How To Edit Text in Cricut Design Space

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Are you ready to make your own text designs in Cricut Design Space?  There are so many fun things we can do from adding our own font to curving text and making monograms.  This tutorial has it all covered.

Once you have these text editing basics down you can make many things like a car decal, a beautiful hand painted sign, or stick your vinyl straight to a canvas, mugs, shirts, and many more.  The possibilities are endless!

So let’s get started.

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Getting Started with Text

To get started with text simply click the text icon on the left toolbar.  Your text box will appear and you can begin typing.

On the top toolbar you can choose your font, the style, and the size.  You can also adjust your letter spacing and line spacing.  I will be covering all of these in this tutorial.

It’s usually easier to type out your text first and then make the changes you want.

Fonts

When you click on fonts another box appears showing you all available fonts.  You can also choose to see only your fonts by clicking on system or see only Cricuts fonts by clicking on Cricut.  There is a search option if you know the name of the font you want.  And you can also filter the fonts if you are looking for a writing or multilayer font.

How to Add Your Own Fonts

I find most of my fonts on CreativeMarket.com, TheHungryJpeg.com or DaFont.com. 

A note on fonts….if you are going to sell your creations, make sure the font comes with a commercial license.

After you download a font you want to use, find the file on your computer (it usually goes to downloads) and open it.  Fonts come in a zip file so the first thing you will need to do is click extract files if it doesn’t happen automatically.

Once the files are extracted you will see all of the variations of the font in the folder.  This one came with the original plus italics and bold.  I don’t find it necessary to install all of the variations, the original can be changed in your design software.

There are also two versions that you could see, one is called Open Type Font and the other is True Type Font.  I always install the Open Type.  Not all systems will let you install Open Type and not all Systems will let you install true type.  So if one is not working try the other.

Now that we’ve found the file we want, simply right click on it and then click install.   Your new font will now show up under system fonts in design space.  NOTE: If you have design space open when you install a new font you will have to close it and re-open it to see your new font. 

 

How To Access Special Characters

One of the most fun things about script fonts is all of the swooshes and swashes and tails you can add to the letters.  Some fonts include these in their font file.

A favorite of mine is called Humble Script.  It comes with a lot of cool extras.

When using design space you can find the special characters by using the Character Map (Windows) or Font Book (Mac).

Start to type ‘character map’ in your system search box and the app will come up.  Click on it to open it.

There is a top drop-down menu that allows you to select the font you are working with.  On the bottom make sure ‘Advanced View’ is checked.  Change the Character set to Unicode and group by Unicode Subrange.   A new box will appear for the Unicode Subrange.  Scroll all the way to the bottom and select ‘Private Use Characters’.

Now you will be able to see all the goodness.

Hover over or click on the special letters and find one you want to use.  Then click select and then click copy.

Back in design space…. In your text box delete the letter you want to replace.  And then hit control plus the ‘V’ key at the same time to paste your new special character.  In the text box it will look like just a square, but the actual text will change.

Go ahead and play around changing as many letters as you want.   The world can’t have enough swooshes and swashes after all =)

Fixing or Joining Together Script

I’m sure you’ve noticed script fonts are spaced really weird in design space.  There are two ways to fix this.

The first way is my least favorite.  You can reduce the letter space on the top toolbar.  The lower you make the number go, the closer together your letters will get.

But sometimes it squishes the letters down too and you lose the centers of “A’s” and “e’s”.  And it doesn’t always squish them together evenly.  So where one word may look good, the next one still has gaps.

I think the best way is to highlight all of your letters so they are selected and then hit the ungroup button on your top right toolbar.

This allows you to select and move each letter individually.  Simply click on the letter and move it over so it’s attached to the next letter.  This may be a bit tedious if you have a lot of script, but it will look so much better.

When your letters are arranged it is SUPER IMPORTANT that you highlight all of the script so it is selected and then hit the weld button on the bottom right toolbar.  

Welding your script means it will all be cut as one continuous word.  Otherwise, each individual letter will be cut even though it looks like they are together.

 

Resize and Center Lines of Text in Design Space

When you open your text box, you can type the words you want on the first line and then hit enter and start typing your second line.   Then you can reduce the spacing between your lines by clicking the line spacing button on your top toolbar and decreasing the number.

