Category: Blog

Offset

We had been awaiting offset for so long. Although we’ve identified a few workarounds and other methods for achieving an offset appearance in our projects, this method is far more accessible.

First, ensure that Cricut Design Space is the most recent version available. If you still need help locating the Offset option in the top menu, check your options and ensure that the New canvas style rather than the Classic style has been selected.

• Let’s paint a word on our canvas. Instead of cutting out each letter individually, we need a shape that covers the whole dish and can be flattened with the text to create a sticker.
• Choose Offset from the top menu after choosing the word.
• The amount of the offset may now be increased as necessary. In addition, you may choose between rounded or squared corners. Tap Apply.
• As you can see, your design has these “holes” once the offset has been applied.
• If you like their appearance, you may retain them, but if you want to remove them, you can use Contour.
• Change the color of the background as desired.
• Choose Flatten once both layers have been selected. In the Layers Panel, the Flatten over option should now be there.

Certain Materials Lack a Quick Mode

• The Fast Mode option will be removed if you click Make It and choose certain materials. “Speed automatically adjusted for this material” is the actual text.
• Nonetheless, some resources are still accessible.

Projects have Received a Redesign

• In Design Space, projects may be grouped rather than just saved and searched. Choose the tasks you want to organize and click the Organize button.
• Click Next, followed by New Collection. Enter a name for your collection, then click Create.
• Your collections are now straightforward to find! Developing hundreds of new projects, as we do, will make it much easier to keep them organized and find them needed.

New Kernel Function

Cricut Design Space unveiled another fantastic new feature. You have had much experience with kerning typefaces. This involves shortening the spacing between the letters in cursive fonts and joining them together.

• Previously, this had to be done manually; however, when using a script font in Design Space, it is now automatically kerneled. Isn’t it marvelous? It is essential to know that they only sometimes use kern ideally, so you may need to make adjustments.
• It is also essential to realize that even if your font has already been kerned for you, you must still weld it.
• The letters are cut from a piece of metal that has been flawlessly welded together.
• When we entered this word into Design Space, it was too close together, so it automatically kerned it. Consider the shift from “e” to “a,” for example. This will need some manual adjustment. Note that this would have occurred if we had just welded the parts together due to their proximity. Sometimes, this happens with specific fonts. Press Undo, manually space the letters more apart and then solder again.

A Cricut is probably the most valuable investment for anyone that gives a liking to art and craft. If you’ve decided to make this investment and have already purchased a Cricut, there’s another problem awaiting you. Owning a Cricut is lovely, that’s for sure, but it’s also incredibly profound and can very quickly make you feel overwhelmed. Whether you’re an experienced user or a mere beginner, this feeling is familiar to most Cricut users. So, to help you tackle this situation, we’ve developed some tips and tricks that can prove to be extremely helpful while using Cricut.

1. Repurpose plastic bag storage for storing Vinyl 

You might have already seen this hack go around quite often. But it’s worth a mention keeping in consideration how helpful it is. You can easily find plastic bag storage units in any of your nearby stores. When choosing plastic bag storage units, go for the ones with holders so you can store all of your Vinyl rolls effortlessly. 

2. Use your Cricut to store blades. 

Like many new Cricut users, if you haven’t realized it yet, your Cricut has a little storage space for holding in all your blades. Putting the edges here and there can be dangerous, and you’re also at a high risk of losing them. So, we recommend storing the blades in your Cricut itself when putting away the blades. Doing this will not only prevent you from losing them but will also keep them dust free. 

3. Nail polish holder for Vinyl scraps 

If you have a nail polish holder lying around, it could come in very handy to help you with cleaning any excess Vinyl scraps. When you’re weeding, avoiding Vinyl scraps is next to impossible, so let’s try not to make a mess and get through this step quickly. If you haven’t got a nail polish holder at home, go to your nearby convenience store and buy a cheap nail polish holder and start using it to hold Vinyl scraps. 

4. Storing Cricut supplies 

Owning a Cricut doesn’t just mean owning one thing; you’ll have to purchase endless supplies, and to store them is one hell of a job. Storage counters, shelves, and other storage units all of these might be efficient, but the only problem is that you won’t be able to know where everything is by just looking in that direction. In this case, using a peg board will give you the ease to find things, and you’re also utilizing the empty wall space, so it’s a win-win situation. 

5. Restore old Cricut mats

If you’ve been using Cricut for a while now, you’ll undoubtedly have quite a few used Cricut mats lying in the corner of the room. If you’re thinking of repurposing them, here’s a nice little hack. Used Cricut mats will have some debris and dust on them. You can quickly remove it by cleaning the residue off with baby wipes. Cleaning the debris is not the only problem we need to tackle; to be able to use the mat again, you’ll also have to restore its stickiness. To do that, purchase ‘Easy Tack, ‘ a spray-like thing that can help restore the mat’s stickiness for up to 6-10 more uses. 

6. Slab bracelets for Vinyl rolls 

If you’ve got a few extra Vinyl rolls lying around other than the ones you’ve stored in plastic bag storage units, here’s another handy trick. To prevent Vinyl rolls from rolling off, you can use slab bracelets to hold them together. Slab bracelets are very cheap and also pretty easy to use. 

