Cricut Design Space Mastery - The Ultimate Guide

Cricut Design Space Mastery

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Design Space MASTERY

ÂŽ

The Ultimate Guide BettesMakes.com

Please do not copy or share this document.

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This guide is intended to be a reference only.

We do not guarantee that you will be able to do all the steps outlined in this document.

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Table of Contents Bonus Material

Introduction

Canvas

Hamburger Menu Bar

Hamburger Menu and Calibrations

Main Menu

Main Toolbar

Objects Panel

Font Toolbar

Color Sync

Layers Toolbar

Layers Panel

Make Panel

Materials

Blades & Wheels

Pens

Mats

What’s Next

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Introduction to Design Space From Start to Finish

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Introduction 1 of 3 The Cricut Design Space will look differently depending on how you access it. For desktops, you get a whole range of icons, toolbars, and panels to help you with your designing. It is similar for a tablet, but there are some hidden icons you will need to find; and finally, for iPhones and Androids, your space is limited, but it can be done.

When working from a smart phone, most of your icons are hidden in layers of other icons. It is important that you find these icons to fully understand how you can work with Design Space.

In this guide, I will be concentrating on the Desktop application but will also lead you to the locations of the same buttons, icons and panels, on the other platforms.

This is so that you too will be able to follow along with the information provided.

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Introduction 2 of 3 Design Space is not a difficult application to master, you just need to know where to locate the right commands and icons to get the job done!

I will be taking you through everything in the Design Space. You will soon learn to find what you need and be able to reference back to this guide if you forget how to do something.

Remember, you do not need to know absolutely everything, you just need to know how to access the right information. I am confident that this guide is all you will need as you learn about Design Space.

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Introduction 3 of 3 I will not be covering the installation of the Design Space on your device as it differs for almost every piece of electronics. You should be familiar with installing applications on your phone, tablet, or desktop.

So, before we begin, you should have the application installed on your device. You will be able to find the Design Space application from the AppleÂŽ or Google ÂŽ store.

When you first open Design Space, you will be prompted to choose your machine. Making this choice will help the application decide on how it will handle your files, or what access you have to certain tools.

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The Canvas To start, we will be exploring the Canvas.

You will need to select New Project. The Canvas will open for you.

BTW if you go off exploring and need to get back to your Canvas, simply click on the word Canvas in the top left of the screen and you will be returned to your work-space.

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The Canvas

The Canvas has 10 areas that we are going to explore: Grid & Zoom, Hamburger Menu, Main Menu, Main Toolbar, Objects Panel, Font Toolbar, Color Sync Tools, Layers Toolbar, Layers Panel, and Make Panel.

We are also going to give you examples on how to use a tool or part of the screen as we go through everything you need and want to know.

We will go into each one of these to show you what is available. Details for each icon in these areas will be given to you as we go along.

So let’s jump in‌

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The Grid As you have probably already noticed, the screen is divided up into a grid. This grid is there to help you line up objects and get a sense of the size of your items.

Clicking on the square that intersects the row and column of the ruler as shown in the diagram will change the grid from small to large to off.

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Zoom Control You can change the size of the grid with the zoom. You can find the zoom option at the bottom left of the screen. It will be very light in color and hard to see at first. Take a look for it right now.

In order to change the zoom, all you need to do is click the plus sign to make it bigger or the minus sign to make it smaller.

Sometimes, it is ideal to zoom into a project to see the details closely.

This way you can make adjustments as needed.

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Zoom Control If you need to see the entire project (especially when it is a big project) you can zoom out to get the “big� picture.

You will find a zoom preference for yourself that is the easiest to work with. If you are working on a tablet or even a smart phone, zooming in is going to cut off a lot of your design work, but you will be able to see all the details. In this case, zooming out is more likely what you will do.

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Y o u r 1.

2.

T u r n

Cycle Through the Grid Lines Zoom in and out of your page

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Hamburger Menu Bar Spans the top of your Screen

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About the Hamburger Menu Bar Not to be Confused with the Hamburger Menu.

This menu bar is located at the top of the screen and contains a whole new set of options to the right of the Hamburger Menu itself.

This menu contains easy access to your own projects, a button to save your project, select your machine, and Make your craft.

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Canvas

The word Canvas may change to Home or another location depending on where you are in Design Space.

If the word Canvas appears, when you click on the word, that is where the button will take you.

For example, if you are in the upload section of Design Space, Canvas will appear in the top left position.

When you click on it, you are taken back to the Canvas where you were working.

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Project Title

The project title is in the top middle position - if you have not saved your project yet, it will give a name of Untitled.

Changing this title is easy and do not worry about it initially.

Having said that, do not do a lot of work on the screen before saving your project. It is very easy to lose your work when you do not get into the habit on constantly saving. More on this when we look at the Save button.

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My Projects Clicking on this menu item will take you to the My Project section of Design Space.

Here you will find all your own projects listed. All you need to do is select the project you want, then select Edit, Customize or Make It. You can even Share your project from this screen.

The Save button will only give you 2 options. You can Save the document for the first time and give it a name or Save As a new title.

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Save

After you have initially saved your project, you can choose to save it under the same name or Save As a different name. This way you can have multiple variations of the same project.

You will notice that your project title in the middle of the menu bar will change from Untitled to the name you gave your file.

As I mentioned before, make it a practice to constantly save your files as you are working on them. That way you will not likely lose the work you have been doing.

This is where you can choose the machine you will be using for your project.

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Machine Type

You can select Cricut Joy, Cricut Explore Family, or Cricut Maker from the current list.

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Make It When you have your project totally ready to make - click the Make It button. Your project will be sorted into different colored mats on the next screen.

This is where you can double-check to see if you have “Attached” objects correctly, chosen the right “Linetype”, or color grouped everything the way you want it.

We will learn more about Attach and Linetype a little later in this guide.

