- Hello, everybody.
My name is Jennifer Maker,
and welcome back to the
Great Maker Show and Tell.
(ukulele music)
Today we are making gift tags.
Actually, what we're doing
is getting our Cricuts
to make the gift tags for us.
That's right.
It's a brilliant idea and it's not mine.
It came from you, my
wonderful, crafty friends.
I don't know why I didn't
think of this myself.
Our Cricuts can cut and write,
and they can do all of that.
And they are the perfect
gift tag making machine, like seriously.
Now last year, I made
some really fun gift tags.
They were super popular, and what they are
is they have a tear-off strip on the front
that you can use to keep the
recipient's name a secret
until it's time to open
it, then they rip it off.
And these turned out to be
hugely popular last Christmas,
and many families made them.
They tell me it was fun
to keep names a secret.
So I am going to show you
how you can use your Cricut
to write the hidden name
inside the gift tag for you.
And I made a dozen new gift tag templates,
so that you can make more
traditional gift tags
with your Cricut, too.
So, like a whole bunch
of different shapes.
And I made something else for you.
So while the Cricut can
use its pen to write,
you have to be careful
about which fonts you pick
to write with, or you'll get
the dreaded bubble letters.
And when you see this,
that means that Cricut
basically drew the outline of the letters.
But what we want is to
have it write and actually
look like real handwriting, or
at least that's what I want.
But there are only two free writing fonts
in Cricut Design Space, and honestly,
neither one looks like handwriting to me.
So I made us a font of my own handwriting.
(laughs)
It's created specifically
for the Cricut pen,
so it looks like someone
actually wrote it.
And yes, I have neat enough handwriting.
I called my new font Maker Pen Writing.
And it's free for you to use
for all of your Cricut pen writing needs.
You'll find it in the
Cricut pen writing font,
and all of my free gift tag
templates over on my blog
at jennifermaker.com.
Other than that, all you
need is some pretty paper.
I like this foil poster board.
The paper packs that you get
from the craft store are great too.
And pens, Cricut pens.
You can use other ones.
I have a video all about
writing if you're not sure.
I like the .4 tips, but the
calligraphy pens are okay
if you make your font big enough.
So let's head on over
to Cricut Design Space
so I can show you how to
set up your gift tags,
and put your Cricut to work for you.
But first, if you're not
familiar with using your pen
on your Cricut, head on over
to my video about Cricut pens.
It'll tell you everything
that you need to know
about which pens to use,
how to use them, everything.
And then you're also going
to need my files and my font.
So you'll find all of those
things over in my free
resource library, on my
blog, at jennifermaker.com.
I'm not gonna cover how to
install a font in this video,
but if you need help with
that, ask in the comments
and I will direct you to
resources that can help you,
or make a new video.
Now go to Cricut Design Space.
And you're going to click on New Project.
I'm gonna upload the gift tag files.
So click on Upload, then
Upload Image, and then Browse.
And locate the gift
tag template, svg file,
that you downloaded from my blog.
This is about a dozen gift tag templates
in every shape that I could think of.
And you're just going to import these in,
and we're going to use this as
the basis for our gift tags.
So first ungroup them so that
you have access to each individual design.
Now let's put some text on
these so that the Cricut
can write the to and
the from names, right?
That's how I do give tags, at least.
So click on Text over on the left.
And then in the box that shows up,
type the text that you would like.
It might show up big
like this, it depends.
If it does, you can resize it.
Sort of drag that up there,
and then use the icon in
the lower right corner
that looks like two arrows,
and click and drag it
until it's the right size.
And then you can click and drag it
until it's where you want
it to be on your gift tag.
Now this font needs to
be changed from Cut,
which is a little icon, right,
the little scissors icon.
You click on that and
you change it to Write.
And now, if you put a pen in your Cricut,
it will write those letters
instead of cut them,
and this is important.
But these are bubble letters.
We don't want bubble letters, right?
We want it to look handwritten.
That's what a gift tag looks like.
So go up to Font, and
if you click on Style,
and choose Writing, this font
has a writing style, right?
