9 Tips for Using the New Cricut Joy Foil Transfer Tool

I have a minor obsession with my Cricut Joy. I call it my small but mighty crafting tool. I am always blown away that it can do basically anything the larger machines can do, but the Joy can fit in the palm of your hand. I have done everything with it from wallpapering a closet to making clothes for my pups. I recently got to try the new Cricut Joy Foil Transfer Tool and I learned a few things I thought I'd pass on. Mostly though, I basically just became even more obsessed with my Cricut Joy and all the things it can do!

9 Tips for Using the New Cricut Joy Foil Transfer Tool

1. You Can Reuse the Foil Sheets

This does take a little planning, so consider making a handful of cards with different designs. The foil is best reused with a design that uses an unused portion of the foil, however, most sheets have about two passes in it, though the foil will be lighter the second time around.
I used the same piece of rose gold foil on both of these cards. The card on the right was the second use of the foil. You can't really tell. I wouldn't trust it for a third pass through.

2. Don't Unload 

This is probably the most important step of the whole foiling process. This goes against everything you have done for any of your other projects though so it feels a little weird. The Cricut Joy doesn't have the same sensors as the bigger machines to read the mat, so you will need to make sure you don't unload your project so all of the foil and cuts can be in the right spot.

3. Check and Double-Check

I love the prompts and easy instructions Cricut gives. I will say, that I did find myself forgetting to load the blade or the foil transfer tool because I was too busy unloading or taking off the foil. 
If this happens to you, you can select to do the step over again. What you need to do, is run through the WHOLE process and just do it with an empty cartridge. 

4. You Can Use Multiple Tools

I wasn't sure if I could use the pen and the foil, but you can! Just make sure when you select pen and foil, you are using the best tool for the job. For instance, I thought it would be better to use foil for the watermelon rind in this card.

5. Don't Tape the Foil Too Close to the Top

Because you aren't unloading the mat from the machine, you will have to do a few maneuvers without a lot of space. When you tape the foil down to the mat, you want to make sure it's not too close to the top otherwise the rollers can capture the tape and make it a little trickier to remove the foil before it moves to a cut.

6. Choose Your Foil Wisely

I find that the foil pops {especially the gold or silver} on darker colored paper. Skip the white and cream and go straight for the colors. 

7. Choose a Thick Foil Area

Not going to lie, the foil sometimes looks more like pen. Especially if you are using colored foil. Foil can be expensive, so just stick to using a Cricut Joy pen if your image line is small. 
Chose an image with a thicker line and it will really pop with the foil.

8. Pen to Foil

You can change any pen image to a foil image with an easy click of the button. I found it hard to find images in the search bar that were made for the Cricut foil, so if you want to search, look for images that use a pen and then select them using what you learned in tip 7.

9. Get a New Mat

If you are using the foil tool with your insert cards, get a new mat. The foil will inevitably end up on your mat and you might as well keep one mat clean and another for foil that you know will get mucked up a bit.
As you can see below, my mat got a little foil residue on it.

I am always intimidated a little bit when using new tools, but this learning curve wasn't too steep. I would absolutely recommend stepping up your crafting game with the new foil tool you can use with your Cricut Joy. And if you don't have a Cricut Joy yet, what the heck is stopping you? It's the best! Go get one!



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