CURVING TEXT ON A SHAPE USING PHONTO APP

Have you ever struggled with curving text on a shape while using your iPhone, iPad, or Android for use with the Cricut Design Space App? I will show you step by step how to easily get your text lined up perfectly for your next project.

At the time of this post, Cricut Design Space crafters who only use their iPhones, iPads, or Android devices are limited when it comes to curving text. This is due to the Design Space Application does not have this feature yet as it does with the Desktop version of Cricut Design Space.

In these types of situations, we get really good at workarounds! Here are 2 tutorials I did that are helpful for Cricut Design Space App users:

• Curving text in Cricut DS using iPhone, iPad & Android
• Offset text in Cricut Design Space using iPhone, iPad & Android

If you use the Cricut Joy did you know they have an app-specific to their machine? I absolutely love it for quick-win projects. You can find my tutorial for that here.

And if you are one of the Cricut Crafters like me who bounce from Desktop to iPhone to tablet back to desktop, lol here is a post-specific for Cricut Design Space Desktop users for “How to curve text using fonts and symbols”. It’s actually quite fun!

Plus, it also covers how to curve text on Cricut Design Space Desktop version.

WHICH APP CAN YOU USE FOR CURVING TEXT ON A SHAPE

I have been using the Phonto app for years and love it. It’s just so simple & FREE. Yay! 🙌

It is available on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

This app is widely used for multiple reasons, such as simply adding text to photos to share. As mentioned above it also has the ever-popular offset and stroke features which I mention in the tutorials I linked above.

This tutorial however will specifically cover curing text on a shape. The benefit of this will be to then upload the curved text into the Cricut Design Space App then upload your shape separately into the Cricut Design Space App then size them perfectly for your project all while only using your iPhone, iPad, or, Android devices!

EXAMPLES OF CURVING TEXT ON A SHAPE

I created a few examples of ideas, hopefully, this will help you visualize what kinds of shapes and curves I’m am referring to for project ideas using the Phonto App and PNG shapes you can upload into Phonto.

I also want to mention as seen below that the text could be on top of the shape or within 2 shapes and under a curved shape etc. You may even want to slice the text from the shape once you have them both uploaded into the DS App.

FREE INFINITY HEART DESIGNS

I have designed 2 Infinity Heart Designs for you in my Resource Library to use for personal use.

HOW TO CURVE TEXT ON A SHAPE USING THE PHONTO APP

First, download the Phonto app depending on which version you need. My tutorial today is based on my Apple iPad but the directions are the same for iPhone & Android.

VIDEO: CURVING TEXT ON A SHAPE USING PHONTO APP

If you prefer to watch a video instead, you can!

https://youtu.be/PUUfy05Ajhk

Once you download the app, tap or click to open Phonto. It will show an ad at the top of the app. This you can just ignore as it won’t be in your way while designing.

Next, tap on the camera icon and choose “Plain Images”

This brings up your canvas choices. I like the plain white one which is to the right of the plain black one. So for this tutorial tap the white one.

Next, click on the rectangle with the arrow icon and choose “use”

Now, here is your plain white canvas ready to add text or a PNG image. Tap anywhere on the plain white canvas and an “Add Text” option will appear. Tap on Add Text.

To add a PNG image select the 3 lines in the lower left-hand corner and choose “Add Image”.

Make sure you have saved your PNG file to your phone or tablet first.

1. You can download the PNG file while using your phone to your photo library.
2. You can email the file to yourself, then open email from phone or tablet and download PNG file to photo library.

Now we are ready to add the PNG file into the Phonto App.

Personally, I like to add the shape first for this type of project. Then add the text.

To add the “Text” tap on the “3 lines icon”

Choose “Add Image”

Select your photo, then select “Done”.

Tap on the image to reveal the menu, showing: size, tilt, move, alpha, blend and remove.

Tap on size and use only the top slider or the – & + on the top row only. This is so your shape stays proportionate. I prefer to make it slightly smaller than the canvas I am working on. But this may depend on your project ie: 2 images instead of one.

