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PRINTABLE HTV for Cricut! Beginner Friendly – Printable Heat Transfer Vinyl Cricut Design Space Tutorial
VIDEO: Watch the Printable Heat Transfer Vinyl Cricut Tutorial HERE
Most people have heard about the wonders of HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl), but what you may not have heard of is Printable HTV. Just to eliminate any confusion, any time we refer to HTV, this is synonymous with Iron-On Vinyl….its all one and the same.
Just as the name implies, Printable HTV is used with printers (inkjet only), to create a custom image that can then be cut out using your Cricut or any other cutting machine.
You can use any brand you prefer, but I highly recommend purchasing Printable HTV intended for darker fabrics, no matter what type of fabric you are working with. The reason for this is because I have consistently over time, always gotten better results in the vibrancy of my colors when printing on the vinyl for darker fabric.
Supplies You Will Need:
- Printable HTV (for darker fabric, even if you are working with light fabric).
- Fabric to apply your vinyl to.
- Cricut or any other cutting machine.
- Cricut Cutting Mat.
- Cricut Easy Press (You can alternatively use a heat press, and even an iron. Beware though with using an iron because the heat an iron produces is not consistently distributed over the entire surface of the iron, therefore making it very difficult to administer the correct amount of heat evenly to your project. Also DO NOT USE STEAM!!
- Parchment paper or teflon sheet for heat barrier.
- Cricut weeding tool.
- Lint Roller or Masking Tape.
- Computer or tablet to operate your cutting machine.
- Your design of choice—Get your free download of the succulent I designed just for this project!
Step 1
Open Cricut Design Space and open a new project. You can do this by clicking ‘New Project’ in the top right hand corner, which will take you to the Cricut Design Space Canvas.
Step 2
Upload your image by going to the left hand side of the page and clicking ‘Upload.’ This will take you to the ‘recently uploaded images’ page. Click on ‘Upload Image.’ Search for your image or design you want to use, click it, and it will upload.
Cricut Design Space will ask you what type of image you have.
Always choose ‘Complex’ and then Click ‘Continue’.
Step 3
You should now be on the ‘Select and Erase’ page. This page allows you to select and erase parts of your image that you don’t want on your final project.
If you are using my Free Downloadable Succulent image, then you don’t have to worry about doing anything else in this step and you can click ‘Continue’.
Step 4
You should now be on the ‘Name and Tag Image’ page. This is VERY IMPORTANT to tell Cricut Design Space that you want this to be a Print Then Cut Image. There should only be two options available to choose at this point on the screen. So select the option on the left, which is ‘Save as a Print Then Cut image’ and then choose ‘Save’ in the bottom, right hand corner
Step 5
The next screen should allow you to select the image you want in your canvas. Select your image and it should become outlined in green. Then go to the bottom right hand corner and select ‘Insert Images’.
Step 6
Re-size your image to fit your project. I’m using a 8” embroidery hoop so i chose to make my image 5’’ to fit in the center of the hoop.
To re-size your image, make sure it is selected, then go to ‘size’ at the top of the screen. Type in whatever dimensions you desire. If you are following along with my project, then you would type ‘5’ next to the ‘W’. The lock icon just above where you type the ‘5’ in the Width box, indicates that as you change one of the dimensions, Cricut Design Space will keep things proportional and automatically change the other value to keep the image size from distorting.
Now Click ‘Make It’ in the top right hand corner of the screen.
Step 7
You should see a black square outlining your image on the screen. This is referred to as a registration mark and it lets your Cricut machine ‘see’ your image so it can cut it with the most precision possible.
Don’t forget to read on your specific brand of Printable HTV whether or not you need to click ‘Mirror’ for your image. If you do need to do this, then this is the step where you have to select the option to mirror your image. My brand of HTV does not require this, in case you watch the video tutorial and notice I did not select it.
Click ‘Continue’
Select ‘Add Bleed.’ This will make the image look somewhat distorted after it prints, but bear with me, because it will look great once we are all finished.
Click “Print”.
Step 8
Select your material. Click ‘Browse All Materials.’ Type in ‘printable’ in the search bar.
Select ‘printable iron on, dark.’
