How To Make A Birthday Coupon Book With A Cricut Maker

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Learn how to make a birthday coupon book with a Cricut Maker. Personalize the coupons with your own text, then customize the cover with the fine debossing tip and use the basic perforation blade to make easy tear-out pages!


My daughter’s 4th birthday is coming up soon and I wanted to make a fun personalized gift for her. So I grabbed my Cricut Maker and made this cute little birthday coupon book for her! The new basic perforation blade was perfect for making the tear-out pages, and I decorated the cover with the fine debossing tip, which just gives it a nice elevated finish; I can’t wait for her birthday to give it to her!

Learn how to make a birthday coupon book using a cricut maker

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The basic perforation blade creates evenly spaced perforation lines so that you can cleanly tear out the pages without the need to fold anything first. It’s perfect for this tear-out birthday coupon book, and any other project that demands a neat tear, like booklet pages, raffle tickets, or homemade journals. And the fine debossing tip is perfect for adding a little elegance to your paper crafts. The best part is that unlike embossing/debossing folders, which are limited to a specific design, the rolling debossing ball has a wide range of motion, giving you free rein to customize, personalize, and design with incredible intricacy. You can add professional polish to wedding cards, monogrammed thank you cards, gift boxes, tags, and more.

How To Make A Birthday Coupon Book

There is a printable version of this project at the bottom of this post. And please leave a review by clicking the stars below the thumbnail image!

  • Time spent doing stuff: 10 minutes
  • Time spent watching your Cricut cut: 10 minutes
  • Total project time: 20 minutes
How to make a birthday coupon book with tear out coupons using a cricut maker with perforation blade and fine debossing tip

Materials

  • cardstock
  • white copy paper
  • 6″ of string

Tools & Equipment

NOTE: You can buy the QuickSwap blades and tips by themselves or with the drive housing included. You only need to buy ONE tool with the QuickSwap housing attached; after that you can just buy the blades and tips individually and swap them out on the housing you already have.

Instructions

Start by opening the birthday coupon book design I created in Cricut Design Space. Click the Customize button to open the design within the Design Space editor.

To customize the coupon text, click on one of the coupon images. In the Layers panel on the right you should see it highlight two layers that are “Attached”: the perforation line and the printable image. Click the “Detach” button at the bottom of the Layers panel to separate the layers. Then select the printable image layer and click the “Un-Flatten” button to separate the printable image into separate, editable layers for the text, birthday image, and background page shape.

Double click on the text you want to change to bring up the text editing box. Change whatever text you want, then click outside the editing box to save your changes.

Personalize the coupon text inside of cricut design space

Resize or reposition the text if needed, then select all of the text layers, the birthday image, and the white background page shape. Click the “Flatten” button to reattach all those layers into a single Print Then Cut image.

Flatten all text and white background shapes to make birthday coupons in cricut design space

The last step is to select the perforation line and your newly flattened layer and click the “Attach” button to reattach those two layers together.

Attach a perforation line to make a tear out birthday coupon book using a cricut maker

If you need more coupon pages, just select a coupon and click the “Duplicate” button at the top of the Layers panel to create another copy. Then repeat the previous steps for each of the coupon pages to fully customize the text to your liking.

When you are ready to send your project to your printer and your Maker, click the green “Make It” button in the upper right corner.

Use print then cut inside of cricut design space to make a birthday coupon book

Before your Maker can cut out and perforate the coupon pages, they need to be printed. Click the green “Send To Printer” button on the Make screen to send your first page to your home printer.

Use the perforation blade in the cricut maker to make tear out coupons in a birthday coupon book

While your printer is printing, set the material to “Copy Paper” and load the basic perforation blade into Clamp B in your machine. Make sure the gears are at the top, and push the blade all the way into the machine so the gears on the blade line up with the gears in the machine. Then close and latch the clamp.

Load perforation blade into quick swap housing and load blade into cricut maker

When your first page is done printing, load it face up onto a LightGrip mat, then load the mat into the machine by pushing it firmly up against the black rollers and pressing the Load/Unload button.