It's one of the two free fonts
that has a writing style.
And this is Cricut Sands.
You can change the letter
spacing and whatever you need
to make it look the way you want.
Now it still doesn't
look like handwriting,
but at least the Cricut
Sands writing style
will not create bubble letters. (laughs)
And then when you're ready to cut this,
it's really important that you attach it.
So you need to select just
the text and just the layer
that you want it to write
on, not the entire gift tag.
Because there's two layers there, right?
There's a back layer and a front layer.
In this case, you would select the text
and the blue layer, and click Attach.
And now it will write
on that specific layer
and make a gift tag.
And that's really all there is
to using your Cricut to make gift tags.
But of course you can get fancier,
and we can experiment
with a different font.
And I can show you how to
use the font that I made.
So if you wanna use a different font,
let's get some more text.
So click on Font and type in your text.
Resize that until it's the right size.
We're gonna scroll over
here so we can see it.
So if you wanna see what the
writing fonts are available
for purchase, you click on
Filter and you choose Writing.
All of these fonts are listed here.
They all have writing styles.
Now you'll know, they're all cost money.
There's a price in front of them.
If you have Cricut Access,
some of them are included.
But if you don't, then
they cost money to use.
This is one of those that,
this is the second free writing font,
and it's called Cricut Alphabet
and it has a writing style.
So these are the two free writing fonts
that are in Cricut Design Space right now.
Let me show you the font that I made,
the Maker Pen Writing font.
So we're gonna click on Text
and we're gonna type in some new text.
All right, so if we want to
change the font for this text,
we click on Font.
We click on the Font menu.
And we reset the filter
so that we see everything.
And then here, you're going to
type in the name of the font
that I made which is
called Maker Pen Writing.
So you see it right there.
And change it, and this
is what it looks like.
Now you can resize it,
position it where you want,
and then select both
the text and the layer
immediately below it, and click Attach.
And boom, gift tag with
a handwriting font.
So let's go through and
make some more gift tags.
Now a couple of notes.
I did create some
alternate to's and from's,
since these are gift tags
and I have a particular way
of writing my to's and
from's on my gift tags
that I've been doing for
years, so it'd look legit.
I need you to duplicate that.
So if you wanna access those,
you would just hold down
either the Windows key or the Option key,
depending on whether
you're on a Mac or a PC.
And then type q, w, e, or r,
and those will give you
the alternate versions.
Those will give you they're
like pre-written out
in that sort of stylized format.
And if you want the little
hearts that I put into the font,
just type the backslash
key or the pipe key.
Those are the keys right above
your Enter key on your keyboard.
Now when you have all
of your gift tag text
the way you want it, just go
through and make sure that
each text layer you want set to Write,
and that you need that
write layer attached
to the layer immediately below it, right?
So you want each text layer set to Write,
and then attached to the
layer immediately below it,
so that it writes on the piece of paper
that you're going to be cutting.
All right, so let me
show you how to create
the tear-away reveal gift tags
that I designed last year.
So you're gonna want to import those,
just like you imported
any other file of mine,
and I've already uploaded it.
So we're just going to
insert it right now.
Now there's two things that you need to do
before you can start
putting text on these.
One is to rotate it.
And you use the rotate icon in
the upper right hand corner.
And if you hold down the
Shift key when you rotate,
it'll rotate in nice, neat increments,
and be nice and straight for you.
Now you wanna go to Flip
and do a Flip Horizontal.
Okay?
Now you can put your text on it.
I'm just gonna paste in the
text that I already wrote.
Change the font to my
Maker Pen Writing font.
And then resize it.
And then, you'll see those
little four corners there,
that indicates where your text should be,
so that it shows when the
tear strip is removed.
So as long as you keep your text in there,
you'll be able to see
it when it's opened up.
And then select everything
and click Attach.
Make sure all of your
text is set to Write.
Just double check everything.
Sometimes even though we put in text,
it doesn't always default to Write.
And that's probably because many people
like to cut out their text, right?