Step 9
Load your blue cutting mat with your image you just printed. Slide the mat into the Cricut and press the flashing arrow button. It will load the mat into the machine. Click the flashing Cricut logo button to start cutting your image. After it finishes, unload the mat by clicking the flashing arrow button again.
Step 10
Flip your mat over with the vinyl facing down. Begin slowly peeling the cutting mat from the vinyl. Once you see the vinyl, hold it down, while you continue to slowly peel the mat off. After the mat is completely removed, start weeding the vinyl by picking at one corner with your weeding tool until you see the vinyl starting to separate from the backing paper. Once you have enough vinyl separated from the backing paper, you can grab it with your finger and continue to separate by slowly peeling it back. This will leave you with the backing paper and the vinyl containing your printed image.
Step 11
Start Pre-Heating your Cricut Easy Press.
Press the ‘Power’ button and then the ‘thermometer’ button (it has the thermometer icon on it).
Set the temperature to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and the time for 30 seconds.
The orange Cricut logo will turn from orange to green once it is ready to use.
Step 12
Prep the fabric you are going to place the Printable HTV on. Lay the fabric on top of your Easy Press Mat and iron out any wrinkles using your pre-heated Easy Press. This also serves to pre-heat the fabric to prepare it to apply the HTV to. Follow this with using a lint roller or masking tape over the surface of the fabric to remove any bits of fuzz, dirt or debris.
Step 13
Slowly peel your Printable HTV design, off the backing sheet. Typically transfer tape is not required with Printable HTV. Place it on top of your fabric with the color side facing up towards you. Use a piece of parchment paper or a teflon sheet to lay over the vinyl as a barrier between your Easy Press and vinyl.
Center your Easy Press over the decal and apply light pressure. Immediately press the green Cricut button to start the countdown time.
If you have any problems with the vinyl fully adhering, you can place the Easy Press on top of it for 10 second intervals until it fully attaches.
Step 14
Center the image on in your embroidery hoop by placing the the fabric between the inner and outer ring of the hoop. Trim the excess fabric from edges, making sure that fabric is taunt and the hoop is fulling tightened prior to trimming any material.
Step 15
Treat yo’self to some bragging rights and display your beautiful decor for everyone to see.
Cricut Iron-On Tutorial for Beginners *EASY*
Cricut Iron-On (Heat Transfer Vinyl / HTV) & EasyPress 2 Tutorial
Make This Easy, Cricut Iron-On Vinyl, AKA… HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl)!
Watch the Tutorial HERE…
or…
View the Written Step-By-Step Tutorial Below!
Step 1
Upload Your Image Into Cricut Design Space
• Click the “Upload” Icon
The Upload Icon can be found to the left of the Cricut Design Space canvas (if on a laptop or desktop).
• Click “Upload Image”
• Click “Browse”
• Select The File That You Would Like To Use For This Project (SVG, PNG, or JPG)
Optional: If you would like to use the same image that I used, you can download that for FREE here:
• Click “Open” to use the file
• Click “Continue” at the bottom right hand side of the screen (if on a laptop or desktop).
Step 2
Select Image Type
When uploading an image other than an SVG file (such as a JPG or PNG) Cricut Design Space asks you for a little more help / information so that it can best process your image.
One of the ways in which Cricut Design Space asks for a little more help is by having you select your image type. They give you 3 options:
• Simple
• Moderately Complex
• Complex
You are welcome to select any option that you would like, but my rule of thumb is to always select “complex” despite how “simple” the image may be. I do this nearly every single time and it’s never failed me yet.
Once you make your selection, click “Continue” at the bottom right of the screen (if you’re on a laptop or desktop).
Step 3
Select & Erase
If the image you’re uploading has a background, this is where you can easily remove it with a click of a button.
Also, If you have any portion of the image you’re uploading that you do not want to be a part of your final image, this is your opportunity to remove it.
Once you’re finished editing your image, click “Continue” at the bottom right of the screen (if on a laptop or desktop computer).
Step 4
Save as Cut Image
Select the second option, on the right side of the screen, “Save as a Cut image.”
Hint: Look for the clip art image of a pair of scissors, and the phrase
Step 5
Insert Image on to Canvas
After saving the image as a cut image, browse under “recently uploaded images.” You should see the most recent image at the top left of the images. Select the image you want to use.
