Cricut recently launched their Printable Temporary Tattoo Sheets and Printable Magnet Sheets. Especially for the Cricut Printable Temporary Tattoo Sheets launched, I was told in no uncertain terms to keep my hands off them and hand them to a different editor. But let’s be honest, it is easier to seek forgiveness than ask for permission right?
Arraiya has been on my case about this for a while. The girl loves her temporary tattoos and we have talked about making our own. More accurately, she has been talking at me about it.
Cricut Printable Temporary Tattoo Sheets and Printable Fridge Magnet Sheets
Both of these comes in packs of three A4 sheets – three inkjet compatible design sheets. For the Printable Fridge Magnet , they come with three clear glue like overlays.
The instructions calls for a print and cut using the Cricut Design Space.
Preparing Your Designs: Binding for Perfect Cuts
If you are familiar with using the Cricut Design Space, then much of the process here is pretty straightforward.
If you are not, the quick overview is that you can either pull in your own designs, or use any of the many available on the Cricut Design Space (subscription and purchases may be required).
There are plenty of tutorials online to guide you at this step, so I am not intending to reinvent the wheel. I will however, step through my process for this review and what I learned along the way.
Getting my hands on the Printable Sheets gave me an opportunity to exercise some creativity – all in the name of surprising a 7 year old.
It really was a bit of a serendipitous moment, coming into the end of school year period. I pulled together a bunch of cute images that would be age appropriate for my daughter. I also finally put pen to paper and created a particular tattoo that I have been mulling over for some years now.
Really the only limit is .. A4 size, but a little less.
One thing that I was not certain about is the cutting process. I have used the Cricut many times before, but in every case I have been free to use white space and unlinked elements in my images for the final design.
This approach is not the way to go with a tattoo design. You want the entire design in one piece so that it can be easily applied to skin – the way store bought temporary tattoos work.
In a few of my designs, there are plenty of white space and non-contiguous elements. Great for print outs and decals, not so much for temporary tattoos.
To avoid Cricut slicing the design into lots of individual pieces, I added a layer underneath my design that binds together the entire image in one piece, then I made the rest of the background transparent.
This helps to make things simple when importing into the Cricut Design Space, with the design being pulled in exactly the way I intend for a final finish.
The Print and Cut Process: Tips for Tattoos and Magnets
The Cricut Design Space takes you through the process to make your creation.
A few important points to keep in mind – when creating tattoos, remember to print your designs in mirror image. Make this a habit irrespective whether your design has words or not. This mirroring step is not necessary for the Printable Magnet though.
I also prefer to use the system dialogue box for the print options. I have an Epson EcoTank, and the system dialogue box allows me to choose the quality of the print out. You do want to pick the best quality print so the design colours will vivid.
The Design Space also has an option to print with bleed. This helps if you want the tattoo to be cut right to the edge of the colour. It is worth noting that bleed may not work for every design, this is something you have to play with and assess.
There are a few ways to check how your design will turn out, before you commit to using the actual sheets.
I ran a bunch of prints onto plain paper to see how the bleed option will affect the final tattoo. It also helps in predicting how the Cricut will cut the design out – it will always cut where the bleeds are.
If you prefer to go paperless and save some trees, then print the design to PDF and do the checks on screen instead.
Once you are happy with how it will come out, then you can proceed to print on the actual sheets.
Make sure you change the paper type, both the Tattoo and Magnet sheets are thicker than your standard copy paper. I couldn’t find the exact GSM for the format, but the Magnet sheets seems to be at 250 gsm.
Cricut recommends using a hairdryer for around three minutes on high heat to dry the ink. As much as it is tempting to skip that step, don’t. Just follow the instructions.
When the ink is fully dried, for the Temporary Tattoo Paper, you need to apply the glue overlay over the design sheet. You don’t need to be precise in putting the sheet on, but make sure it covers all parts of every design you have on the sheet.
The glue sheet is REALLY sticky. REALLY. STICKY. It pays to only peel back a portion at a time and apply it gradually. Avoid touching the adhesive directly, especially where it is going to adhere over the printed designs.
You also want to use the scraper to ensure that the adhesive sheet is fully applied to the design sheet, and no air bubbles exist. This bit is important, the adhesive is what gets the tattoo to stick to your skin. You want it to be applied consistently for best results.
