So, you bought a Cricut and cannot wait to use it. But now what? I bought my Cricut at least a year ago and thankfully this quarantine has given me the time I needed to dive in and figure it out. My reasons for purchasing a Cricut are completely selfish in nature. I wanted to make my own home decor and other various crafty projects without spending an arm and a leg for someone else to do it.
One of the first things I learned how to use was the Slice tool. This is because I wanted to make a cute window decal for my car (see image). This tutorial is going to show you how to use the slice tool and will include this SVG file for your personal use! This post may contain affiliate links.
First step: Upload the image file you want to use. For this tutorial I will use the paw print image and show you how I made the Fur Mama decal for my car. To Upload the image, you will select the upload option on the left menu. Once selected you will browse images from computer and select the image you want to use.
Second Step: Once you upload that image you will be taken to a screen where you can edit what type of image you are using. For this tutorial I am selecting simple image. Click continue and you will be taken to the page where you can select which parts of the image you want to keep. You do not need to change any settings here. Click the areas you want to remove (the white space). Once you are done, click continue and you will be taken to a page where you select which type of image you wish to save it as. You will want to save it as a cut file and name it something you will remember. When this is all said and done, you will now be able to upload it into your canvas.
Third Step: Now that you have your image in Canvas, select the shapes icon on the left-hand menu. Select the heart image and size and adjust it how you see fit. Then move the image over the paw print where you would like the heart to be cut out. Click the select all option from the top menu. You will now see the Slice option highlighted on the bottom right. Select this option and now you can move the heart out of the way—both the original heart and the sliced piece from the paw print. Select the hearts and delete them because they will no longer be needed.
*TIP: You may want to make the image you are slicing larger to make your life a bit easier when placing the shapes and texts to be sliced
Fourth Step: Now the fun part. Adding the Text! On the left-hand menu select the Text option and a text box will appear. A menu on top will appear where you can select the font and text size. Go into the font options and select systems. This will give you the fonts you do not have to pay for. Another great place for free fonts is at https://www.dafont.com/. I chose Coneria Script for this project.
Once font is selected type in the text box what you wish to say. You will notice that the letters are spaced far apart. On the top menu you will see the option to reduce the spacing between letters. Click the down arrow until the letters are touching. There may be some letters that do not touch. To remedy this, ungroup the text by clicking the ungroup option on the top right menu. Move the letters over until they are touching.
After all letters are touching click and drag your mouse over the letters—the easiest thing to do is group the words separately. Once all letters of the word are selected, click the weld option in the lower right menu. Move that word to where you want it on the paw. Click and drag your mouse to select the paw and the word you just moved over top of it. Once again you will see the Slice option available in the lower right corner. Click this and you will be able to move the original text as well as the sliced section. Repeat these steps for the second word and you are done!
The only thing left is to select make it!
Hopefully, this has been helpful despite the wordiness. Please reach out if anything needs to be clarified!
Link to the SVG https://design.cricut.com/landing/project-detail/5ea0f87d99d57c0c34cb480e
