Graduation Cricut Cake Topper Shaker (With Free SVG Files)

Graduation Season creeps up quickly! Time to make some graduation party decor. Let’s go step by step in creating a cake topper shaker in Cricut Design Space with FREE graduation SVG files for you and your grad!

If you are new to Cricut or a beginner cake topper maker – follow along as we make a shaker all in Design Space WITHOUT Cricut Access.

First let’s grab the FREE Graduation SVG Files here – you can sign up for my newsletter and grab the password for free (I add new SVGs every week!!)

If you are having any trouble – learn how to download and upload all of the free SVG files on my website here.

*Disclaimer: I may earn a small commission through some of the affiliate links found in this blog post.

We are ready to build our graduation cake topper in Cricut Design Space

Step One: Upload our Graduation SVG Files

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These are ready to go – you could literally change nothing and send to your Cricut machine but we want to build a layered cake topper shaker and you can build this all with the free version of Cricut Design Space.

I personally don’t pay for Cricut Access – I tried it for two months (I forgot to cancel) and it has a lot of great images but over all, I find you can find a lot for free, including fonts.

Step Two: Grab a Circle

We are going to build our shaker from this one shape! You can do this with any shape you choose. I am going with a circle because the class of 2022 SVG file is curved.

Step Three: Inset

Make an inset (this is only doable on the desktop version of Design Space). I ended up doing -.2 to make my inner circle

Don’t worry about colors yet, we have a lot of slicing and layering still to come!

Step Four: Offset

I went with .2 again for my offset on the original circle- this larger circle is now going to be my back piece of my shaker topper.

Step Five: Slice

We have our three circles – all equal in distance from each other size wise. We need to slice those top two pieces (black and grey) to create a ring which will be used for our foam.

Note: If you have a Cricut Air or Joy you can’t cut foam, so you can use this as a guide with paper for your foam mounting tape. You still need this circle to create the top ring to hide the foam.

You can delete the extra pieces from the slice to leave just the ring. I changed mine to purple so it sticks out!

Step Six: Offset our Ring

This is important! We offset this again to make the top to cover the foam – it makes the shaker look clean.

You can use your judgement on the offset you like here but give enough so you aren’t worried about foam peaking out!

You can change the color to match the background or you can keep it a different color – make this your own!

Step Seven: Add another Circle (Acetate Layer)

We need to add back in another whole circle (not a ring) for our clear acetate.

You want this circle to be slightly bigger than your foam layer, but slightly smaller than your cover ring!

I changed mine to blue so you can differentiate the acetate layer. This layer is to keep all your glitter and sequins inside. All Cricuts can cut this material but you may need to find the right setting. I use the Transparency material setting with more pressure and run it twice for my Cricut Explore Air 2.

You have all your layers for your shaker topper!

You can see they will fit together like a puzzle. I like to cut my purple layer twice on my foam sheets to give some height. You can right click and hit duplicate to do the same. This way your shaker actually shakes!

Step Eight: Layer and Size

Now you can move your SVGs and resize as needed to complete your shaker. Don’t forget you can duplicate layers to add more height or use the offset feature again.

Tip: Grab a your grads Senior pic and use print and cut to add their photo to the middle of the shaker.

Step Nine: Cut Your Layers

Don’t forget to check your materials and settings.

If you are using an Air or a Joy – make sure to cut the purple ring on paper to use as a guide for your foam. If you want to leave this out you can always hide the layer before sending to your machine.

Step Nine: Assemble Your Cake Topper Shaker

Materials Needed:

• Paper – I use 65 lb weight and glitter paper
• Glue – I use Bearly Arts (This link can save you 10%)
• Acetate – I have 12 x 12 sheets from Michaels or You can grab these on Amazon
• Glitter or Sequins
• Cake Sticks
• Foam Sheets
• Heat Transfer Vinyl – OPTIONAL

Build the Base

I like to start with the base of my shaker – this way the glue has time to dry around the foam and acetate and your glitter/sequins don’t fall out.

I start with my two layers of foam and glue with my Bearly Arts precision glue.

Then I add my sparkles! Be generous with your inserts, you want to have a good amount of shake. This is a perfect time to customize colors.

Tip: Use the grads school colors or college choice colors for the shaker insides.

Next, we seal in our bits with a sheet of acetate.

Finally, cover up the foam with our outer ring! You should not be seeing any white (or whatever color your foam is) at this point.

Now, we can set this aside to dry completely. Double check yourself that you don’t have any open sides where glitter and sequins can escape.

Build our Accent Pieces

I started with my Class of 2022 – I decided to go with Heat Transfer Vinyl because it’s easier than glueing each letter individually.

To give some height, I love using foam mounting tape squares. They make your project have more dimension but you can use any adhesive of your choice.

Next, I assembled my graduation cap SVG.

And a good pair of tweezers goes a long way with paper crafting for those small pieces. It is one of my favorite tools!

Finally, I assembled the diploma!

I always line everything up on my cake toppers before I glue down permanently. That is my last step. You can also opt for tape in this situation if you want the ability to move things around a bit!

Attach Your Cake Stick

You can find some super cute personalized cake topper sticks now on Etsy but I use a small dowel from Michaels.

I set mine with a generous amount of hot glue and allow to to dry completely.

You’ve now successfully created and assembled a cake topper shaker in Cricut Design Space! Congratulations!

And congrats to the Seniors! Let’s celebrate!

Stay Crafty!