Learn how to make a beautiful Cricut stained glass card with step by step instructions. By using print then cut you’ll have an elegant card in no time!
If you’ve been over on my YouTube channel lately, you probably already know how to make this next Cricut project!
I had been seeing these beautiful stained glass looking cards pop up all over Facebook and I knew I needed to make my own. And I’m so glad I did!
They are beautiful and easy!! With just a few Cricut tools and craft supplies you probably have, you’ll have this elegant layered stained glass card in minutes!
I do have the full YouTube video embedded at the bottom of the printable directions so make sure to watch all the these steps in action if they don’t make sense.
What Cricut can Make Stained Glass Cards?
Unlike our stained glass faux shadow box, for this Cricut card we will be using the print and cut feature. As of now only the larger Cricut machines have the print then cut capability (sorry Cricut Joy fans, but learn about the beautiful Cricut Joy cards you can make here!).
So any of the bigger Cricut cutting machines like the Cricut Explore 2, Cricut Explore 3, Cricut Maker, or Cricut Maker 3.
You’ll also need a home printer that prints in color and can handle thicker high quality paper (I recommend brochure paper or presentation paper).
Where to Find Stained Glass Images
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links from Design Bundles, Cricut, Awin, Creative Fabrica, 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.
You really can use this card technique with any image but for best results, I recommend using a stained glass PNG file.
I find all my files over on Creative Fabrica. I have the yearly access so I get them all anytime I want them. And I have a deal for you to try them out!
- Get 10 Credits for Free – Once you download the 10th credit or after a month, you’ll be charged the monthly subscription fee of $9. So if you don’t want to pay at all only download 9, then cancel your subscription. Or pay the $9 for a month and download as much stuff as you want during that month, and then cancel before the month is over! That’s what I did before I just decided to buy the full year since I use them so much!!
- Get a full year for $59
When you go on to Creative Fabrica, just type in stained glass in the search bar and scrolll through to find the ones you want to use. These are the two I used:
You can also find stained glass files on sites such as designbundles and Etsy.
We are going to be making a 5×5 square stained glass card but you could use the following the steps to make a rectangle card that’s 4×6 or 5×7.
How to Make Stained Glass Card with a Cricut
Let's go through how to design the stained glass layered card in Cricut Design Space and how to slice the print and cut image.
Materials
- Cardstock
- High Quality printable paper - I used printable brochure paper
- Favorite Adhesive and double sided foam dots or squares
Tools
- Cricut cutting machine - either Cricut Explore 2, Explore 3, Cricut Maker or Cricut Maker 3
- Printer - I have an HP OfficeJet
- Stained Glass Images - I get mine all at Creative Fabrica
- Scoring Wheel or Tool (optional)
- Cricut cutting mat
Instructions
- We first need to design the card template. Open a new canvas in Cricut Design Space and insert a square.
- For a 5x5 square folded card, unlock and size and change to 10 inches wide by 5 inches high. If you want to add a score line, click on Shapes and then on the Score line on top left corner. Size it to 5 inches long. Select both the line and rectangle and Align -> Center/Center.
- With both score line and rectangle selected, click on Attach.
- Now let's add the layers. Insert two more squares. Change the size of one to 4x4 inches and the second to 3x3 inches. Make sure all the squares are the same color so they will cut out on one cutting mat.
- The next step is to find a stained glass image to use. As I mentioned above, I have the yearly access to Creative Fabrica. I found the sunflower image there and uploaded to Cricut Design Space. Save the PNG as a Print and Cut image.
- Add the image on to your canvas and size it down to a little bigger than 5x5 inches.
- Now we need to slice out the sizes we are going to layer on the card. We want slightly smaller images (0.25 inches smaller all around) to mount on the background piece. So we are going to make layer templates.Insert three more squares and size them to 4.75x4.75, 3.75x3.75, and 2.75x2.75 inches. I also change their color so I know which squares are which!
- Place the largest square over the stained glass PNG image and center it over the part of the design you want on your card (Note: this does not need to be centered exactly on the image itself since the next two layers will be based on this sliced image). Select both the large square and print then cut image (by dragging your cursor over both), and click on Slice on the lower right.
Delete off the square and outer rim that was sliced. - Now, click on the sliced image and duplicate it twice. To make the next image layer, drag the medium sized square over the image, select both, and click on Align -> Center/Center.
- Then with both still selected, click on Slice.
Delete off extra pieces. - Repeat the centered and slicing for the smallest rectangle.
- Now you have the three layered pieces of the card.
You can see if you layer them all back on top of each other, how the card will look.
- Save your project and click on Make It. The images to be printed will all go on one sheet and have black registration marks around them. Send to your printer and leave the bleed on.
- Follow your printer's instructions to print out the one sheet (use nice quality paper like presentation paper or brochure paper). Then follow all the on-screen prompts from CDS to cut everything out. Place the printed page in the upper left-hand corner of a cutting mat.
- Load into your Cricut when prompted and push the blinking Go light when ready.
- Remove the mat and peel the mat from the cut images. They probably will curl a little. Load the second mat and follow on screen prompts to load the scoring wheel (if using) and cut the base of the card out.
- Now that we have all the pieces to the layered card, it's time to put it together. Fold the long rectangle on the score line (or in the middle if you didn't score it).
- Use double sided tape or a glue stick to mount the images on each of their corresponding bottom layers.
- To add depth to the layers, add double sided foam tape to the back of the cardstock of the top two layers.
- Make sure the image is turned the correct way so that it lines up with the bottom image and place it down in the center of the card.
- Repeat for both layers and you're done! The recipient will ooh and ahh over their beautiful stained glass card!
Notes
Get 10 Credits for Free (then have to cancel your subscription)
I also made a beautiful Cricut Christmas card using the same steps and the Santa file here. I applied a layer of holographic vinyl on top to add that extra star sparkle like I did in my sticker holographic tutorial.
I hope you realized making these beautiful Cricut cards was easier than you thought! Then to add another personal touch, make your own address labels with your Cricut.
If you’d like to save this tutorial on how to make layered stained glass card with a Cricut for later, simply hover over the image below and PIN It now!
Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
