clipart for stickers
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Clipart For Stickers – Cricut Craft Tutorial

How to Make Stickers Using Clipart?

A few days back I was clearing up some space in my computer. I came across various graphic sets that I have collected over the years including clip arts and whatnot. They have been resting there for years because I could never figure out a way to use clipart for stickers. I couldn’t turn them into stickers as not all of them have clear outlines and it would have been a mess even if I tried cutting them. They seemed pretty useless to me all this time.

So I thought and thought of a way I could make use of them and finally came up with the perfect solution to use my saved clipart for stickers. To convert my graphic sets into digital stickers, I use Canva.com which is a completely free graphic design software. I use it to define the outline of my stickers so they can be printed and cut by using design space and my Cricut machine.

This method is so easy and fun, quick even once you get a hold of it. I will walk you through the process step by step. Don’t go anywhere, read this post till the end to discover the trick of converting clip arts into adorable digital stickers!

Want Free SVG's For Halloween?

We’ll get into the main part later on but first of all, you obviously need a set of clip arts to start. As I have mentioned a million times before, I download mine from designbundles.net. I love the designs there and the best part is, most of them are absolutely free! So I chose this free Halloween SVG for Cricut and downloaded it to my computer.

This free Halloween SVG for Cricut that I just downloaded contains some of the most amazing and of course spooky designs. You can wander around and download something else or download this one because Halloween is right around the corner and you’re going to need this if you are planning to throw a Halloween party this year!

Once it’s downloaded, open up the folder and you will see a zipped file. Extract its contents and when it’s done, open it up and you will find your designs there!

Now if you open up this directly on design space, it’s going to turn into a mess. The outline is all going to be smudged and there’s no way you can cut it without having it turn into a disaster. Cricut will try and cut it and you will end up with something unrecognizable – AND a headache!

Instead, just head over to Canva and follow these steps to use clipart for stickers. Here comes the interesting part:

How to Make Digital Stickers on CANVA?

Setting Up Canva

Go over to Canva’s website or install its app. On the top right corner, you will see a CREATE DESIGN button. Click on that.

Adjust the size to 6.25*9.25 because that is what design space supports and opens up the canvas.

Change the background color. I changed it to grey because it’s the perfect setting for me. You can change it to what you prefer.

Uploading Your Clipart Files

Now, on your left, there’s a tab with multiple tools. Click on the upload media one and upload your design on the canvas.

Select your design and click on the edit image option that’s gonna pop on the top of the screen.

Type in shadow in the search bar and select the glow option. Once you select it, click on the same button again to open the adjustments.

Increase the transparency to 100%, decrease the blur to 0% as it’s going to remove all the fuzziness, and change the color from black to white. You can adjust the size accordingly too.

Now keep adding the rest of the designs from the free Halloween SVG for Cricut bundle that you downloaded and repeat the process until you’re done.

Moving the File onto CDS

Once the sheet is completed, save the file as a png on your computer. Now open it up in Cricut Design Space. Remove the grey background. Use tools to ensure you got all of it or otherwise you will be left with small grey marks around your stickers.

Again, download the file to your computer. Save it with a name such as Halloween stickers and then add similar tags like spooky stickers so you can easily find them.

Then again, start a new project on Cricut and upload this image.  Adjust the size and click on the make button!

Send it to the printer and start printing. Move on to the next step, select the material. I usually select paper plus.

Load your design onto the mat and put it into the machine, hit the arrow, and follow the instructions given on the screen!

That’s it! It might seem a lot to take in right now, but once you start doing it, it will hardly take 5 minutes. Exploring this method is by far one of the most wonderful things I have done and I hope it helps you too!

clipart for stickers
vinyl decal planner
CategoriesCrafting Tutorials by

Cricut Planner Ideas to make your own

How to Make a Personalized Vinyl Planner with your Cricut Machine?

My life has been a whole lot better since the day I discovered Cricut Design Space, bought my first Cricut machine, and figured out how to use it. Designing with Cricut not only satisfies my cravings for doing DIYs, but it also awards me with a sense of achievement like “Wow, I did this?!” Sometimes I get so into my DIY projects and my business stuff that I lose all the motivation to do other tasks of the day (like laundry – but to be fair, who actually likes that?). So, to keep me motivated while doing something I love, I decided to try out these Cricut planner ideas. Honestly, it turned out to be the most amazing thing I’ve ever done!

For a long time now, I have been searching for an eye-catching vinyl decal planner to keep me motivated throughout the day that I could re-use. Everyone know that paper planners are great, but being able to look at a planner without the countless whiteout marks it *chefs kiss *. So I could personalize a planner using Cricut and a dry erase board.

At first, I wasn’t so sure what I wanted to put on it. I mean there are so many great ideas. I needed it to be functional for me and my business, keeping the top priorities in the top of my mind. Typing in Cricut planner ideas into my google search bar, the results were exciting but totally overwhelming. That when it hit me – we already have a planner! [Link bestie planner] We can totally use that to help us!

I am here so you don’t have to spend much of your time on the internet, watching loads of tutorials before trying out something like I have to. So, today I am back with instructions on how to make your own personalized vinyl decal planner using Cricut!