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Hamburger Menu C r i c u t To o l Maintenance and More

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About the Hamburger Menu This menu is located at the top left of the screen and contains a whole new set of options for you to control your workspace.

This menu encompasses more of the inner workings including the Sign Out option.

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View Profile Here you can set up all your details including your image!

If you have an image available, include it as it makes your projects much friendlier, especially when you want to share them with others.

Don’t forget to add your bio and mark a couple of favorite projects!

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Home

Clicking on the Home option takes you to the initial screen where you can select projects or make a new project.

Canvas

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By clicking on the Canvas option you will be taken to your workspace.

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New Machine Setup • This option gives you the ability to register your machine including EasyPress!

This option should be used on a regular basis!

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Machine Calibration

Here you can calibrate your Rotary Blade (Maker), Knife Blade (Maker), and Print then Cut (all machines). Regular calibration helps your machine to last longer and cut more accurately.

Even if you have a new machine, you should calibrate it right away to make sure you get the best cuts possible.

Print and Cut calibration is an absolute must if you want to cut stickers or other objects. The more accurate the cut, the better your project will be.

This takes the machine you have to a whole new level!!!

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Manage Custom Materials

Did you know you can change the cut pressure, the multi-cut (times you cut a project), and the blade type to use with the materials!

If you are finding your cuts are not going all the way through, you can come here and adjust the number of passes on the cut! Just use caution as you may set it to cut through your mat.

I do not recommend making any custom materials adjustments without making note of the original setting first, just in case you need to set it back again.

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Update Firmware This is a task you should attend to each month, just to make sure your machine is right up to date with any changes Cricut has made to their system.

Most often you will be up to date without any issues.

However, it is always wise to check for updates on a regular basis.

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Account Details This option will take you to your Cricut page where you can make changes to payments, profile, and other issues.

Here you can also manage your subscriptions and payments.

By selecting this option, you are taken to the Cricut account details webpage.

If you really want to get the most out your Cricut machine, adding a subscription such as Cricut Access is well worth the small monthly fee.

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Link Cartridges Although cartridges seems to be a thing of the past, many of us still have them.

There is a slot for them in our Air 2 machines. You can link your cartridges to use online but inserting the cartridge and follow the instructions online.

It used to be that every time you wanted to use an image from a cartridge, you would have to insert it into the slot on the Explore Air 2.

I still have a few cartridges I use and do link them here.

You will be able to link to your access account by selecting this option.

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Cricut Access

If you are already subscribed, your screen will show you your next payment due date.

If you are not subscribed, this option is well worth it!

The numbers of images, fonts, and other goodies that are put into access are phenomenal.

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Settings

Here you can change your Language, Grid, Units of measure, and where you Save your projects.

This option takes you to the Cricut website legal page.

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Legal

Takes you to a list of all the newest features available.

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New Features

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Country

Set your Country for your Account.

This option takes you to the help page on the Cricut website.

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Help

When you are ready to sign out, this option quits the Application.

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Sign Out

Here you can give your feedback on almost any topic.

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Feedback

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Main Menu Only 3 Options are available in this section of the screen.

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About the Main Menu

As with any application. The Main Menu controls many of the file functions. Here you can get Help, change your View, and File to create a New Window. Let’s explore each one of these options and learn how they can improve how you work with Design Space.

The File menu gives you the option to open a New Window or to Quit Cricut Design Space.

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File

Opening a New Window allows you to work on more than one project at a time.

Perfect if you have a couple of designs where you want pieces from each.

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View The View menu is where you can Reload your project if it is getting bogged down, and a Force Reload option is here as well (used when you really get stuck).

If you don’t want to resize your window to a larger screen, you can also find the Toggle Full Screen option buried here.

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Help The Help menu has 4 options, the Help option to find your answers, Contact Member Care to connect with Cricut, Videos which you can use to learn features, and the About option.

The About option will give you the version number of Design Space you are working with.

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Main Toolbar Adjusting Your Objects

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About the Main Toolbar

Across the top of the Canvas, you will find the main toolbar. This toolbar will change depending on which type of object you are working with.

For example, if you are working with text, the text options will appear, but if you are working with shapes, another set of tools will appear.

As we work through the various objects with examples and projects, we will be working with some of these tools.

Following are brief descriptions of each one of them.

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Undo/Redo

A great tool for any project! If you make a mistake, all you have do to is click on the Undo button or press Control + Z. For something you have used Undo on, you can go back and Redo it.

It is NOT perfectly mistake proof for your projects, but it will certainly help.

Depending on the type of machine you are using, you will be able to access the Linetype for your projects.

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Linetype

Commonly, you will find, Cut, Draw, and Score are the ones you use the most.

When you click on the drop-down menu you will also find a list of other tools you can use, for example, the Engrave, Deboss, Wave, and Perf options will be shown.

The Explore Air 2 does not use these tools, but the Maker does.

Your Explore Air 2 will Cut, Draw, and Score.

You can change the color of any line of any Linetype using this drop-down options box.

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Linetype Color

My advice is to avoid using black!

As you go to make anything, the black shows up on a black mat which is extremely difficult to see.

When choosing the Linetype color, you will find that the object is “filled� with color. Anything but black makes it easy to see other objects on your Canvas.

The Color option is only available for Cut, Draw, and Wave.

Fill for Design Space is not the fill color. This is where you will select No Fill or Print.

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Fill

If you select Print, then the Fill Color option will become available.

If you select No Fill, then the Color option becomes part of the Linetype option.

I know it seems confusing but when we go through the examples it will make much more sense.

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Fill Color The Fill Color only appears when you select Print. This is the layer color and used for Print and Cut only. You will have a choice of Color or Pattern to fill your Object. You must select the Cut Linetype before this option will show on your screen. We will show you how to fill your object with patterns and not just the cut ones in the exercises.