So that makes sense, really.
When you're ready, click Make it,
and it will separate into
the mats that you need.
So this first mat will be
our tear-away gift tags.
And you can see it has a draw and a cut
listed over there on the left.
And here are gift tags,
and here's the basis
for all those gift tags.
Now you'll note that there's two red mats
because they didn't all fit onto one,
and that's not acceptable. (laughs)
They can totally fit on one.
So I'm clicking and
dragging the items around
on the mat preview, and
then also moving them
from this one little mat
to this one bigger mat.
You just click the icon
with the three dots,
and then select the mat
you wanna move it to,
and it moves it over there.
And now everything is on one mat.
And then when you're ready,
you'll click Continue.
Select your Cricut,
and set the material appropriate
to what you're cutting.
I do not recommend that you
cut the tear-away gift tags
on glitter card stock,
because you'll need to put
your glitter sheet facedown,
and that doesn't work. (laughs)
You always need to cut
glitter card stock face up,
because it just won't stick to your mat.
Okay, send it to the
Cricut, and let's cut it.
We're going to start with
the tear-away gift tag.
And we have to put our
paper down, face down,
so that the white layer is
the layer that we write on,
and the decorative layer is the layer
that folded up on the outside.
And I'm going to use this
black .4 tip Cricut pen,
because I think it looks
best for my pen writing font.
This is the standard pen, by the way,
that usually comes with a Cricut.
When you're writing, just
put your cap on your pen
within your Cricut so you
don't misplace it. (laughs)
And, no, it does not write this fast.
I have sped this video up so
that you don't have to sit here
and watch my Cricut write
all of my gift tags.
You don't have time for that.
You have gift tags to make.
So it's now cutting, so
first it did the writing,
and now it's doing the cutting.
All right, so here's what it looked like.
Here they are.
Pretty awesome, huh?
So they're all pre-addressed.
You just fold them in half
and you're good to go.
All right, so now let's do our
more traditional gift tags.
I have my pen in the
machine, and there it goes.
It's just writing as
if it were me. (laughs)
Like, seriously, when
I look at this writing,
I'm like, it's crazy 'cause
it looks like my writing.
Okay, and so, halfway through
I'm changing my pen color
because I can, and if you wanna do this,
you wanna experiment with
pens or the sizes and stuff,
you just click the pause
button and you replace the pen,
and it'll start writing in that pen color.
So when it's done writing,
it starts cutting.
There we go.
Cricut has written and
cut all of our gift tags.
Isn't that awesome?
Okay, so here's all my gift
tags, here's the pens I used.
This is the .4 tip pen,
which I think looks the best.
I also experimented
with a calligraphy pen,
which would be okay if
the text was larger.
A silver pen.
So I did some different shapes
and fonts and such like that.
And I wanna show you how
close this is to my writing.
So here's a sheet, there is the tag,
and here I'm going to write the same text.
Look at that.
Isn't that really, really similar?
I mean, it's amazing.
(laughs) It's amazing to me.
All right, so assembling these
gift tags is so super easy.
I'm just gonna use glue
dots 'cause it's really,
really, really simple.
You don't even have to
use these second layers.
I made them 'cause I thought
they look kind of classy.
If you're in a hurry,
eh, it doesn't matter.
But if you want to, you
just glue them on like this.
So let's do the rest of them real quick.
Also, you can use the holes to line up
when you're doing these multi-layers.
Use the holes to line everything up,
so it's positioned in place correctly.
All right, there we go, tags.
So let's look at how to put together
the tear-away reveal gift tag.
So it's already pre-written.
All we need to do is put
some glue around the edge.
Just the edge, because if
you put it in the middle,
it messes with the tear away parts.
So just put some glue around there,
press it down until it seals.
And that's it, that's all you have to do.
Put it on your package and you're done.
And when it's time, you just rip it open,
and then you see who it's
to and who it's from.
These are a lot of fun.
Okay, now when I posted
in my Facebook group,
Cricut Crafters & Makers.