Now I know hearing the word Cricut planner ideas, makes your mind go crazy with the possibilities of what would happen and how it would turn out. Well there’s just one thing you need to know, the purpose of a planner is to ensure you don’t miss any important deadlines and complete all your tasks for the day. As long as your vinyl decal planner is fulfilling these purposes, you did an amazing job!

To begin with, here’s a list of the things that you need to create your planner using Cricut:

1. Vinyl Sheet

2. Transfer Paper

3. Cricut Machine

4. Cutting Mat

5. Dry erase board

 

Follow these steps next to create your vinyl decal planner

STEP 1

Start a new project on Design Space, and add your desired designs related to tasks to do, checkboxes, days of the week, motivational quotes, and anything that goes on the planner.

You can choose the free images from Cricut, or make your designs if you’d like.

*Want to skip this step? Download this free svg planner file here!

STEP 2

Once you have finished selecting the designs, resize them to make sure they don’t look too small or too large for your planner.

STEP 3

Once you are satisfied with the design you have made, it’s time to start cutting! Connect your computer to your Cricut Machine.

STEP 4

Place the vinyl sheet on the mat and load it into the Cricut Maker.

STEP 5

Place the vinyl sheet on the mat and load it into the Cricut Maker.

STEP 6

Select your vinyl settings in your Cricut Maker and press the cutting button to start the process.

STEP 7

Once done, carefully remove the mat from the sheet by peeling it, remove the extra vinyl by cutting it and then use transfer tape to grab your vinyl designs.

STEP 8

This brings us to our final step, place the decals on the place your board and remove the transfer tape. You’re done!

Note: Make sure to smooth out the surface to let out all the air bubbles. You may need to throw some elbow grease or use a needle to pop stubborn bubbles.

So, this was the process I followed to make my very simple but customized vinyl decal planner. I took it to my work and everyone loved it! The Cricut planner ideas in your mind might be different from this one but I suggest you start with this one and move on to more creative and complicated designs to master the art!

Check out this one I made for you to plan your business tasks!

cricut planner ideas to make your own
best file format for cricut design space
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Best file format for Cricut Design Space

What FILE Types are Supported in Cricut Design Space?

All those who have this weird obsession for crafting like me know that Cricut Design Space is gaining popularity in the craft world like fire spreading in the forest. The increased hype of design space has diverted many individuals towards the software. Being a newbie, you are curious and confused about a lot of things. We have all been there once! I have been dedicating my time to writing posts that would help you know your way around Cricut Design Space. So today, we are gonna be discussing about the best file format for cricut.

What file format does Cricut Use?

Even though Cricut uses the .svg files and it is also the easiest to work with, the design space software allows you to upload and convert .jpg, .png, .svg, and .dxf files into cuttable shapes, completely free of cost. It is important to identify the differences between these types of files and when one should use them in the design space. So let’s dig into that!

If you have never used CDS then i’d suggest you to check out this Beginner’s Tutorial on CDS 101. It would help you better understand why I’m emphasizing over choosing the right type of file for it. It doesn’t look like it’s gonna affect the final result as much. But once you have cut out your design and it’s ready to assemble, you’ll see how big of a difference it makes!

Now before we conclude which is the best file format for cricut, let’s just first go through each of them!

JPG or JPEG File

A jpg file has a high resolution which makes it ideal for printing photographs. If all you want to do is use the print and cut feature, using a JPG file is your best bet. However, avoid jpg files if you want to cut multiple layers of your image as it cannot differentiate between color layers which results in Cricut Design Space not being able to lay all the layers separately!

SVG File

SVG allows you to scale your image up and down infinite times without decreasing the quality even a little bit. Unlike a JPG file, you can separate your layers and distinguish between colors if the file format is SVG. So an SVG file should definitely be preferred when you want to further customize your design!

PNG File

If you are using design space to make stickers or vinyl decals, a png file is your best bet. Why? You may ask. So let me tell you.

  1. They have transparent backgrounds.
  2. You won’t have to get in the hassle of holding the design in one place when placing it digitally.
  3. Excellent for print and cut

So if you want a flat-file and avoid getting in the mess of having to cut separate lines, this is it for you to make the perfect stickers!

DXE File

A DXF file is the closest alternative to an SVG file if you are using Cricut design space. So just like SVG files, when you open up a DXF file on the Cricut Design Space you will have a ready-to-cut image. You can ungroup the elements and identify between the layers if you want to print and cut layered designs!

EPS File

EPS files are typically suitable for documents that require high resolution such as logos. So, I would never recommend using EPS file format while designing on Cricut since it works better on advanced softwares!

Well, in a nutshell, SVG format is so far the best file format for CDS if your design is complicated. You can also get plenty of SVG designs for free by clicking here. For a simpler image, the JPG file format works fine too. I believe as a beginner, this much knowledge is enough for any one of us to get an insight into different file formats and their purposes!

best file format for cricut
how to make vinyl decals
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how to make vinyl decals with CRICUT maker?

DIY Crafting Tutorials: How to make vinyl decal with Cricut Maker

Vinyl decals are one the EASIEST circut crafts you can create. Whether you want to use it for informational purposes or to simply decorate your walls, they are suitable for both! So, following our pattern of learning new DIY techniques, today I’m gonna tell you all how to make vinyl decals. The way I do it is super quick and easy, you can follow that and get your vinyl decals in no time! 

