Personal Christmas Gifts With My Cricut

I am trying to do more with my Cricut Cricut since I have had it a while but never did anything with it on my own.  I always had a friend’s help or was at their house.  I have the Cricut Explore Air™ 2 machine and it is crazy how much these things can do! I feel like once I really get a hang of it I will be creating so much.  I also feel like I need an extra bedroom built on in my house to put all my arts and craft supplies.  If you scroll to the bottom you can laugh at my mishaps (I had quite a few).    I was asking my kids to help (they have a knack for setting up things better than I do) but they were busy.  Now that they saw what I created, and I showed them some things people had posted in a few Cricut Facebook groups I have joined, my kids want to do their own creations.  I’ll be posting those once they have a break from school and have time to sit down for a few hours.

 

My Cricut Explore Air 2.  I saw online people put vinyl decals on their Cricut and I’ve got a few ideas to put ‘Mirror Mirror…’ on here, to remind me to mirror my images if needed.  I’ve seen them on the cover, and on the inside of the cover.

 

 

 

Personalized Christmas For A New Home

 

I wanted to create something for a cousin (Terri) that is moving soon and is looking to buy a house.  Since she’ll be packing everything up I didn’t want to give her something too big or bulky.  I know Christmas is her favorite holiday and I thought something personal, for when she buys her house, would be perfect.  I went shopping at Joanne’s and found a lot on sale.  These were all 70% off plus I had some coupons!  I love finding a great discount.  I bought a few of the oven mitts.  Going to make some for other family members.  I also found a few other items.  Some for Christmas and some I haven’t decided.

I love how user friendly the Cricut printer and the Cricut website are.  I used the Easy Press for the Iron-ons and the Patterned Iron-Ons and I was able to check which setting I should use, and for how long in the program.

This one wasn’t too hard.  I had to decide a font and the color.  I figured the black would stand out the best on the red background. I wasn’t sure if once applied the hot pad could be used, as a real hot pad, and not a decorative item.  So I searched the Facebook groups and found out it is fine.  I didn’t know if I should put anything on the back of this one (the back is all gray) but decided to add a little more, putting her first name and Merry Christmas, just adding a little more detail and playing with the fonts.

I also did a matching oven mitt.   In hindsight I should have done bolder letters, so they’d stand out better.  But I am happy with the finished project.  I can’t wait to see them up in her new home.

 

I also had a tote with black handles that I got with the supplies that came with my Cricut.  Since California has a law that passed last year that ‘one use plastic and paper bags’ can’t be given away in grocery stores more and more people are using reusable totes (alternative is paying 10 cents per bag for a plastic bag).  I texted my BFF, asking her to tell me ‘A Hello Kitty Quote.’  She is a HUGE Hello Kitty fan and collector.  Has anything you can think of that is Hello Kitty.  Comforter, pillow cases, shower curtain, even a toaster oven.  Plus trinkets, shoes, a purse,Pez dispensers, stuffed animals, etc.  So I wanted to do something unique and personal that others might not get but she would.  Her reply was ‘My Favorite Foods Is Apples.’  This is a Hello Kitty thing.   I also had three Hello Kitty patterned iron-ons and had to choose between them.  I put the one with rainbow Hello Kitty heads on the front, with the quote in gold.  It was a lot easier to make.  But I messed up the top of the heart, so I chose to make it flat at the top.  My error that it is not straight.  I didn’t realize it until it was ironed on already.

The Easy Press is a huge iron.  But better than a clothing iron.  It is flat on the bottom (no holes) and large in size, with a base to allow it to set down and to cool off quickly.  It has an auto shut-off safety feature and a timer on it too.  I was able to choose the temperature setting. It is in celsius currently.  Need to find out how to change it to fahrenheit. 

I messed up the ‘M’ on My too.  I accidentally picked at it funny when I was weeding it.  I thought it would flatten out with the Easy Press… It did, but not perfectly.  Trial and error, right?  Over all, it isn’t perfect, but I’m patting myself on the back for figuring out how to do it and I know my BFF is going to be over the moon!

 

The back of the bag I tried something else.  I used the Hello Kitty patterned iron-on to print letters.  I think it would have turned out better if it was larger letters or if the background was darker.  But I still think it is really cute.  It is hard to tell each letter has Hello Kitty print in it.  Fatter/bigger letters would have shown it more.

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Some of the supplies I have.  Some are vinyl, some iron-on, some infused ink.  Plus a few I’m not sure how to use.  Besides the Facebook groups I have to say YouTube has been the best help.  Some ‘Cricut for Beginners’ videos were still too hard for me so I had to search around.

 

The blue mat is to place the vinyl or iron-on on to feed into the Cricut printer.  The gray mat, on the left, is to use for an Easy Press or Easy Press Mini.  The gold is the vinyl I used for the letters on the tote bag.  Puls I have some extra tips, for cutting but don’t need them yet.  Looking online it seems they last a few years, even if used daily.  So the only reason to have extra is because some are medium, fine, super fine tips.

 

For my flops…  

First I forgot to weed the iron-on and thought I was suppose to do it after.  Why?? I don’t know.  It makes no sense to do it after, right?  Well, I wasn’t thinking.  Now it is perminiately like this.  Couldn’t even get a corner to lift (Easy Press did it’s job).  I threw the t-shirt away.  Lesson learned.

 

I also printed the letters for the tote bag regular print (THIS is why I said I want to put ‘Mirror Mirror…’ on my Cricut).  I didn’t notice until I was done weeding the whole thing…. Then I screwed up and did it a second time!!  AGHH!  Right?  I had to cut it off and scoot the iron-on up on the blue mat and do it a third time.

 

What it looked like the ‘wrong way’ because I didn’t mirror the image!  DUH!

 

I’m sure in a few months from now I’ll be a lot better at all of this.  I’ll look back at my first projects and laugh at my mistakes.  I’m laughing at myself now for some of them.  There is definitely a learning curve.  Especially since a year ago I’d never even heard of a Cricut.  I plan to do a few more projects before Christmas and then start working for next year.

 

Here is a few things I need ideas for.  First is a while photo/recipe box.  I think I want to keep it for myself.  There is several very cute Winnie-The-Pooh images on Cricut’s website.  But I need to figure out what I want in the box and where I’ll place it first.

Second is a really cool sign board.  I was thinking of putting someone’s last name on it for Christmas.  But I’m having a really hard time getting the price sticker off at the top.  It was a large sticker with the name, description, skew number and price.  I have soaked it, scrapped it, repeat, etc.  Got it mostly off.  Since it is on wood I don’t want the wood to warp.  I’m afraid something like GoGone would strip the paint.  Would love some input if you have an idea!

 

If you are thinking of getting one you can check out this awesome bundle here; Cricut Explore Air™ Machine + Deluxe Starter Set  That way you aren’t only getting the printer.  You are getting a good starter kit with some supplies.  You can check out Cricut’s Blog  for some inspiration and ideas or search Cricut for Beginners on Facebook for find a non-official Cricut page.

 

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