This tool makes it easy to select everything on the Canvas! After you have selected all, the button will change to Deselect.

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Select All

If you click anywhere in the Canvas that is not selected, everything will be deselected.

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Edit When clicked, this button will reveal the Cut, Copy, Paste options in Design Space.

You can also use the Control + X for cut, Control + C for copy, and Control + V for paste. They all work the same.

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Object Handles Every item on the Canvas is called an Object. When you select an object, four handles will appear, one in each corner.

• The red X in the top left corner means Delete.

• The lock in the bottom left corner locks the aspect ration of width and height.

• The top right semi-circle is for rotating the object.

• The bottom right double-arrows is for resizing the object.

We will explore details of each later.

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Align

The Align tool will only be visible when you have selected 2 or more objects. In our Example, 3 objects are selected.

You will then be able to align to the left, right, bottom, top as well as center horizontally and vertically!

The best part is that you can also Distribute Horizontally and Vertically!

This means you can make sure your spacing is exactly what you want! For this to work, you will need to select 3 or more objects.

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Arrange

When you first bring in SVG or other files, often parts of images, such as score lines, will be hidden behind other objects.

The Arrange tool provides you with an option to move the top object backward so that other objects are revealed.

You will find you will be using this tool quite often when creating your designs.

In our example, the cup has been arranged using Send to Front.

This is exactly as it looks! You can flip an object horizontally or vertically.

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Flip

The perfect tool when you want to make an object the same shape but going in a different direction. I made a duplicate of my shape and flipped the duplicate so I could have both shapes.

Do not confuse this with the image Mirror option.

The heart has been flipped Vertically and the 4-sided shape has been flipped Horizontally!

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Size

The Size tool gives you the ability to change the size of an object.

The height and width are locked together so if you change one, the other is automatically changed.

The lock you see on top of the tool can be unlocked by clicking on it - this means you can adjust the height and width independently.

You are also able to resize objects on the Canvas without using the sizing tool.

The top image has the lock in place and the bottom image shows it unlocked in both locations. With the image unlocked you can really make some unusual shapes.

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Rotate You can rotate any object right on the screen, however, by using the Rotate tool, you will better be able to control the exact degree of rotation. In our example, the Rotation is 215 degrees. You will also notice a blue rotate button on the heart image. You can use this handle to rotate as well, it is just not as accurate.

There is nothing like being able to accurately rotate an object.

You can move objects on the screen to a certain position on the grid using this part of the toolbar.

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Position

This is the perfect tool for lining up objects on the screen, especially when you are creating objects with multiple layers.

If you do not see this tool, click on an object and it will appear.

In our example, the top of both shapes is lined up to 0.5 for the Y Axis.

To accurately align them in the center, I would Zoom in and match the pieces up while still maintaining the Y at 0.5.

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Recap Next Up In this next section we will be learning about the Objects Panel.

You will be working on some exercises through the next section that will use many of the tools discussed.

Menu Bars

File View Help Profile

Calibrate Save Make It

Undo/Redo Align

Tool Bars

Linetype Line Color Fill Fill Color Select All Edit

Arrange Flip Size Rotate Position

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Objects Panel Adding Objects to Your Canvas

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About the Objects Panel Many of the panels have different names. The Objects Panel is the panel on the left that gives you access to hundreds of objects you can use in your design.

Anything you can put in a design will be found in the Objects Panel. Each icon represents a set of objects that can be used.

Most will be FREE but there are some where a charge will be added to your bill if you try to publish your design.

You should be aware that some Projects, Templates, Fonts for Text, and Images could have a fee. I will show you how to make sure what you are designing and using does not cost extra money.

Unless you truly want to use that image or font and pay the fee.

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New When you click on the New button, you will start a new project. If you already have a project on the Canvas, you will be prompted to Save, Replace or Cancel your current project.

This is a safety feature that has rescued many of my projects!

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Templates

When you click on the Templates icon in the Objects Panel, you will see a list of the different types of templates you can use.

Templates are simply outlines and they are not printed or cut as part of any of your projects.

Templates are there to provide a set of guidelines in the appropriate sizes so you can adjust your design to fit within their framework.

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Templates

There are a great number of templates provided for you, for example. if you want to make a design to iron-on for a t-shirt, you will be able to find a template as a guide when you are sizing your design.

Don’t dismiss the value of the templates. I have found them extremely useful for many projects.

Let’s see how templates work!

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Templates Exercise • Click on the Templates button in the Objects Panel.

• Select Backpacks.

• The backpacks outline will appear on your Canvas.

• This outline will not be made with your project but simply used as a guide when making designs to fit a backpack.

NOTE: You cannot adjust the size of the backpack. It is a predetermined size that has been made for you to use.

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Projects When you first start using Design Space, it is difficult to figure out your own project. By browsing the Projects that have been shared, you will find some great inspiration!

These projects can be free, and there are some where the images used in them have a charge.

You can use the Search bar to find what you are looking for, and if you load a project into your Canvas, you can customize it for your own use.

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Projects In the example shown, there is a lot of detail provided about the project, including materials used, what to buy and how to work the project. You should see a small print button to the right of the word Description. I recommend printing out directions before deciding to either Customize or Make It.

I would not recommend using someone else’s design for a commercial product! You should make sure you have special permission to use it that way.

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Projects Exercise • Click on the Projects button in the Objects Panel.

• Select any project you wish.

• The project detail dialog box will appear on the screen.

• Read through the information to see if there are any fees for making the project and what it entails.

NOTE: Some projects have a cost associated with them, make sure you read through the whole document before deciding to make it.

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Images

Cricut provides a huge number of images you can use. Some are even uploaded by customers. Once again, a word of caution when it comes to images.

Watch for copyright and usage rights when you load them into your own designs.

Often these images can be an inspiration to make some of your own images, or purchase from Cricut or other sources.

