Hello 🙂

Well, spring has finally sprung! Last weekend the clocks went forward, and as we look towards a fresh new season, we thought we would bring you this free tutorial- which can be used in a variety of ways- to decorate your home. We have used it in combination with our Colop E- Mark, and our printable Filmic vinyl. After the tutorial we played around with a few alternative ways to display this, including with the ribbon off too! Have a play around, use lots of glass jars to put it on instead, or your front door window – make it into cards, canvas, or you can of course use printable HTV and create a bag or T-shirt with them. Whatever you decide we would love to see!

Have you found our  You Tube channel yet? The video showing this and all of our other tutorials are available on there, as well as exclusive demos, inspiration and more!  Join us on Facebook , Instagram or Tiktok or  send us an email to [email protected] we would love to hear from you!

You are free to use our files to make, create, and even make items to sell, all we ask is you don’t pass the files on.  Instead, if you wish to share them, please ask your friend or acquaintance to download them from our website themselves from within this blog. No reselling or passing on, of any part of the cut file is permitted, and no using the cut files to create other files to sell or pass on is allowed. But we do hope you enjoy them, and we hope your makes earn you a little extra with them too.

Alternatively this week, due to the filmic sheets being transparent, you could download and print these- and then skip to step 6 and hand cut them instead.

DO YOU NEED TO RECALIBRATE YOUR MACHINE? CLICK HERE FOR TUTORIAL

What you’ll need:

• Cricut Maker . Available here  And cutting mat Available here.
• Or Silhouette Cameo 4. Available here  (Instructions for the Cameo and Brother machines at the bottom!)
• GM Crafts Filmic Gloss Printable A4 INKJET AVAILABLE CLICK HERE OR LASER PRINTER AVAILABLE CLICK HERE
• Scissors, Tweezers and Pick from Toolkit.  Available here
• LED weeding pad. Available here
• Colop E-mark Hand held printer Available here
• Colop Ribbon and Ribbon Guide Available here
• Red Tape adhesive, Available here
• Candles, platter, or fake flowers etc from your own stash
• Cut files, are free below! Including Cricut, Silhouette and Brother- instructions to follow at the end.

Spring Flowers Print Cut and File Click here to Download

PRINT AND CUT INSTRCTIONS:

Alternatively this week, due to the filmic sheets being transparent, you could print these- and then skip to step 6 and hand cut them instead.

1. Before you start, you need to download the print and cut files for your machine above. Upload each PNG into the design space. Click “Upload Image” on the left-hand Design Panel, and navigate to the  file you want to open. Select ‘Insert image’ and select image type ‘Complex’ when prompted. Next you’ll be asked to delete any space that does not get cut, you can skip this part by pressing ‘continue’. When asked if they’re print-then-cut images or just cut images, select print and cut images. Click save. When uploaded, Insert the images onto the canvas and resize to suit your project. When re-sizing for this project I measure the A4 sheet taking into account the registration marks to ensure it will fit.

You’ll see on the first screen below a star shape- this is what we use shrunk down to test cut- See step 5

2. Be sure to choose the print and cut option in the operation drop down box, before clicking make it. On the next screen, If using the Cricut Maker 3 then you will need to choose to cut on the mat (unless using smart media)

3. Check on the next screen your design fits in the print border as below. Click Continue.

4. Next choose select printer, before checking your screen matches the settings on ours, with your chosen printer. Once you are happy, place the printable sheet in your INKJET Printer, and click print. Please see following notes on how to perfect your print.

To ensure your printed design works perfectly when cutting on the machine,  the first place to start is not the cutting machine, but the media you are using (the sheet) and the printer you are printing with.

Almost 90% of print and cut issues are because the printer isn’t  printing perfect, I will try to explain, apologies for the level of detail but it is complex to explain when not sat beside you. When you put the paper into the printer it must be square and even before you start (sometimes if your A4 sheet can be slightly cut wonky literally a few mm on one side makes a complete difference when printing, you’ll see why in a second, so always check the sheet is square).

When in the printer it must be tight in the tray so when the printer loads it and brings it round the rollers it does not move again, a few mm or even 1 mm when moved slightly down the page, literally destroys the accuracy of the registration marks completely.

For example, my previous printer had a loading bay for the paper, with an adjustable arm on one side that acts like a clamp to hold the paper in the loading tray , as my printer pulls the paper through to feed round the rollers if I pinch it too little or too much there is a slight difference by the time the whole sheet has printed, and it will never cut the whole sheet accurately, this is often seen by the top (or bottom) being perfect cuts and the other end has an offset very slightly when cut, this is the printer process to blame.

Also you must make sure the registration mark is bold enough, some people make it too small , and again it is best to space the design out so the lenses can read it when cutting correctly, print and cut mostly replies on that registration mark as it’s guide and cuts where the lines are on the screen only and will not convert the print on the sheet to the cut if that makes sense? When printing those registration marks are best kept on default on the software, and should they bleed or look less than a sharp edge it will cause you reading issues.

