print then cut with cricut joy
We love creating stickers to use in our planners or as decoration. As you might know the Cricut Joy doesn’t come with the print then cut feature like the Cricut Maker or Cricut Explorer does.
Print then cut is an options which allows you to print and then cut around your designs to create stickers. When using the print then cut setting, Design Space will first sent your file to your printer and then cut it.
Seeing as this is not a feature on the Cricut Joy we had to come up with a way around this. So you are still able to create stickers with your Cricut Joy.
Let’s get started!
what do you need?
Tools:
- Cricut Joy + mat
- Design Software
- Printer
- Knife
- Ruler
- Cutting mat
- Scissors
Materials:
- Sticker Paper
- Tape
the process
Because we can’t print then cut in Design Space itself we will have to separate both processes. We will first print our stickers from our design program and then later cut them through Design Space.
Because we need the printed stickers to match up with with the cut lines for the stickers we need to sort out our Cricut cutting mat first. We need to make sure that our print will line up with our cut lines.
The Cricut Joy has a 4,25” x 6,25” cuttable area. As you know the mat itself is 4,5” x 6,5”. So we need to establish what the cuttable area is on the mat. We will do this by aligning the mat with some tape. I used Washi tape but you can also use masking tape or some other tape that is easy removable. Make sure you slightly overlay it over the edge lines so there will be enough tape left when we cut it.
Then in Design Space set up a rectangle of the 4,25” x 6,25”. We will cut this out on the mat so we know what the cuttable area of the mat is. Send the rectangle cut to “make” and choose to use the mat. Use a cut setting that cuts very light. I used the setting for “copy paper”. Then make the cut.
When the cut is done now remove the inside of the tape so you are left with a line around the cuttable area of the mat. Now we know where our printed stickers have to go. To the printed stickers will line up with our cutlines.
the stickers
Now we have to set up our sticker sheet. You can use your preferred design software for this. Create a document of 4,25” x 6,25. Place your stickers designs on here. Make sure your stickers have offset around them where they will cut.
To determine the size of the document create 4 black squares of 0.25” x 0.25 and align each of them to one of the corners. Then go ahead save the file as a png file.
Then print the stickers through the design program. Make sure you print to scale.
Once the stickers are printed trim the sticker sheet to the 4.25” x 6.25” size indicated by the black squares. Now place the sticker sheet within the borders we just created on our Cricut mat.
Cutting the stickers
In Design Space you upload the png file you just created. For image type click “complex” and continue. In the select and erase menu just hit continue. Then in the select upload type menu choose “cut image” and upload.
Upload your file into your project. Your file will probably load at a much larger scale than we created it at. Therefore resize the file to 4.25” x 6.25. And make sure it is aligned all the way to the left and top of the art board. Now go ahead and “make it”.
In the next dialogue choose to use the mat setting and continue. For material I used a custom setting as there is no setting for print and cut on the Joy. To set up a custom setting go to “Browse all Materials. At the bottom you can click “Material Settings”. When you scroll all the way down you will see “add new material”. Give it a name and choose the cut pressure. I used 70 for the pressure but this can differ depending on how old your blade is and how sharp it is. Make sure Multi-cut is turned off and the blade type is set to “Fine-Point Blade”. And hit save and done. Now add your newly added material setting and sent your file to your Cricut Joy.
It will now cut out all your stickers around your designs with the cutlines you have created.
And this way we created our own print and cut stickers with the Cricut Joy! With these settings you create a kiss cut sticker sheet. Of course you can also make die cut stickers by increasing the cut pressure.
Bellow you can download the stickers I have used in this tutorial to get you started.
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This was so helpful! Newbie here and my first cricut is a joy! This was so informative! Thank you!
You are welcome happy to help. And happy crafting!
I did it thank you so much x
This is great! I really want to make stickers and i was having a very difficult time figuring it out so ty!!!
You are welcome, happy to help 🙂
Thanks for the information! What type of sticker paper did you use?
Hi,
You are welcome I use either Quantore or Avery Sticker paper (printer labels).
I see you used Adobe Illustrator. Any recommendations on a free/user friendly program? I’ve used Krita before but it takes tons of effort just to make a single item so I was hoping there was an easier program.
Hi,
That is correct. I would suggest using Canva. It is a free online design software. You can just sign up for an account and then set up any size document and place your png images in there. Then you can export it as a png file as well and upload it to Cricut.
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This is a great tutorial. What kind of paper did you use to print the stickers from adobe?
I used sticker paper. I believe it was from Avery and they call it label paper. So it is already sticky 🙂
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for this ! Can you do this with craft paper ? For cake toppers ?
Yes you can apply the same technique for any print and cut projects you need really. You just need to choose the right cut setting once cutting your files. As craft paper will be a lot thicker then the sticker paper.
So you can’t do this if you don’t have a design platform like you showed here (adobe illustrator or similar)? I’m so new and really want to make stickers.
I have not worked out yet a way to set it up fully using Cricut only. But I will keep exploring those options. But you don’t need Illustrator. You can also use a free software like Canva for example.
I just recently purchased the Cricut Joy. I’ve used 135gsm sticker paper and put custom material setting down with 70 cut pressure. Yet still my Joy cuts through the paper and does not cut as kiss cut.
I do not know what else to do
Hi,
Ok it might be because your Cricut Joy is so new so the blade is really sharp. I think I remember I had the same issue at the start with everything I was cutting. I guess 70 is already the lowest setting? I would choose the lowest setting. And then in the cutting display you can also choose “pressure” and you can choose “less”. Maybe this can help. But otherwise I would say if you end up using your blade more often for other projects like paper or vinyl the blade gets less sharp and works better for the sticker paper.
Thank you for this information