These are NOT PHOTOS, but images others have made for your use.

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Images You will notice the green “a” at the top left of some images.

This “a” represents Cricut Access. If you have subscribed to Cricut Access, then you can use that image.

Don’t forget to keep an eye open for those with money displayed at the bottom.

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Images Exercise • Click on the Images button in the Objects Panel.

• Select any image you wish (and have access to).

• The image will then appear on your Canvas.

• Adjust the Size of the image.

• Change the Color of the image.

• Flip the image vertically.

• Save your project.

Text can do with it. This button, when clicked, will show a display box for you to write in.

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Text is a lot of fun to use when you understand all the things you

The text itself must be typed into this box and the formatting, which we will learn about a little later, is applied to the words and letters you select in this box.

By having the box open, a series of options will appear in the top toolbar.

You should be able to see the Font being used, the Style, Font Size, and other options.

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Text Exercise • Click on the Text button in the Objects Panel.

• Type “A Fun Day” into the open dialog box for text.

• Move your image from the previous exercise off to the side, then move your text to the top left corner of your Canvas.

• We will be working more with this text when we learn about the Font Toolbar.

• Change the Linetype to Draw.

• Change the Color of the text.

• Size the text to be 7 inches wide.

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Shapes Another really fun set of objects to play with! You are given several basic shapes you can draw on the Canvas.

The one thing you will not see is a line - you will only see a Score Line available. To get a line, draw with the Score Line, then change the Linetype to Cut. You will now have a line in place of the Score Line.

When we start working with shapes, you will learn how to make changes to all the shapes to get exactly what you want on the screen.

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Shapes Exercise • Click on the Shapes button in the Objects Panel.

• Select Square and a black square will appear on your Canvas. You will need to click on the Canvas to have the dialog box close.

• The square will be black, change it to a lighter color such as blue.

• Change the Size of the square to 5.5 inches wide and 7 inches in height. (remember to unlock the Size lock to do this).

• Make another shape, this time a Heart, and change the color to red.

• Align the two shapes so they are centered in the middle. Save your project.

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Upload

When you click on this button you will be able to upload your files to use with Design Space. There are several file formats that work best such as PNG, JPEG, JPG, GIF, BMP, SVG, and DXF files.

You can also use your patterns of photos as fill on any layer. Pattern fills can be JPG, GIF, PNG, or BMP. After you upload these, patterns can be found in the pattern fill attributes swatch under the pattern print type. We will go into this later.

For now, you just need to know that you can upload images and patterns into Design Space to use in your designs.

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Upload Exercise Part 1

• Click on the Upload button in the Objects Panel. We will be uploading an image as a starting point. We will start with a plain image to start. Click on Upload, then Browse to search for a file.

Choose any image on your computer, preferably a jpg or png file.

• You will then be prompted for the image type. Read through the descriptions and choose the type best suited for your image. I generally choose Simple.

• You may now be given the option to click on the areas of the image you want to remove. We will not touch this in this exercise.

• Two options will be on your screen.

First is Save as a Print Then Cut image and the second is Save as a Cut image.

Choose Print Then Cut, otherwise you end up with just an outline.

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Upload Exercise Part 2 • You would use a similar process for uploading SVG files.

• We will now upload a pattern. Click on the Upload Pattern button, then the Browse button.

• You must name your pattern. The other recommendation is to choose a theme and a style. Colors are also shown here. When you have finished with the dialog box, click on Save.

Upload Exercise Part 2

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(Continued)

• You will not see your uploaded pattern in the Upload screen, it will appear when you add a pattern to an object on the Canvas.

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Recap Next Up In this next section we will be learning about the Fonts Toolbar.

We are going to be working a lot with text and some of the features offered by Design Space.

Objects Panel

• • • • • • •

New Templates Projects Images Text Shapes Upload

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Font Toolbar Adjusting Your Tex t O b j e c t s

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About the Font Toolbar The Font Toolbar will only appear when you have the text box open.

Although we have typed in a phrase in the last set of exercises, you may not have saved the project or may have skipped over the exercises.

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About the Font Toolbar Click on the Text button in the Object Panel and type the phrase “A Fun Day�. The toolbar should then appear just underneath the Main Toolbar.

Please note that each instance of text is all changed at once as text is considered a single object unless you change it.

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Font No need to highlight text to make font changes. Click the down arrow beside the font name and you will get a list of all the fonts you have available to use.

Some will be FREE, and some will be paid.

The amount you must pay for a font will be listed just under the font name.

If you have fonts installed on your machine, you can click on System in the fonts toolbar options and they should appear for you to use. Let’s work through an example.

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Font Exercise 1 • • • • •

Change your Font to Arial Black.

Change the Linetype Color to Orange.

Change the Linetype from Cut to Draw.

Change the Linetype back to Cut. Choose a different Font.

Style

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Picking a Style is very easy in Design Space.

All you really need to do is select Regular, Bold, Italic, or Bold Italic. The choice here will be dependent on the Font you choose.

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Font Size You wind up or down the size of the text you are using with this simple Font Size box.

You can type in the size number you want or just use the up and down arrows provided, or spinners.

Letter Space

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You can change the spacing between the letters with this tool.

Some fonts have the letters spaced too far apart and this tool allows you to adjust that spacing.

In our example, I set the spacing to 5. As you can see the letters are quite far apart!

If you have more than one line of text, you can adjust the spacing between the lines.

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Line Space

Often the spacing is way too far apart to really make the lettering pretty enough to use.

This is where you can make those adjustments.

In this example, I have changed the Line Space to negative 4.

This tool simply allows to adjust the text to left, right, or center.

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Alignment

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Font Exercise 2 • Add more text to your current message by double-clicking inside the text itself. This should bring up the Text dialog box where you can add more text. Press the Enter key to go to the next line. Add “For all to” on the second line, and “Play” on the third line.

