Winter holiday decor – easy DIY Christmas pillows with Cricut

Holy moly, how is it already just 10 days until Christmas?!

After making some fall themed pillows for my bedroom, I thought it would be fun to keep going and make pillows for every holiday/occasion! I originally made these DIY pillows with my Cricut in November and had every intention to blog about them in early December, but life got the better of me and I got busy and the next thing I knew it’s almost Christmas! Better late than never though, am I right?

This time around, I decided to make two themed pillows. The first one I did is a reindeer head and the second one is a typographic pillow that says “Joyeux Noël” (Merry Christmas in french.)

Anyways, let’s get to the DIY!

DIY HOLIDAY PILLOWS 

Here’s what you need:

• Cricut Maker (Cricut.com / Amazon.ca)
• EasyPress 2 (Cricut.com / Amazon.ca)
• Iron-on material, in the colour of your choice – I used metallic gold, glitter gold and white.
• Cricut essential tools
• Standard-grip cutting mat
• Cricut Blanks – pillow or a pillow cover of your choice (mine are from Amazon)

Step 1 –  Creating your designs:

For the most part, this step is similar to when making projects with other Cricut machines. The main difference is to ensure you have the right machine selected from the drop down menu once you open Design Space.

Create your design using Cricut 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. 

Step 2: Cutting and weeding your design

Once your design is created, measure the area of your pillow that you’d like your design to fill. Resize your design and then click “Make It!”

Next, connect your Cricut machine and select “Iron-on” from the materials. Important: make sure that you select mirror on! Place the material onto the standard-grip cutting mat with the shiny side down and load your machine.

Click on the Cricut button once it begins to flash to start your cut and sit back and wait! Once it’s done, it’s time to weed your design and heat up your iron or EasyPress.

Step 3: The heat transfer process

First things first, make sure your base material is wrinkle and dust free. I ironed my pillow before I started my project so that way it had time to cool down. When you’re ready to start the heat transfer process, use a lint roller to make sure there is no dust or lint on your fabric. 

Next, place your design face-down on the fabric then cover it with a sheet of butcher paper or iron-on protector sheet if you’d like. (This helps iron-on projects from damaging heat and to distribute heat evenly for secure, professional adhesion.) Make sure you use Cricut’s Heat Guide to determine the time and temperature for the transfer. I used the EasyPress 2, so my heat time was 60 seconds at 315°F, with light pressure and a warm peel.

I’m so happy with how these turned out and can’t wait to make more festive DIYs and share them with you! Happy crafting.

While this post is not sponsored, it does contain affiliate links and I used materials that I was gifted. All opinions are 100% mine.