Conclusion 

These were all our top tips and tricks to help you make using Cricut a less overwhelming experience. Staying organized is one of the main things you need to focus on while using Cricut. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up sitting in a pile of supplies without even realizing it. So, that’s something you’ll need to focus on. Above all, owning a Cricut is about having fun and letting your imagination come to life, so we hope you do just that and create some amazing stuff. 

Making design and typeface choices is the most challenging aspect of using Design Space. You may upload and use as many designs and typefaces as you want inside Design Space. In the following sections, we’ll review each Design Space function and briefly describe what it does and when/how you may use it.

What Activities Are in Progress in Design Space?

Cricut Design Space consists of several projects. When you open Design Space for the first time, a selection of your previously produced and saved projects, as well as projects from Cricut Access, Ready To Do Projects, and the Cricut Community, will be shown.

You may also search for projects using keywords, dates, and other parameters. You may find projects by selecting VIEW ALL next to the appropriate category and then typing the desired criteria into the search bar at the top.

Design Space: Is it possible to use your fonts and images?

You most definitely can! Your uploaded photos will be accessible from every device you use to access Design Space. However, fonts are only useable if downloaded to the device. Therefore, if you install a font on your desktop while developing a project and then access that project on your phone, the font will only be available if it has been downloaded to your phone. If you do not choose a font, Cricut Sans will be used.

Making Use Of Templates

A reasonably attractive feature is the option to place a sample of what you want to produce on the Design Space canvas to help you see the size and layout of your design. How to make use of the templates:

• Select the category applicable to your invention (apron, T-shirt, banner, etc.). It has over 100 templates.
• In the toolbar on the left, choose TEMPLATE.
• Change the size and style of the canvas in Design Space.
• Create your style!

The purpose of templates is to serve as a guide.

Including Shape in Design Space

Want to include a basic shape in your design? There is a button for that! The SHAPE button is positioned below the text button on the toolbar’s left side. One free option is adding a score line (for scoring items like cards or boxes to simplify folding). Another option is to add one of 20 standard shapes. With Cricut Access, an additional 44 shapes are made available. If you desire to add a shape that is not shown in this menu, you may alternatively search for shapes through the IMAGES button.

How To Insert Images Into The Canvas?

Photos are possibly the most versatile component of Design Space, with over one hundred thousand available for use (plus any you upload and add on your own). Weekly updates to the collection indicate that the number will continue to grow!

Click Photos on the toolbar on the left to see and add photos to your canvas. Search for a picture or look through the many categories available. After picking a type or entering a search term, you may utilize filters to narrow the results further. Filters comprise: 

• Cut, Draw, and Print are the types of operations (what kind of project the image is best used for)
• Multiple or individual layers
• Type of Project: Phrases, Cards, Mandalas, etc.
• Languages include French, English, and Spanish, among others.
• Acquisition: Paid and Uploaded
• Online Accessibility 
• These include English, Spanish, and French.

Once you’ve identified your image(s), you may click INSERT IMAGES to add many photos to your canvas at once.

Inserting Texts Into the Canvas

It takes only a button click to insert text into your canvas. After clicking the TEXT button located on the toolbar’s left-hand side, a text box will be brought into view. There are many customization options, so don’t be fooled into thinking that since something is easy, there aren’t many! Let’s examine the many ways in which a simple word like “welcome” might be personalized.

If you have already typed anything into your canvas, a new set of options will emerge at the very top. The font is the first element that may modify. When selecting a font from the drop-down menu, several filter options and a comprehensive list of all available typefaces exist. Please note that fonts marked with green are included with Cricut Access. This solely displays the typefaces available in Cricut Design Space for CRICUT.

SYSTEM will only show the fonts supplied by the user. This feature enables you to bookmark the fonts you often use so you can find them later.

You may arrange typefaces according to how they are cut:

• Multi-Layer fonts include several layers. These fonts mimic college or university fonts and have a background layer.
• Fonts with a single layer are often known as single-layer fonts.
• There are fonts with a writing option for the DRAW command. Filtering your typefaces for writing is necessary if you use pens with your Cricut. The letters appear bubble letters when using a typeface without a writing layer.
• Stencil: Only show stencil-compatible fonts
• Everyone has the right to free fonts.
• Under Purchases, font purchases made in Design Space are shown.
• Download – fonts already downloaded

The STYLE menu is the following option. Here, you can choose between standard, bold, and italic formatting.

Uploading Documents To Design Space

By selecting the UPLOAD button on the left toolbar, you may contribute your images to Design Space. You may provide either a pattern fill OR pictures (must be a.jpg,.png,.gif,.bmp,.svg, or. dxf file type). Commonly, pattern fills are used in print-then-cut applications.

Developing and Distributing Projects

We strongly advise saving your project(s) on many occasions during the design process. As a result, even if your computer or design application crashes or freezes, you will not lose all of the work you have done. Click the SAVE button after you have decided on a name for your project. If you want to make a second duplicate of a design you have already saved, you may do so by clicking the SAVE AS button.