• • • •

Change the Line Space to “-4”.

Change the Alignment to Center.

Change the Letter Space to “1”.

Change the Font Size to “150”.

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Curve This is a totally fun tool! You can curve There are other ways to your text by adjusting a slider to the curve text, but you must negative side, which curves the ends up move the letters individually or to the positive side which curves the instead of in a group. ends down!

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Advanced Grouping and Ungrouping Text is composed of letters and you can ungroup them so you can change attributes to individual letters.

All you need to do is select the text then click on Ungroup to Letters.

Now you can make changes to size, color, font type, etc. for each letter individually.

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Font Exercise 3 • Start a new line of text and type “This is Curved Text”.

• With the text selected, click on the Curve button on the Toolbar. If you are having difficulty getting the Curve button, make sure you are selecting the display text and not the text in the small dialog box.

• Adjust your text to curve either up or down.

• Make another text box and type in “UnGrouping Text”, the select the display text.

• Click on Advanced and select Ungroup to Letters.

• Click on the letter “U” and resize it to 1 inch wide.

• Change the Color of the letter “n”.

• Rotate a few letters, then play around with the letters individually to get a truly different look.

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Recap Next Up In this next section we will be learning about the Color Sync.

Color Sync is a way for you to save on the number of Mats you will be cutting for your project.

Font Toolbar

• • • • • • • •

Font Style Font Size Letter Space Line Space Alignment Curve Advanced

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Color Sync Toolbar

Color Synching Made Easy

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About the Color Sync Toolbar There is only one button here and it is designed to help you match colors within a project.

You do not hear of it being a highly used tool, but once you understand how it works, you are likely going to start using it quite often.

If you want to reduce the number of mats you are using for your makes, then using this button will certainly help you.

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Color Sync on Mats

If you have a design with 10 colors and you only want 2, then using this tool will make it faster to make those changes.

Go from 6 mats on the left to 5 mats on the right.

Drag the color onto another color to make the change.

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Recap Next Up In this next section we will be learning about the Layers Toolbar.

Don’t confuse the Layers Toolbar with the Layers Panel.

Color Sync

• Mats Colors • Drag and Drop

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Layers Toolbar Controlling Object Behavior

This toolbar is a part of the Layers Panel and situated right on top of that panel.

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About the Layers Toolbar

Here you can control grouping, duplicating, and deleting objects on your Canvas.

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Group If you want items to stay together on your Canvas, all you need to do is select each object (use click on the first object, then shift + click for the subsequent objects until you have all the ones you want grouped selected), then click on the Group button.

Now, when you move the object around the screen, all the objects you grouped will move as one object.

This will only keep them grouped on the screen and does not mean they will stay together when you go to make your design.

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UnGroup When objects are grouped together, it is often difficult to make changes to one of the objects embedded in the group. To make it easier to move objects around or adjust them, you can click on the UnGroup button.

Now all the objects will act independently, and you can make your changes before grouping them back together again. This is not just for Text as we have seen, but for all objects on the Canvas.

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Duplicate paste all in one motion. If you want to duplicate a single object, a group, or several objects, just select them before clicking on Duplicate.

This tool makes it so easy to add additional copies to your Canvas.

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Delete This button will delete anything you have selected.

You can undo this action by using the undo button (just in case you make an error).

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Layers Toolbar Exercise • • • • •

Select all the ungrouped text from the last exercise and Group it.

Once it is grouped, Duplicate it.

Find the image your placed on your Canvas and Duplicate it as well.

Make 2 shapes and Group them together.

Delete the duplicated text.

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Recap Next Up In this next section we will be learning about the Layers Panel.

The Layers Panel is how you will control the layers in your project.

Layers Toolbar

• • • •

Group Ungroup Duplicate Delete

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Layers Panel Controlling the Layers of your Project

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About the Layers Panel

In this example, the Cat is the topmost layer and the Heart and Square group is just underneath.

The Layers Panel is where all your objects are displayed in the order they will be on the screen.

For example, if you had 3 circles in different colors, they would be “stacked� on top of each other The Layers Panel will display which one is on top (it will be the one that is shown at the top).

Most graphics programs work with layers so that you can get different effects.

The Layers Panel shows the list of all the objects you are working with in your design.

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List of Objects

If you click on any one of the objects in the Layers Panel , the object will be selected on your Canvas.

This list is an easy way to select objects that are embedded in other objects or within a group.

Note that each layer has an eye icon to the right, which hides or displays the layer.

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List of Objects Simply find the object in the group and click on it. The object will now be selected.

For example, clicking on the Heart (which is in a group) in the Layers Panel darkens the color in the panel and adds a frame around the Heart on the Canvas. With this selected, you will be able to change the attributes of the Heart.

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Lists Treatment You can also move the order (arrange) of objects by dragging them up or down into a new order.

The Layers Panel gives you control over how your list of objects is ordered.

Dragging and dropping in the panel makes everything much easier to manipulate than trying to work on the Canvas.

In this example, we dragged the Text layer above the Group with the Heart.

The Layers Panel will show you all the groups you have in place.

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Showing Groups If you click on the top item of the group, the entire set of objects within that group will be selected.

You can then apply other attributes to the entire group. If you are wanting to change the color, select the group, then select the item within the group for the color change, then change the color.

This way, you will not have to ungroup, change the color, then regroup.

Notice that all the objects in the group are highlighted when you click on the word Group.

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Layers Panel Exercise • By now you should have several shapes and text all over the screen. If you do not, it is time to find an image or two, a couple of shapes you can group, and add some lines of text.

• Group at least 2 shapes together. Look at the Layers Panel and find the Group. Select the Group in the Layers Panel, then select only one object in the group and change the color.

• Move one object to the top of the Layers Panel.

• UnGroup a set of letters, move them around, then Group them again. Move that group to the bottom of the Layers Panel.

