.

Initially it looked promising before I removed the foil.

But after removing the foil, sadly, no good.

The foil did not stick in the middle of the letters, so they look kind of outlined.

The centers of the letters are still on the foil transfer sheet!

But the filled circles look great! (I still need to clean up the edges with some blue painters tape.)

Next I tried my white 100lb cardstock. I usually get pretty good results with this one with my Cricut Foil and my We R Memory Keepers Foil Quill.

Again, it initially looked promising. But after removing the foil, the same issue with the letters.

But the filled circles still look pretty good, the edges just need to be cleaned up.

Foiling on 65lb Cardstock with Cricut Scoring Stylus

I tried the same test design on 65lb cardstock using the light weight cardstock setting. Again, the filled circles look good, but the words, not so much.

I decided to try just one of the words to see if I could get my settings really nailed down. One thing I hate the most about my Cricut Maker machine is I cannot adjust the settings for the A side carriage - like speed and pressure. I also cannot use the scoring stylus in the B side because it goes underneath the side of the machine when it’s getting fired up for the cut or whatever operation you’re doing.

I tried the word “congrats” as my test. I tried several different types of paper settings. I seemed to have the best luck with the 20lb copy paper setting, but the results are still pretty inconsistent.

I noticed that my scoring stylus can still jiggle around a little bit when it’s in the pen holder. Yes, I made sure it clicked into place and I can’t push it into the holder any further. So I decided to purchase the Chomas adapters for the Maker to see if that made any difference. The scoring stylus fits in the Marker adapter, not the pen adapter.

The hardest part with the the Chomas adapter is getting the scoring stylus at the correct height in the machine. If you only use one craft stick to measure, it’s way too low and you will get a machine error when you try to run your project.

I tried my lightweight cardstock again, the results are better with the Chomas holder than the Cricut Pen holder, still not as perfect as I would like.

I tried the 100lb cardstock again just to see. WAAAAYYYYY better than before, but still some room for improvement.

I found that 3 craft sticks spacing under the scoring stylus works pretty well. I marked my stylus and the marker adapter with blue tape so I know my positions for next time.

3 craft sticks under the tip of the scoring stylus to measure the distance for the Chomas Marker holder

So again, this method works great for small filled shapes, but the lettering still isn’t as good as I would like. I’ll do some more testing with the lettering, but I’m out of this foil at the moment, I’ve got more on order.

I have a feeling it’s something to do with the speed of the machine. I can write a word with the scoring stylus by hand, and get great results. Maybe my Maker is going too fast, but unfortunately I have no control over the speed of the machine.

Written by hand with the scoring stylus and foil transfer sheet.

I’m excited to try this technique with my Portrait 3 machine because I can adjust pretty much all of the settings for that machine. I’ll create a post about that as well, once I try it out.

Foiling with the Cricut Fine Deboss Tip

Links in the article below may be affiliate links.

Hi Everyone! I’ve been doing some more experimenting with my Fine Deboss Tip for my Cricut Maker. You can even use this tip for foiling!

Please note: The Deboss Tip only works with the Maker machine, it is used with the quick swap housing.

I’m showing this method because I can use the Deboss tip with the Cricut App on my iPad. For some reason the actual Foil Transfer tool is not compatible with the Cricut App.

You need to use a pressure sensitive foil. So I tried out the foil that is used with the Cricut Foil Transfer tool and the Silhouette brand pressure sensitive foil.

Here are my results:

Cricut Brand Foil Transfer

I am testing some single line words and a few filled shapes with the Cricut brand foil and the fine deboss tip on 100lb cardstock. I select the 100lb cardstock from my materials, with default pressure.

Fine Deboss tip with Cricut Gold Foil, default pressure.

The foil transferred in a few places, but far from a success.

Fine Deboss Tip, Cricut Gold Foil

Next I tried 100lb cardstock, more pressure.

I snuck a peek after 1 full pass. It did a little better than the default pressure, but still not great.

Fine Deboss tip, more pressure, one full pass.

I didn’t unload my mat so I could try sending it through my machine one more time. Definitely better than the default pressure, but still not great.

Second pass, more pressure

I made one last attempt with the Cricut foil, this time I tried with the medium 80lb cardstock setting. What a disaster! It tore the foil paper on default and light pressure. I didn’t even attempt more pressure.

Medium 80lb cardstock, default pressure. Tearing the foil.

Medium 80lb cardstock, less pressure. Also tore the foil.

So the deboss tip doesn’t really work with the Cricut Foil.

Silhouette Brand Foil Transfer

I’ve seen a few you tube videos of people using the Silhouette foil transfer sheets, it’s intended to be used with the Curio machine, so I hope the foil doesn’t get discontinued like the Curio machine. But I thought I would give it a shot. They’re a little pricier than the Cricut foils and fewer color choices. I mainly use gold, silver and rose gold anyway, so it’s not a huge deal for me. Sometimes they go on sale, so keep an eye out for that.

It’s a lot thicker than the Cricut Foil and you need to remove the back carrier sheet before placing it over whatever you’re foiling.

Remove the backing sheet!!

I started out with the 100lb cardstock default pressure again. When I first remove the film after it’s done, it looks kind of scary, but you can clean up the excess pieces and edges with blue painters tape or Washi tape.

After cleaning it up, the results are pretty good. It’s REALLY shiny compared to the Cricut Foil. The filled circles look spectacular! Pretty smooth and flat. It occasionally misses parts of some of the letters and the edges aren’t super crisp.

Filled Circles before cleaning up the edges

After cleaning up the edges with Washi tape.

I tried the 100lb card stock setting with More pressure, that came out ok, the edges are not as clean as the default pressure.

Silhouette Foil, 100lb cardstock, More Pressure

I also tried the Medium cardstock setting, Default pressure, just to compare the results. The foil did not stick at all!!

80lb cardstock setting, Default pressure

Overall, I think I like the results with the 100lb cardstock, default pressure the best. The lettering is OK, but it would not be suitable for really small text. I don’t think this would be a great option for very detailed, intricate designs either. It worked really well with the filled circles, so this could be a good option for filled shapes or thicker solid stripes.

It’s another foiling technique you can use if you work primarily with the Cricut App, or you don’t want to purchase the Foil Transfer tool or the Foil Quill.

