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How to Use Cricut Smart Vinyl Materials – Cricut Maker 3 and Explore 3 Smart Vinyl Tutorial

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How to Use Cricut Smart Vinyl. Cricut Smart Material tutorial for the Cricut Maker 3 and Explore 3. DIY laundry room decal project.

I love how the Cricut brand is always innovating and creating new products for crafters to enjoy! I am sharing how to use the Cricut Smart Materials, specifically the Cricut Smart Vinyl, in this tutorial.

What is Smart Vinyl, a.k.a Smart Materials?

For those who are new to the world of Cricut crafting, you may be wondering what a Smart Material is. Cricut Smart Materials are specially created materials that can be cut without using a cutting mat on the Maker 3 or Explore 3 Cricut machines.

Yes, the newer machines are required to do matless cuts because only the Cricut Maker 3 and Explore 3 have a small sensor built in that can read the presence of the Smart Material.

Cricut Smart Vinyl Tutorial

What Kind of Smart Materials Does Cricut Sell?

Cricut offers various types of vinyl, including permanent, removable, and iron-on smart materials. Cricut also released a new Sticker Cardstock Smart Material when the new Maker 3 and Explore 3 came out. I am sure Cricut will release many new Smart cutting materials in the future; I hope to see smart Infusible Ink and maybe even some type of fabric or felt!

So what are the benefits of cutting matless? Well, for one, it does save the steps of loading and unloading a cutting machine. With Smart Vinyl specifically, you can cut up to 30ft in length on the Maker 3 and Explore 3 machines – something that cannot be accomplished on a mat!

Laundry room vinyl decal.

DIY Laundry Room Decal with Cricut Smart Vinyl

I am sharing my laundry room decal project with you today to show you how to use Cricut Smart Vinyl. As many of you know, my husband and I bought our first home 3 years ago, a fixer-upper, so we are always renovating – check out our DIY wood valences and before and after images here!

How to use Cricut smart materials

We finally got around to redoing our laundry room and decided to replace our 9-year-old (pre-owned) washer and dryer set! My hubby is the one who does most of the laundry (sorry, gals, he is taken!). He loved the phrase, “I thought about throwing in the towel, but then I remember how much laundry I have to do,” so I decided to create decals for the top of our washer and dryer with that cute quote from Smart Cricut Vinyl.

Laundry room quote decal project. Making decals.

Download Free Laundry Room Quote SVG

The quote is a freebie inside my Freebie Vault! Download these free templates by signing up via the form below. If you are already a member, log in right here and find it by searching ‘laundry’ at the top. Need help entering the vault? Read this helpful post here. 

How to Use Cricut Smart Materials Video Tutorial

In addition to featuring Smart Vinyl, I will also show you how to use the new Cricut Vinyl Roll Holder, which fits on the Cricut Maker 3 and Cricut Explore 3 machines.

Supplies for Making Laundry Room Decal

Here are the supplies I used for this easy vinyl decal craft.

Cricut Vinyl roll holder

How to Get Smart Vinyl to Stick to Transfer Tape

Below is my step-by-step video on cutting and using Cricut Smart Vinyl. But first, let’s chat about one major troubleshooting tip that most crafters experience when using Smart Vinyl – transferring! Did you hear Beethoven the 5th piano too? Don’t worry, I got you!

The biggest complaint about Smart Vinyl has been how tough it can be to transfer from the liner to the transfer tape – the vinyl is very stubborn and often won’t stick to the transfer tape! So what to do?

First, let’s make sure you know how to burnish your vinyl correctly – this goes for all vinyl, whether it is Smart or not.

DIY Cricut vinyl projects.

How to Burnish Vinyl Correctly

Most people burnish the front of their vinyl and stop there (burnish is a fancy turn for rubbing your design with the intent to transfer it). If you experience trouble with your vinyl not sticking to your transfer tape, try burnishing both the front AND the back!

So what if you have burnished well, and it still won’t stick? Another trick to transferring vinyl is to lift the liner backing away from the transfer tape instead of the transfer tape away from the backing â€“ this makes a HUGE difference!

How to Transfer Smart Vinyl

Okay, now that you know the first steps to transferring vinyl, here is where the tricky part comes in; Cricut Smart Vinyl has a very thick liner compared to other vinyl options – making it tougher to transfer. The key is anywhere the vinyl is not sticking to your tape; you need to crease, press and roll the liner away.

What other questions do you have about using Smart Materials? For more help using Cricut vinyl, read my 25 Sanity Saving Craft Vinyl Hacks every cutting machine owner should know.

About Abbi Kirsten

Welcome to my colorful corner of the internet, where we play with vibrant crafts and unlock your creative magic! Hang out with me and get lost in a fun array of projects, tutorials, and products, from stunning papercraft ideas to flower templates, Cricut help for beginners, and endless crafter’s hacks. 

To access all the magic, join the Member Vault and participate in my monthly Craft-Alongs in my Facebook group!

Smart vinyl DIY laundry room decal quote.

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