Cardmaking Tips Every Cricut Maker Should Know

7 February 2023

If you love to make cards, then you are going to love our cardmaking tips! We have so many to give that we thought we would start off with two popular cardmaking types, shaker cards, and watercolour cards.

These cards are great for making for all kinds of occasions from birthdays, to new baby, to marriages, and more. Both types of cards will wow the recipients and level up your cardmaking game.

Each card type shares what you will need to make the card, and a tutorial that offers tips along the way for the perfect cards.

Shaker Cards

Shaker cards are fun to make, and everyone loves a beautiful sparkly card.

For shaker cards, you always need to keep in mind that depth is needed between the card and the top layer to allow the glitter to move. You will always need an enclosed frame for the glitter so it does not fall out. The best way to create a shaker card is to duplicate this frame multiple times to create the depth needed.

Always make sure each layer is well adhered to ensure no glitter gets out. We recommend a wet glue that clear dries like PVA. You could even try double-sided tape as this provides a consistent adhered line of glue that barriers the glitter in.

We also use acetate to enclose the shaker card. You can cut acetate on your machine so it is perfect for any shaker card shape you have in mind.

Below is an example of a heart shaker card and how we created it!

You will need

Cricut machine

Cardstock in a variety of colours

Cricut LightGrip Cutting Mat

Acetate Sheets

Scoring Tool

Glitter

Clear Dry Glue

How to make

Step one

Open the heart shaker card project in Design Space. You will see the heart frame is layered and contains five hearts. This is a great indicator for any shaker cards you create yourself for how many layers you will need to create the depth needed for the card.

Follow the on-screen instructions and select your material settings (medium cardstock is best).


Heart Shaker Card Cricut Design Space

Step two

Place your cardstock onto the LightGrip Mat. Insert your scoring tool in port A on your machine when cutting out the card itself to create the fold of the card. Cut out all the card required as well as your acetate sheets. For acetate, make sure you select the material in the material options for cutting out.


Cricut machine making cards

Step three

You should now have all your cut pieces. Fold your card along the score line and set aside.

There are five heart layers that make your frame, adhere the first four layers together, and set aside the fifth one for later. When gluing the frame you want to be sure each layer consistently adheres to one another to avoid any glitter escaping.


How to make a shaker card

Step four

We added an extra layer of cardstock onto the card base which you should do here if you choose to include this.

Adhere the heart frames we just glued together onto the base of the card. Again ensure the glue is all over the perimeter of the frame before adhering.


DIY Shaker card

Step five

Add your glitter to inside the heart frame. Ensure the glitter stays inside the frame and keep everything flat. You could also add small paper shapes or confetti for fun shaker card ideas.


Adding glitter to Cricut card project

Step six

Take the top heart frame we set aside and turn over so the back is facing you. Apply glue to the frame. Now place your acetate shape on top of this. This is going to be our top layer of the shaker card and what closes the glitter inside the frame.


Cricut Shaker Cardmaking Project Tutorial

Step seven

Apply glue to the heart layers that are already adhered to your card. Then place the top layer we just created over the top closing in your glitter. Voila! You have just created a shaker card! You could now go on to add extra embellishments on top or leave it as the glittery loveliness it is.

Before testing it out, leave the card to dry entirely as any wet glue might catch the glitter. Once dry give it a shake!


Final steps for Cricut shaker cardmaking

Watercolour Cards

We were so excited to announce the Watercolor Markers and Brush Pen set as we knew this would be a game changer for cards. These pens are available for both Cricut Joy™ and Cricut Maker & Cricut Explore™ users so everyone can get involved.

The following is a step-by-step guide on creating a watercolour card with top tips along the way to help you with your making plus everything you will need to get started.

You will need

Cricut cutting machine

Cricut Card Mat (Cricut Joy Card Mat or Cricut Card Mat for Maker/Explore users)

Cricut Watercolor Cards

Cricut Watercolor Markers & Brush Pen Set (For Joy or for Maker/Explore users)

How to make

Step one

Create a new project in Design Space. Select a square shape and unlock the lock icon on the top edit bar. Now change the dimensions of the shape to match your card front size.

Once you have done this, change the operation type to ‘guide’ this now acts as a template for us to use for designing our card front.


Setting a shape as a guide in Cricut Design Space

Step two

Select your text and shapes. Ensure each text and image is set to ‘draw’ under operation type (under the edit bar). You can then change the pen type and even to different colours! You will find the pens under ‘Markers’ in the pen selection drop-down.

Once you have designed your card front make sure to select all and use the ‘attach’ tool. This means that the software knows you want your design to be drawn exactly how you see it on your screen. You can then follow the onscreen instructions for making.


How to create a card in Cricut Design Space

Step three

Put your card onto the card mat. Ensure the card mat sleeve has been peeled off so that you can feel the tacky top layer. When placing your card onto the card mat ensure the back of the card is underneath the cutting sleeve. Then position the top of the card as close to the top of the mat as you can get and ensure the fold of the card is as close to the edge of the cutting sleeve as possible. This helps with ensuring your design is accurately drawn onto your card in the desired positioning.

Then place the first coloured pen into the port following the onscreen guidance. If you are using multiple colours, the software will indicate which colour should be used first.


Cricut Joy how to use card mat

Step four

Let the machine do its thing! Each time a new pen is needing to be changed the machine will pause. Check your software for which colour pen to put in next and then select ‘go’ to resume.


Cricut Joy drawing on card

Step five

Ensure your water brush pen is filled up with water. Have a tissue to hand so you can dab any excess water onto this.

Sweep the tip over the pen markings for the colour to start bleeding. You should not need to squeeze the pen and be careful with how much water comes out. You want to control it so that the bleed sits inside the shapes rather than running over the pen border. The tissue will come in handy for this as you can dab the brush marker should there be too much water.

If you have two different pen colours close to one another, allow the first shape to dry before working on the second to avoid the colours running into each other (unless that is the desired look of course!)

For darker shading, run your pen over the pen border multiple times. You can also add fresh pen over the top of the marker line so that you can use this with your water brush pen to help deepen the colour bleed.


Using Cricut watercolor pens for Cricut Joy

Let your card dry and that’s it! You now have a beautiful water colour card to impress your friends and family with!

We think both cards are beautiful and will certainly wow friends and family!


Cricut cardmaking tips

Find more paper crafting tips

You can find more paper crafting tips on our blog here.

Share your makes with us

We cannot wait to see what you create! Make sure to share with us on social media by tagging @cricut_uk on Instagram and TikTok.

Share with our community on Design Space by publishing your project live. Find out how to publish and share projects in Design Space here.