I just got my Silhouette Portrait 3 machine, so I’m excited to try the Silhouette foil with that in the future!

Getting a Deeper Deboss with the Cricut Fine Debossing Tip

Links in the article below may be affiliate links.

Hi Everyone! Last week I tried out my single line text with the Cricut fine debossing tip for the Maker machine. This was my first time trying out the debossing tip and the results were kind of lackluster. So I did a little experimenting and I found a simple way to make the deboss deeper.

The first time I used my fine debossing tip I used 100lb cardstock directly on my mat. I thought the heavier cardstock would work well with the tip since it’s kind of thick. I ran my cardstock through my machine 4 times, you can kind of see the deboss if you hold the card at an angle, but it’s not that great.

So I began thinking, I need a way to create some space between my cardstock and the mat so my tip can really press down into the cardstock. I had some 2mm craft foam left over from making my blade organizer, so I decided to try that.

I used a small scrap piece of the foam, roughly the size of the area that I wanted to deboss. I stuck the craft foam directly onto my mat.

2mm craft foam stuck directly to mat.

Then I placed my cardstock over the craft foam and taped down the corners of my cardstock.

Using the same single line artwork from last weeks post, I ran it through my Cricut Maker machine using the Deboss setting with 100lb cardstock, More Pressure.

After one pass it was already so much deeper than the 4 passes I did last week.

100lb cardstock one pass with the deboss tip.

I did a total of 4 passes with the deboss tool, each time it gets a little deeper.

After 4 passes with the deboss tip.

When I took my card off the mat you can actually see and feel the deboss on the reverse side!

Reverse side

I also tried some lightweight cardstock - 65lb Recollections from Michaels. I used the same piece of craft foam still stuck to my mat. I also ran it through 4 times, just for consistency.

65lb cardstock after 4 passes - front.

65lb cardstock after 4 passes - back.

You could even mirror your image and use the reverse side as an emboss. Here’s a line art flower that I made, you could use either side! I only did 2 passes with this design. The center of the flower is pretty detailed and started to become weak after the 2nd pass.

65lb cardstock, 2 passes, front

65lb cardstock, 2 passes, back side

100lb cardstock, 2 passes, front

The deboss tip works so much better with the foam layer between my cardstock and the mat!

(Left) 4 passes with deboss tip, no craft foam underneath. (Right) 4 passes with deboss tip with 2 mm craft underneath cardstock.

If your foam starts to get too dented from the deboss, you can flip the foam over an use the other side. Or let the foam rest overnight and it will bounce back quite a bit.

Making Single Line Words to Use with Your Cricut or Silhouette Machine

Hi Everyone! A lot of you who use your Cricut or Silhouette machine to write, foil, engrave, deboss, etc. know the frustration of trying to find single line fonts. While single line fonts do exist if you search for them, they aren’t always free and can add up pretty quickly. Also, it may be struggle to find one that you actually like.

I do not pay for a Cricut Access membership and I am not going to pay $5 for a font I can only use in Cricut Design Space, sorry!!

I do, however, have an Adobe Creative Cloud membership at that includes tons of free fonts to use, plus I have lots of fonts from Design Cuts and Creative Market.

I know I can use my system fonts in Design Space, but if I want to use it as a writing font, it outlines my letters. Not the look I’m going for. Not to mention, the terrible letter spacing that is default for Design Space.

My system font in Design Space - it outlines the letter if I change the lintetype to Draw, and the letter spacing is horrible.

Now I’m going to show you, how to use the font that I already have and make it into a single line word that I can upload into Design Space or Studio and use as a draw file.

You will need Adobe Illustrator, either the app or desktop version. I’m going to be using the app on my iPad with the Apple Pencil for this tutorial.

First, I’m going to create a new file in my Illustrator app. Then I’m going to select the text tool.

I’m going to keep it pretty simple and type “thank you.” To change the font, I need to have my words selected and click on the “Properties” button on the right side tool bar. The font I’m using is called Santa Fe Spring (it is not part of the Adobe fonts, but I added it to my Creative cloud so I could use it on my iPad).

I’m typed my words as two separate objects so I can adjust their placements.

Then, with both words selected, I’m going to lower the opacity of this layer to about 20 percent.

I’m going to lock the layer with my words and create new layer above it, this is the layer I will be drawing on.

I select the PENCIL tool from the left side tool bar. I’m using the pencil tool because this is a very loose hand-written type font. If you would like more control, you can also use the pen tool. Just DO NOT use the blob brush, we want single line strokes, no fills.

I set my fill to “nothing” and my stoke to black. You can pick whatever color you like as long as it is visible against the typed words.

I’m going to start tracing over my typed letters with the pencil tool. I sometimes need to stop and pick up my pencil, that’s okay! If you want your line to continue once you start drawing again make sure to start on the square anchor point where you stopped.

If your lines look a little wonky, it’s ok, we’ll go back at the end and refine everything.

Once I get my letters completed, I turn off the layer with the typed text. My letters definitely need some refining!

With the Direct Selection tool I can go in and delete anchor points that I don’t need and adjust my curves with the little handles as needed.

Once I get my letters to my liking, I make each word a Compound Path.

Now it’s time to export! I select the little box with an arrow in the upper right corner and select “Publish and Export.”

I select SVG and click “Export.”

I save it to my Illustrator files on my iPad.

Now I’m going to test my file on my Cricut Maker. I open the Cricut app on my iPad and start a new project. I click the upload icon at the bottom of the screen and select “browse files.”

I select the Illustrator folder and find the file I just created.

I get this error message because I forgot to delete the layer that I actually typed the text on, it’s fine. Just press OK.

Name the image if you want and press save.

Now I select the image that I just uploaded and press Insert.

Now the image is on my canvas, I’m going to select “Edit” in the tool bar along the bottom to change my linetype to “Draw” instead of “Cut.”

I’m going to test it first with a fine point black pen. So that is what I select from the draw menu.

I’m going to scale my letters up a bit and then test on my machine.

Here is my first test with the black fine point pen.

Here is my second test with my metallic gold marker. It looks like my marker is drying out a bit, but it gives kind of a cool brush stroke effect.

I tried out my debossing tip for the first time, I need to play around with the settings to see if I can make it deeper, but it could be a pretty cool effect for a thank you card.