Step 6
Resize The Image In Cricut Design Space To Fit Your Surface
The tea towel will be folded into thirds, with the HTV displayed on the “middle” third of the towel. To size the image correctly, we will measure the entire width of the towel (18”), and then divide by three, which means each folded section is 6”.
In Cricut Design Space you should have the image open from step 5. Go to the top of the screen and for the width, enter “5” next to “W”.
Since our finished, displayed section of the towel will be 6″, we want to make sure there is enough space on each side of the HTV to have a clean fold, without the vinyl interfering with the crease.
Pro Tip—Cricut Design Space will automatically keep the height proportional to the width as you change the dimensions.
Now go to the top right hand corner of the screen and Click, “Make It.”
Step 7
Cricut Settings for Iron-On Vinyl / HTV / Heat Transfer Vinyl & Loading Your Mat
Cut the appropriate size of HTV and apply it to the mat, starting in the top left corner of the mat. Remember that the HTV should always be applied SHINY SIDE DOWN.
*VERY IMPORTANT* ———> Select “Mirror” on the top left of the screen.
Click “Continue”
Then set the type of material you are using. We are using “Everyday Iron-On” in this tutorial.
Load the prepared mat into your Cricut machine by inserting it until it stops.
Next, press the flashing arrow button on your Cricut. The mat should then feed into the machine.
Now you are ready to cut! Select the flashing “C” and your Cricut will begin cutting out your design.
After it finishes cutting, don’t forget to press the flashing arrow again before removing your mat from the machine.
Step 8
Hack for Removing Vinyl from the Cricut Mat
Flip your mat over, vinyl-side down, and slowly peel it away from the vinyl. This prevents your vinyl from becoming stretched, “rolled”, or damaged in the process.
Step 9
Cricut Vinyl Weeding Hack
My Vinyl Weeding Hack:
• Wrap a strip of painters tape around your hand (sticky side facing out) to create a loop / ring.
• Apply the tape to the surface of your crafting area directly in front of you.
• Repeat the process with a second strip of painters tape, except this time, place the tape about 8-12″ to the right of the first piece of tape if you’re right handed, or 8-12″ to the left of the first piece of tape if you’re left handed.
• Stick the HTV, shiny-side down, on to the center strip of painters tape.
• Using your weeding tool, pick at one of the corners of the vinyl until you are able to pull the vinyl off of and away from the clear (built-in) transfer tape underneath.
• Once the transfer tape is visible, be sure to apply pressure to it with your non-dominant hand to keep it pressed up against the surface of your workspace as you continue to slowly peel away the excess HTV.
• Continue to carefully weed out the excess HTV, being sure not to miss any pieces hidden in the middle of letters or in smaller areas in or around other objects.
• As you weed, you will notice that more often than not, the little bits of weeded vinyl will stick to the end of your weeding tool. When this happens, I like to swipe my weeding tool across the second piece of painters tape to quickly and easily get the vinyl off of my tool, but to also keep my crafting area super clean.
Step 10
The BEST Cricut EasyPress / Easy Press Settings for Iron On Vinyl
.Okay, I admit it, I’m totally cheating on this one, but Cricut has an amazing site that is the quickest and the most perfect HTV heat guide available.
• Visit: https://cricut.com/en_us/heatguide
• Select the type of Cricut EasyPress you’re using:
– Cricut EasyPress Mini
– Cricut EasyPress 2
or…
– Cricut EasyPress
• Select the type of Heat Transfer Material you will be using.
• Select your base material.
• Select if you’re using a Cricut EasyPress Mat or a rolled towel.
• Once you click “Apply,” Cricut will tell you:
– the temperature to set your EasyPress to.
– how long to preheat the surface prior to applying the iron on / heat transfer vinyl.
– how long to leave the Easy Press on your vinyl.
– the amount of pressure needed.
– whether to do a cold peel or warm peel with the transfer tape.
Side Note:
A Hot Peel or Warm Peel is where you safely remove the transfer tape from your surface / vinyl while it’s still warm.
A Cold Peel is where you remove the transfer tape from your surface / vinyl once it’s had a chance to fully cool off.
