Learn how to easily make Cricut cake toppers with just a few paper supplies. You can customize toppers for any occasion!

Today I thought I’d share with you a fun Cricut paper craft project. When I started with my first Cricut cutting machine 10 years ago, I only made paper crafts.

I would only cut cardstock to make cards or signs for our school PTA. Wow, times have changed!!

With Cricut Design Space, you have access to hundreds of paper craft projects and the ability to design your own. In this post, I’m going to show you how to make cake toppers with a Cricut from super easy to a little more detailed.

There are so many times in our lives when we are celebrating with cakes. Think cake toppers for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, new jobs, new homes, baby showers, weddings, Christmas, and so much more!

This is a sponsored conversation on behalf of Cricut. However, all opinions and projects are my own.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Paper Crafts Can you Make with a Cricut?

Since a Cricut machine can cut tons of different types of paper, let’s talk first about some other quick projects you could make.

When we talk about paper crafts, crafters don’t just mean using copy paper or notebook paper. There is a wide range of materials with different thicknesses that you can use to make different projects.

My favorite paper products to work with are regular cardstock, glitter cardstock, sparkle paper, and printable sticker paper.

You can find a bunch of Cricut paper crafts within Cricut Design Space, by scrolling down the project menu to Paper Crafts.

Depending on which Cricut you have, you’ll find a variety of easy Cricut projects including cards, banners, wine labels, 3D projects, cupcake toppers, wall decor, lollipop holders, gift tags, and more!

You can make a lot of the projects with any Cricut machine – Cricut Maker, Cricut Maker 3, Cricut Explore Air family, or the Cricut Joy.

If you go to the material settings drop-down menu for each machine, you’ll find a long list of which paper and cardstock the Cricut can cut.

But as I said, today we are going to be making a DIY cake topper, so let’s get to it!

Customizing Cake Toppers in Cricut Design Space

For the easiest way to make a cake topper, click on Images in Cricut Design Space and then type “cake topper” in the search bar. There will be over a thousand results that would be perfect for a birthday party, baby shower,

Find one you like, cut, and you’re ready to go!

If you don’t want to be able to see through the topper wording and want a shadow layer, use the offset tool to add another layer.

To customize the sentiment, add a text box. I opted to use the font “Bayamo” and typed in Happy 6th Birthday Emily.

I think it’s easier to move individual lines so I clicked on Advanced and then Ungroup to Lines.

Then I was able to move the lines close together so part of the letters of each line are overlapping. This makes it way easier to glue onto another layer since I won’t have to glue on every single letter individually!

Once the letters are how I like them, I select all of them with my cursor and click on Weld at the bottom right.

Then I clicked on Offset to make a shadow layer. You can change the size of the offset if you want more background to show or less.

If you know exactly where you want the offset, you can weld it to the image you are using. I wasn’t quite sure when I wanted it placed on the balloons, so I kept them separate.

Once your custom topper is designed, it’s time to start cutting!

How to Make Cricut Cake Toppers

Yield: 1 cardstock cake topper

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Active Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Difficulty: Beginner

Estimated Cost: $1

The steps are pretty much the same for all of the different cake toppers I am going to be showing you. Find an image in Cricut Access or use a few different SVG files to make a custom topper!

Materials

Cardstock or Paper of Your Choice
Cricut mat
Adhesive - hot glue gun, double sided tape, or glue pen

Tools

Instructions

Find images you want to use for your own cake toppers in Design Space software. I am making quite a few cake toppers, so I have multiple on my canvas. Size the images to fit your cake. If you are using larger images, you can always move them around on the Prepare screen to use less material.
Place the material you will be cutting on a green cutting mat. I like to use my brayer to make sure it's nice and flat.
I always turn my Cricut Explore setting wheel to custom and choose my material from the drop down menu on my screen. Since I was cutting out multiple designs, I changed my material settings in between my cuts to match the different materials (glitter cardstock, regular cardstock, and sparkle paper).
For the 3D princess dress and rosette toppers, Cricut Design Space told me to put a scoring stylus in Clamp A. (This won't be needed if you are doing flat Cricut cake toppers).
Follow all of the directions from Cricut Design Space. You will load a new mat for each different color. Continue loading and unloading mats until your full design is cut out.
When removing cardstock from a Cricut mat, turn the mat upside down and peel it away from the cardstock. This will help prevent the paper rolling.
You can also use a spatula to lift the edges of intricate designs up and then remove the rest of the way with tweezers or your fingers.
Use glue sticks, double sided tape, or a glue pen to glue the different layers together.
If using a 3D design, fold on the score lines and then put the design together. I find hot glue works better to hold the edges together.
Now that your image is ready to go, you'll need to attach something that will hold it up. You can use a wooden dowel, pretty straws, bamboo skewers, plastic floral sticks, or toothpicks depending on how tall you want the topper off the cake. If your design has the long skinny pokes already on it, glue the wooden stick to the back of those. If not, just use a hot glue gun to glue sticks or straws to the back of the topper.
Put the cake topper on the cake and admire your handy work!

Notes

See post above to learn about designing the toppers and below to check out my favorite tips and tricks!

Recommended Products

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links from Cricut, Awin, and Amazon.com. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my links (purple text). As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Cricut Maker, Champagne

More Cake Topper Ideas

The top of a cake can be super simple with just a phrase.

Or a phrase with the shadow layer.

Or custom with how old the birthday child is and their name.

Or you can be all ready for a gender reveal party! The person who knows the sex of the baby can order a blue or pink inside cake and when the Mom cuts the cake, everyone finds out!

Can be simple…

…or with more decorations. After I glued the sticks on the back of the rosette fans I realized they were not tall enough and needed to be higher than the girl or boy sentiment on this small cake!

Add depth to a cake with a 3D design like this beautiful dress I cut out of sparkle paper (would be perfect for a quinceanera!)

You could cut it out of white for a wedding dress too! The princess dress looks beautiful just on its own!

Tips for Making Custom Cake Topper

Here are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind when making these extra special toppers:

You don’t have to use cardstock for your cake toppers. You can use metallic poster board like I did when making a Mr. and Mrs. cake topper. Embellish the top or side of the cake with paper flowers.

It’s best to use a thick font when working with intricate wording. Especially if you are using a small font size. Sometimes the tiny letters won’t cut and they are hard to work with. I prefer to use iron on vinyl and my Cricut EasyPress Mini to adhere small names and words to cardstock.
Make sure you are using a clean Cutting mat and a sharp fine point blade. When I’m cutting a lot of thicker materials like cardstock, I remove my blade housing and punch my blade into a ball of tin foil to clean and sharpen the blade.

If you have a Cricut Maker, you are open to even a wider variety of different materials. You can use the Cricut knife blade and strong grip mat to cut balsa wood or chipboard to make sturdier gorgeous cake toppers!
Browse Pinterest for cake topper inspiration, then design your own to suit your event. You’ll be amazed at the cool toppers you could come up with combining files already available to you! Learn how to make this cupcake topper here.