I prefer each line of my text to have a separate box.  So I type the first line and then I hit the text button again to get another box and type the second line.  This gives you more control on spacing and sizing.  Simply click on your lines and drag them where you want them to go.

To change the size you can use the font size on the top toolbar.  But I find it’s faster to use the arrows at the bottom of your text. Click and drag out for bigger and drag in for smaller.

After you’re happy with the sizing and spacing of your text lines, highlight and select all of them together.  Next click the align button on the top toolbar.  You can then choose to align your text lines all to the left, center them, or align all to the right.

I usually center all of my text.

How To Curve Text

Now that you are getting some of the basics down, we can move on to some fun stuff like curving text.  This is actually quite easy to do in design space.

First type out your text and choose your font.  Next, on the top toolbar select the curve function.   If you slide the adjuster to the right your text will curve down.

And if you slide it to the left your text will curve up.

After you are done curving use your letter spacing option if you need to make adjustments.  And you can select everything and center your lines.

How To Make A Stencil

Stencils are great for hand painted signs, one of my favorite crafts to do.   To make a stencil in design space start with the shapes tool on the left toolbar.

You can click on the unlock button on the bottom left to stretch your shape into a rectangle.  I also changed the color of my box to blue so it’s easier to see when we overlay the text.  You can change it to anycolor.

Next, use your text tool to create the saying you want on your stencil.

Refer back to the previous tips if you need help with centering, spacing, sizing, curving, or fonts.

After you are happy with your text highlight and select all of the text and click the attach button on the bottom right toolbar.   This will keep everything together so we can move it.

Move your text on top of the box you created.

Select both the text and the box and then select the align tool on the top toolbar.  Select Align Horizontally and then select Align Vertically.  This will center your text within the box.

While both your text and box are still selected click the attach button on the bottom right toolbar.

Your words should change to the same color as your box with the cut line still visible.  Now everything is stuck together and you are ready to make it.

I have a whole detailed post dedicated to Making a Stencil in Cricut Design Space if you want more details and tips.

 

Making a Monogram in Cricut Design Space

Monogram crafts and gifts are always super popular, so this tutorial wouldn’t be complete without learning how to make one.

Start with the letter you want to turn into a monogram and size it pretty big so it’s easy to work with.  You can adjust the size back down if needed when you are done.

Next make a square and unlock it to stretch it into a rectangle.  Again I changed the color of the square just so it’s easier to see, color doesn’t matter.

Make the rectangle slightly longer than your letter, with a width that looks good in relation to your large letter.  Keep in mind you will need more text to fit within the width you make the rectangle.

Once you have everything lined up and sized how you like, select everything.  Then click the Slice button on the bottom right toolbar.

Slicing will cut out the area the rectangle was covering.  You actually get about three layers you can move out and delete.  (just select and hit the delete key on your keyboard)

Now we have space in our main letter to add more text.

Adding Lines to Your Monogram

If you want to add the extending lines to your monogram make another square shape.  Unlock it so you can make it longer than your letter and super thin.  Once it’s sized correctly right-click the shape and select duplicate.

This will give you an exact duplicate that you can use for the bottom.

Once both of your shapes are in place select everything.  Then select your align tool on the top toolbar and align everything horizontally.  While everything is still selected, hit the attach button on the bottom right toolbar to keep everything together.

Now you can make your text for the center.  After it is done be sure to align center and then attach again.  Your monogram is ready to cut!

BONUS TIP

Do you want to learn How To Make Knockout Designs too?  See my post here.

I’m sure you have or will at some point hit the make it button and your pretty design in Design Space will look like a jumbled mess on the cut mat preview.

This is because you have to attach everything together to let Cricut know you want it to cut together.  So don’t forget to select everything and click attach (bottom right toolbar) before you hit make it!

And don’t forget to select all of your words written in script and click the weld button.  This is so it gets cut as one continuous word instead of individual letters.

Wow you’ve learned a lot!  Just imagine all of the gorgeous things you can create now.  Be sure to pin this article so you can refer back to it as often as needed.

Would you like to learn more Cricut Tips?  Or even get FREE SVG cut files?  Be sure to join my weekly newsletter for both!  Subscribers get access to my FREE resource library where I keep all of my free SVG cut files.

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