How to use Freepik graphics with the Cricut Maker
Avid scrapbookers love their cutting machines. But don’t be fooled, these magic apparati can do a lot more than cutting shapes and stickers for scrapbooking! For those of you who don’t know what a Cricut is, it’s a sleek machine that looks like a printer but it’s not. The objective of the Cricut is to cut shapes out of different materials; paper, card, vinyl, leather and even balsa wood or aluminum. The newest version of the Cricut machine is the Cricut Maker and can be connected to computers and tablets so that any illustration or vector graphic can be used as a shape to cut out.
Many crafters and creators of homemade products rely on their Cricut every day. The Cricut machine comes along with a program called the Cricut Design Space. The Cricut Design Space already offers lots of images and graphics but sometimes these are not enough.
The vector files available on Freepik can also be used with the Cricut Design Space! The best way to take advantage of the Cricut Maker using the vectors acquired from Freepik is to have a good quality printer.
The color printer and cricut duo are able to create hundreds of different projects!
What kind of projects can you make with a Cricut Maker?
- Vinyl Stickers, printed or unprinted, for mugs, furniture and other projects
- Iron-on patches for fabric
- Balsa wood tags or even buildable models
- Holiday cards
- Cardstock Tags
- Cloth creatures or clutches
- Leather creations
- Aluminum decorations
Why you need a good quality color printer
For optimal results when using Freepik graphics with a Cricut Maker, it’s best to have a good quality color printer that can print on lots of surfaces. Paper, cardstock, photo paper, and sticker sheets are the most common, but powerful printers can be used to print on fabric, brown paper bags or even tissue paper.
The best printers should also be used with waterproof, smudge-free ink that won’t budge when manipulated with aging solutions like tea or coffee or pasted on another surface with modge podge.
How to insert Freepik Vectors into the Cricut Design Space
Graphics can be uploaded as images or as patterns. Graphics can be uploaded in these formats; .jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .svg or .dxf. Patterns can be uploaded in these; .jpg, .gif, .png or .bmp.
Files uploaded as .jpg, .gif, .png, or .bmp are uploaded as a single layer file. The Cricut Design Space helps you get rid of backgrounds and crop out the parts you want to keep and get rid of the rest.
Files uploaded as .svg or .dxf. upload with layers. If you only want one of the figures in the graphic then it’s best to cut it out in Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape first since the Cricut Design Space doesn’t offer the eraser and crop functions for vectors. Uploading as an .svg or .dxf is more versatile as you can change colors of different parts of the graphic or even add a pattern to a part of it instead of using a color.
The Steps to take
For the sake of those who haven’t yet set up the Cricut Design space, doing so is the definite first step.
- Go to cricut.com, sign up and download the app that will update automatically when it’s prompted.
- Find the illustration you want in Freepik and download.
- Click on “upload” to choose the kind of file that matches the one you downloaded from Freepik.
If uploading a non-vector graphic:
- Choose if the design is simple or complex and upload the graphic.
- Use the crop and erase function to get rid of backgrounds or cut out the one specific illustration you want to use.
- Save the final graphic as a Print then Cut image.
- On the dashboard, click on the saved image and click “insert” to open the Cricut Design Space.
If uploading a vector graphic:
- Upload the vector and save.
- Insert into the Design Space
- Using the layers, pick the colors or patterns however you want them.
Once the graphic is ready:
- Use the editor to change the size or create a composition with other graphics, like words for example. Click “make it”
- Print your design on paper, card, vinyl or sticker paper.
- Set up the printed material on the Cricut Maker Mat.
- Click “cut”
- Use it in your project!
More ideas for using Flaticon icons with the Cricut Maker
Apart from the illustrations that you can get on Freepik, you can also use the icons from Flaticon to create projects. The icons are in vector format so can be scaled to a larger size and used for cards, stickers, any kind of decoration. Here are some ideas:
- Party decorations for a tween with social media icons on banners, hats and pins.
- Business icons turned into stickers for office decorations.
- Colorful school oriented icons to make stickers for notebooks.
- Internet icons to make iron-on patches for pillows or t-shirts.
Flaticon now has an easy online pattern maker and that can also be used with your Cricut Maker!
- Create a pattern on the Flaticon pattern maker
- Download it (the size you choose will depend on how you want the pattern to work with Cricut. It might take a few tries).
- Upload the pattern into the Cricut Design Space.
- The patterns are available inside the Layer Attributes Panel, under Print.