 

I make my vinyl decals using a Cricut machine and even though the process looks a bit complicated, trust me once you get the hang of it, you will never want to stop! So, here goes your guide:

How to Make Vinyl Decals with Cricut?

Okay, so I will be writing down the method that I follow step by step. Hopefully, you will get the perfect vinyl decal with these instructions! 

STEP 1

I know this one is pretty obvious but I wanted to give you guys a perfect thorough guide! To get started, you need to find a design for the decal. You can head over to Pinterest for inspiration, peep the shop, or jump to Design Bundles and grab a freebie!

 

STEP 2

Once you have selected the design, go to the Cricut design space and start a new project. There you will see several options on a tab on the left-hand side of the screen. From here, click on the upload button and select your design from your device’s media. 

I always use design space on my desktop as it gives me a better view of what I’m doing with my design plus I feel like it is easier to navigate on the desktop than on my mobile phone.

STEP 3

This step is one of the most important ones if you want to master how to make vinyl decals using Cricut maker art. After your design has been uploaded on the canvas, you must resize it. 

Make sure you have an accurate idea of what size you want your vinyl decal to be and then change its size accordingly. Otherwise, it would either look too big or too small for the surface you are making it and all this is going to be worth nothing! 

Note: I prefer to place my design on the top left or right of the canvas as if it is situated in the center, an entire vinyl sheet is wasted during its cutting process. Saving those extra pieces comes in handy when you have small designs to print.

STEP 4

You can always customize your design. Add text, elements, or pull pieces from other designs to give it a more personalized look. Once you are satisfied with how it looks, next comes the second most important step of how to make a vinyl decals!

STEP 5

Click on the “Make It” button to begin the next part of this process. Ensure that the design is exactly how you wanted it. Turn on your maker and make sure it’s connected to your device. Choose vinyl when it asks what material you are using.

STEP 6

Place the vinyl sheet on the mat in a way that the shiny side is facing up. Let all the air bubbles out by smoothing out the surface.

STEP 7

Follow the instructions displayed on your screen to place the mat accurately in the machine. Once done, press the logo button and the cutting will begin! This part always makes me super nervous especially when I use scrap pieces!

STEP 8

When the cutting is done, you have to press the eject button on the maker to release the mat from the maker. Carefully remove the mat from the sheet by peeling it and then cut the extra vinyl sheet around your sticker to avoid wasting it. You can not believe how many times a project was saved by having just enough scrap vinyl. 

STEP 9

Pull out the negative space around your vinyl decal and then stick it on the transfer paper. Again, ensure there are no air bubbles otherwise the design will not shift on the transfer paper easily.

STEP 10

This brings to our final step!

Now place this where you want your decal to be. Smooth it out with your fingers, a blank credit card, or with the tools that come along with the Cricut Maker. Then carefully peel it off at a 45 degree angle and here it is, the perfect vinyl decal made by you!

Bonus Tips! 

  • You can also use parchment paper to create a barrier while you decide your perfect placement. Once you find it, slide the paper out and press down.

  • If parts of your decal do not want to transfer, lay it face down and press it down  from behind, sometimes the added pressure releases it from the paper backing. 

See? How simple and easy the process is if you thoroughly follow the instructions! Now, get started and make your first vinyl decal. Let me know how it turned out!

Don’t forget to check out these great car decal bundles on my shop. You can also get 3 x Decal Care Cards to learn about how to perfectly apply your decals without spoiling them!

how to make vinyl decals
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Creating Pioneer Woman Inspired Stickers

A Guide to Creating Pioneer Woman Stickers Using Canva

My parents recently moved and a new home comes with new decor and themes. Just ask my wonderful mom who changed up her entire style while she unpacked! My mom is a lady who LOVES to theme out rooms and for her new house, her new kitchen, she went all out in the Pioneer Woman Inspired Stickers. If you don’t know what that is, it’s bright, colorful, floral patterns that scream cute little modern country kitchen. This tutorial can help you creating pioneer woman stickers for your house. 

My mom is a massive fan of weekend yard sales so that combined with actual shopping, she has managed to form the ultimate pioneer woman kitchen.  From the bread box to the toaster, everything fits the theme. Everything that is, but one item – The KitchenAid stand mixer!

Now, normally my mom is an impatient woman so buying a new mixer was a real possibility until she saw the price. However, my dad loves her to pieces so anything that makes her happy is bound to happen. In order to help save my dad’s wallet and my mom from ditched a perfectly good mixer for a bright and shiny new model, I went searching through my purchase history on DB to find the perfect stickers to upgrade her mixer from boring standard white to the Pioneer Woman Stickers!

 

If videos are more your speed, be sure to check out the Youtube Channel. 

 

 If you want to follow along using exactly what I have, you can grab the Fiesta set clip art designs to below using this afl link here  

 

 

the pioneer woman stickers

Materials Needed to Create Pioneer Woman Stickers:

Creating pioneer woman stickers is not so hard unless you have the following few things:
  1. Above Clipart Design
  2. Cricut Machine (or equivalent) 
  3. Glossy Vinyl Paper

Step 1 - Open Canva Design

I am telling you if you have not gone to Canva and poked around, you literally are doing yourself a disservice! Stop now and go look. If you didn’t see my last Canva tutorial, you need to check it out because we are using the sticker setup technique in this tutorial. 