I have some customers who will watch the printer feed to ensure it isn’t moving or slipping on one roller side which again will cause the same issue.

When using the media (printed sheet) it must be suited to your printer type- so for example inkjet only sheets must be on a inkjet printer. When printing, if not using our media you must ask the manufacturer for their print settings, ours you need best or photo print quality only.

The last thing is to check your cutting machine is calibrated see above steps in this tutorial.

It is worth noting Cricut update their software very regularly and before moving onto troubleshooting it is worth checking yours is a current version, You can do this by visiting their website, download the current version and then open it to install, it will automatically remove the previous version.

Once your software has been updated, please connect your machine via the USB to check if it needs a firmware update, again instructions for this are found .above at the start of this blog.

Please see attached links to refer to;

Please follow these steps to resolve any print and cut issues you have;

https://help.cricut.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009387274-How-do-I-Print-Then-Cut-in-Design-Space-

Error message not reading cut sensor marks- Important: Reflective materials, coloured materials, or materials containing any kind of pattern may interfere with the cut sensor marks being read by the Cricut Explore machine. Please try a mat label sticker on the registration marks area to side step this and follow the link below;

https://help.cricut.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009426434-I-m-getting-an-error-that-the-machine-cannot-read-the-cut-sensor-marks

Calibrating your machine for Print Then Cut; Note: Depending on your current offset, you may find more than one calibration is needed. Choose to refine the calibration as needed until you are satisfied with the cut results.

https://help.cricut.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009424974-Calibrating-your-machine-for-Print-Then-Cut

ENSURE BLEED LINES IS ON AS THIS HELPS GET A TIDY CUT

5. Once printed, you can then place the sheet on your mat and load it into your machine, then the Cricut play button will flash for you to cut the sheet. Make sure your settings are all set to the successful settings from your test cut and ensure your machine is linked before proceeding to cut. Cut settings: (**please test cut) Press the flashing Cricut symbol on your maker to cut, after loading the sheet into the machine. Apply the settings needed for your chosen media, we made it with our GM Printable Self adhesive gloss Filmic sheets on the maker 3, and used the Premium Holographic Crystal  sheet setting on the Cricut maker 3 with More pressure.

**A reminder that these settings, including the blade setting, are specific to the materials and machine we’re using, adjustments may be necessary if using different materials and machine**

We always recommend before proceeding, you test cut your materials when first using so if you have not recently used this product in your machine. Please test cut for your chosen machine found on our Application guide, and also Blog.  Load the Vinyl chosen individually for each layer.

6. Your machine will make a series of passes to check the print borders before proceeding to cut. Once cut remove the cut parts and waste from the sheet, and then repeat with the second sheet- if using more than 3 candles like we are, see below.

Due to the intricate details, leaves etc, we used our craft pick during weeding to hold the detail whilst lifting the sheet.

7. Take and switch on your Colop E-mark- Create thread the middle sized ribbon- feed it through it’s holder ( With 15 on) as shown below- choose the Happy Easter sentiment in the Colop App, send it to your machine, then place the Colop in the holder, firmly hold the ribbon edge on the table, and move the Colop in the holder as one across the ribbon to print.

8. Take your scissors and cut the ribbon, before repeating for as many candles as you have. Don’t forget to switch your Colop off – and store back in it’s holder.

9. Taking the printed cut sheets, peel one away from the backing, and if needed use the craft pick to poke any fine cut details out that were not removed during weeding.

10. Match this to your chosen candle, or jar, place the cut sticker onto the middle of your candle, before smoothing around the curve from the middle outwards, applying gentle pressure to ensure there are no bubbles. We then rub this with our squeegee.

11. Match one ribbon to the candle edge, trim so it’s long enough to match either end on the reverse, attach red liner tape along the back of the ribbon, neatly bringing together at the back.

Don’t panic if your sticker is too long – trim it with the scissors.

12. Lastly it’s time to decorate or place your candles, you have a variety of ideas below, use a plate, and fake (or real flowers) line them up in order on a shelf, line them up in different ways, when Easter has passed- remove the ribbon and use them all Summer.

 Don’t forget your finished design can be matched by using any material cut using a cutting file, card, self adhesive vinyl or even HTV. We’d love to see your makes on our social media pages! Or email them in!

Silhouette Cut File

Instructions:

Before you start, you need to download the cut file,  Upload the cut file into Silhouette Studio and resize as necessary,  (when resizing bring all  layers into the design software and select all  at once to get the correct offset layers and save the adjusted file, so you can cut layers individually at that correct scale you have chosen) Remember to test cut if necessary and cut settings are found here along with test cut guidelines for every machine.

Brother Cut File

To import these files into the Brother Canvas Workspace:

After downloading, please log in as usual to your design space account, open a new project mat, then left click on the SVG  icon in the top left bar in canvas, this will then allow you to import your files. Once you left click this icon, a pop up box appears with you to choose where to import file  from, choose to import the file from your downloads list or where you have chosen to save when unzipped.

Cut settings are found here

Just in case you need the link CanvasWorkspace (brother.com)