By the way, if you're not in the group,
you should totally come over and join us,
because I talk about a lot of the things
that I'm gonna be doing
videos and tutorials about,
and give everybody sneak peeks there.
Speaking of which, I gave
everyone a sneak peek of my font,
and when I did that yesterday,
many questions were asked about how folks
can make their own handwriting
font or pen writing font.
So I just thought I
would tell you two ways
that you can do it.
So the way that I did it was
to use Adobe Illustrator.
And actually write the font
using my pen/pencil tool.
Actually, I'm using my pencil tool.
And it's set to the width of this font.
This pencil is very thin.
And then I'm also using
an add-on called Fontself,
in which you can see
over here on the right,
that's the panel.
And so when you've finished a
letter, it's really awesome.
All you do is you drag that letter
over to the font cell panel,
and it imports it for you,
and you tell it what
letter you want it to be.
So in this case it's a lowercase r.
And then you just continue like this
for all of your letters.
And then you can save it as
an open type format font,
which means that you can
share with other people
and, of course, install it on your system,
and use it in Cricut Design Space.
So Illustrator, neither
illustrator nor Fontself are free.
They're both, Illustrator's
professional level
Illustration software.
And Fontself is currently about $50.
But it was super easy to
create a font with it,
and I highly recommend it if
you already have Illustrator,
I believe it also will
work with Photoshop.
So it's an add-on for either
Photoshop or Illustrator.
But there's another option if you're not,
if you don't have illustrator,
and that is to use a site
called calligraphr.com,
and it's spelled without an e at the end,
so calligraph and then r.com.
And what this is that
you create a template
that you then download and print,
and you write in the template
itself, with your own letters.
And then you scan it and upload it,
and you can create a font
from your handwriting.
Now the free version of Calligraphr
is limited to 75 letters
or numbers, and you only have
one font at any one time,
but if all you wanna do is
make your own handwriting font
to use yourself in Cricut
Design Space or wherever,
then this might be a great option for you.
So you can check that out.
I have not actually made
a font in Calligraphr,
so I don't know for sure that it works.
So the advice that they
give is to use a marker.
However, if you use too thick of a marker,
your lines will be too thick
in Cricut Design Space,
and you'll get that same
bubble letter effect.
The whole reason that my
pen writing font works
is because I'm using a
very, very thin stroke
when I created my letters.
So, just something to keep in mind.
So you'll wanna use the
absolute skinniest pen. (laughs)
Skinniest pen, you know,
the skinniest stroke
with a pen that the
calligrapher will accept
in order for this to be
a good pen writing font.
And if that doesn't work,
and it still creates bubble letters,
you'll have to revert back to
using illustration software
and creating your own font.
And if anyone is really, really interested
in the fine details of how to
create a font in Illustrator
using the Fontself add-on, let me know.
I would be happy to add that
to my Cut Above SVG Design Course,
since essentially these are
all, the font is SVG files
that are getting pulled into
Fontself to create the font.
So it's all tied in with how to make SVGs.
Really, it's very similar,
they're very related.
Okay, I think that's it. (laughs)
So I love that my Cricut
can make gift tags for me,
because every year I seem to run out.
Now I'll never run out of the ability
to make cute gift tags, so
long as I have some paper,
some pens, and my Cricut is working.
And I gotta say, watching the
Cricut write out my gift tags
in my own handwriting was almost freaky.
I mean, it totally looks like I wrote it.
It's uncanny.
But hey, I didn't have to
write it, so yay. (laughs)
Now if you use your Cricut
to write or cut tags,
please share your photos
in our Facebook group
or on social media,
with #makershowandtell.
You know I love to see your photos.
Okay, so tomorrow we are
going to decorate a tote bag
with layered iron-on vinyl,
another great gift idea.
And I'll be showing you
how to do it with that new,
larger, EasyPress 2, which I just got.
Now don't forget to send
in your project ideas
at jennifermaker.com/showandtell.
Remember, if you can tell
me what you want to make,
I can show you how to make it.
Until tomorrow.
(upbeat ukulele music)
