Sometimes crafting can be a little too tedious to be enjoyable, especially when it comes to cutting designs with your Cricut machine. Maybe it takes too long to weed your project because of the tiny detailing with the vinyl. Maybe you are hassling too much with getting the vinyl on the mat. Sometimes, crafting feels like it should be easier. No matter the dilemma, there are ways to make the process easier and make it much more enjoyable. Here are some hacks for any Cricut crafter – beginners, novices, or experts – to deem useful.
Use hair clips to secure the vinyl to the mat while cutting
I found this hack on the Cricut world of TikTok – more commonly known as the CricTok community. Basically, you take flat hair clips to secure the roll of vinyl to the mat while it is cutting on the machine. This would eliminate the hassle of cutting the vinyl from the roll and just hoping that it is the right size for the design. It could also help reduce the amount of scrap and remnant vinyl you are left with – just cut the design out when it is done cutting and you are still left with the rest on the full roll. This hack would be really good for someone who rolls their transfer tape for storage!
Using lint roller paper to aid in weeding
Let’s be real – sometimes weeding can be really difficult, especially with an intricate design. What is more frustrating is when you are weeding the design and a piece that you have already removed made its way back to the vinyl – potentially ruining your cut.
Take a sheet from a lint roller – unused, of course – and lay it out on the table. Take the pieces you are weeding from the design and stick it on the lint roller paper. It is seriously super easy, and cheap too, you can get a lint roller with a few sheets at the dollar store.
Another weeding tool – a nail polish holder
I found this tool at the local vinyl store in town, but you can purchase one of these anywhere. It is normally utilized to hold a nail polish bottle while painting your nails, but it can be a multifunctional tool. It is the same concept as the lint roller paper hack – just put the ring on the hand you are not weeding with and put the bits you are weeding in the ring. This may be a good hack for you if you struggle to get the vinyl off of your weeding tool. It may be a little more cost-effective than the lint roller, depending on how much you utilize your cutting machine.
Utilizing contact paper as a replacement for transfer paper
This is a widely known hack within the Cricut community but thought it was helpful to include. You can also use clear contact paper as an alternative for transfer tape! This may be a cheaper alternative to buying transfer paper. Or if you happen to run out of transfer paper and have contact paper on hand, it would work for an alternative.
Even though this may be a handy hack, be warned, as other crafters have claimed that it may take a little more work to use than standard transfer tape.
Lessen the stick on your transfer tape
If you have bought the heavy-duty transfer tape and think it is too sticky, you are not alone. What I have found works to lessen the stick would be putting the sticky side on a clean shirt or towel. The lint and fibers from the fabric will make the transfer tape easier to work with. I would recommend using clean fabric and only using this hack for heavy-duty transfer tape. If you do this with light stick transfer tape, it will not adhere to any of the vinyl to transfer.
Organizational hacks
There are many ways to store your vinyl, but don’t you want to keep it organized as well? One way to effectively organize and store your vinyl is in scrapbook boxes. They are not terribly expensive, at around five to ten dollars each.
As you can see, we have labeled our boxes to depict the type of vinyl that the box stores. It is an easy way of storing vinyl while also keeping it organized.
But if you have more vinyl than we do, this may not be very economical or practical storage. If you want to store your vinyl more compactly, roll your vinyl super tight and tape it down with some washi tape. Washi tape is not as sticky and not as much of a hassle as standard clear tape, so it will be easier to tape and unravel your roll as you want to use it. As an added bonus, you could even write what type of vinyl it is on the washi tape, so you know what you are reaching for.
Scrapbook punches for instant stickers
Feel like a design is a little lackluster and needs an extra touch? If you have old scrapbook punches laying around, it is their time to shine! Just punch it through your vinyl and you have an instant sticker! You may want to use tweezers or a weeding tool to take off the back, but it is an easy way to add an extra detail super quickly.
With these Cricut hacks, crafting now has never been easier. Hopefully, you have found at least one of these hacks to be applicable to your crafts!
This article was written by
