Cricut’s iron-on material has always been my favourite material to work with and I love my 9×9 EasyPress, but sometimes it is a little too large for those small designs and tough to reach spaces. Cue the EasyPress Mini, which was created with that in mind!
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know just how excited I was when I found out that Cricut was releasing a mini EasyPress. The plate itself is just under 3.5″ x 2″. It’s great for when you’re working with tight spaces, over curves and to avoid seams.
It has three different temperature levels and the highest setting will work with Cricut’s Infusibile Ink (another one of my favourite materials to work with). Just like the other EasyPresses, the heat is even across the entire plate and it has an auto-off feature.
I love how compact it is, it’s small size makes it perfect for any iron-on craft that doesn’t require a larger plate and it takes practically no time at all to heat up.
It’s super lightweight which makes it incredibly easy to work with, especially if you are someone who suffers from carpal tunnel or tendonitis. The size of the EasyPress Mini makes it the perfect DIY tool for customized hats, shoes, or stuffed animals. It also makes it very travel-friendly!
As soon as I got my hands on it, I was itching to try it out so I thought I would include a quick and easy DIY to help show you guys the type of results and crafts you can make with it.
I’ve always wanted to create customized canvas shoes, but I don’t have the steadiest hand when it comes to painting, so when I saw that Cricut was releasing a mini version of the EasyPress I got so excited to try it out and make some customized shoes. I just knew it was going to make the job an easy one.
For this DIY, I decided to keep my design fairly simple so that I could get a good grasp on how the EasyPress Mini worked with those small, hard-to reach blank materials. Let’s hop to it!
This DIY was so easy, (and the results were so cute!) that I can’t wait to make even more unique shoes with the EasyPress mini. For this DIY, you’ll need:
- Cricut Maker (Cricut.com / Amazon.ca)
- EasyPress mini (Cricut.com)
- Iron-on material, in the colour of your choice
- Cricut essential tools
- Standard-grip cutting mat
- Canvas shoes
Step 1– creating your designs:
Create your design using Cricut Design Space. If you’re creating something with text, Cricut has loads of fonts available for free. They also have tons of images and designs for free too.
If you’re graphic design savvy, you can also upload your own designs in any of the following formats: .jpg, .gif, .png, and .bmp.
Step 2 – cutting your design:
Once your design is created, measure the area of your shoes that you’d like your design to fill. Resize your design and then click “Make It!” to get to the next screen.
Next, connect your Cricut machine and select “iron-on” from the materials and make sure that you select mirror on!
Place the iron-on material onto the standard-grip cutting mat, with the shiny side facing down. Load your machine and click on the Cricut button once it begins to flash to start your cut. Once it’s done, weed your design – this is the process of removing the negative space from your cut.
Step 3 – iron-on transfer:
Before you iron-on your design, use your EasyPress mini to remove as many as wrinkles and lines if possible to help ensure a better transfer.
Using the Cricut Heat Guide, set your EasyPress Mini to the right temperature for the material you are working with.When your EasyPress mini is heated an alarm will sound and the lights will turn green.
Once it’s ready to go, place your design onto the shoes and then get ironing! I was surprised at how little pressure I actually needed to use to transfer my design.
I’m so happy with how well these little guys turned out. I thought I had a shoe problem before, but I’m really going to have a shoe problem now! I can’t wait to make even more great kicks using the EasyPress Mini. I already have a few more ideas in mind, which I’ll be sure to share with you guys once they’re complete. I also want to try making some customized baseball hats with it, as it’s small design is perfect for those curved edges.
It’s also a great tool for anyone who is a beginner when it comes to iron-on and heat-transfer projects with your Cricut machine and might be hesitant to purchase one of the larger EasyPress tools.
If you have any questions about the EasyPress Mini, or the regular models, let me know. Happy Crafting!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. While I may have received compensation and/or product mentioned in this post, the opinions and text are all mine. This post also contains affiliate links.
