Cricut Access Challenge: Heart Shaped Garland & Using The Shapes Feature

There’s a under utilized feature in Design Space that I wanted to bring to your attention. It’s on the left side of the canvas and it’s called simply Shapes.

Shapes are so useful to me when I want to design a project from scratch–like this adorable String of Hearts Garland!

In this design, both the basic heart and the scoring line were taken from the Shapes area and attached together to give me the most symmetrical heart for my garland.

Once I created this basic element, it was just a matter of determining how many hearts I would need and picking out my paper to create this adorable Valentine’s Day Garland.

For this project, you will need four scored hearts for each 3D heart. I found that I could put 16 hearts on one mat, which was enough for four completed hearts.

In this file, I created several different colored hearts so that I could cut out more than one color.

By changing the quantity to 16 for all of the mats, I was able to easily cut out hearts in seven different colors. And because 16 is divisible by 4 (the number needed for each completed heart), one mat of 16 will make four 3D hearts for the garland.

For this project, you really need a scoring stylus which you can easily get locally or on the Cricut website.

Please note: Even if you have a Maker and the wonderful Scoring Wheel, I still recommend the scoring stylus for this project, because you will not need to swap out your tools on each mat. More on the difference between the Scoring Wheel and the Stylus in a future post.

Once you have cut out all your hearts–and cut as many as you like, of course!–fold them at the score line.

As I mentioned each heart in this garland consists of four scored hearts.

Once scored and folded, begin the process of gluing the blank sides together, leaving one opening between the forth and first heart to insert the bakers twine.

Once you’ve got your hearts assembled, tuck a length of twine between the forth and first hearts and glue the last piece in place. Then start on the next heart and work this way until you have a completed garland.

You can use the same color or different colors for each completed heart.

I have a lot of pretty patterned Valentine’s paper, so I used 12″ x 12″ sheets from a pad called “Vintage Valentine’s” by Recollections, which is the Michael’s store brand. Feel free to use any combination you’d like!

3D Heart Garland

Your completed garland is perfect for dressing up a doorframe, hung around windows or even draped on the computer monitor.

Simple but elegant!

Would you like to give this easy project a try?

Here is the Pinterest pin to the project:

 

And here is the link to the Design Space file:

https://design.cricut.com/#/design/125526927

Are you going to try this project? Please post what you came up with here or on my Facebook page. I’d love to see how you made out!

Completed Heart Garland

Now…Go forth and Cricut, my friends!

Best!

Miss Rita

Please note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click on one of my links and buy something I will receive a small commission from your purchase. Thank you for using my links as this is how I support myself and keep MO in pickles and Ted E. Bear in chew toys–they both are insatiable!

But seriously….I do so appreciate your continued support!

Here is my affiliate link:  https://www.shareasale.com/u.cfm?d=327204&m=51766&u=1089398

Remember if your order exceeds $50 and you use my code MISSRITA1 and link, you will receive an extra 10% off and free shipping on most items!  My code will *not* work for Access Subscriptions or machines (anything that plugs in).

 

Photos Ornaments With Your Cricut

I hope it’s not too late to share this fun idea for using your personal photos inside ornaments!  Maybe you could consider it a REALLY advanced tutorial for next Christmas! LOL!

Although our Cricut machines started out as scrapbook-ing helpers, most Cricuteers are now using their amazing machines to do so many other projects–such as making personalized apparel, unique home dec items and even quilting.  And that’s all very good, of course!  But I’ve noticed we sometimes forget some of the more basic tools we can use our machines for.

Consider all of the marvelous photos we all are capturing these days.  Half the time, once I upload my snaps to Instagram or Facebook, I don’t bother to print them out for frames, collages or other things anymore.  And that, my friends, is a shame, because you might regret it later on in life.  So–in an effort to preserve our memories–I am presenting a cool way of using your favorite photos in ornaments so you can enjoy them for years to come.

And it’s easy, too!

Perhaps you’ve seen my post about making floating ornaments, which is here: Floating Christmas Bulbs with Cricut  It’s the same concept.

We are going to cut out our photos and put them inside our ornaments!

