Once you have mastered the Cricut Design Space basics, it's time to find some great beginner project ideas to try for your Cricut. One of the first I wanted to learn was how to make a split letter monogram in Cricut Design Space.
And guess what? It was easier than I expected!
So now I am teaching you how to create your own split-letter monogram to add first or last names to and personalize any project.
Below, I walk you step-by-step on the Cricut Design Space canvas. I recommend you pull up your Cricut app and try out the steps as we go. Nothing beats hands-on learning!
I have a video walkthrough linked in the next section, which covers each step.
However, if you prefer to just read through the steps, I have that too! If you know exactly which part you are stuck on, feel free to scroll right past the video and check out all of the screen shots and steps in the next sections.
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Split-Letter Monogram Tutorial Video for Cricut Design Space
Split-Letter Tutorial by Screenshot
Step 1: Use the “Text” tool on the lefthand design menu to add your letter to the canvas.
Pro Tip: Find a thick font and visualize how it will look once split. Not all fonts will have symmetry in their letters. You will quickly learn that some letter and font combinations may look better when split higher or lower, not perfectly centered. And some fonts will just not be right for this project at all… womp womp…
Step 2: Use the “Shape tool” on the lefthand design menu to now add a square to the canvas. Drag the square into a long, flat rectangle using the green corner option.
Step 3: For better demonstration, I went ahead and changed the letter O to green so it stands out from the rectangle shape. Of course, this is not necessary on your part!
Select both your letter and the rectangle at the same time. You can do this by holding down “Shift” on your keyboard while clicking both items directly on the canvas, or by clicking both layers over on the righthand “layer” menu.
Now, click the Align menu option on the top bar. Use the options to align the rectangle with the correct symmetry to your object.
Typically I start by “Center Vertically” to see if the letter looks right with a perfect center. If so, I will then “Center Horizontally” so the rectangle shows the same length on both the left and the right side of the letter.
[Note: You can always choose to just “eyeball” where it looks right to add the horizontal box instead of using the Align functions. Crafting is great because nothing needs to be perfect! However, if you want to make a perfectly centered monogram or are going to try to sell your crafts, customers will appreciate the consistency!]
Step 4: Make sure your rectangle is in the right part of the letter, because we are ready to use the “Slice” function… so we are cutting out that section of the letter and not putting it back! (Don't worry. “Undo” is my best friend.)
Double check that both layers are still selected. Then, look over towards the bottom right of your canvas and you will see the “Slice” tool. Click it!
Trouble Shooting: If the “Slice” tool is grayed-out and not clickable, you either have more or less than two layers selected. You can only Slice two layers at a time.
Step 5: Drag away the Sliced sections of the image and delete them. In the images below, you will see that our initial 2 layers have been cut into 4 pieces.
Three layers will drag away. We don't need any of them, so just hit delete on your keyboard or the red X on the canvas.
When done, you will have just one layer left – your letter missing its middle!
Step 6: Now that we are done cutting away pieces, we are ready to add the new!
Head back to the Shape menu option and insert another new square. Make it into a long flat rectangle again – except this time, it should be a thick line instead of a fatter rectangle shape.
The key here is to make the horizontal length of the bar just slightly longer than your letter so that you have some extra hanging over both the left and the right side once you center it.
Step 7: Once you are happy with the size of the line, copy and paste so you have a perfect duplicate.
Line one up where the slice happened on the top half of your letter. Line the other up with the bottom half.
Center the bars horizontally again using the align menu as described above.
Step 8: Highlight all three layers at once and click Weld.
It can be found on the layer menu (right side bar) on the bottom. It's right next to the Slice tool we just used.
Check In and Trouble Shooting:
At this point, your image should look like the below. If your two lines did not change to the same color as your letter, they did not weld correctly. Click undo and try again. Make sure the lines are fully touching the edge of the letter so weld together.
Also, remember that you can't “unweld.” (That's why I always “Undo” if I don't like a weld I just did. Unlike Attach/Detach and Group/Ungroup, sadly there is no simple “Unweld” to go back to later.)
So, with that said, this is a good time to look at your letter and decide whether you like the proportions of the slice and weld we have just finished.
Remember, the empty space in the middle is where we will be writing the name.
My first attempt in this picture below felt like it needed more space. I ended up trying again by slicing a slightly larger rectangle out of the letter O before moving on to the next step. (Step 9 uses my second attempt!)
Step 9: Add the text in the center of your letter.
Most often, crafter will use the same font as the monogram letter they sliced. But again, there are no real rules in crafting!
Note that as mentioned above, I ended up redoing the original slice in the letter “O” because I wanted more space cut out for the name Olivia.
Remember, even though the top and bottom halves of the letter look like they are separated from one another, they are still part of the same single layer. So, you cannot simply move the top half higher or the bottom half lower to spread them out further. If you want more space, you need to cut away more space – so try your Slice again until you are happy!
Step 10: Time for the finishing touches and you've got options!
If you like the name as-is in step 9 and you are not making a project that needs to cut in a single piece, you are done! Although, I recommend using the Align tool one final time to get the text nice and centered.
If you want or need the split-letter monogram to be one single piece, there is one final step.
Stretch the text tall enough that the letters are slightly touching or overlapping the bars on both the top and bottom of the split.
Highlight both layers and “Weld” one last time.
Split-Letter Monogram Two-Ways
