Five tips every Cricut paper crafter needs to know in 2022

17 March 2022

If you are a Cricut paper crafter who loves to create with your machine or are new to Cricut and want to start making papercraft projects, these top tips will come in handy. Whether you want to know about making paper flowers, shadow boxes, or cardmaking, paper crafting is easy with Cricut.

Here we’ve rounded up our top Cricut paper crafting tips and suggested some great paper projects to inspire you.

Know your material and settings

A common mistake with cutting various cardstocks is not knowing which material setting to use. This means your material can come out with poor cut lines with insufficient pressure, or torn because there is too much pressure.

The weight of your cardstocks depends on which material setting you need to select. But don’t worry if that sounds confusing. We’ve made selecting your material easy. When you’re in the ‘Make It’ screen read to tell the machine which material you are using, opt for ‘More Materials’. Head to the Cardstock header to find all the different settings available.

Material Selection Setting in Design Space

Did you know glitter cardstock has its own setting in Design Space? It tends to be much thicker than standard cardstock so it needs additional pressure for precise cuts. This is the same with Holographic Cardstock too. Card weights are listed in both Ib and gsm and you should find this information on the packaging of your cardstock.

Ensure Your Cardstock Is Firmly Applied To Your Cutting Mat

For papercraft projects, you want to use the LightGrip Cutting Mat (the blue mat). This is the least adhesive but enough for papercraft materials. Stronger mats can have a hard time removing the project after cutting.

Make sure your cardstock is firmly stuck to the mat. You can use your hands to apply pressure or use the brayer tool for the Applicator and Remover Set to help stick your material firmly down. This makes sure the material doesn’t move at any point and the blade can glide over the material effectively.

Cricut Papercraft Tips for Crafting

Remove Your Papercraft Projects Correctly From The Mat

After you have created a beautiful project the last thing you want to do is damage it when removing it from the mat. Also, you may have only cut a small part of the material so you’ll want to keep your remaining cardstock in good condition before your next project. To avoid the paper or card curling during the removal turn your mat over on an even and clean surface. Gently pull the mat away from the project with one hand. Use the other hand to keep your cardstock nice and straight against the table.

How to correctly remove papercraft material from Cricut Cutting Mat

Lifting Small Pieces From The Cutting Mat

Small shapes can be hard to remove from the mat for any Cricut paper crafter. The spatula tool that comes with the Essential Starter Kit is great for lifting shapes from your mat and if using them, will help keep them perfect too.

Cricut Papercraft tips for craft projects

When It’s Time To Admit You Need A New Cutting Mat

Are projects tearing or not the quality you once had? When a cutting mat loses its tack, there is more chance of your material moving on the mat which can cause complications with your projects.

Intricate papercraft projects may struggle when the mat has been well used. For best results, the material needs to be firmly stuck down for the blade to precisely and accurately cut through it.

Cricut Cutting Mats for Papercrafts

Cricut papercraft project inspiration

Do you have a large collection of beautiful craft papers and cardstock but you’re stuck for ideas? Here are a few Cricut paper craft project ideas to inspire you.

Creative Cards

Show that special someone how much they mean to you with a handmade card. These projects are so impressive they’re sure to be cherished and even kept on display long after the celebrations have ended.

Click here to see Cricut Creative Cards.

Cricut Pop up easter card

3D Projects

Bring your papercraft to life with these cute 3D animal designs. The machine will cut and score for you so all you need to do is assemble. There are loads to choose from including a fox, a bear, a leopard and this wise owl. You’ll also find 3D shapes, masks and flowers in Design Space.

Click here to see more 3D papercraft projects.

Cricut 3D paper project owl

Gift Boxes

You may have seen Cricut members sharing pictures of their hat gift boxes in the Cricut focused Facebook groups. This fun gift box project has even been designed with draw lines to create the stitching effect. In this project in Design Space there are handy images for every step of the project too.

Cricut 3D paper gift box hat

If you struggle to keep plants alive, or maybe you’re a fully fledged plant mom and want to mix things up a bit, these paper plants will be the perfect paper project. You’ll need a Cricut Maker and a Roary Blade to cut the crepe paper and a scoring wheel or scoring tool to give each leaf realistic shaping. They’re fun to make and won’t die on you. That’s a win in our book!

Shadow Box Frame

We’ve seen lots of people in our community making shadow box frames and we can understand why. They’re eye-catching, make a great gift and we love that they can be personalised. Just this week 6 shadow box frame images were added to Design Space offering designs for christenings, anniversaries, new baby, new home, weddings and birthdays.

Click here to see the beautiful designs by Emma Jewell.

We hope you have found these Cricut papercraft tips useful and have been inspired by these projects. There are limitless ideas for more paper projects, just use the search in Design Space to see more. You’ll find gift tags, cards, home decor, paper flowers, crackers, decorations, banners, cake toppers… even a paper chandelier!

Don’t forget to share your makes with us on social media by tagging @Cricut_UK.