The Big News! Print then Cut and Slice and maybe more!

Today, Cricut has a big announcement! The Print then Cut feature for the Explore is going through the final stages of beta testing and will be released the week of September 22 to all Design Space users! At that time, all you will need to do is to update your plug in and then update your firmware and once you are ready to print then cut, calibrate your Explore to your printer. They are some other enhancements but first let's talk Print then Cut!

As many speculated, you will pull your design up on the screen in Design Space. Send it to your printer and load that into your Explore.

So how will this work? The first time you "flatten" an image and go to the Preview Screen, you will be prompted to calibrate your Explore to your printer. You print the calibration page, load it on the mat and follow the onscreen instructions.

This is what the calibration page looks like. It will first cut the small square and ask you about the cut. Do not remove the mat during the calibration process. {remember you can click on the photos to make them larger}

 If the cut is good, it will then cut the lines across the top and down the right side and ask you which lines {one from the top, one from the right} is the most centered on the line.

 If those cuts are good, it will then cut the large square and ask about the quality of that cut.

So once you are calibrated, and you only need to calibrate once unless you have a problem, you place your image on the canvas. While it is selected, press Flatten and then GO.

 The Preview Screen will show the image with registration marks and a Print and Continue option.

 Take your printed page, load it to your mat and the Explore will cut it out!

I think I will take this little frog and make a sticker out of him by running him through my Xyron! but wait. . .what was I thinking? Cricut has new 8.5 by 11 sticker sheets and printable vinyl sheets! 

The feature that I think is even more amazing than Print then Cut {and the one I thought would surprise people} is the Slice feature! Oh My Goodness, this is going to change the way we design and cut! With the Slice feature, you can take an image and "cut" part of it away! And not like the sometimes tedious method of hiding each line! More like a cookie cutter! 

Say you only need half of a shape. . .a heart, circle or whatever. Take another shape {I like using a square}.

Place it over {or behind} the shape you want to slice, putting the edge of the square where you want to cut it.

 Select both images and click Slice.

Through the magic of Cricut, Design Space will now give you three shapes that you can use as individual images!

This means you can create within Design Space pretty much any image you need for your project! And it means that you can take oversized projects and Slice them into different images for cutting! So much better than the old "hanging an image off the mat" with the Gypsy and Design Studio programs.

There may be more to Cricut's Big news, but that's all I know as I am typing this before the announcement. Check back for projects and tutorials using these new features and any other "news" that Cricut tells us in their announcement!

And, I'll be online in the Cricut Lovers Guide to Design Space facebook group to answer any questions you might have! If you aren't already a member, come join!