Make The Cut : Cricut Vinyl Tutorial

NEW UPDATE: This program is not compatible with Cricut:( I'm so sad!!! But can be used with Silhouette, Gazelle and others. 


I have been having a lot of fun using Make the Cut with my Cricut lately. 

I only own 2 cartridges( I know, sad)

so my cutting capabilities were limited...

UNTIL I purchased Make the Cut, about a month ago.

Now I can cut nearly ANYTHING!

Last night my brother came over, he wanted me to cut vinyl decals for some family member's vehicles(including his own), so we set to work "googling" for the image we wanted.

We found this logo, which is my dad's company...

shout of for Mesa, AZ! ;)

We SAVED the image to the computer(don't worry if it is a bit blurry like the image below, you can tweak the quality in Make the Cut, very cool!)

Now...open up Make The Cut.

make sure the setting is on your correct Mat Size & then 

click FILE

IMPORT

PIXEL TRACE

Now you can select ANY IMAGE on your computer...so search for your saved image that you want to cut & then click OPEN.

Now, you are in a screen where you can tweak the quality.
There are 4 things you can play around with...

the Threshold, Resample, Optimize & Smoothing.

Adjust the numbers until your image is just how you would like it!

Then click IMPORT

 & your image will appear on your "virtual cricut mat" in MTC, 

like this(i forgot to take a pic of this step on the mesa logo, but this is another logo I did for my brother's truck)...

Now you can play with the SIZE on your mat, add more words, 

to make it look how you want!

During this step for my Dad's "Visit Mesa" logo, 

I decided I didn't like the font of his logo website & I simply deleted it & added a new website in a new font & made it a bit bigger(we want people to be able to see it while he is driving)!

*You can use ANY TRUE TYPE FONT in Make the Cut!
 

Once everything is set in Make the Cut, hook up your cricut to your computer, using a USB cable(I just grab mine from my printer & hook it up to my cricut when I need it)

make sure your Cricut BLADE DEPTH is at 6

your PRESSURE is at LOW

and your SPEED is at LOW

then press CUT on your COMPUTER

(not on your cricut) & wait.

*these settings are the best I have found for VINYL. It will cut through your vinyl, but not the 2nd layer of paper!

Then peel off the "excess" vinyl that you don't want...leaving ONLY the logo you want.

Then I use contact paper that you can buy at Walmart for $5 for a big roll to transfer the image.

Just stick the contact paper onto the logo, 

& then peel off the back paper of the vinyl(the Blue part you see in my image above)

Now you have a "sticker" that you can place onto any surface...

smooth out the bubbles & then

peel off the contact paper, making sure your vinyl sticks to the surface & 

wah la!

Fun, huh!?

***thinking of buying Make the Cut!?

Now is a great time, as it is only sale for only $58.36 (normally $80) & you will save TONS in the long run, not buying cartridges! It is a SUMMER SALE, so I assume it won't last much longerl
AND...I am now an affiliate with Make the Cut, so I get a percentage of the sale if you purchase through my links in this post or through the button on the top right side of my sidebar... 

and I will LOVE you forever if you do!!!

I'm still learning, but if you have any Make the Cut questions, feel free to email me at 

craftifyit@gmail.com

THANKS!!!