I’ve been eager to try out Cricut’s Foil Transfer System ever since it launched back in September. It was flying off shelves, and sold out at my local craft store, but I finally got my hands on some! I’ve always loved gold-foil art prints, especially ones that include watercolour elements, so I was really excited to try and make my own using my Cricut. For my first go, I decided to make some constellation and zodiac inspired art prints!
I’ve always been interested in both Astrology and Astronomy, it stems from my childhood. My mom has always loved astrology, and my dad is really into astronomy. Growing up, they would often read books related to astrology or astronomy to my sister and I. We also spent a lot of our summer nights in the country stargazing with the family telescope – this something that we still do to this day! Remember when then Neowise Comet was discovered in March last year? We spent days looking for the perfect spot to check it out in July, when it was closest to the earth, and could be seen with the naked eye. It was super cool!
My sister and I also have matching sister tattoos related to this theme. She has the bigger dipper (she’s the eldest) and I have the little dipper.
Needless to say, for my love of all things star-related and the recent craze of constellation and zodiac related designs, I knew I wanted to create something related to this theme for my first go at creating some art prints with the Cricut Foil Transfer System!
I was having trouble on deciding on one design, so I decided to make two! I figured it was the perfect opportunity to test out both the gold and silver foil transfer sheets.
Custom gold-foil art prints with the Cricut Foil Transfer Kit
Let’s get crafting! For this DIY, you’ll need:
- Cricut Maker
- Standard-grip cutting mat
- Cricut cardstock, in the colour of your choice
- Cricut foil transfer kit/tips
- Cricut foil transfer sheets
- Masking tape
- Watercolours and a paintbrush (optional)
- Picture frame
Step 1 – preparing the materials for your design:
First, I cut my sheets of cardstock to the size of the frames. You don’t have to do this step right away, but I’m a visual person so I just found it easier for me when figuring out where to place the design and also to determine how big I wanted to make the water colour background for the one print, which is the next step. Just make sure you don’t throw the excess paper away – we’re going to need that for the last part of this step!
If you’re not using watercolour, you can skip this part. For the water colour accent, I wanted to keep it neutral and really let the foil shine for this one. I decided that grey was the way to go for this one, but I think a pastel colour like pink or lavender would look amazing with the gold foil too! To get the crackle effect, I sprinkled some salt on the watercolour painting while it was still wet.
Once the paint is dry, it’s time to grab your standard grip mat, and the extra cardstock we set aside. Place the cut out section, as well as your extra cardstock on the grip mat. The reason for this is that if you put the gold foil directly onto the grip mat it will transfer to the mat and ruin it, so we want to make sure the entire sticky part of the surface is covered.
Step 2 – creating your design
Once you have the paper in place, it’s time to get the foil transfer sheet. Put the foil sheet overtop of the paper on the grip mat, with the shiny side up. Next, using the masking tape, tape around the edges of the mat to secure the foil transfer sheet to the mat. Cricut has a quick and handy video of this process, which I recommend watching if it’s your first time using the foil transfer system.
Next, it’s time to create your design in Design Space. Cricut has loads of fonts, images and read-made projects available for free. There’s also tons more available through Cricut Access. If you’re graphic design savvy you can also upload your own designs in any of the following formats: .jpg, .gif, .png, and .bmp.
For this project, I used pre-made Cricut Access cut files that I found by creating a new search with the keywords “constellation” and “zodiac”. Once you have found a design that you like, place it in your project. Next, select the image or design and go to the “material” drop down menu and change it to foil From there, you’ll notice you have three choices, the fine tip; medium; or bold. Design Space will let you preview what each of the different line weights look like to help you make your decision.
Step 3 – transferring your design and the finishing touches:
Once you’re ready to make your project, click on “make it”. At this point, it’s time to switch out your fine point Cricut blade to the Cricut foil tool, with the tip of your choice. For my designs, I used the medium tip for the Aquarius zodiac print and the bold tip for the little and big dipper print.
When your machine is done with the foil transfer, unload the machine and carefully remove the masking tape, followed by the foil transfer sheet (this should just pop right off once the tape is removed). Next, carefully remove your design from the grip mat.
The last and final step is to frame your masterpiece and display it!
I really love how both of these prints turned out and can’t wait to make some more. It was so incredibly easy to use the Cricut Foil Transfer System, and the results are amazing. (When I showed it to my family, they questioned if I actually made it – the results are that professional.)
Out of all of the different materials Cricut has released over the years, this might be one of my new favourite things to work with. I’m really looking forward to experimenting with it some more! You can check out my other Cricut DIYs here.
Have you tried out the foil transfer system yet?
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.