Once you are ready, the Cricut machine will make every cut twice, so just grab a beverage, sit back and let it do the needful.
When the cutting process is finished, just lift the designs off the grip mat and you are ready to rock and roll.
A thing to note, the Temporary Tattoo Paper only needs a Light Grip mat to work with. The Magnet Sheets needs at least a Normal Grip mat. I tried with the Light Grip and it was a mess.
Application, Longevity, and Drawbacks
The Magnet Sheets work pretty well, just be careful taking them off the grip mat so you don’t damage the printing.
The Temporary Tattoo Sheets work just like all the other temporary tattoos that you can buy.
You peel back the protective plastic, put the design on your skin where you want it to be, apply a wet towel or wet wipe until the backing sheet slides off.
Voila, your own custom designed tattoo created, cut and applied.
Arraiya went ahead with a few of the designs and absolutely loves them. She is growing up too fast, doesn’t even need my help anymore.
The Cricut Printable Temporary Tattoo Sheets do live up to their name – they are temporary. Just how long do they last varies a bit. Across the many applications of the tattoo that I did, the longevity varied.
I am pretty convinced the first batch of the paper I had were faulty. The glue separated from the sheet when it should not have, and this batch invariably all washed off at the next prolonged exposure to water – a shower. Also it left behind significant amounts of residue glue, which you can clearly see in the video on Arraiya’s arm. That took some TLC to remove.
The next batch though, seemed to fair a bit better. It was tough to test with Arraiya due to her school’s swim week, nothing was going to survive that, including a parent’s sanity and the amount of washing I was doing daily. But the test tattoo I have on my arm has lasted through five showers and counting. It is starting to show wear and tear, but it has held up so far through a bit of a hot night at the school Carols Concert, an warm afternoon wrangling my lawn back into some kind of respectability.
Another thing to note is that you don’t actually get the full A4 sheet. The Cricut prints some recognition marks on the page which eats into the useable areas of the tattoo sheet.
Out of the six adhesive sheets I had (I had two packs), I had one where the adhesive was failing to separate properly, rendering about a quarter of the sheet useless.
The Easter Egg Challenge
Arraiya’s tattoos are all cutesy and fun, she is going to love sharing them with her friends when school breaks for the year.
Mine? The paper aeroplane has been living rent-free in my head for a while. I’ve been playing with ideas for a tattoo that actually means something to me, but still gives a quiet nod to my family. It has to be something more subtle, like an inside joke. With this design I think I finally nailed it. As much as I have played around on my computer, seeing it brought to life ultimately lead to a bunch of tweaks until what I feel is exactly what I would want if I do want to make it permanent. Yes there is an Easter Egg in it.
That text is just for me. First person to guess the full wording wins a prize. Drop your guesses in the comments.
Final Verdict: Are Cricut Printable Sheets Worth It?
I am loving the new materials from Cricut. It is great for creating a custom theme tattoos for a party or event, and I have created a cute collection of magnets that Arraiya has decided to all stick on our bread box.
For me I got to road test the tattoo design that has been milling about in my noggin forever.
The important thing to note here, are that the Cricut Temporary Tattoo are just that – temporary. They are designed to be easily washed off with soap and water so the longevity will vary depending on a whole host of variables.
The two batches of the printable temporarily tattoo papers I tested had different results and it also depends on where they were applied – if it will be more exposed to being rubbed on fabric, or sweat or water, then they are likely to be less durable.
However after doing a bit of research and reading, the longevity of these temporary tattoos could be extended with some fixing spray or spray on bandage. The latter which I tried on myself made it last a bit longer, depending on how well you cover the tattoo with the spray.
Aside from that, it is just another Cricut project – it can be as simple or as complicated as you like. The best part as an official Cricut product, the cutting profile is already available in the Cricut Design Space so the cutting pressure is preconfigured.
The Printable Temporary Tattoo and Printable Magnet Sheets are both available exclusively online and in store at Harvey Norman Australia for RRP $14.95.
DRN would like to thank Cricut for providing the samples. The cat is out of the bag and Arraiya is letting her imagination fly (and for Dad to do the heavy lifting)!