 

cricut sticker tutorial

Step 2 - Set up document

If you are new to creating stickers with Cricut print and cut, Cricut limits us on the size that we have available. Their Print and Cut settings will only allow us to create projects within a 9.25 x 6.75 scale (or 6.75 by 9.25) You do you boo! Set up your width and height using either one and tap “create a new design”.  Be sure you are using in for inches and not the default pixels (or px) 

Step 3 - Change your Canvas color

By default, canva creates a white background. We want to change our background color so that we can pull the color easier once we upload these sheets into Cricut Design Space. You can do that by tapping that colorful box towards the top left. I chose a light grey color to make things easier.

setup canvas in canva

Step 4 - Upload your images

Now that our Canvas is created, you will want to import your clip art files. Make sure to unzip your design to get full access to the files and since we are working on cutting down the time it takes to create projects, DRAG everything from that folder directly on the canvas. I mean you can use the uploads button on the left of the screen, but I love dragging things in.   

Upload images to canva

Step 5 - Add them to your canvas

Once you have your designs uploaded, you will see them pop up in the panel on the left side and / or on your canvas. If you don’t see them on your canvas, click them from the left and they will populate. Start moving your pieces one by one so we can adjust the empty space around the designs. You can adjust that by selecting the sticker design and dragging the “hotdog” handles around the design itself.  The circles will change the OVERALL size of your design. 

 

Be careful not to get the designs too close as we will be adding an offset inside of Cricut Design Space, so make sure you have enough room to account for that. 

add images to canva

Step 6 - Download

Once your setup is roughly how you want it, we want to download the sheet by selecting the download in the top right corner. Select “PNG”.

Step 7 - Upload

Now that our design is downloaded, it’s time to upload the sheet into Cricut Design space. Select “complex” and hit continue.

Step 8 - Erase the Background

The next screen in the Cricut process should ask you about erasing. In order to do this, we want to make sure to ONLY select the canvas background color from earlier. Doing so will remove it, allowing us to save clean-cut stickers. 🙂  Click continue and USE THOSE TAGS! 

 

I can not stress this enough. As tempting as it is to just hit continue, because “I’ll find it later” DON’T! You will not find it later and you will hate life. LOL. Use those tags. This is not optional. Okay, it is, but seriously, learn from my mistake! The image name is useless. The tags are where it’s at. Use those tags so when you need to search for this later, it will be easier to find it. 

erase background in canva

Step 9 - Create an offset

Now that we have our design inside of Cricut Design Space, we can move onto creating an offset using Cricuts feature – “offset”. I do want to note that I created a dark background so that you can see what I am doing. You DO NOT need to do that. I just wanted to make it clear what is going on behind the design. Now that we have this ready, we want to select the floral design layer and the offset button should become an option. 

By default, Cricut populates an offset. As you can see, it is far too big for our stickers. You can change this by dragging the button towards the center line. I picked an offset of .1 as a good base for my stickers based on the area  I had to work with. You may want to go with a different size depending on how you worked out your stickers. 

The offset has now been created (black background behind the design). 

With the offset ultimately set up to become out outline for our stickers, I am going to change the background from black to white by selecting the layer and hitting that box next to the “operation” to change the color. As you can see, the stickers have created holes where the clipart has spaces in between. We don’t want those cut out, so we are going to fill them. To do this, we are going to change the operation of our offset layer from print then cut to a cut basic. By doing this, we have unlocked the “countour” feature in Design Space. 

Step 10 : Contouring

Select our white sticker offset, and in the bottom right corner of your screen, you will see “contour” Select that, and a popup window will appear allowing you to select certain aspects of the design and hide them. (See below). 

We are going to select the inner pieces because we want the machine to cut the outline only.  Apply these settings and we can exit out of this screen and the white offset will change.

Step 11 : Flatten

We are finally ready to move on but first we need to flatten our sticker design. That will convert our cut offset back to a print and cut. Select both layers, right click, and select flatten. 

Step 12: Print Settings

When we select “make it” in the top right corner, we are throw into the screen below. Send this set up to the printer, but first, you want to make sure you are printing in the best quality. When you hit “Send to printer” a diaolog box will appear. Make sure you use your correct printer and tap the radio button that says “use system dialog”. This will give you access to your printer settings. 

The printer settings that I need using the vinyl paper I have request Premium Glossy. Make sure you are selecting the appropiate paper settings. Your printer may ask you to confirm. 

Step 13: Cut Settings

I wanted these stickers to pull out easily. I selected poster board, but you don’t have to. The thicker the material you say you have, the deeper the blade will cut. 

 

Once you hit okay and print, the sticker sheet will come out with the black outline. Because this vinyl sticker paper is glossy, I needed to take a wax melt (a candle will do just fine as well) and rub the wax on the black outline so that the Cricut Machine will read the black border design. 