Step 11
Applying Your Cricut Iron-On Vinyl / HTV / Heat Transfer Vinyl
• Set your EasyPress with the settings you learned from Step #10.
• Preheat your material / surface.
• Apply parchment paper or a teflon sheet over your vinyl. This will help protect your surface from excess heat exposure.
• Apply your EasyPress over top of the parchment paper for the recommended time.
• Place your EasyPress back into its cradle.
• Peel your transfer tape off according to the directions stated in step #10 (Cold Peel or Hot Peel).
Step 12
Enjoy!
Remember that your tea towel should be used primarily for decorative purposes and should not be washed unless it accidentally becomes dirty.
If hand washing the towel does not work, try putting it in your washing machine on a light cycle in cold water.
Let it hang dry.
DIY Sock Gnome – A Dollar Tree Christmas Project
Watch The Full Video Tutorial HERE… and Don’t Forget To Subscribe!
PROJECT MATERIALS
Men’s Full Length Socks (Dollar Tree)
Epsom Salt Foot Soak (Dollar Tree)
Duster (Dollar Tree)
8″ x 12″ Felt
Rubber Bands
Twine / String
Red Paint
Scissors
Hot Glue Gun
Step 1 – How To Make A DIY Sock Gnome
Pour your epsom salt into a cup and stretch the cuff of the sock around the mouth of the cup.
Turn the cup upside down to easily dump the epsom salt into the sock.
Tie off the end of the sock.
Step 2 – How To Make a Nose for Your Gnome
To form your gnome’s nose, pinch off some of the epsom salt in the top half of the sock and wrap a rubber band around it a few times.
Reinforce the rubber band by tying a piece of twine or string around the nose a few times.
Step 3 – How To Make A Body for Your Gnome
Ursula got it right when she said “never underestimate the importance of body language”. ?
To give your gnome some shape to his body, wrap a rubber band around the midsection of the sock to provide a separation between the gnome’s head and torso.
Don’t forget to reinforce the rubber band by tying some twine around the rubber band a few times for a little added support.
Step 4 – How To Make Clothes For A Gnome
Friends don’t let friends run around in the buff… so your gnome is obviously going to need some clothes, but NO WORRIES… no sewing is required!
Fold an 8″x12″ sheet of felt in half longways and then cut along the crease.
Step 5
Run a bead of hot glue around the neck down the backside of your gnome and then immediately wrap the felt around the gnome (being sure to tuck the felt up under his head).
Step 6 – How To Make a Gnome’s Beard
A gnome wouldn’t be a gnome without its iconic beard, right?! To make this essential staple to your gnome’s ensemble, simply grab one of your Dollar Tree dusters and pair of scissors.
First, you’re going to want to cut off the fabric flap (that’s used to insert the handle of the duster).
Secondly, you will need to gently pull the fabric lining of the duster apart at the side seams.
In the middle of the piece of fabric and fur that was once a duster mere moments ago, you will find a piece of fabric without any of the fur on the opposite side. You will want to cut across this section. (see image below)
Lastly, apply hot glue to the fabric side of the duster and apply it to the front of the gnome. Be sure to tuck it up under his nose as well as under the sides of his head.
Step 7 – How To Make A Gnome Hat
‘Now for what may be the most iconic piece of a Gnome’s wardrobe… it’s hat!
To make your gnome a hat, grab the other sock from the set and run a bead of hot glue about 3-4″ in length down the sock, starting at the toe of the sock.
Fold the end of the sock into thirds, placing hot glue wherever needed.
Double fold the cuff / neck of the sock.
Paint (you could also use fabric dye) your sock red (or use another sock that has the style on it that your prefer for your gnome… a peppermint striped sock would look phenomenal as a gnome hat! ?).
Once the paint is dry, wrap the cuff of the sock over the gnomes head, making sure to tuck the cuff behind your gnome’s nose.
Make a pom pom for the end of your gnome hat! I used twine, but you can use any type of string or yarn that you’d like. If you don’t know how to make pom poms, there are so many videos on YouTube that show you exactly how easy it can be.
Locate the knot of the string you used to tie around the pom pom and place a bead of hot glue over top of it to secure it in place, then use that same bead of hot glue to adhere it to the tip of the gnome’s hat.