Cricut Design Space vs Silhouette Studio - Curved Text

Hi Everyone! This week I’m going to compare how to curve text in Cricut Design Space versus Silhouette Studio.

Let get started!

Cricut Design Space

Truth be told, I usually don’t make any of my text directly in Design Space, it’s such a headache! Curving text in Cricut Design Space is pretty easy, but VERY primitive and limited. I typically make my text and do any curving or warping effects in Illustrator, then upload my file as an SVG into Design Space.

But I’m going to go ahead and demo making the text only in Design Space so you can see for yourself. First, I’ll start by typing my text. I’m going to do something pretty simple like “Happy Birthday.” The font I’m using is called Alek Bold, it’s one of my system fonts. I refuse to pay for Cricut fonts.

Once I’ve typed my words and selected my font, I will adjust the kerning (Letter Space) so my letters are touching. For some reason by default Design Space really likes to S P R E A D out the letters.

I bring my letters closer together to they’re actually touching like they’re supposed to. But now my space in between Happy and Birthday is gone! Even if I add extra spaces in the text box, nothing!! Super annoying, but moving on.

With my text still selected, I will click on “Curve” in the toolbar across the top. I move the slider to the right to get a nice curve.

My letters get spread out on the curve so I need to adjust my kerning (letter spacing) again. Still no space between Happy & Birthday :(

I also wish I could move my letters along the curve so my H and Y at the ends are level with each other.

You can play around with the slider to get convex or concave curves or you do a complete circle (the letter spacing looks even more ridiculous). And that’s about all you can do with curved text in Design Space. So far, I’m still very underwhelmed with the feature and will continue creating my type in Illustrator or Silhouette Studio.

Silhouette Studio

I’m going to try Happy Birthday in the same font in Silhouette Studio. I don’t have to adjust the kerning in Silhouette Studio yet, it uses the default for the font, yay!!

Silhouette Studio has a really cool feature called Text to Path that I’m going to use to curve my type.

First I’m going to draw a circle.

Then I’m going to Double Click on my text so a little 4-pointed arrow shows up.

I’m going to click on the 4 -pointed arrow and drag my text over the outline of the circle. My text will snap to the circle starts following the curve!!

I can click and drag my text to slide my letters along the circle so I can get the placement I want.

Now I’m going to adjust my kerning (character spacing) a little bit, but I still have have the space between Happy & Birthday and my letters are touching!

I can also use the little slider to make my text move above the baseline of my shape. Again, I may need to do a little adjusting to the kerning.

Or I can move my text to the bottom of the circle.

And again, use the little vertical slider to move it further out from the circle.

The Text to path also works on a regular path. I can draw a wavy line and the text will follow the line!

Once again, Silhouette Studio is so much more powerful than Cricut Design Space!

How to Clean Your Cricut Mat, the Easy Way

Hi Everyone! This week I’m going to share my favorite method for cleaning my Cricut mats.

If you’ve been doing quite a bit of cutting, especially with cardboard or mat board , your mat can start to get little pieces of material stuck to it. This happens to my purple (Strong Grip) mat that I use when cutting mat board. If your mat is too dirty, then your materials won’t stick as well and your material can shift while the machine is cutting.

Little bits of mat board stuck to my cutting mat.

The good news is, you don’t need to throw your mat away and buy a new one! I like to clean my mats quickly and easily with alcohol free baby wipes. It’s by far the fastest and easiest method I have found. Also, once your mat is dry, it’s still sticky!

Depending on how dirty your mat is, you probably only need 1 baby wipe per mat. If mine’s super dirty, sometimes 2 wipes.

I like to scrunch up my wipe and go over my mat in a CIRCULAR motion. If I’m starting to get a pile of little material bits as I’m cleaning I try to push them to the edges of my mat so I can wipe them off into the trash.

Scrunch up the baby wipe, go over your mat in circular motion.

Clean, but still damp mat. Allow to air dry for 1-2 hours

After my mat is completely wiped, I let is air dry for an hour or two and it’s done! If you’re not going to use your mat right away, be sure to put the clear plastic cover back on the mat to keep it clean for your next use.

That’s it! Super simple. No need to scrape off your mat and re-sticky it like other people suggest.

Cricut Design Space vs Silhouette Studio - Filled Letters

The offset feature in Cricut Design Space finally offers a way to fill in letters directly in Design Space. Although, this is far from my favorite method for filling in letters, it’s another useful technique to have in your arsenal.

Cricut Design Space - Filled Letters using Offset method

This took a bit of trial and error to get an end result I was satisfied with, nothing is ever as simple as it seems with Cricut Design Space, LOL!

I typed the word “love” first. I’m using one of my system fonts - Very Berry. Of course the letter spacing (kerning) is absurd, so I have to adjust that first.

Then in order to get the offset to behave how I want, I need to “flatten” my text layer so it becomes a “Print then Cut” layer.

Then, with my flattened layer selected, I click on the offset button in the top tool bar. I type in -0.014 inches, that’s basically equivalent to a 1pt offset in Illustrator, which is how close I like to keep my lines if I’m going for a solid filled text. Note: You have to type -0.014 in the box, it’s such a small measurement you cannot use the slider.

Next, so I can actually see my offset lines, I change my offset layer to a “Draw” operation and change the line color to something bright and contrasting against the flattened black layer.

I select the offset layer I just created and then click the offset button again. It’s already set to the -0.014 inches, so I click apply. I change my line color again so I can see it against the flattened black layer.

I keep repeating the same offset until I get my letters filled as much as I can.

Once it’s all filled in with the offset lines, I select my original Flattened layer and “Unflatten” it. Then I “weld” the letters together.

Note: You CANNOT weld the letters together at the very beginning, the inner loops of the letters will not be offset properly.

I also tried the process with an SVG file that I imported from Illustrator. I prefer creating my words in Illustrator first, it’s much easier to adjust the kerning and use any special glyphs.

I upload my SVG as usual and change my Linetype from “Basic Cut” a “Draw” linetype.

Then I applied the -0.014 inch offset to the offset over and over again until my word was filled as much as possible.

After I show you the Silhouette Studio method we will test all the different fills on my Cricut Maker Machine.

Silhouette Studio - Filled Letters

Silhouette Studio has an awesome Line Effects tool that you can use to fill words.

I open my same SVG file that I created in Illustrator and click on the Line Effects tool on the right tool bar.