 

Once they are cut out, you are left with super cute – very much so – Pioneer woman inspired stickers! I can’t wait to give these to my mom at our dinner on Sunday. What do you guys think? What are other items you would  “Pioneer Woman”?

- xo Ashley

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this tutorial.  I hope you found some value in it and it would help you creating pioneer woman stickers for your own. Don’t forget to pin this post so that your crafty friends can find us also. 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Check out my social links to the right.

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pioneer women vinyl stickers
CategoriesCrafting Tutorials by

Cricut Sticker Hack

How to Create Cricut Sticker Sheet in Canva - Tutorial

I have been DREADING uploading my sticker bundles in Cricut Design Space. The process takes forever, I want to make sure sure I use the tags, and honestly, if I can’t do something in 1 minute, I tend to skip it entirely. I have far too much on my plate – running two businesses, freelance, trying to build my social media platforms, and being a mom – spending 20 minutes to upload bundles is just not realistic. HOWEVER, the besties in the group need some cricut sticker tutorials and I have spent far too much on stickers to NOT be printing them out. [For real, those dollar deals are addicting.]

I am always looking for a shortcut to skip steps. Call it what you want, we all want a shortcut that actually works!

I took to my favorite online program – Canva – with a theory and it paid off. What I am about to show you will blow your mind. Sticker makers rejoice as I am about to share with you the best Cricut Sticker Hack  (Seriously, have you checked it out yet?)

 If you want to follow along using exactly what I have, you can grab the super cute sticker designs to the right using this afl link here 

cricut sticker sheet

Looking for a Cricut Sticker Hack?

Okay, well maybe we aren’t hacking the system and breaking into the Matrix, but when I tell you it changed the game for me, it literally changed the game. I will be using this technique to put out sticker sets from now until the end of time. All you need is to read this cricut sticker tutorial till the end, your sticker bundle and Canva. 

Step 1 - Open Canva

Yep – here we are again, back in Canva. If you didn’t see my last Canva tutorial, you need to check it out, but if you are new here, Canva is an online design platform that is available for FREE. There is an app. It’s is a MUST have for small businesses, but I won’t get into too many details here.

cricut sticker tutorial

Step 2 - Set up document

If you are new to creating stickers with Cricut print and cut, Cricut limits us on the size that we have available. Their Print and Cut settings will only allow us to create projects within a 9.25 x 6.75 scale (or 6.75 by 9.25) You do you boo! Set up your width and height using either one and tap “create a new design”.  Be sure you are using in for inches and not the default pixels (or px) 

Step 3 - Change your Canvas color

Since a lot of our sticker designs will have a white outline so that our Cricut machines know where to cut, we want to change the background of our canvas. This will allow us to see our design edges AND once we save it out, we can take out the background easily in Cricut Design Space. You can do that by tapping that colorful box towards the top left. I chose a darker grey color to make things easier.we

setup canvas in canva

Step 4 - Upload your images

Now that our Canvas is created, you will want to import your clip art files. Make sure to unzip your design to get full access to the files and since we are working on cutting down the time it takes to create projects, DRAG everything from that folder directly on the canvas. I mean you can use the uploads button on the left of the screen, but I love dragging things in.   

Upload images to canva

Step 5 - Add them to your canvas

Once you have your designs uploaded, you will see them pop up in the panel on the left side and on your canva pretty crazy looking (see below). Start moving your pieces one by one so we can adjust the empty space around the designs. You can adjust that by selecting the sticker design and dragging the “hotdog” handles around the design itself. 

Step 6 - Arrange Your Canvas

Now that all of our stickers empty spaces are taken care of, we can now fill the board easier. We are using these as packing stickers, so they do not need to be huge. I used a size of about 2 inches on most of the designs. This allows me to create 2 sets of these stickers on one sheet. In order to duplicate your designs, you can either drag in another copy from your Uploads or use the short cuts “Control C” (copy) and “Control V” (paste)

cricut sticker hack

Step 7 - Save It!

Once all of our designs are laid out, our canvas is a darker color, guess what? We are ready to move into Cricut Design Space. Tap the “Download” in the top right corner of the screen. This will pop up a menu. From here, save it under PNG.

Step 8 - Cricut Time

Now we get to upload the PNG from the previous step into Cricut Design Space and save it as a print and cut. If you understand how to do this, you are all set, but if you still want some guidance, check out the rest of this post. When prompted, select “Complex” from the image type menu and hit next. 

Step 9 - Erase the Background

The next screen in the Cricut process should ask you about erasing. In order to do this, we want to make sure to ONLY select the dark background from earlier. Doing so will remove it, allowing us to save clean-cut stickers. 🙂 

Step 10 - USE THOSE TAGS!

I can not stress this enough. As tempting as it is to just hit continue, because “I’ll find it later” DON’T! You will not find it later and you will hate life. LOL. Use those tags. This is not optional. Okay, it is, but seriously, learn from my mistake! The image name is useless. The tags is where it’s at. Use those tags so when you need to search for this later, it will be easier to find it. 

I’m going to end the process here because I am still working on the full cricut sticker tutorial. Once you tap “Save” you just put this into your Cricut Design Space and go through the print and cut steps to create stickers. If you needing that tutorial, just keep your eyes peeled in the group. I will be posting it very soon. 

