Engraving Too Slot A Cricut Machine

Load the printout onto the mat and follow the prompts to adjust to the material setting appropriate to your card stock, load tools and mat, and press Go. The Cricut will draw the bounding box with the pen and then cut out the slot for your blank. Remove the cutouts. You may leave the jig on the mat or remove and replace it at any time.

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Have you heard about the brand new Cricut Maker QuickSwap tools? We’ve got the low-down…

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It feels like Cricut is really treating us this Summer what with the new Infusible Ink system and now not one, not two, not three, but FOUR new tools for the Cricut Maker!

Saying that, our wallets could do with a break so we’d appreciate no more treats for a while… 😉

Anyway, as of a couple of weeks ago, Cricut have introduced these four new tools:

Engraving Tip
Fine Debossing Tip
Basic Perforation Blade
Wavy Blade

Let’s find out everything you need to know before you invest in them…

Back when the Cricut Maker was first launched, Cricut made a big deal out of the fact that this was their flagship machine. They promised not to bring out a new cutting machine (at least for a while) and that instead we’d be satisfied with the suite of new tools that were designed to fit with the Maker’s specialist, heavy duty motor.

So far, we’ve had the following tools:

Cricut FinePoint Blade — suitable for most cuts and materials
Cricut Knife Blade — designed for thicker and denser materials like leather and wood. You can read our review on it here
Cricut Rotary Blade — it can slice through more or less any fabric without backing
Cricut Scoring Wheel — available as either a double or single scoring wheel, it creates deep score lines for perfect folds regardless of the material you’re using

And finally, they’ve announced these brand new tools to stand alongside the above.

Let’s have a look at them individually.

The Engraving Tip is going to be an absolute must-buy for card makers and anyone else who makes lots of display objects with their Cricut Maker.

It does exactly what it says on the tin — creates an engraving effect on materials including the following:

Coated paper
Foil cardstock
Shimmer paper
Basswood
Glitter paper
Metal
Leather
Plastic

Flourishes, monograms, embellishments — whatever engraving style tickles your pickle, you’ll be able to do it with the Engraving Tip.

It’s priced at $24.99 on the Cricut website.

Cricut describes the perforation blade as being able to “get the perfect tear quickly and effortlessly with precise perforation cuts”.

We’ve got to be honest — we’re not 100% sure when we’d need that “perfect tear” but after some research, it looks like it’ll be handy for anyone using their Maker to create a coupon book or the like.

Here’s a quick video explaining more about it:

Cricut have priced it at $29.99.

The Wavy Blade is something we’re getting excited about: it’ll add a wavy edge to any design and will be able to work on most materials like paper, vinyl and cardstock.

Perfect for anyone into quirky cuts and crazy designs, who felt constrained by the shapes on Design Space before.

This video shows you a bit more on what it will be able to create:

It’s available from Cricut for $29.99.

So… what’s debossing?

You’ve probably already heard of embossing — when you mould a design in such a way that it stands out in relief to its material — and debossing is essentially the reverse of that.

Instead of the design standing out where it’s embossed, it will sink in where it’s debossed.

Just like the engraving tip, the fine debossing tip will be super handy for card makers and people who like to use a lot of decorative flourishes on their paper designs.

This video shows a bit more:

Cricut is selling it for $24.99.

In order to use any of the QuickSwap tools, you’ll need the QuickSwap drive housing, which fits seamlessly with the tips.

If you already have the Scoring Wheel, you’ll already have the housing and won’t need to buy it again — simply unscrew the scoring wheel tip and then fit the tip of whichever QuickSwap tool you want to use.

Alternatively, you can buy any of the tips with or without the QuickSwap housing, which will be handy if you don’t already own it.

You only need one QuickSwap housing to use any of the tips, including the Scoring Wheel.

Can I Use the QuickSwap Tools with any Cricut Cutter?

The QuickSwap tools have all been designed specifically for use with the Cricut Maker so you won’t be able to use them with any of Cricut’s previous cutting machines, including the Explore Air 2.

This is because the Maker has such a powerful motor and requires each tool to have specialist housing that can work with such a heavy-duty machine.

These tips simply won’t fit or work with any other Cricut machine.

Here are the prices for the 4 brand new tools:

Engraving Tip: $24.99
Basic Perforation Blade: $29.99
Wavy Blade: $29.99
Fine Debossing Tip: $24.99

And that’s everything you need to know about the new Cricut Maker QuickSwap tools!

Which are you most excited to try out?

Looking to get inspired for your next craft project? Check out our Inspiration board packed full of freebies, cut files and craft deals for every occasion!

