- When removing a project from your cutting mat flip the mat face down first, then bend your mat carefully up and away from your material. This puts the force of the bend on the mat and not your fragile material. If you pull on your material to remove it from the cutting mat, then it may tear or curl. Remember remove your mat from your material not your material from your mat.
- If your Fine point or deep point blades are not cutting well anymore, then try cleaning them first before running out to get new ones. To clean these blades all you have to do is get some aluminum foil and roll it up into a ball. Now press the blade’s plunger down to expose its blade, and keep it down while you poke the aluminum ball about 40 times. This helps remove oxidation and debris that gets built up on the blade. This does NOT sharpen the blade, only cleans it via friction. You can also place a sheet of aluminum foil on a green standard grip cutting mat and cut a few simple designs with your fine or deep point blade to also clean it and thus improve your cuts.
- Store your Cricut pens or other pens with the cap down. This way the ink is always ready to go. If you store them the other way, then it may take a little while for the ink to get down to the tip or there may be little spots with no ink if the ink is still moving down to the tip. this could mess up a project, so make sure your pens are always facing downward so they are always ready to go. Also note if you have a new pack of pens, they are typically stored with the tip side upward. So, they will need some time to allow the ink to move towards the tip.
- Note: do not do this with gel pens. If gel pins are stored tip down, then the ink will leak out and make a big mess. So, for gel pens store them horizontally.
- Keep vinyl in place and flat so you can weed easier.
- Use painters tape to hold down your vinyl as you weed.
- Place your vinyl on a slightly sticky (well worn) Cricut mat to help hold it in place as you weed.
- You can make multiple passes over your design if it did not cut all the way through. After you finish cutting a project, before you unload it from your machine, lift a small corn of your material up to see if it was cut all the way through your material. If it did not cut all the way through, and thus needs another pass through, then click the “C” button on your Cricut machine. This will pull your piece back in and recut it in exactly the same place as it just did. Just make sure to not unload/remove your mat or material otherwise it will probably not be in the exact same position and thus not cut in exactly the same spot. You can do this several times until your piece is cut all the way through. You can also do this technique when scoring if you want your score lines to be a little deeper.
- You can cut multiple colors of the same material at once. This will save you time from having to unload and reload a mat for each color change. First move all cut elements to the same mat in Cricut Design Space, either by making them the same color or by moving them individually one the mat preview screen (click the three dots in the upper left hand corner of your image and click “move to mat”. Now place each image to a different corner or section of your cutting mat in the mat preview screen. Next, place the corresponding colors of your material in the appropriate spots on your cutting mat. You may want to refer to your mat preview to insure you place the correct size of material as well as the correct color of material in the correct spots on your cutting mat. Once everything is in the correct place and your mat is loading into your Cricut machine, you can hit the “C” to cut your pieces.
- You can use a lint roller to remove bits and pieces from your Cricut mats.
- Cut slits around your transfer tape edges when applying vinyl to rounded surfaces to help keep them smooth.
- I recommend printing cheat sheets, reminders, and things like that off and keeping them around your Cricut machine. This includes settings you liked for specific materials so you do not forget them down the road. I will be working on making some sheets and things like this to keep by your Cricut machine.
- You do not have to use just the Cricut pens in your Cricut machines. These markers from Dollar Tree work well in my Cricut Maker. Some pens however may not fit well in the Cricut machine, and will need a pen adaptor. So, do not throw away your favorite pens. Check out this link to get a few pen adaptors for your favorite pens.
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