 

I hope that you found this Cricut sticker hack helpful. I know it will forever have a huge impact on how I make my stickers. If you don’t mind, be sure to pin this post so we can help other crafters. 

Some Fave Packing Cricut Stickers:

You can find great packing sticker designs like this from Sanqunetti Designs. This was the first packing sticker set I used after I learned our hack and I am in LOVE with how cute these designs are.  To see a few of my favorite design bundles, check out the links below:

  1. Rose Gold – Sanquenetti Design

  2. Ultimate Sticker Collection

  3.  Best Selling Stickers  

  4. Small Business Sticker Bundle 

CategoriesCrafting Tutorials by

Organizing Your Craft Files

Ready – Set – DOWNLOAD!

Are you ready to Marie Kondo your craft files? Okay, so while I won’t be telling you to hold everything in your hands to see if it sparks joy or not, it is important to keep your digital files organized. Why you might ask? Well, let me set the scene for you. You are finally ready to sit down and craft using that one really cool skull with the flowers that you bought at that last Dollar Event (AFL link). You have your vinyl, your heat press on, and your Cricut Machine ready to roll. You go to upload the design and you search through your downloads folder – nothing. You search in your files – nothing. You search your desktop – nothing. You summon the computer fairy to search through your pc and still nothing. You start questioning yourself, did you download it? Did you delete it? Did you name it wrong? What did the designer name it? How much time have you wasted trying to search for something? By organizing your files, we can prevent the 30 minutes of search panic and get you to crafting even faster!

What is the best way to organize your files though? Year – Month – Category? Do we group by the size, the site, the price? While there are probably HUNDREDS of way to categorize them, I am going to show you the way that I do it which has worked for my craft business (although disclaimer – I still have more than I would like to admit on my desktop and downloads – we are working on that).

Downloading first starts with the actual act of downloading your files. Your PC should prompt you and ask where you want to save your folder, but if it doesn’t you should check under “Downloads”. If you want a spreadsheet to help you keep track of your digital purchases check out this link here.

So first it should be noted that the most popular downloads are

  1. Craft Files (these are you SVG, DXF, PNG, EPS)
  2. Fonts (OTF, TTF)
  3. Mockups
  4. Social Media Templates
  5. Sublimation Designs
  6. Stickers

Knowing this information, it’s only right that we include a folder for each one. Now if you don’t do a lot of social media templates or stickers, feel free to omit those from your folder structure. This is about making a system that will be best for YOU and only you know what that is. These 6 categories might seem specific and rightly so, however, after the 3rd Dollar Event and Freebie Friday, we could end up looking at hundreds of files inside these! Let’s be honest, starting inside of your closet can get a little crazy so we can’t expect our minds to be able to process that vast folder mess. We can go a little more specific with the craft files by creating categories like

  1. Adults (alcohol, recreational, not safe for work *wink* / dirty quotes)
  2. Family
  3. Holidays (because come on, there are so many!)
  4. Home Decor (kitchen, bathroom, doormats, etc)
  5. Occupational Designs
  6. Pets
  7. Quotes
  8. School Designs (pre-k all the way to college)
  9. Sports or Hobbies
  10. Seasonal

From there you can dive even further with specifics like Holiday SVG / Easter, St. Patrick Day, Valentines Day, etc., or Seasonal SVG – spring SVG, summer SVG, winter, fall SVG, and so on and so forth. Again this is a system structure that will best help YOU! Omit what you don’t need or go further. Some categories may overlap like a spring home decor sign. You can choose to copy and paste in both spots or pick the most relevant folder (I would choose spring). Repeat the process for each major category and have fun with it. You can even take it a step further and notate 2021 designs vs 2020 designs if you are good at keeping track of when you make a purchase. You can download the FREE folder system by clicking this link here

We are organized, now what?

File Types

Now that you can kind of get a feel for what we are going for, let’s talk about what files to keep and what you can toss. Most craft files will come with a few files inside of a zip folder. If you don’t know how to unzip the folder, be sure to check out this link here. Inside of those zip files, you will find files with extensions like SVG, PNG, DXF, EPS, PDF to name a few. SVG files stand for Scalable Vector Graphic – meaning that you can increase and decrease the size about 100 times and it will not lose its quality. These file types are used inside Cricut Design Space (and upgraded versions of Silhouette Studio) A PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics and is an image that has a transparent background. You can use these for print and cuts, stickers, and sublimation designs if the quality is high enough. A DXF file is Drawing Exchange Format. Similar to an SVG file, it’s a vector graphic that you can use inside Silhouette Studio. An EPS file is an Encapsulated PostScript – or another vector file. You can use these to open up certain editing properties inside of Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, or Inkscape.

So what does all of that mean for you? Well if you are a Cricut crafter, chances are you can delete the DXF file. Cameo users, unless you have the upgraded version of Studio, you can delete the SVG files. If you download a Google Chrome extension, you can preview the images without having to keep the PNG image (unless you want to of course – you can still do amazing things with a PNG file). Unless you are looking to edit a file inside of a robust vector program like Inkscape or Illustrator, you can probably delete the EPS file as well.

