Decorating is easy with our new poster printer! Just choose from one of our pre-formatted templates below and replace Blaze the Dragon with your preferred poster image, then follow the steps below to adjust the size of your image.
Having trouble resizing an image to fit? Follow the steps below to ensure that your poster prints neatly within the margins every time!
Step #1:
Delete Blaze, then choose an image that you'd like to use for your poster. As you can see, this dragon poster is too small -- let's change that.
Step #2:
By right-clicking on our image, I can directly and precisely edit the dimensions of my image. This comes in handy when I want things to be exactly 18" by 24"
Step #3:
Next, we'll want to change the dimensions of our image to fit our frame. It is important to uncheck "Lock aspect ratio" before making changes to the image -- this will allow you to change each dimension without altering the other. Be aware, however, that your image will become distorted if the dimensions change too much relative to one another.
For this particular poster -- in an 18" x 24" frame -- we'll want to match the frame's dimensions with an image width of 18 inches and an image height of 24 inches, as pictured below.
Step #4:
Lastly, we want to reposition our image to fit within the frame. We can click and drag the image into place, but there is an easier way. In our image options tab, let's click on "Position" and open up a few new options. Let's then change the horizontal and vertical positions to 0" -- this will align the image in the top left corner, exactly where we want it to be.
Voila! Our poster is perfectly sized and ready to print. Please consult Step 6 of our Makerspace Poster Printer Guide for a detailed step-by-step guide in converting your PowerPoint template into an easily printable PDF file which you can then bring to the library and have printed by library staff.
Designing, printing, and cutting a sheet of stickers is easy! The Cricut Explore 3 is designed to be a one-stop-shop for sticker printing, allowing you to choose an image or collection of images, choose a sticker size, print everything in full color on sticker paper, and then accurately cut out each sticker. This guide will show you how!
Step #1:
To get started, you'll want to first open up the Cricut Design Space application. You landing page should look like the image below; we want to first click on the "New Project" icon at the top right corner of the page to get started.
Step #2:
Next, we'll want to upload the image or images that we plan to turn into stickers. First, click on the "Upload" icon in the lower left corner of the screen and underline in blue below. Next, Click on the "Upload Image" button in the center left of your screen and underline in blue below. Finally, click on the "Browse" button in the center of your screen and follow the prompts of the dialogue box that appears to select your first image.
Step #3:
Now that we have our image uploaded we need to tell Cricut Design Space how detailed we want our image to be. In most cases we'll choose the 'Complex' option for the greatest level of detail, but when working with lettering the 'Simple' or 'Moderately Complex' options can be a better choice. For our Dragon sticker, let's click on 'Complex' and then click on the 'Continue' button at the bottom right corner. Next, we'll need to remove any background surrounding our image that we don't want to be included in the sticker. For my Dragon sticker this includes the white background around the central image. Anything that we remove in this step will be cut out, so if I wanted the inside of my sticker to have open spaces, this is how I would accomplish that. Lastly, I need to tell Cricut whether or not this will be a "Print Then Cut Image" -- meaning that I will print my image, then Cricut will cut out the shape -- or a "Cut Image" -- meaning that Cricut will cut out the shape only. If the material is already the color that I want I might choose the "Cut Image" option, but today we want a full-color sticker and so we'll choose "Print Then Cut Image"
Step #4:
Now that I've prepared my image file, I'll want to next import that image into Design Space by clicking on the "Add to Canvas" button at the bottom right corner of my screen, as shown below.
Step #5:
Next, I'll want to arrange my image in Design Space. This allows me to decide how large I want my sticker to be. In this example I've chosen to make a sticker that is ~3.5 inches in diameter.
Once I'm satisfied with how my sticker is shaping up I'll click on the green "Make" button at the upper righthand corner of my screen to continue to the next step.
Step #6:
Almost done! Our image file is now ready to be printed. If I'm printing more than one sticker (as is the case here), I'll want to arrange them so that Design Space can print each sticker within its margins and without overlapping stickers. Once I'm satisfied with the layout of my stickers I'll click the green 'Continue' button at the bottom right corner of my screen.
Next, I need to send my formatted stickers to a printer by clicking on the green "Send to Printer" button in the center of my screen. I'll want to choose the "HP ENVY 4500 series" option to print from the inkjet computer that lives beside the Cricut cutter, and leave the "Add Bleed" dialogue option selected as shown.
Before I click the green "Print" button, I'll want to ensure that the inkjet printer is loaded with the proper type of paper. I'll also want to make sure that I've loaded that paper sticker-side down / face down to ensure that my printers print on the right side of the paper.
Step #7:
We're almost there! For the final step, I'll want to mount the printed sticker sheet on our green Cricut mat, being very careful to align both the corners of the paper as neatly as I can. I'll then choose "Premium Vinyl" as my base material. From here, I'll load the Cricut mat into the Cricut cutter and press the flashing arrow button on the Cricut machine as shown below. The Cricut cutter will measure the mat and determine how neatly aligned the sticker paper is before moving to 'ready to print' status. I'll then press the flashing 'Play' button on the Cricut machine and my stickers will be cut out and ready to use!