I’m going to copy and paste my word so I can use one to draw an outline completely around the word, I think that gives it a cleaner look.

There are a few different line types you can use for fills. The first one I’m going to pick is the just the straight lines. It’s simple and it’s one of my favorites.

It starts off looking horizontal and pretty spaced out.

I type my 0.014 inches in the spacing box and -45 degrees in the angle to get the close diagonal lines I’m going for.

I use the Align tool in the toolbar across the top to line up my fill lines with the outline.

Next, I duplicate both layers and then I pick the crosshatch fill. I’m going to keep my spacing at 0.014 inches and a -45 degree angle.

I duplicate my words again and I pick the concentric circles, this gives the same look as the offset in Cricut Design Space. I keep my spacing at 0.014 inches.

The last one I’m going to try is the spiral. It already has an outline so I can delete one of my layers. I keep my spacing at 0.014 inches and my angle at -45 degrees.

Since I have the Business editon of Silhouette Studio, I can save my file as an SVG so I can import it into Cricut Design Space.

I’m open my SVG in Cricut Design Space. I need to change the linetype to “Draw.” For some reason my SVG is twice the size it was in Silhouette Studio, so I’m going to scale it back down to size.

Here’s a comparison of the offset from Design Space and the Concentric circle fill in Silhouette Studio.

Time to test the different fills! I’m going to use my We R Memory Keepers foil quill, medium tip on cardstock with my Cricut Maker.

Here are the different results, my favorite is still the diagonal line fill at 45 degrees. The crosshatch and spirals both have some interesting textures. The offset is still not my favorite, the lines start to create weird little areas at some of the intersections.

Which fill style is your favorite?

Cricut Design Space vs Silhouette Studio - Rounded Corners

With the new offset tool in Cricut Design Space, you can make rounded corners on shapes, FINALLY!!! This will be super helpful with simple things like gift tags that I usually have to create in Illustrator first, then upload into Design Space. Here’s how making rounded corners in Cricut Design Space compares to Silhouette Studio.

Cricut Design Space Rounded Corners

I’m going to start off with a simple 5x7 rectangle. I select the Square from the Shapes menu on the left side panel.

To make it a rectangle i’m going to click the little lock so it is unlocked and type 7 inches for the width and 5 inches for the height (or vice versa) in the tool bar across the top.

Now that I have my rectangle, I select it and then click the Offset button in the toolbar across the top.

I’m going to start with a 1/4” inch rounded corner. You can type 0.25” into the box or use the slider to adjust the measurement. Then click Apply.

You can hide (click the eyeball in the layers) or delete the original rectangle once you are finished with it.

The offset makes the rectangle a little bigger, so I can adjust the size again by having my new rounded rectangle shape selected and typing my 5 x7 dimensions in the width and height spaces in the tool bar across the top.

I can use that same original rectangle shape to try different sizes of rounded corners. Here are a few of the different corner dimensions that I tried in the Offset Dialog box.

I tried the same technique with a star shape too, now you can have nicely rounded corners instead of sharp points.

Silhouette Studio Rounded Corners

So Silhouette Studio is already way ahead of Cricut Design Space, there’s a rounded rectangle shape tool in Studio. I can select it from the rectangle shape on the tool bar on the left or press Shift + R on my keyboard. (I love keyboard shortcuts).

Then I can type my dimensions into the Width and Height boxes in the toolbar across the top.

One thing I love is that I can drag these little dots to adjust my rounded corners. I adjust the one corner and it automatically does the other corners.

I tried a star shape too. The star tool in Silhouette Studio is pretty awesome. I can use the little slider in the middle to adjust how many points I want and I can move the little red dot to adjust the depth of the points.

There are A LOT of different shape tools in Silhouette Studio if you click on the star shape on the left side tool bar. There’s even a kind of rounded star shape, but it’s a little weird for what I’m trying to do. So the best method I have found so far, is again using the offset function. I can type in my offset side or use the slider to adjust and I select the rounded corner style.

So Silhouette Studio wins this one again in my book. They have had the rounded corner feature for a while and It’s so much easier to make adjustments to my shapes in Silhouette Studio. It’s nice that Cricut Design Space has finally (sort of) added the rounded corner feature, but their software is still very limited when it comes to editing shapes.

Cricut Design Space vs Silhouette Studio - Offset Feature

Cricut users have been asking for an offset feature for years and Cricut finally announced offset is available in Design Space.

Here’s a quick little comparison of the offset feature in Cricut Design Space vs in Silhouette Design Studio.

Offset in Cricut Design Space

For the offset feature in Cricut Design Space I’m using the most current version to date 6.6.112. According to the Offset pop up window this feature is still in Beta.

Some things to take note of for using offset in Design Space:

• You MUST be in the NEW Canvas Style, it is not available in the Classic Canvas setting. So that’s a bummer when you have to switch your project to Classic Canvas when the New Canvas is being glitchy (which seems to happen pretty frequently in past versions of Design Space, we’ll see how the newest update has improved).

• It is currently only available in the Desktop version of Design Space. That’s a real bummer for the sticker makers who want to do everything on their iPad or Android Tablet.

To start, I uploaded a PNG file of a watercolor design I made using Procreate. One of the things I love about watercolor are the rough little edges. But I don’t necessarily want the rough edges on my cut line. Let’s see how the Cricut offset feature does with those rough edges.

The default offset appears to be 0.25 inches. There are some obvious little bumps and some weird little jagged spots. I don’t see any kind of smoothing option, maybe something they could consider adding in the future.

Next I’m going to try to make the offset a little narrower, I’m going to use 0.125 inches (That’s 1/8 of an inch). I’m going to use the slider to adjust the measurement. There’s still quite a bit of bumpiness and some more jagged areas on the offset line.

I can use the Contour function to get rid of the cut inside the “L” loop. In order to be able to use the Contour function I have to change my offset from “Print & Cut” to “Basic Cut.”

I’m also going to try an even smaller offset, 1/16 inch. I can use the slider, but it becomes more difficult to get the exact value for 1/16. It ends of being easier to just type it in the box 0.0625.

Again, I change the “Print then Cut” offset to a “Basic cut” so I can use Contour to remove the cut from inside the L loop and E loop.

Save your file and let’s get ready to test our offset cuts!