Load your printed birthday coupons into your cricut maker for cutting and perforating

Press the flashing Go button to start the cut. The Maker will do the perforation cuts first, then pause and ask you to switch to the fine point blade. Open Clamp B, remove the perforation blade, then install the fine point blade and close the clamp. Remember, DON’T press the Load/Unload button or your machine will lose its place in the cutting process.

Switch between perforation blade and fine point blade to cut and perforate the same sheet of paper without unloading

Once the fine point blade is installed, press the flashing Go button to resume the cut.

When the cut is complete, press the Load/Unload button to unload the mat from the machine. Check out the perfectly even perforation lines at the left side of the coupons!

Perforations made with the perforation blade in the cricut maker

To remove the paper from the mat, turn the mat upside down on your table and gently peel away the mat from the paper so that the paper doesn’t curl.

Repeat these steps for each page of coupons that you need to print. Once all of your coupon pages are printed, perforated, and cut, you can cut the front and back covers.

Follow the on-screen instructions that Design Space gives you, but it usually starts by having you load the single scoring wheel first. (The front and back covers are scored instead of perforated to allow them to fold easily without actually tearing away.)

Load the cardstock onto a StandardGrip mat and load the mat into your machine, then press the flashing Go button to begin the cut.

Once the Maker is done scoring, it will ask you to load the fine debossing tip into Clamp B.

Personalize the cover of your birthday coupon book with the debossing tip in the cricut maker

All of the blades and tools used in this project (except the standard fine point blade) are part of the Maker’s QuickSwap Toolset, so it’s super quick and easy to switch between tools as you work on a project. Just take the scoring wheel out of Clamp B and press and hold the button on top of the QuickSwap housing to release the tip.

Switch between the debossing tip and perforation blade easily by pressing the top of the quick swap housing

Continue holding the button on top of the housing while you attach the fine debossing tip, and when you let go of the button, the new tool will be firmly attached to the QuickSwap housing!

Load the debossing tip and housing into your machine, then press the flashing Go button to resume the cut.

Continue following the on-screen instructions until the covers are completely cut out. Then press the Load/Unload button to unload the mat. Look how great that debossed cover turned out!

Debossed cardstock cover made with the fine debossing tip in the cricut maker

To remove the covers from the mat, turn the mat upside down, and gently peel the mat away from the cardstock.

To assemble the birthday coupon book, put your front cover at the front, the back cover at the back, and organize the coupon pages in whatever order you’d like. Gather all the pages and covers together and align the holes at the left edge so that you can tie the whole book together with a piece of string. Tie a cute bow at the front, and you’re done!

How to make a birthday coupon book with decorative cover using a cricut maker and the fine debossing tip

The coolest thing about this project is that I could cut, score, perforate, and deboss this project with just one machine! The Maker is so versatile because of its Adaptive Tool System. It delivers 10 times or more cutting force than the Explore machines, it has a steering system that can actively control the direction of the blade at all times, and it can actually check that you are using the correct blade or tool before you begin cutting so you don’t accidentally cut something you’re supposed to be scoring.

How to make a birthday coupon book with tear out pages using the cricut maker and basic perforation blade

And Cricut keeps expanding on that capability by creating new blades and tools that are part of the QuickSwap toolset. Besides the single and double scoring wheels, there are four other tools recently released that work with the QuickSwap housing:

  • Basic perforation blade: Perfect for raffle tickets, coupon booklets, shopping lists, notebooks, or any other project that requires a neat tear
  • Fine debossing tip: Add a touch of elegance in any shape or pattern you want by debossing materials such as foil, cardstock, shimmer and glitter paper, basswood, and more
  • Wavy blade: Gives you a decorative edge in half the time; perfect for adding a whimsical touch to cards, gift tags, scrapbook pages, and more
  • Engraving tip: Create professional-looking projects with personalized text, monograms, or any other design you’d like

All these tools make the Cricut Maker a super versatile machine, and I can’t wait to see what they come out with next!

How to make a birthday coupon book with tear out pages using a cricut maker and the perforation blade

Want to share this project with your friends? Share to Facebook, Pinterest, or send the article by email—just click on any of the share buttons floating on the left, or find them at the top and bottom of this post.