Now let’s bring in the text. Tap anywhere on the blank white canvas and the option for “Add Text” shows. Tap on it.

I like to tap on “Align” until it says “Center” then tap on “Font” to choose your Font. Use the “Keyboard Icon” to bring up the option to use a keyboard to type.

Tap on “Font” and choose your font. Today I chose “Noteworthy Bold”. If you want to upload a font simply tap on the 3 Dots in the upper right-hand corner and follow their simple instructions.

Type in your first word, I’m typing in “faith”. Then tap on “Done”.

This menu will pop up after selecting “Done” as seen below. Use the color boxes and slide them left or right until you find the color of choice then, select “Done”. Simply use the options you need. I will only be using “Size” and “Tilt” both of these options have easy-to-use sliders. The “Move” option is nice for slight movements, otherwise, you can use a pencil or finger.

Slide the color blocks left or right until you find your color of choice.

I chose blue and tapped on “Done”.

To locate the “Curve” function simply slide the options menu from right to left.

Tap on “Curve” and use their easy sliders or the -&+ options to adjust your curve. I find if my curve does not match up to my design, I may need to slide the Options menu to the right and adjust my “Tilt” again. Until ya get it just right.

Repeat the process for each word you want for your design. Make sure your words are placed exactly how you will want them on the shape, as we will be “removing” the shape before saving our words. The same shape will again be uploaded into the Design Space App.

Here is my design before removing my shape.

To remove the shape, simply tap only on the shape. Do not accidentally tap on a word. Then tap on “Remove”. Now you are ready to save your design as a PNG Image. Simply click on the “upload” icon in the lower right-hand corner and choose “Save Image as PNG”.

Then you will see a “Saved Successfully! message. Tap on OK, then it’s time to open your Cricut Design Space App. Simply close the Phonto App.

Open a “New Project” in Design Space and tap on “upload” then select “Select from Photo Library”. Now, select the words photo you created in the Phonto App.

Your screen will look like below. We now need to remove the background and make it transparent.

Simply tap on “Remove” then tap anywhere in the background. Once you see the checkerboard pattern, it’s now transparent. Now you will need to tap on the inside of any letters that are closed such as, a, b, d, e, o, etc.

Keep an eye also on the smaller square where you see the words as it’s easier to see if you missed any or not. This smaller box is also moveable if any of your words end up behind it.

You can also enlarge the screen with two fingers by squeezing them out to zoom in. Plus, if using an apple pencil, you can tap and hold inside of a letter and it will show you a magnified view. Yay! 🙌

One more important note, if you accidentally tap on a letter, don’t panic as you can use the “Undo” button at the bottom of the screen. Double Yay! 🙌🙌

Once you are done simply tap on “Next” and then “Next” again.

Then choose “Cut” or “Print then Cut” for your project. I am using “Cut” today. Then name your project and click on “Save”.

Then select the design you just saved and tap on “Insert”.

Don’t panic if your design comes in huge. We can re-size it to fit your shape design perfectly in a moment, just do not “unlock” the design.

Next, let’s upload your shape PNG into Design Space. Tap on “upload” and locate your shape PNG. The background should already be removed if it’s a PNG file. So click on “Next” and “Next” again then choose “Cut” and name your “Image Name” then tap on “Save”.

Select the PNG you just uploaded and tap on “Insert” in the lower right-hand corner.

The last step is to not “unlock” the size proportions of either image but to simply adjust the word’s image to fit the shapefile as you had designed in the Phonto App. Then you are done!

It may seem like a lot of steps at first, but once you do one, it becomes very simple and quick, I promise.

You will realize in moments how easy it is to be curving text on a shape by using the Phonto App along with your Cricut Design Space App.

I believe this process is an easy work-around until Cricut upgrades the Design Space App with a Curve feature.

I hope you found this helpful. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you and help you as well if you need it 😊

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