Don’t forget to flatten your artwork and the offset together!

I’m going to do a test Print then Cut. I’m using plain copy paper for my test so I don’t waste my sticker paper.

The little jagged pieces are definitely there, they don’t look as terrible once I pull the piece off the mat. But I would never sell a sticker with this kind of rough cut edge. Yes, I even used a brand new blade for this cut!

I tried this little guy too. He’s a PNG I imported from procreate. The offset is 1/16 inch. There’s a weird little cut area by his ear. I changed the line to a Basic cut line and there’s no option to use the contour feature, so I can’t even get rid of the line! I didn’t even bother printing and cutting him. I’m better off adding an offset to him via Illustrator like in my previous posts.

The offset probably works great for images with smooth edges and vectors, but that’s not always the kind of artwork I’m using. Nice try Cricut, maybe try adding a smoothing option to the offset dialog box.

Offset in Silhouette Studio

Right out of the gate Silhouette Design Studio blows away Cricut Design Space. Am I being biased? Probably. But in the short time I’ve been using Silhouette Design Studio, it has been soooo much easier for me to achieve the offsets and cut lines that I want. Another Bonus that a lot of the Illustrator keyboard shortcuts also work in Silhouette Studio. Cmd + /- to zoom in and out, Alt + Drag to copy and paste, Spacebar to pan around my canvas. I’m loving Silhouette Studio so far!

I opened the same Love PNG file in Silhouette Studio. It does make my PNG gigantic initially, but it’s not a problem to shrink it down to size.

I tried the same offset measurements that I used in Cricut Design Space. I started out with a 0.25 inch Offset. You will need to select if you want an internal or external offset instead of Cricut’s slider bar. The offset is already so much smoother than the Cricut version, no little jagged bits!

Next I tried the offset at 1/8 inch (0.125). Again, waaaaaay smoother than the Cricut version.

Finally I tried a 1/16th (0.0625) offset. Still much, much better than the Cricut version. I can even refine the edge more by smoothing, adjusting or deleting anchor points on my offset path in the Silhouette software.

If I don’t want to cut the loops inside some of the letters I can easily select them and press “Delete”

I even tested this little guy again, 1000x better than Cricut’s offset.

I can also refine the edges of his offset even more by using the Smooth tool, or deleting anchor points, or adjusting the anchor points.

I don’t have a Silhouette machine yet to test the cut on one of their machines. But I do have the Business Edition upgrade so I can save my file as a PNG and upload it to Cricut Design Space to test the cut.

I have to save this file with the offset as a PNG because an SVG with this type of watercolor artwork does not import correctly into Design Space.

Make sure the Offset stroke lines are set to white or no stroke so they don’t appear in the PNG file.

I select save as PNG to my hard d rive, check the transparent background box and make my DPI 300.

Then I upload my file into Cricut Design Space as a Print then Cut image. I do have to resize again, for some reason PNGs are huge in both Design Space and Studio

Look how much smoother and more refined the offset cuts are! I can’t wait to get my Silhouette machine to test how it cuts!

No little jagged edges!

Sorry for the curling, these a just plain paper that I peeled off my blue mat.

It’s Silhouette Studio for the win! The offset lines in Silhouette Studio already start out much smoother than in Cricut Design Space and I can always smooth them out even more or make adjustments to the offset lines in Silhouette Studio.

Filled Shapes and Words with the Foil Quill and Cricut Maker

Hi Everyone! This week is a continuation of last week’s post. I’m testing my Happy Birthday filled SVG file and some filled shapes with my We R Memory Keepers Foil Quill.

After last week’s tutorial I still wanted to try my filled SVG design with my We R Memory Keepers Foil Quill. So I gave it a try and the results were pretty nice, but still not as great as I had hoped. I have a love hate relationship with my Foil Quill, sometimes it gets the job done fine, other times I get very uneven results. I wasn’t sure if it was me, the foil quills, my cardstock, or a combination of everthing. My fine point tip has always had some weird corrosion on the metal tip, I have never used it because it scares me. But by the time I had opened and tried out my set I was way past any return policies, so I just kept it and and mainly used the medium and bold tip. The medium tip is my usual go to, but I feel like I was always getting spotty/ uneven results. I don’t know if there’s something wrong with the wiring or what. I would feel the plastic around the metal tip after heating it up for 10 minutes and it felt slightly warm, but not really hot. I had better results with my bold tip, but sometimes I want a finer line.

So long story short, JoAnn’s had the Foil Quill set on sale this weekend for 60% off, so I bought another set just to test it. I think my old set was a dud, the new set gets much hotter, no corrosion on any of the tips and it works SO much better!

The WRMK foil quill is my new favorite for filling in words and shapes! (Sorry Cricut Foil Transfer Tool.)

I tried out my Happy Birthday filled SVG that I made last week. It’s so pretty in person, photos don’t do it justice! Keep in mind that this technique will never be flat that foiling with a laser printer and laminator. But I kind of like the texture the foil quill gives.

Medium Tip, Rose Gold Foil

Medium Tip, Rose Gold Foil

Then I tested all 3 tips that came in my set. Each tip was tested with a 1 inch square and 1 inch star. I wanted to see how the tips did with different spacing between the lines. I tried them with lines spaced 1 point apart, 1.5 points apart and 2 points apart.

I wish Cricut Design Space had an easy way to do fills like the Silhouette software. I had to make all of my fills in Illustrator and import them as SVGs into Design Space.

Fine Tip Foil Quill

The fine tip is not great if you want a more solid fill. It ended up tearing the foil sheet while it was transferring. But it did a gorgeous job with the lines spaced 2 points apart. Something keep in mind if you want an engraved or etched look to your design.

Ripped foil sheet from the Fine Point quill

Fine Tip, Rose Gold Foil

Fine Tip, 2 point space between lines

Medium Tip Foil Quill

The medium tip is probably my favorite for a solid fill. I like the medium tip best with the lines spaced 1 point apart. I personally like the linear texture and it gives my design a little bit more dimension.

Sorry, the foils are really hard to photograph and this photo doesn’t really do it justice. It’s really beautiful in person!

Here it is at a bit of an angle, so pretty!

Stunning on black cardstock too!

Bold Tip Foil Quill

The bold tip gives the smoothest and flatest fill, it would be my second choice for this technique.

