If you’re a self-proclaimed “un-crafty” person, I have good news for you, chances are you are not actually un-crafty. You just haven’t found the right DIY yet! Seriously. I’m about to change your life.
Un-crafty: adjective, a term often used by individuals who believe they lack the ability to create crafts and DIYs. They strongly believes they are incapable of crafting, painting, origami, drawing, making things out of clay, or any other crafty thing however in most cases they are simply misguided.
In my last post about my Cricut Explore Air, I covered all the basics about the machine and what it can do. Today I’m going to show you just how simple it is to use! Get ready to start impressing your friends and family with your newfound mad-crafting skills.
In just 15 minutes, we’re going to make this adorable decanter:
Seriously, how cute is that?! I personally always struggle to remember to drink enough water throughout the day so having a pitcher or decanter on my desk helps me with that, especially if it’s a cute one! In order to make this, we’re going to be using a Cricut machine, adhesive vinyl and something called the Cricut Design Space.
Cricut Design Space is a web-based program, which allows you to search, and browse for all sorts of Cricut made projects. It has over 50,000 images and more than 800 pre-designed templates or “make it now” projects.
You can also create your very own projects by uploading your own designs and images. If you are like me and have some graphic design skills, you will love this feature!
You can use Design Space on your laptop/desktop or on the go via your mobile device or tablet using the Cricut app.
For this project, we are going to use one of Cricut’s pre-designed images. There is a mixture of free images and products as well as paid content in the Design Space. (Don’t worry – if you want to learn how to upload and create your own designs I’ll be going over that in my next Cricut post.)
Here’s what you need:
- Any Cricut machine
- Cricut basic tool kit
- One Cricut mat
- Cricut adhesive vinyl
- A decanter or water bottle
First, you need to launch the Cricut Design Space by visiting www.cricut.com/design in your web browser or launch the app on your tablet/phone.
You can filter the list of “make it now” projects available by materials or by categories. (Tip: you can select the category “free” to see all the projects that won’t cost you anything to make.) If you want to create your own project using Cricut’s resource library, click on “create new project”.
We will be creating our design using Cricut’s resource library, so select create a new project to begin.
Next, click on insert image and then type in “pattern” in the search field at the top of the page. Once you see one you like, click on it to insert it into your project board. Adjust the size of your design and once you’re happy with it click continue. The design I used is called Square Design Pattern Overlay which was $1.
Remove the protective cover from your mat and place the vinyl. Be sure to use the scraper tool to smooth out any air bubbles. It’s time to start cutting!
The next steps are pretty simple:
- Turn the dial to “vinyl” as that is the type of material we are using for this project.
- Slide the mat into the machine and press the “load machine” button – it’s the one with the double arrow.
- Once the Cricut button starts flashing, press it to begin cutting.
When the machine is finished cutting, the load button will start flashing. Press it again to unload the machine.
We now need to remove all of the negative space from the cut. This process is called “weeding”. Once you’ve removed all the extra bits of material from your design it’s time to grab some transfer paper.
Remove the protective film from the transfer paper and then place the sticky side face down on-top of your design on the mat. Use the scraper tool to smooth it out. Carefully remove the transfer paper (and your design) from the mat by pealing back the edges.
Grab your decanter and carefully place your design on it. I find it’s easiest to work from the middle-outwards on curved objects. Press down firmly to ensure it sticks and carefully peal back the transfer paper.
That’s it!
Our super cute decanter is done. I told you this project was easy.
I love how simple and modern this design is. It’s so much better than the plain decanter it was before. It’s funny how the simplest thing can give something a little more personality.
Be sure to hand wash it carefully so that the vinyl decal doesn’t come off. If you’d like it to come off for whatever reason, simply use the Cricut spatula tool to peel it off your bottle and then use rubbing alcohol to remove any residue left behind.
I think vinyl is one of my favourite materials to work with on my Cricut. There are so many cool things you can create with it. Mugs, glasses. ornaments, notebooks, plant potters, vinyl decals for your laptop, you name it!
I’ve already picked up some more supplies for a few more projects, so keep an eye out for some more DIY posts. For my next post I’ll be using my absolute favourite material: iron on.
I’ll also be showing you how you can create and upload your own designs using the Cricut Design Space.
Any guesses what I’ll be making?
If you think you know, be sure to leave your answer in the comments!
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut that contains affiliate links, however all of the opinions expressed in this post are of my own.