When it comes to fonts, more often than not, you will end up with 2 different file type extensions – TTF and OTF. TTF means TruType Font. This is your most basic font options – a real “what you see if what you get” type of font. OTF or OpenType font is the more complex of the two font types. They unlock alternative glyphs, characters, and more. Think about the pretty font that transforms when there are two T’s together. THIS is that OTF at work! So if you are purchasing a pretty font you will want to make sure that you install the OTF file. While you don’t have to keep either format after it’s installed on your computer, having a backup is never a bad idea! If you need to get rid of one though, it would be the TTF.

Mockups are a weakness of mine – I have SO many beautiful photos that I adore! If you are using a program like Canva to create your mockup images (and if you aren’t what are you waiting for?) changes are you can delete the PSD file that may come with your mockup purchase. Unless you are using a stand-alone program like Photoshop or something similar a PSD file is just taking up valuable space on your computer.

*Bonus if you are not a MAC user, you are more than welcome to delete any of the contents inside of the _MACOSX folder systems.

Renaming Files

You can rename any file by right clicking and going towards the bottom of the popup menu under rename. Pick a naming system that will help you – especially if you end up having to search for something. “Cool SVG” will only get you so far with your computer – even with the folder structure. Try going for a name like “SVG – Sir Hops A Lot” or “Sir Hops A Lot – Easter” . When you search for that file, you can type in key terms like “Easter” and your pc will search for that term.

Don’t forget that you can still download the FREE folder system by clicking this link here .

Organizing your digital downloads
CategoriesCrafting Tutorials by

Using The DIY T-Shirt Placement Ruler

Hi besties! By now I am sure that you have spotted the DIY t-shirt placement ruler either on Tik-Tok, Instagram, or Facebook. I wanted to create this post to hopefully answer some questions on how to use the ruler in Cricut Design Space. You can purchase the t-shirt placement ruler SVG using the link here. Follow these few steps and you will have your very own ruler. The best part about this SVG file is that you can use materials that YOU have on hand which makes it convenient and affordable for any budget. Besties have tagged me in videos where they show themselves using poster boards, dollar tree cutting mats, and even cardboard! The possibilities are endless.

Without further delay – Let’s get crafting!

It’s important to note a few things – one being that this is a zip file. You will need to extract the contents of the zip in order to access the SVG, DXF, and EPS files. A have a brief overview here in this post, but a more detailed walkthrough can be found here. It is highly recommended that you open this file within one of the popular cutting software like Cricut Design Space or Silhouette Studio. Once again a brief walk-through is shown here, but a more detailed step by step can be found here for Cricut users and here for Silhouette users. One more thing is this is an already scaled 18-inch ruler. The preview will look weird! That is okay. Once uploaded you will see the FULL design.

Now down to the nitty-gritty!

  1. Purchse the SVG file.
  2. Download the file.
  3. Unzip the file (right-click/extract)
  4. Open extracted folder
  5. Located the SVG File
  6. Upload the SVG file into DS.
  7. Ungroup the SVG file.
  8. Locate the “DRAW” layer and change line type to “draw”
  9. You can delete or hide the “DRAW LAYER” and “CUT LAYER” text to make it a seamless file.
  10. Select draw layer and right-click and attach the design.
  11. Make it 🙂 

A photo screen shot of Changing the Line Type 

image.png

A photo screen shot of Deleting the “DRAW” and “CUT LAYER” text 

image.png

Now when I say you can use ANYTHING To make it work for you, I mean it! Check out some of the photos below of besties who have used the SVG file to create their own t-shirt guides

As you can see this SVG t-shirt guide can be used with wood, poster boards, clear dollar tree mats, paper, and more. I encourage you to explore any material that fits within your budget and your needs.

Have an awesome day besties!

CategoriesCrafting Tutorials, Resources by

What the swatch?! The one thing you need today for your business.

Some of the best things in life are really the simple ones – the smell of fresh laundry, the first leaf falling in autumn, your kids sleeping in on the weekend – some are naturally more reasonable than others. What if I told you that I know something super simple that has been a lifesaver for me in business and it happens to be a book. Okay, not a “book book” but more of a fold-out pamphlet. It’s a color swatch book for not only for my vinyl but also for my shirts.

Even if you don’t plan on selling your products and creating a business (but I mean why wouldn’t you? Get paid to do what you love doing anyway!) you will still benefit from getting these swatch books. I have a vinyl book for Oracal 651 and 631 as well as Siser HTV. These nifty little books come with every vinyl they offer along with a small color swatch, name, and my Siser book even comes with temperature settings. I also contacted my favorite shirt brands (Bella + Canvas, Anvil, and Next Level) directly and requested a copy of their shirt catalogs with a color swatch book as well. Want to know where I get my supplies? Check out this blog post!

Now, why would you need these books? Let me tell you! Set the scene if you will, you are in the middle of creating a project and run out of green vinyl. *gasp* You check your stash and you can’t find any that matches it. You search frantically through your scrap bin – nothing. Now what? Do you remember the name of that vinyl? NOPE! Oracal won’t even give you a hint by putting the name of the color on the back either (seriously, why is this not a thing?) You can use this color swatch book to match EXACTLY what color you used and get that ordered.