Below is a printable version of this project; click the large “Print” button to print out the instructions. (It defaults to just printing the text in the instructions, no photos, to save you paper and printer ink!)

If you like this project, leave a review by clicking the stars or by clicking the Review button! That way I know which types of projects you guys like and which I should do more of!

How to make a birthday coupon book with tear out pages using the cricut maker and basic perforation blade

How To Make A Birthday Coupon Book With A Cricut Maker

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Learn how to make a birthday coupon book with a Cricut Maker. Personalize the coupons with your own text, then customize the cover with the fine debossing tip and use the basic perforation blade to make easy tear-out pages!
Active Time 10 minutes
Cricut Cutting Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Equipment

Materials

  • cardstock
  • white copy paper
  • 6 ″ of string

Instructions
 

  • Click the Customize button to open the design within the Design Space editor.
  • Customizing the coupon text
  • Click on one of the coupon images.
  • Click the “Detach” button at the bottom of the Layers panel to separate the layers.
  • Select the printable image layer and click the “Un-Flatten” button.
  • Double click on the text you want to change to bring up the text editing box. Change whatever text you want, then click outside the editing box to save your changes.
  • Resize or reposition the text if needed, then select all of the text layers, the birthday image, and the white background page shape.
  • Click the “Flatten” button to reattach all those layers into a single Print Then Cut image.
  • Select the perforation line and your newly flattened layer and click the “Attach” button to reattach those two layers together.
  • Repeat as needed to customize all of the coupon pages.
  • Printing, perforating, and cutting the coupon pages
  • Click the green “Make It” button in the upper right corner.
  • Click "Continue" on the Preview screen.
  • Click the green “Send To Printer” button on the Make screen.
  • While your printer is printing, set the material to “Copy Paper”.
  • Load the basic perforation blade into Clamp B in your machine.
  • Load the printed page face up onto a LightGrip mat, then load the mat into the machine.
  • Press the flashing Go button to start the cut.
  • Switch to the fine point blade when directed by Design Space, then press the flashing Go button to resume the cut.
  • Press the Load/Unload button to unload the mat from the machine.
  • To remove the paper from the mat, turn the mat upside down on your table and gently peel away the mat from the paper so that the mat curls up instead of the paper.
  • Repeat for each page of coupons that you need to print, perforate, and cut.
  • Cutting out the covers
  • Follow the on-screen instructions that Design Space gives you, but it usually starts by having you load the single scoring wheel first.
  • Load the cardstock onto a StandardGrip mat.
  • Load the mat into your machine.
  • Press the flashing Go button to begin the cut.
  • Switch to the fine debossing tip when directed by Design Space, then press the flashing Go button to resume the cut.
  • Switch to the fine point blade when directed by Design Space, then press the flashing Go button to resume the cut.
  • Press the Load/Unload button to unload the mat from the machine.
  • Turn the mat upside down on your table and gently peel away the mat from the cardstock.
  • Assembling the birthday coupon book
  • Stack all of the coupon pages on top of the back cover, being sure to align the holes on the left.
  • Place the front cover on top, aligning the holes.
  • Thread a piece of string through both sets of holes and tie it in a bow to secure it.

Notes

You can buy the QuickSwap blades and tips by themselves or with the drive housing included. You only need to buy a tool with the QuickSwap housing attached ONCE; after that you can just buy the blades and tips individually and swap them out on the housing you already have.

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How to make a birthday coupon book using a cricut maker
Using the cricut maker perforation blade and debossing tip to make a birthday coupon book
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Disclosure: I received compensation from Cricut in exchange for my participation in this campaign, and my honest discussion of their products. But the Cricut Maker and, really, all Cricut products are seriously amazing and all opinions in this post are 100% my own. I would never write a post about something I didn’t think was useful or interesting for you guys, and Practically Functional will only publish sponsored posts for companies or products I love and believe in!

Jessi Wohlwend

I believe that anyone can do crafts and DIY projects, regardless of skill or experience. I love sharing simple craft ideas, step by step DIY project tutorials, cleaning hacks, and other tips and tricks all with one goal in mind: giving you the tools you need to “do it yourself”, complete fun projects, and make awesome things!

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