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Take out your Cricut engraving tool and get ready to make some learning mats in this beginner-friendly Cricut project.

I’ve been homeschooling my toddler a lot more recently and continue to look for ways create learning materials for her using my Cricut. The Cricut engraving tool is so fun and easy to use and with my free SVG cut files, this project is the perfect Cricut engraving tool beginner’s project.

If you don’t have the Cricut engraving tool, you can still make these mats with permanent vinyl. See below for alternative steps.

If you like this tutorial, join our Facebook community where I post my free SVG files and resources! I look forward to crafting with you!

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Read my full disclosure policy.

MATERIALS TO MAKE THE CRICUT ENGRAVED LEARNING MAT

Cricut Maker or Explore Air 2

Cricut Tools

Standard Grip Cutting Mat (the 12″x 12″ size and 12″x 24″ size)

Cricut Engraving Tool

Permanent Vinyl

Transfer Tape

Painter’s Tape

Dollar Tree Cutting Mats (found in kitchen aisle), they are 11″ x 14″ and come in 2 packs.

My free SVG design files (available in my free resource library – get the password by filling out the form on the sidebar or below).

Not subscribed? Get access to the free resource library below!

HOW TO MAKE THE CRICUT ENGRAVED LEARNING MAT

If you’d rather watch a video on how to make it step by step, take a look at this video here (highly recommended!):

STEP 1: DOWNLOAD THE SVG FILE

Grab your SVG file from the free resource library.

Unzip the file. If you do not have a program installed on your computer to unzip, I recommend 7-zip. (It’s free! Windows only)

STEP 2: DESIGN IN CRICUT DESIGN SPACE

Engraving Tool Cricut Explore Air 2

Upload the blank template design in Cricut Design Space.

The designs are already sized for cutting so no sizing adjustments are needed.

We do however need to customize the text for the name mat. The next few steps will show you how to do this.

Select the Text tool and start typing the top half of your design. The font you want to use is called Print Clearly. You need to download the dashed version of the font. (You should see three different fonts listed).

Resize the font after typing in your customized name to fit the lines.

Adjust the letter spacing to stretch out the letters.

Repeat with the bottom text.

You should now have 4 layers. One for the “Hello my name is:” which will be cut on Cricut permanent vinyl. One for the dotted lines and one for first name and one for the last name.

For each layer that we an engraving, (not the “Hello my name is:” layer), we need to tell Cricut that we are engraving instead of cutting. We can do this by adjusting the cut type to “Engraving”.

ALTERNATE STEP // If you do not have the Cricut engraving tool, you can leave these layers are cut and cut them out on permanent vinyl or cut using the fine point blade.

There is still one last thing we need to do before we are ready to cut.

We need to attach the engraving layers together and then attach the vinyl layer together. This will let your Cricut machine know that you want all of these different pieces to stay where they are.

Now we are ready to move to the next screen. Click “Make it”!

STEP 3: CUT IT OUT

I am using these cutting board mats from the Dollar tree. They come in 2 packs and are 11×14.

Cricut Design Space will sort the mats based on colour.

You should only have two mats. One for the engraving and one for the vinyl. If you have more than that, you likely missed something when you went to attach. Please go back and reattach the layers.

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Now we need to mirror our images. Make sure you do this for both mats.

We should also drag our engraving layer and move it a little closer to the center. The cutting mat that we are engraving on is 11×14 so you can use that as a reference. I found moving the mat with the bottom engraving line just past the 1″ mark worked best.

ALTERNATE STEP // If you are using only vinyl (no Cricut engraving tool), you still need to mirror the mats. You do not need to center and move the design.

Now we can cut out our design.

There are two sides to the cutting mat. A shiny side (the side you will write on with dry erase markers) and the a gritty side. Place the shiny side down on the mat.

Tape it down with painter’s tape to help keep it secure.

The engraving cut is set to kraftboardwith more pressure. This is for both the Maker with engraving tool as well as the Explore Air 2 with the fine point blade.

Don’t forget to change the setting when you go to cut your vinyl. I used the regular permanent vinyl setting for this.

STEP 4: WEED

Now we need to weed our vinyl. (This basically means removing the parts we don’t want to use.)

I liked to start from the corner to get the bigger piece off and then use my weeding tools to get the smaller bits.

Once you are done weeding, transfer your vinyl to your transfer tape.

STEP 5: PLACE THE DESIGN

Now that we have our template ready to go on our transfer tape, you can place it on our mat.

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I taped one side of the design down and then cut half of the design from the middle. Then I laid down the design and pushed down the pattern using my scraper.