If that example wasn’t enough for you, let me paint this scene. Your whole sale shirt provider ran out of Bellas in a size XL and you need TEN more! If you had swatch books, you can compare the Bellas with the Anvil and find that Anvil has a color very close that you can substitute for. (If you are selling these, make sure that you get the okay from your customer of course, but I digress).

Okay, so I have you convienced and now you are asking “Ashley – WHERE do I find these things?” I got you covered! Disclaimer! The links below will navigate you away from the site. Nothing wrong with that, just letting you know!

My Viynl Swatch Library

  1. Oracal 651
  2. Oracal 631
  3. 2020 Siser HTV
  4. The entire Oracal Line Up (I don’t have this, but still pretty cool)

How To Get The Shirt Books

  1. You can download Anvils marketing tools here. If you want a physical book, you request a copy by clicking here.
  2. For Bella and Canvas, visit their site and check out digital copies for all of their catalogs and color swatches. There are several things under the download section that you can grab, I felt like it was best for you to be able to check them all out. If you want the direct link click here.
  3. At Next Level you can get digital copies as well, but if you want to have a physical copy, all you have to do is ask.

What Do I Say?

I really tried to find exactly what I said the first time around, however, I could not find it, so this next bit is a “What would I say today” message. Feel free to copy and paste if needed.

“Hello there! My name is (insert your name here). I own a small business where I sell appareal (insert your business name here). I am writing to you today to see what I would need to do in order to get physical copies of your catalog and your color guides. I am putting together a binder with the designs that I have to offer along with my favorite brand suggustions and I would love to include you in this binder for my customers to review. I noticed that I could download the digital copies, but as I am sure know, there is nothing like seeing the physical real life color of an item. Please let me know at your earliest convience, if needed you can call me or email me at (insert your contact information). Thank you so much and have a wonderful day. “

Just to show you I’m not that crazy, I do really have them lol

Well, that’s all she wrote folks! I hope that you found this helpful. If you did, make sure you share it with your other crafting friends. If you want to hang out with me and other like-minded besties, be sure to join the group. You won’t regret it. We do awesome giveaways and you can stay up to date on new freebies (check out this post for my favorite places)!

install fonts on your ipad
CategoriesCrafting Tutorials, Machine Tutorials by

Installing Fonts on your iPad

So you have been collecting a rather large number of fonts and you are left wondering – “What’s next?”. If you work on an iPad it can be a little crazy to find an easy way to install fonts (TRUST ME I KNOW). So hopefully by the end of this article, you will be pro at installing fonts on your iPad.

If you don’t have any right now but are a sucker for freebies? Then you HAVE to check out Fontbundles.net they have a HUGE selection of freebies that rest forever in the freebie spot as well as a weekly freebie that lasts well 7 days (starting every Wednesday!). Disclaimer! I am an affiliate there. The links shown are affiliate links. What does that mean exactly? Well, when I refer you over there, if you make a purchase they give me a small portion of the sales. It’s not enough to buy a boat, but by golly, I can take an extra trip to the Dollar Tree at the end of the month!

*Some other great articles that you should probably check out if you are in love with freebies best places that you can visit right now and download 100% free fonts with commercial use. These sites offer the BEST quality and are totally trusted. As I mentioned in a previous blog ” Best Places For Free Files “, if you have a FAVORITE font designer, keep in mind that on Fridays, they often have a freebie available for a limited time! I also know an incredible designer that offers “$2 – Tuesday!” Although not free, her fonts are ah-mazing!

Please check each site for their own specific terms and conditions in regards to their files as some may have a limit on the number of products that you can make with each file.

What you need:

  1. iPad
  2. Font (link takes you to Font bundles for free fonts!)
  3. iFont (free app available to download)
  4. Program to use it in (this tutorial will use Procreate)

What you do:

  1. Download your font! Seriously have you checked out the Free font of the week over at FontBundles?
  2. Click on the Download button (down arrow next the URL) to show all of your downloads.
  3. Click on your recent download zip file. It will pop up a folder that contains your zip files.
  4. Tap your ZIP for it to automatically unzip your file.
  5. Open that new folder and tap on the .otf. Your font should shop up with A – Z and the standard “The quick brown fox….” text displayed.
  6. Tap the button in the top corner (looks like a box with an arrow pointing up).
  7. Select “Copy to iFont” and open the app if it didn’t already pop up.
  8. Tap “Install” on the left hand side.
  9. You will now want to open up your iPad settings, go to General, and then select Profile. You should see “downloaded profile” with your font right under it.
  10. Tap the font and then tap install.

A few photos to help you out 🙂

Font Bundles! My guilty pleasure. Find your fave font and donwload it.
Click the download button, and open up the download folder by tapping on the font zip.
Tap the ZIP folder and it will automatically unzip your folder. tap the unzipped folder.
Tap the OTF to pull this screen up. Tap the “upload” in the top right corner. Copy to “iFont”.
This if iFont! Tap “Install”. If anything pop ups, select “allow”, and done. We now move to your settings.
Go to General > Profiles. Tap the “downloaded profile” font and hit install. You can now use the font!

You are now SET! you can play with your new font in any program. If you know an easier way to install fonts, PLEASE tell me! This took a minute to figure out and I would love a shortcut.