Bold Tip, Rose Gold Foil

Bold Tip, Rose Gold Foil

Bold Tip, Gold Foil

Bold Tip, Gold Foil

Making Filled Letter Draw Files for Design Space in Adobe Illustrator

Hi Everyone! This week I’m going to show you how I make filled letters in Adobe Illustrator to use with any of the drawing tools in Design Space (pens, foil transfer tool, foil quill, etc.)

Truth be told, I do about 95 percent of my design work outside of Design Space. I work faster and more precisely in Illustrator, probably because I’ve been using for over 15 years!

You will need:

• Adobe Illustrator (you can sign up for a 30 day free trial if you just want to test it out)

• A font of your choice (you can use any of the free ones that are available with Illustrator or any fonts you have purchased).

• Cricut Design Space

• Cricut Machine (I have a Maker)

• Whatever materials you want to use to test your design

Let’s get started! (Links in the article below may be affiliate links.)

My birthday was a couple of days ago, so I’m going to do a retro script Happy Birthday.

The font i’m using is called Fountain, I purchased it from Design Cuts. One of my favorite sources for fonts!

I type “Happy” as one word and “Birthday” as a separate word. I want my letters to be a little beefier so I added a 2pt stroke around them.

I make sure the ends of my strokes are rounded and my corners are also rounded so I don’t get any weird sharp angles.

Then I expand my letters, so they’re paths and no longer active type. I outline the strokes around the letters.

Then using the path finder tool box I unite Happy into one path, and Birthday into one path.

I add a 1pt stroke around each so they look like they are outlined and I change the fill to No Fill. Then group all the letters (Shift + G).

To make the the fill for the letters I make a 1pt stroke that is 8 inches long (or what ever size you will need to cover all your letters)

Then, holding the Option + Shift button I make a copy of that line and place it right next to the first line. (i’m using red for my fill lines just so they’re easier to see)

The I hold down Command +D to do that same same action over and over again until I have pretty much a square shape made out of a bunch on lines.

I select all of the lines and group them together (Command + G). Then I rotate the group 45 degrees. (You don’t have to rotate the lines, I just like the slanted look with my font)

I’m going to copy and paste my letters and place them on top of the group of lines. I’m going to turn off one of the sets of letters (click the eyeball on the layers panel). I’m going to turn the other set of letters into a compound path and remove the stroke around it.

Select the group of letters and the group of lines and type Shift + M to get the Shape Builder tool. That’s how we’re going to trim our lines so they only fill the letters.

“But why aren’t you just making a clip mask?” Design Space doesn’t recognize clip masks and will expand the clip mask once you import the SVG into Design Space.

Holding the Option or Alt key, I’m going to click and drag my mouse along the lined areas I want to remove. My design is going to start looking like the below.

You can turn on the layers with the letters that still have the stroke outline so it’s easier for you to see the areas you need to remove.

Just keep pressing Option or Alt and clicking and dragging along the areas you want to remove. Some sections might take a minute to update.

Eventually your design will look like this:

Save your file as and SVG. Then we’re going to test it in Design Space. When you upload your file it’s going to bring it in as a “Cut Image.” That’s fine, just click “Upload.”

After you’ve inserted your image onto the canvas, we will change the Linetype to a draw style. With the new Design Space update this is called “Operation” instead of Linetype.

I’m going to select Foil > Medium.

I’m going to change my foil color to purple since I will be testing that color. (it’s not necessary to change the foil color)

I’m zoomed in to 200% so you can see all the little lines.

Don’t forget to “Attach” everything, and then press “Make it”

I tested my design on black 100lb cardstock, using “Less Pressure” with the Cricut foil transfer tool.

Here’s what it looked like after I removed the foil.

I’m pretty happy with the foil transfer results. Next I tried my Cricut Silver Glitter Gel pen. It came out pretty nice too.

My least favorite was the Cricut Gold Marker, the tip is too thick for this style and the moisture from the marker makes the cardstock get clumpy.

Overall I’m really happy with the results from the Foil Transfer tool and the Silver Glitter Gel pen. I’ll have to try a few more tests with the Foil Quill and the regular fine point pens.

Creating an Offset for Stickers in Adobe Illustrator - Method 2

Hi Everyone! This week I’m going to show you another way to make an offset for a sticker using Adobe Illustrator. This method uses the Image Trace function.

All you need is your sticker artwork and Adobe Illustrator. Let’s get started!

First I place my artwork onto my canvas. My artwork is a PNG file, so there’s no background.

I’m going to make a copy of my artwork directly on top of the original (Command + C ,Command + F)

Select the top image with the black arrow (V). The Image Trace button should appear in the toolbar across the top of the window. Click the down arrow in the Image Trace box and select Black and White Logo.

After it gives you your preview, select the dialog box to make adjustments.

In the Image Trace dialog box, adjust the Threshold to 254 (you can either move the slider or type in the the box). Click the arrow next to Advanced and make the following adjustments:

• Paths - set to Low

• Corners - set to Less

• Noise - set to 1

• Method - Abutting

• Create - check the Fills box

• Check the Ignore White Box

Then click the EXPAND Button in the tool bar across the top of the window.

In the layers panel I can see I have a Compound Path and some individual paths.

Select all of the Compound Paths and release them.

Then I’m going to select the entire group that was made from Image Trace and in the Pathfinder tool dialog box I’m going to select Unite.

I still have a big area of white that I need to fill in. I’m going to use the Blob Brush (Shift + B) to fill in any stray white areas.

After all the stray white areas are filled in, I’m going to go to OBJECT > Path > Simplify. Then you can adjust the slider to help smooth your path.

After you simplify your path, go to OBJECT > Path > Offset Path. I selected 8pt for my offset, you can adjust yours depending on how wide you want your offset.

Then you can select the original inside path and DELETE it.

In your layers panel, drag the new offset below your artwork. Your artwork should now be showing on top of the offset.

At this point my whisker area looks too pointy for me, I’m going to use the Pencil tool and the Smooth tool to help reshape that area.

Once I get the shape to my liking, I can change the color of my offset to white with a black stroke so I can get an idea of how this is going to look as a sticker.

Now this cute little guy is ready to be a sticker! Check my blog post from last week to see how I save my offsets as SVGs and cut them with my Cricut Maker.

