Acrylic Birthday Cake Topper
Difficulty Level: ***
Time: 30 minutes
Materials you will need:
- THS Glitter Vinyl
- Acrylic Cake Topper
- THS Transfer Tape
- Standard Grip Mat
- Cricut Weeding Tool
- Cricut Scraper
Step 1. Upload your image to Design Space
For this project, we used a ready image we found on Google.
To get started, head to your canvass on Cricut Design Space, and then click on the “UPLOAD” button, found on the bottom left of the screen.
This brings up the upload screen. Click on the UPLOAD IMAGE button.
From this screen, you can drag and drop your image to the window or browse for the file and click open.
Once you've chosen your image, Design Space will ask you to choose from three image options - there’s SIMPLE, MODERATELY COMPLEX or COMPLEX. Personally, we prefer Complex as it preserves the original color of the image. It is also best for designs with lots of texture and/or patterns. After you've made your selection, press CONTINUE.
On this screen, edit your image further by using the magic wand tool (the first icon on the tool bar) to clean the image. For this project, remove the white background and the counters (or the white parts inside the loops of the letters). You want to be able to see the checkered background which means that the background is clear. Press CONTINUE to move forward.
Since we are not printing anything, we will save this project as a CUT IMAGE. (If you want to do a print then cut project, then choose PRINT THEN CUT.) Once you're ready, click UPLOAD to upload the saved image to your Design Space account.
The image would then appear in your account’s uploaded files. This image will now be ready for use anytime you need it. To insert this image into your canvass, select the image and click INSERT IMAGES.
Et voila! You’ve just uploaded your first design and it's now ready for cutting! But before you do, make sure that you have adjusted the size of the image to fit your cake topper. Once you are happy with the size, press the MAKE IT button on the upper right of the tool bar:
Step 2. Cutting
...which will bring up the screen below. Remember, the grids on the mat on the software is exactly the same as the grids on the actual mat. This feature comes in handy when you have scraps left, and you need the machine to cut exactly where the scraps are. When ready, click CONTINUE.
Press “Browse All Materials” to see all your options.
For this project, we chose Glitter Vinyl from the list of materials. Once you're ready, hit DONE, and follow the instructions on the screen to proceed.
Place your vinyl on the mat and let it through the machine to cut out your text/image by pressing the “DONE” button to start cutting. Once the cutting is completed, remove the mat from the machine.
Step 3: Weeding
With your weeding tool, remove all the parts you don’t need from your vinyl.
Step 4: Transferring
Now that you’re set, apply transfer tape on your cut vinyl, and burnish it a couple of times. Flip the backing sheet and burnish it as well. This will help make sure the letters adhere to the transfer tape.
Lift the transfer tape carefully, making sure all the cut parts go with it, and place the tape on top of the acrylic topper. Once you have decided where the cut parts will go, gently lay down the tape on the topper. I like doing this from top to bottom, or bottom to top, as I find it helps minimize bubles. Glitter vinyl is actually an easy material to work with, as there are rarely any bubbles left. Scrape down the tape with your Cricut scraper to remove bubbles, and to make sure the cut parts stick on the topper.
NOTE: New transfer tape will always be sticky. To solve this problem, stick tape on to other surfaces (your clothes, the table, your arm) several times to remove initial tackiness.
Peel off the transfer tape. And, there you have it-- your very own acrylic cake topper!