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Recap Next Up In this next section we will be learning about the Make Toolbar.

The Make Toolbar is the place where you will control many of the ways you can make shapes.

Layers Toolbar

• List of Objects • Lists Treatment • Showing Groups

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Make Panel Object Adjustments

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About the Make Panel The buttons in the make panel are probably the most important for finishing off your design and preparing it for the make.

The five buttons displayed here have a big impact on what you can do with objects on the screen.

The Slice button is used for 2 objects only. More than that and the button will remain greyed out.

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Slice

This button will slice out the top object from the bottom object.

In the example, the original heart is intact, and the second heart has been cut out of the square.

For example, if you place a Heart on top of a Square, Select both, then click the Slice button, the Heart will be cut out of the Square.

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Slice Exercise • • • • • •

Draw a Heart shape on the screen.

Draw a Square on the screen.

Change the Color of both shapes.

Arrange the Heart so it is on top of the Square.

Align both shapes to the Center.

Select both shapes and click on the Slice button on the Make Panel.

Weld

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Weld button The Weld button does just that, It will take several objects you have selected and weld them together as though they are one object.

The Weld button will also change the colors to be all the same. If you have taken letters apart by ungrouping them, moved them into different positions, you can select them all and weld them back together as one object.

Those letters will act as one and will no longer be editable.

In the example, the two hearts have been welded to the rectangle. They have become one shape.

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Weld Exercise • Draw a Square and a Heart on the screen. Duplicate the Heart so you have 4 Hearts.

• Place the hearts on the outside edges of the Square.

• Select all the Hearts and the Square and click on the Weld button in the Make Panel. You will now have one shape.

• Practice making other shapes by welding pieces together.

One of the absolute most important tools on the Canvas. When you attach objects together, they will remain together and be displayed as one on the mats, when you hit the Make It button.

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Attach

In the example, the center Score Line is grouped with the Rectangle and then Attach was used to make sure they stay together when it is time to Cut and Score.

IMPORTANT: Attach is crucial if you want score lines to remain with a cut design. For example, you are cutting a plain card but need a score line in the center, you should select the score line and the card, then click on the attach button so they stay together as one object.

Your make will go much more smoothly that way.

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Attach Exercise • For this exercise you will be making a Rectangle 11 inches wide and 7 inches high. Once you have drawn the shape, change the Color to yellow.

• To make a Rectangle, choose the Square from the Shapes option in the Object Panel, unlock the Size, then type in your dimensions. Remember to relock the shape before moving on.

• Make a Score Line by choosing Score Line in the Shapes box. Change the length of the Score Line to 7 inches.

• Center the Score Line Horizontally with the Rectangle.

• Select both shapes and Group them together.

• Select the group and Attach the two together.

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Flatten Perhaps you have made an image of your own and it is in pieces with different colors! You want to print it first, then cut it.

The Flatten tool will do just that. You can take any image and flatten it to make it a Print then Cut object.

This is particularly useful when you bring in a PNG type image that has many pieces. Select the entire image and flatten it before doing your print and cut.

In the example, the image on the left is 3 different shapes that will cut out independently. If you want them to stay together and keep the color at the same time, you select all 3 and choose Flatten in the Make Panel. Now it will Print first and then Cut.

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Flatten Exercise • Draw 3 shapes on the screen, arranging them in a pattern (you may have to use the Arrange tool to get them in the right order. • Select all 3 shapes and click on Flatten.

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Contour

This tool is one of the best tools on this toolbar.

It allows you to hide and/or delete pieces from your make.

You can actually have blank spaces become useful objects.

The possibilities for your designs more than double when you use this tool. More on how to use this later.

In the example, an image with many colors was used.

The whole image was Welded to make it one. The Contour button was clicked, then the parts not wanted were selected from the Contour dialog box. This left us with a new image without the people in the center.

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Contour Exercise • Go to the Image button on the Objects Panel and select a complicated design with lots of different shapes and white spaces.

• Duplicate the image so you can refer to it later. And save it.

• Select the entire image and Weld it together so it is one image. If the image is already one color, you will not need to Weld, and the Contour button will be available.

• Select the welded image and click on the Contour button in the Make Panel.

• Choose the areas you want to hide to make a new design and image.

3 Images from 1 Using Contour

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Recap Next Up In this next section We have some Bonus material for you.

Learn about Mats, Blades, Wheels, Materials, and Pens.

Make Panel

• • • •

Slice Weld Flatten Contour

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Bonus Material Although the following is not part of learning how to use Design Space, the subjects definitely play a part when it comes to creating and making your own project.

The following is an overview of: • Mats, • Materials, • Blades & Wheels, and • Pens

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MATS

When to Use Which Mat

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Mats There are always a lot of discussions around mats. There are 4 different types of mats for the Air 2 and the Maker, and only 1 for the Cricut Joy. Choosing the right mat for your project does not need to be difficult. If you understand the difference between each mat and what materials work best for each, the rest is easy.

Mats come in 2 sizes - Normal, which supports up to 12 x 12 inch paper, and Long, which supports materials 12 x 24 inches. This means you can use longer materials (maybe fabric, or longer sheets of paper).

Each mat has 2 types of measurement. The top with the hole has a grid in inches, and the bottom in centimeters.

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Mats You can always tell the type of mat you are using by either the color or by the name in the top right corner.

The center part of each mat is sticky. This is how the materials stay in place while your machine does the cutting. The stickiness has varying strengths and is crucial to hold materials in place, so your cut is accurate. Cleaning the mats on a regular basis will help with getting more use out of your mats. See below for how to clean and keep your mats working for you.

I recommend that you always have a few extra mats of each type on hand. Nothing is more frustrating than doing a cut and the grip has lost the stickiness to keep your materials in place.

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LightGrip This LightGrip is perfect for thinner materials such as laser copy paper, light card stock, construction paper, or even regular vinyl.