Link to last week’s blog post:

Creating an Offset for Stickers in Adobe Illustrator - Method 1

Hi Everyone! This week I want to share one of the methods I use to create offsets for my stickers. This is just one of the methods you can use. I like it because you can get a clean and simple cut line. I’ll be sharing some other methods in future posts.

For this method I will be using the Blob Brush tool in Adobe Illustrator.

Let’s get started!

Supplies: (Links below may be affiliate links)

• Sticker artwork (I’m using artwork I created in Adobe Fresco, you can use your own artwork)

• Adobe Illustrator CC

• Inkjet printer

• Sticker Paper (I’m using this waterproof vinyl paper)

• Cricut Maker or other Cricut machine

• Light Grip Mat (the blue one)

• Fine Point Blade

My artwork is a PNG file. I created it in Adobe Fresco and then exported it as a PNG so there is no background. I’m placing my artwork in Adobe Illustrator.

After I place my artwork, I create a new layer below my artwork layer. This is where we will be making the offset.

Lock the layer with the artwork so you don’t accidentally select it.

I’m picking a bright contrasting color so I can easily see my offset that I’m creating.

Select the Blob Brush tool (Shift + B)

I start “painting” around the edges of my artwork. I’m just going around the outer edge and making a small border around my artwork.

Once you are finished going around the edge, I turn off my artwork layer (click the eyeball in the layers panel). Now I’m only seeing the outline that I just painted.

Using my direct selection tool (white arrow, keyboard short cut “A”) I’m going to select the just the inside path and press DELETE.

Now you have a solid filled shape. If I want to refine my shape even more, I will go around the edges with the eraser tool (Shift + E) and the Smooth Tool.

I’m going to add a few more stickers, resize, and layout my artwork on my page.

Then add crop marks to the corners.

Next, I’m printing a test page directly from Illustrator to check the scale of my stickers. I’m keeping the offset showing on my test print so I can determine how far off my machine alignment is since I’m not using the Cricut Print and Cut function.

Once I’m happy with the scale of my stickers, I’m going to place my test print onto my blue cutting mat in the upper left corner. (My white border is the area that Design Space will not allow you to place your artwork beyond.)

I’m going to save my artwork file with the stickers and cut files as an AI (Illustrator file). Then I’m going to delete the sticker artwork, leaving only the cut lines and crop marks, and save this as and SVG file that we will upload into Cricut Design Space.

Upload the SVG file to Design Space and press INSERT IMAGES.

Select the very top layer and click ATTACH so all the cut lines and crop marks stay together.

Then press MAKE IT.

Make sure your top left crop mark is as far to the top left as Design Space will allow and press CONTINUE.

I am using the Printable Sticker Paper (white) material setting. I load my mat into the machine and press GO.

My machine alignment looks pretty good. I’m not going to get too fussy since it will be a white border.

Since my alignment is good, I’m going to print my designs from Illustrator on the actual sticker paper, without the cut lines showing.

Load my mat with the sticker paper this time. Select the Printable Sticker Paper material setting again. Load my mat and press GO.

Once the machine is done cutting, DO NOT REMOVE the mat. Check to make sure it cut all the way through the material. It took about 4 passes to get all the way through the sticker paper, I might try another material setting next time.

Now we have some cute kitty stickers! These are vinyl and waterproof so you can stick them on a water bottle, phone case, laptop, notebook, etc.

Kiss Cut Stickers on My Cricut Maker

Hello again! This week I’m going to to share the materials and settings I use to make my kiss cut stickers with my Cricut Maker.

Note: I’m cutting full 8.5 x11 sheets of sticker paper. I’m NOT using Cricut’s Print then Cut setting.

If you want me to go more in depth into any of the steps, let me know in the comments below!

Let’s get started!

Supplies: (Links below may be affiliate links)

• Color Inkjet or laser printer

• Cricut Maker

• Fine Point Blade

• Light Grip Mat (the blue one)

• Printable Sticker Paper (I’m using this one from Online Labels)

• Artwork for your stickers (I’m using my Valentine’s Day Clip Art)

I resized and laid out some of the elements from my clip art onto an 8.5 x 11 art board in Adobe Illustrator. (I originally drew my clip art in Procreate on my iPad and brought it into Photoshop to clean it up and make individual PNGs.)

I create a new layer below the sticker artwork. Then I used the Blob Brush (Shift + B) In Illustrator to make my cut lines around my stickers. (There are many other ways to do this, you may have a different method that you prefer).

I made my cut lines with a bright blue fill so they’re easier to see, you can make them any color you like.

I used the pen tool (P) to make registration marks in the 4 corners of the art board.

Save the file as and AI (Illustrator) file.

Then delete the actual sticker images so you only have the cut lines and registration marks. Save that as an SVG file (you will be uploading this to Design Space).

Re-open the AI file, and hide the layer with the cut lines and registration marks.

Now lets print our sticker artwork! Make sure your are printing your artwork at 100% scale, DO NOT select fit to page.

My printer takes forever, so while it’s printing I’m going to set up my cut file in Design Space. Upload the SVG the you saved of just the cutlines & registration marks. Select INSERT IMAGE.

Select the top layer so everything in the cut file is selected - cut lines & registration marks. Check the size of your artwork and make sure it’s 8.5 x 11.

Everything is 8.5 x 11 so with all the layers still selected, I’m going to click ATTACH then SAVE then MAKE IT.

I want the top left corner registration mark as far to the left and top of the mat as Design Space will allow me to go.

I’ve already done some alignment tests with my machine. (If you would like to see a post about my alignment process, leave a note in the comments section below). I’m going to place my printed sticker paper on my mat, right up against the white paper border I have in the corner.

The paper border in the corner represents the area of the mat that the machine will not cut, it’s the same as the area in Design Space where I cannot move my artwork beyond.

Then I’m going to press CONTINUE in Design Space.

For my material I’m going to select WASHI SHEET. So far, this is the best setting I have found for this particular paper and making kiss cut stickers.

(I was going to make a post on how to make your own custom material setting in Design Space, but it’s very glitchy. I’ve reported it and I’m waiting to hear back from the Cricut Team)

Load my Fine Point blade, load my mat into my machine and press GO!

Once it’s done cutting, unload your mat and CAREFULLY remove the sticker sheet from the mat.

Now you have a sheet of cute custom stickers!

