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We have learned so much over the years working with our Cricut machines and we love being able to share our knowledge with you. Here are 20 Cricut hacks that we LOVE and use all the time. These tips will turn you from Cricut beginner to pro FAST!

Sometimes when you’re learning to do something new, having a more experienced person share the tips and tricks they’ve picked up over time can really speed things along for you. From weeding and applying vinyl to making the best quality Print then Cut projects and saving money on supplies and more, you’ll find so many amazing hacks here that will make creating Cricut projects so much easier! Check out these 20 Cricut hacks and level up your crafting!

20 CRICUT HACKS TO TURN A BEGINNER INTO A PRO FAST!

1 – Weed on the mat.

We LOVE to weed on the mat. This Cricut hack was a game-changer when we first figured it out and it is definitely one of our all-time favorite tips. The reason why we like to weed on the mat is that it’s like having a third hand to help hold down your material during the weeding process.

2 – How to find the middle of your shirt.

Line up the shoulder seams of your shirt, folding it in half lengthwise. Once you have them lined up, simply use your EasyPress to press a line down the middle of your shirt. Press for about 5-10 seconds. Then, line up the two edges of your design, and just at the top of the transfer tape, pinch to make a small fold. Repeat at the bottom edge. You don’t want to fold the actual design, just the transfer tape. This will help you to center your design and line it up perfectly every time.

Pro Tip: We like to place the design about 3 inches down from the neckline.

3 – Cricut hack for keeping rounded blanks in place while applying designs.

You may find that as you try to apply your designs to things like ornaments and tumblers, they try to roll around on you. A roll of masking tape or a squeegee tool underneath the blanks can help keep them in place and allow you to apply your vinyl with ease.

4 – Clean non-porous surfaces with rubbing alcohol.

With glass, ceramic, or other non-porous surfaces, use some rubbing alcohol on a paper towel to clean away any dust, oil, and fingerprints before applying your design. It will adhere much better.

Pro Tip: If you find that you are leaving bits of lint behind with the paper towel on the surface you are using, try a coffee filter instead. Thanks to one of our followers for sharing this tip!

5 – Burnish, burnish, burnish!

If there is one thing you can do to make weeding and applying vinyl easier, it’s to burnish it. We like to burnish before we weed to make sure all the pieces of the design are well-adhered to the backing paper. Then, after adding transfer tape burnish again from both the front and the back for that extra bit of security.

6 – Cricut hack for applying vinyl to rounded surfaces.

Create a few slits all the way around (in the transfer tape, not the design). This will help you apply it and get it to lay flat as it should.

Pro Tip: For ornaments, we really like to use masking paper transfer tape.

Cricut Christmas Ornaments 101

7 – Try using off-brand products instead of Cricut brand.

Yes, Cricut is a great brand and makes some amazing craft supplies, but did you know that you don’t always have to stick to Cricut brand materials to have success with your projects? We love Starcraft vinyl, Siser EasyWeed, and TeckWrap Vinyl as alternatives to Cricut vinyl. These save you money and are fantastic products.

Pro Tip: We love Nicapa cutting mats in place of Cricut ones too!

8 – What to do when your mat isn’t sticky enough.

If your material doesn’t seem to be sticking as well as it should be, use a brayer to burnish it to the mat. With thicker materials like chipboard, use some masking tape to secure it around the edges.

Cutting Chipboard with Your Cricut Maker

9 – Cricut hack to get more life out of your mats: Clean your mat.

Another thing you can do when your mat is dirty or not as sticky as it should be is to clean it. Our favorite way of cleaning mats is to simply wipe them off with a baby wipe. Use a circular motion and light to medium pressure. It might take 2-3 baby wipes to revive your mat.

Pro Tip: Your mat won’t be sticky again until it’s dry.

How to Clean Your Cricut Mats 3 Ways

10 – Figure out which fonts you used in Cricut Design Space.

After creating a project in Design Space, you may want to return to it later to find out which fonts you used. To do so, select the text and go to your Layers Panel. Left click the text in the Layers Panel and look at Image Info. It will be faint, but it will tell you which fonts they are.

We’re halfway through our 20 Cricut hacks. Have you learned something new yet? Stick around. There are more craft tips to come!

11 – Take an image outside of Design Space.

You can’t export your designs from Design Space. This is the best hack we have found for working around that. Begin by removing the grid from your canvas. To do so, click on the 3 lines in the upper left corner. Go to Settings. There, under Canvas, you can choose No Grid. Now you have a plain white background for your design. You can screenshot this clean design and use it in other programs.

Pro Tip: With a Mac, you can press Command Shift 4 and you’ll get a cursor. Use the cursor to select what you want in your screenshot and when you release it, your Mac will automatically take a screenshot of that. On a Windows device, you can use the snipping tool.

12 – Open multiple Cricut Design Space windows.

If you’re working on more than one design at a time, you can open multiple Design Space windows. Go up to File and then New Window. Now you can switch from design to design in each of the windows. If you have two Cricut machines, you could also use this to cut from the two different machines at the same time too.

13 – Cricut hack to make your designs the right size every time: Add a shape in Design Space sized to the dimensions of your blank.

This will allow you to size your design to fit the blank perfectly and to visualize the finished project better. Add a shape to represent your blank and size it according to the measurements you took. Go to Operation and choose Guide. This will allow you to use the shape as a guide for your design but your Cricut won’t cut it out.

14 – Use color sync to change the number of colors in your design.

In our example, we used a design with 4 colors in it and wanted to change it to a 2-color design. To do that, click on Color Sync right under the Make It button. From there, you can drag and drop one of the colors to a different color in the panel to change it to that color. Repeat as many times as needed for your design.

15 – Cut 2 different colors of vinyl on one mat.

After pressing Make It, you’ll see that your design has been placed on different mats according to color. To cut them all on one mat, choose one of the mats and click on the 3 dots in the upper left corner. Choose Move Object. Then select the mat you want to move it to. Press Confirm. Drag that part of the design to another part of the mat. Now you know where to place the different colors of vinyl on the mat (use the grid for guidance) so you can cut them both out on the same mat.

16 – Turn any file into a sticker.

If you’re beginning with a cut file, to turn it into a printable design, select all layers and choose Flatten at the bottom of the Layers Panel. To make it even more “sticker-like”, add an Offset to it. You can change the color of the offset as desired. Select both the flattened layer and the offset layer and Flatten.

17 – Cricut hack for the best Print then Cut projects: Get the best print image quality.

Once you send your image to the printer, you need to select Use System Dialog. Press Print. Your System Dialog will often appear behind Design Space so you will need to move it out of the way so you can see the dialog. There you will change the quality to Best.

Pro Tip: If you have a printer with a rear tray, we advise choosing to have your material feed from that tray for smoother results and less chances of paper jams.

18 – Use sketch fonts for filled in fonts when drawing.

When you use sketch fonts with your pens, you won’t end up with letters that are simply outlines and not filled in.

19 – Make a test cut.

When you have a specialty material and you’ve never cut it before, we recommend making a test cut. Our favorite is a star shape, about 2 inches in size. If you can get a star to cut and weed well, you should be good to go. This way you can try it out without wasting the whole sheet of material.

20 – Cricut hack for smooth vinyl application: Use the taco method.

If you are trying to apply your design but are nervous about laying it down well, use the taco method. Gently fold your design (don’t make a crease!) so that it resembles a taco. Lay it down on the blank with the center section first and then slowly move from the center out, allowing the material to lay down without any wrinkles or bubbles.

These 20 Cricut hacks will take your crafting skills to the next level in no time. Which one is your favorite? Share it with us on social media using hashtag #MakersGonnaLearn.