You would use this mat not only for lightweight materials but for materials that will tear easily on a stronger grip mat. I am thinking Origami or Crepepaper here.

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StandardGrip

The StandardGrip mat is green in color and is best used for medium weight materials such as medium card stock, textured paper, vinyl (Heat Transfer, Permanent, or Removable), stickers, or bonded fabrics.

This is generally to go to mat for most projects.

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StrongGrip The StrongGrip mat is for heavier materials. Anything that is thick will work well with this mat. Even though it is a strong grip, it is always wise to use painter’s tape to hold down the edges of the materials to truly know that the material will not slide around when it is cutting.

Examples of what works well for this mat are: leather, wood, chipboard, poster board, thick and glitter card stock, and metal. I have used all of these and the strong grip really held everything down.

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FabricGrip This mat is so perfect for cutting fabric! Combine it with a Rotary Cut Blade and you have a match made in heaven! Just add a fabric pattern in Design Space with the stitch lines then have Cricut use score lines to trace the stitch lines and use a Rotary Blade to cut around the edges.

The pieces come out absolutely perfect!

The FabricGrip mat is more prone to bits left behind, including lint.

You can extend the life of your mats quite easily if you keep them clean.

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Keeping Mats Clean

Here are some simple guidelines for cleaning and maintaining your mats.

1. Use a scraper (Cricut sells these) - lie you mat on a flat surface then use the scraper to push off the extra debris. For cuts with small pieces left over, this is the best way to clean off the mat.

2. Use gentle soap (dish soap). Lie your mat on a flat surface then take a soft cloth or sponge and gently wash your mat to remove all the extra bits. This is the ideal way to clean your FabricGrip mat. Leave the mat to dry on its own and the stickiness should remain intact.

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Keeping Mats Clean 3. If your mat loses the stickiness, thoroughly clean the surface first.

Tape off the area where you do not want to have the stickiness (important for not gumming up your machine). Apply a spray of tacky glue (I have no real recommendations here, but others have tried several brands. You will need to experiment here). Let dry and then cover with the mat cover. You should have additional life this way. Make sure you do not void your machine warranty trying this method.

Recommended - try taping down your project to see if you can get more life out of your mat. If not, buy new ones!

One last thought here - if a StrongGrip mat has become less sticky, then use it as a Standard or LightGrip mat until you can no longer use it.

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Materials

So many to choose from‌

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Materials It is nearly impossible to list all the materials you can cut, deboss, perf, score, and more using your Cricut machine. Having said that, you can work within categories to see if your materials are listed. Remember that Cricut has their own materials they recommend, but they also list outside materials you can use.

It is possible to customize materials of your own using the Manage Custom Materials option. Here you can change the number of cuts you need and the type of blade along with the pressure.

You should never be stuck in selecting materials when you can make up your own. As you can see the possibilities are endless!

Materials are set up into categories to make it easier for you to select.

This table will give you a good idea of what you can use.

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Categories

Art Board Cardstock Fabric Felt Foam Foil & Metal Iron-On Leather Paper Plastic Vinyl

Wood Other Adhesive Sheets Carbon Fiber Colored Duct Tape Regular Duct Tape Kevlar Magnet Sheets Metal: 40-gauge Copper Mylar

Neoprene Outdoor Vinyl, Bonded Paint Chip Party Foil Printable Foil Printable Magnetic Sheet Transfer Foil Washi Sheet Window Cling

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Commonly Used Materials The most used materials are the ones that Cricut sells. They are indicated with a Cricut symbol on the left-hand side.

These materials are recommended by Cricut and they will not guarantee that other materials will not damage your machine.

You need to be extra careful when using off market materials.

Find out from others if there are any issues with other materials before using them at your own risk.

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Saving as Favorites In Design Space you can add up to 10 materials into your Favorites. Those favorites will appear at the top of your screen when you have selected to Continue with the project after checking your mats.

Put your most used materials in the list and as you find others that you are using on a regular basis; and you already have 10 in your list, so you will need to remove something from your current list in order to add a new one.

This is a real time saver when you are doing a lot of projects using medium card stock or premium vinyl!

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Blades & Wheels

Uses for Each

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Blades & Scoring Compatibility

Blade

Maker

Air 2

Fine Tip Blade

Yes

Yes

Deep Cut Blade

Yes

Yes

Fabric Bond Blade

Yes

Yes

Scoring Stylus

Yes

Yes

Single Scoring Wheel

Yes

No

Double Scoring Wheel

Yes

No

Knife Blade

Yes

No

Perforation Blade

Yes

No

Wavy Blade

Yes

No

Debossing Blade

Yes

No

Engraving Blade

Yes

No

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Fine Tip Blade (Gold) This is the perfect blade for making fine and intricate cuts. Materials to use are normally of medium weight. The blade is a goldish color, but the older blades were silver. This blade works for the Explore family and the Maker.

To keep your blade sharp, roll up a ball (roll it tightly) of tin or aluminum foil. Depress the blade lever at the top about half-way down. Stab the ball with the blade about 50 to 100 times after each project. This will keep the blade cutting for an extended period, so you do not need to replace the blade so soon.

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Deep Point Blade (Black) Perfect for cutting thicker materials. For the Explore Air 2, you should also have a knife blade that has a black housing. You can cut almost all the thicker materials with either of these blades.

TIP: Move the small white rollers to the lefthand side when dealing with cutting thicker materials. This will prevent the long roller from warping.

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Knife Blade Same as the Deep Point Blade (Black) but will cut through even thicker materials.

Perfect for cutting thicker materials. For the Explore Air 2, you should also have a knife blade that has a black housing. You can cut almost all the thicker materials with either of these blades.

TIP: Move the small white rollers to the lefthand side when dealing with cutting thicker materials. This will prevent the long roller from warping.

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Fabric Bonded Blade (Pink) This blade should be used for fabric only!

