Scrapbook Cutter Tips and Tricks

[OldNYJim]

I couldn’t find a thread specifically for tips and tricks on using a scrapbook cutter (such as the ones Silhouette and Cricut sell) so I thought I’d show some of the stuff I like to do with mine.

The most obvious use is to use them roughly as they’re intended and cut either vinyl or masking material for airbrushing or painting.  Here’s some I did recently using airbrush frisket:

Another project I did lately called for a leopardprint pattern on the interior, so I used the cutter to make a mask so I could paint that:

That little tiki shift knob was done with a mask cut on the cutter too - that was really pushing the limits of how small you can go on these things.

That bomber bench seat was cut on the cutter too - Eric Ritz has done a bunch of MUCH more interesting parts on his (frames, dashes etc) but this was a fun quick project and the cutter did a nice job of that diamond pattern I think! 

Another thing that you can do with them is cut some thin acetate sheet to make gauge glass (excuse the poor photo - tiny clear parts are hard to photograph!)

This lettering on the same project was done on the cutter too - just cut a mask and sprayed through it with the airbrush:

I’d love to see if anyone else has any cool things that they’ve done with their cutters - there’s a bunch of cool stuff you can achieve with them by thinking outside of the box a little!

[OldNYJim]

Oh, and a couple of cutter-projects that I forgot about - that rear speaker on the interior tub of my Studebaker project was styrene sheet cut on the cutter with a fabric insert also cut on the cutter - and below that a set of floor mats I made for the same build:

[restoman]

Cool stuff!

Might have to look into this...

[John Pol]

what program do you use to do this because I was going to buy the cricket cutter

[Straightliner59]

Holy cow! I've had a Cricut Explore for a little over two years, and have done nothing with it. It looks like you have unlocked much of the machine's potential. I need to get busy, I guess!

[OldNYJim]

2 hours ago, John Pol said:

what program do you use to do this because I was going to buy the cricket cutter

Not sure about those...but I did all this stuff in the free software that came with the Silhouette.  I’ve been using Photoshop for years so I can lay out stuff in that if I need to and then bring it into the cutter software but for most projects you won’t need to do that.

I bet the Cricuts come with software that’s plenty competent to do all kinds of useful stuff too though, and they have some cool products for those that might have some modelling uses too (wood, metal sheet, leather etc)

[Joe Handley]

My Sister and I have been talking about getting one of these since with around Thanksgiving, may look into it around Mother's Day and Dad and I may go halves on one for her and I to share.