Disney Characters with Cricut Explore Print Then Cut

If you are a Disney fan, the Print Then Cut feature for the Cricut Explore (available very soon through the update to Cricut Design Space) will make your crafting so much easier.

One of the most frustrating things about assembling the multi-layered Disney images at small sizes is trying to get the faces to look "normal."  The teeny tiny eyes and lips often are just too small to assemble from cut pieces to achieve a realistic look.  With the new Print Then Cut feature, you will be able to flatten an entire image to print with your regular home printer and then have the Explore cut out the shape for you.

With just a few clicks of the mouse you can select a character, size it to suit your project, flatten it for printing, and then print it and cut it out.  The Design Space program will add a bleed around the edges of the image to insure that the cut image is perfect.  When the image is printed, registration marks are printed on the same page - two at the top corners and one at the lower left corner.  The optical eye on the Explore machine will read these marks to determine the exact placement for the cut.  All you have to do is load the printed page, set the dial for the material you are cutting and press GO - the Explore does the rest.

This cut of Cinderella dancing with her Prince is only 3 1/2 inches tall.  I would never attempt this if I was cutting all of the layers for the characters - it is just too small!  It is a great size for a card and a real time saver since you will only need a few pieces to finish the card.

Most, if not all of the Disney character images on the cartridges have a shadow layer.  You can fill this shadow layer with white to create an even white edge around the cut image or use another color that coordinates with the character or the background of your project.

You don't have to use the shadow but it can be very helpful for images like this one where there is a tiny swirl at the end of Jasmine's hair.

Adding the shadow layer for a border makes the curve a little easier for the blade to follow.  This image is only 3 1/2 inches tall so you can imagine how tiny that curl is!

Remarkably, I was able to get the machine to cut the curl on one sample but there were several attempts before this one where it snagged a little.  I decided to let the printed image dry for several hours before cutting.  The solid black printed area might have had too much moisture from the inkjet which softened the paper.  This was the best cut I was able to make.  I actually prefer the look of the characters with the border to make them stand out a bit against a background.

Creating a mirror image is easily done with one click and then you can use these characters as cupcake toppers or put them in a three dimensional box card and they will look nice from all sides.

You don't have to flatten the entire image - you can also remove a few layers (perhaps a dress or the hair?) and cut them from colored cardstock to add on top of the printed image - there are so many possibilities with that option!

If you don't have already have an Explore are you getting tempted?  If you want to shop for a new machine you can find all of the bundles on the Cricut site HERE.   

The red links in this post are affiliate links and I appreciate your support when you shop using these links.  Your price does not change and I may receive a commission payment that helps me to keep this blog going. 

Don't forget to use the code FREESHIP35 for free standard shipping within the continental US for orders over $35.

There are so many things you can do with the new Print Then Cut feature - I'll have some more ideas and some step by step directions to share later tonight!

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