Just like you would only use fabric shears for fabric.

This blade is perfect for intricate cuts on bonded fabrics and iron-on fabric.

You can use this blade with the Air 2 or the Maker.

Remember you can keep this blade sharp the same way you can the other blades, by stabbing a firm ball of tin foil several times before use!

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Scoring Stylus The Explore family comes with a scoring stylus that is placed in the pen housing.

Often the score is too light and difficult to see. In order to get a deeper score line, add 3 or 4 more score lines in the same position (make sure to attach them), and your Explore machine will pass over the area 3 or 4 times to deepen the score lines.

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Single Scoring Wheel Scoring with the Maker has never been easier.

All you need to do is make sure you have your single score wheel inserted into the swap housing and away you go.

The score lines here are much deeper than they are for the scoring stylus. There are no special adjustments you need to make here as this tool does the job without issue.

This tip fits into a swappable housing as do several other blades.

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Double Scoring Wheel This wheel will give you extra-deep score lines on thicker materials. It works well on many specialty materials. This wheel creates two deep, parallel score lines that work extremely well with materials such as poster board and cardboard.

If you have ever tried to fold heavier materials, you know that a single score line does not work all that well. Using this wheel is a dream come true!

3D projects are a perfect example of when to use this wheel.

I use this wheel for my crepe-paper as well as it gives a smoother finish to my folds.

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Perforation Blade The Perforation tool makes evenly spaced holes in your project. It makes for a very clean tear off for your projects. I used this tool to make my own Advent Calendar at Christmas and the results were so easy!

Some of the great uses are for pages that you want to tear out of a book, tickets with stubs, peel away messages (there is a banana project in Design Space that is cute).

When cutting a project with the Perforation tool, be very gentle when you are pulling the project from your mat. Roll the mat away from your project so that you do not tear open your perforation!

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Wavy Blade The perfect way to make a decorative edge on your projects! You no longer need to draw out your wavy edges! This tool will take care of the design part of your project.

Cricut has a list of materials you can use that they have “qualified�. The list is growing each week but here are some you should consider: Acetate, Cardstock, Chipboard, Craft Foam, Duct Tape Sheets, Fabric (perfect for Pinking!), Felt, Iron-on, Leather, Poster Board, Vinyl, Washi Sheets.

You can try it on other materials as well. The wavy cuts make perfect badges, patches, and adding interest to card making.

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DeBossing Blade Why emboss when you can deboss with your Cricut? This blade adds so much to your designs, especially when making cards or paper crafting. I had always thought that embossing with stencils was the way to go. With the deboss tool, I can get the same effect by debossing the surface using my stencil designs.

Although the tool is for a light deboss, you can increase the depth of the line by having your machine go over your lines more than once. To do this, duplicate the lines you want to deboss, then line them up perfectly and attach them all together. Set your machine to make your design and it will pass over the deboss lines several times (depending on how many passes you want). The result is a deepen deboss.

If you deboss deep enough, the reverse side of your make will be embossed!

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Engraving Blade You can engrave metal, plastic, or leather with this tool! This tool is designed to inscribe into your selected material and create a permanent imprint. For example, you can create a design for a sun catcher by engraving the design right on your acrylic or other material. One you have finished with the engraving you can paint in the design to make the perfect sun catcher!

To have your engraving show more, i.e. darken it, color over the engraving with an enamel marker (this will not work with all materials and metal is the best). Remove the excess and leave the color that has filled in the groves.

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Pens

Styles and Types

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Pens Cricut has a whole variety of pens from extra thin to calligraphy thick!

There are also pens you can use when making designs where the ink is infusible. There is no doubt that Cricut pens offer you a huge selection of colors and sizes.

For any project you do, I would recommend you first try out the pen you want to use to see if will work on the material you have selected. I have had so many pen disasters by not testing first and the result is a lot of wasted project materials.

TIP: Store your pens with the tips down to keep the ink flowing properly.

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Pen Sizes Extra Fine 0.03 mm (XF) - perfect for detailed designs such as small objects that are next to each other Fine 0.04 mm (F) - the most used pens. Common uses are for gift tags, making cards, invitations, greetings, or even coloring pages.

Glitter Gel 0.08 mm (GG) - perfect for adding that extra sparkle with a smooth finish.

Gel 1 mm (G) - a very silky finish and perfect for wedding or party invitations.

Marker 1 mm (M) - Gives that classy finish to invitations or cards. Not too broad and perfect for a nice-looking greeting.

Calligraphy 2.0/2.5 mm - exactly what they are for is that calligraphy look to your lettering.

TIP: Be sure to load this pen on a 45-degree angle. Make note that the little triangle for loading this pen is crucial if you want to get that perfect look.

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Design Space MASTERY

Infusible Inks These pens can be used in your Cricut machine or you can hand draw with these directly on the surface where you are applying your design.

You can draw directly onto a laser copy paper sheet with your Cricut machine (remember to turn on Mirror) on a LightGrip mat. Add some more color by hand coloring in some of your objects, then apply that design to a shirt or other surface using your EasyPress (follow all the steps for correctly using your EasyPress)!

No need to buy special transfer sheets for your designs when you have these versatile pens!

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Design Space MASTERY

Thank You! From the bottom of my heart, I truly want to thank you for taking the time to read through Cricut Design Space Mastery - The Ultimate Guide.

I do know that you have learned at least one thing you did not know before! This guide was created to give you enough information to start making some amazing projects.

If you liked this guide, please send a testimonial to Bette@BettesMakes.com – I would absolutely LOVE to hear from you.

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Design Space MASTERY

Please Join our Community Facebook.com/groups/BettesMakes Get FREE resources from my resource library: BettesMakes.com/library Dr. Bette Daoust YouTube.com/c/BettesMakes Bette@BettesMakes.com

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Design Space MASTERY

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