FREE Template DIY Cricut Tool & Blade Organizer

Hi Everyone! This year one of my goals is to better organize all of my craft and art supplies. I have A LOT! I don’t have a pretty little workspace like you see all over Pinterest. They’re very cute, but just not practical for me. ( I’m guessing these people don’t have cats or dust in their house.)

I’ve been buying a lot of clear acrylic storage bins on Amazon to help organize my stuff. They MUST have a lid to help keep the dust out and they have to fit in one of the cubbies at them end of my work desk.

I found some smaller one’s intended for make up brushes, but I decided to use one for my Cricut tools and blades. Yes, I know Cricut has their own round organizer, I almost bought it. But then I realized, it won’t fit in my storage tote with my machine, it won’t fit in my desk cubbies with my other bins, and I don’t intend to leave it out on my desk. You can also store the blades in the front flap of the machine, but I know myself, and I will forget to take out all the blades/ tools I need for a particular project before I start my machine.

So today I wanted to share how I made my storage solution that works for me. I’m also sharing the template that I made for FREE!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section. I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can!

Supplies: (Links below may be affiliate links)

• Small Acrylic Make Up Brush Organizer Box from Amazon (this is for a set of 2, you can make another one for your friend or use it to organize other stuff)

• My template, you can download the SVG file here for FREE (for personal use only, please do not sell or redistribute my file)

• Cricut Maker

• Strong Grip Mat (the purple one)

• Deep Point Blade (to cut the foam)

• Knife Blade (to cut the chipboard, you should be able to use this for the foam too if you don’t have the deep cut blade)

• 2mm 9”x12” Foam Sheets (at least 2 sheets) I’m using black, but you can use any color.

• 2mm Heavy Chipboard or other stiff material for backing

• masking tape or painter’s tape

• glue

• a paintbrush you don’t care about ruining to apply glue

Optional:

• FREE Blades + Tools SVG file

• Adhesive Foil (I used Gold)

Let’s get started!

Upload the FREE SVG file to Design Space and press SAVE.

Tip: If you are using Safari, right click on the button below and select “Download linked file” and it will save the SVG file to your Downloads folder. If you are using Chrome, right click on the button below and select “Save Linked file” and choose where you want to save the SVG file.

Select the Image and press INSERT IMAGES.

Change the color of your MATERIAL so you can actually see the cut lines. I’m using pink, but you can use any color other than black.

Select the top most layer and click UNGROUP.

Select the top most group and click ATTACH.

Select the next group and click ATTACH.

Now I’m going to pre-set up my mats. I only have one Strong Grip mat, so I’m going to do it one mat at a time.

Side note: I tried using my regular green mat, it’s a little old, I don’t think it was sticky enough, the foam kept getting pulled up and ripped by the blade, even with the masking tape around the edges. If you have a fresh new green mat, it might be sticky enough.

For the 1st group to cut, duplicate the group with the tool shape cut outs (you will now have 2 of these showing) place the solid rectangle with finger holds below.

For the 2nd group to cut, duplicate the group with the tool shape cut outs, then place the solid rectangle below.

These will be your 2 mats.

Keep the material size at 12x12, so you can move your pieces toward the middle of the mat. I had better success cutting the foam if I placed toward the middle of my mat. Select the 2nd mat and move those pieces toward the middle of the mat also.

Place one of the foam sheets centered on the mat. Make sure the foam is oriented so the cut lines fall within the masking taped edges.

Press CONTINUE in Design Space.

Select EVA foam from your materials (I tried Craft Foam, but my pieces kept tearing).

Load the Deep Cut Blade or the Knife Blade into your machine.

Load the mat into your machine and press GO!

Once the machine is done cutting, check your cut to make sure it went all the way through, if it’s good, unload your mat.

Carefully remove the cut pieces from the mat.

Attach the 2nd piece of foam to the mat, making sure your cut lines fall within the taped edges. Load the mat into the machine and press GO!

Once the machine is done cutting, check your cut to make sure it went all the way through, if it’s good, unload your mat.

Go back to the CANVAS screen and and hide all the layers except for the solid rectangle with finger holds, we’re going to cut just this piece out of 2mm Chipboard or whatever other stiff material you have selected.

Press MAKE IT.

Move the piece slightly away from the edges of the mat. Use masking tape to attach the Chipboard to your mat.

Press CONTINUE.

Select 2mm Chipboard from your materials (or whatever material you are using). Load the Knife Blade into your machine, load the mat and press GO!

After a few passes, press the PAUSE button on your machine to check the progress of your cut. If it’s not cut all the way, press the GO button again and let it do a few more passes.

My machine was finished cutting after the 8th pass! No need for the 24 passes my machine wanted make, it would have cut clear through my mat! I hope Cricut will let us adjust the Knife Blade settings in the future.

When your cut is finished, eject your mat from the machine. Carefully remove the Chipboard from the mat.

Now we’re going to assemble all of our cut pieces. Let’s start from the bottom up.

I’m using the solid rectangular piece of foam for a little padding in the bottom layer. I just laid it in the bottom of the acrylic box, no glue or anything.

For the 2nd layer that hold the blades, I applied glue to the chip board first, spread out the glue into a thin layer with the paintbrush.

Then I placed the solid foam rectangle with the finger holds on top of the glue. While the glue is still wet you can slide the pieces around a little to make sure they are aligned.

The next layer is the foam with the cut outs for the blade housings and quick swap tips, glue the back side of this layer, then apply it to the top of the chipboard with the foam.

Next is the 2nd piece of foam with the cut outs for the blade housings and quick swap tips, glue the back side of this layer, then apply it to the top of the chipboard with the foam. Make sure to line up your edges while the glue is still wet.

Then apply glue to back of the one of the foam pieces with the cut outs for the blade housings, quick swap tips, and extra blades. Attach it to the chip board with the other foam layers, align your edges.

Finally, apply glue to the back of the remaining foam piece. Attach it to the chip board with the other foam layers, align your edges.

The wet glue makes the chipboard and foam warp a little bit. Place your foam and chipboard piece under a heavy book overnight to flatten it out.

Once your foam and chip board piece is flattened out, you can add your tools and blades!

For a finishing touch, you can make a label out of adhesive vinyl. You can download my FREE SVG Blades + Tools or create your own!