The first step is to gather your favorite digital photos.  If they aren’t digitized yet, simply take a photo of the photo!  I’ve done this with many of my pre-smart phone photos and they come out wonderfully…plus you have the added benefit of still retaining your original photo, too!

Once you’ve got your favorite photos within reach, open Design Space and create a New Project.  Go to Upload Images and upload your picture.  Make sure you save the image as  Print image.  Insert this image in your canvas.  Resize it to workable size (like 4″ x 4″) and then add a circle from the Basic Shapes category and resize to about the same as your photo.  Here’s a screen shot of what you should see:

Next you are going to put your circle over your photo.  Resize either the photo or shape to work well with each other.  We are getting ready to use our Slice feature.  Keep in mind the size of your ornament.  For these examples, I have used plastic disc shaped ornaments that are about 4″ wide and high.  Once the circle is stacked on top of the image, select them both and choose Slice.

Once you Slice, you will be left with three layers: the basic circle, the punched out image and what’s left of your image.  You can go ahead and delete the leftover image layer, but do keep the circle for later on.  Here’s what that looks like:

If you are satisfied with the results, we can now cut out our image.  Do make sure your image is set for printing first; you want to see a little printer icon, not a scissors.  Click “Make It” and you will see that your image is now surrounded by a box and is set to print before cutting.  You will have to have a printer that is connected to your home network to print the image.  Hit continue to print it and then put it on your mat to cut.

Note the following screen shots to see these steps.

This is the screen you should see when you go to Make It:

Here’s the next screens, where you send your image to the printer:

And here you are back to the cutting:

Now let’s talk about materials to use, because what you use will effect how your ornament looks.  In the above photo I used just plain paper and then I cut out a modified circle (see below) out of the clear plastic sheet that covers any Cricut mat.  See how I added a little square to the top of the circle and welded it?  That square is to hold your image in place inside the ornament.  Cut your modified circle using the Custom feature and selecting Cricut Protective Plastic (yes, it exists).

Now once you have your paper image and your modified circle in plastic, you can affix the photo on to the plastic with glue.  On the back you will have a blank area, so you could either use TWO pictures or use the back to further personalize your ornament.

I made these ornaments for my corgi friends that lost their precious babies this past year, so I put the corgi’s name and (in some cases) their nicknames.

Note that you can also use plastic acetate right in your printer to cut out the photos.  I’ve tried this method, but it didn’t work for my pictures because the white comes out very transparent and many of my pictures are of corgis that have white ruffs.

However if you have pictures that aren’t predominantly white and want to try the acetate method, you will NOT need the second step described above, but you will need to add the stem on top of your image as in this screen shot:

I would also like to caution you on cutting out acetate, which may need to be cut multiple times.  Cutting on Custom and keeping your mat in your machine and hitting “Cut” several times *may* be needed.

I hope you will attempt to make these sweet Photo Ornaments!  They were a big hit with my friends and they will make a precious lasting gift!

As always, let me know what you think or show me what you did!  Happy Cricut-ing, my friends!

Up Your Christmas Ornament Game

Making your own Christmas ornaments is really a Wow Factor gift. With the ability to personalize ornaments or commemorate special events, you can really impress your family and friends with your newly acquired Cricut skills.

But why not take that to a whole new level by presenting your gift Ornament in its own personalized box, too?

Well, thankfully, I’m not the only person who has thought of this idea!  Many SVG designers now offer ornament display boxes for you to assemble and personalize for the over the top presentation of your very special gift.

Now, if you’ve only used your Cricut to cut vinyl, cutting paper for the box may be a bit scary to you, but once you understand the process you will be whipping these up by the boatload and enjoying it, too.

For today’s demonstration, I am using an SVG created by Simply Crafty SVGs. I did pay for this SVG, so I can’t share it with you, but I think you will find their prices are reasonable. Also, if you sign up for their newsletter, you will receive 20% off your first purchase. (Please note: I do not receive any payment for this referral and you are free to get your SVG files anywhere you’d like…I just happen to like this one!)

At SCS, search for “ornament box”. This template is for the 4″ round ball size but they also have ones for the disc style, too.

Once you find the svg you would like to purchase, pay for it and download it to your computer. Most SVGs come zipped, so make sure to unzip your downloaded file before trying to upload it into Design Space.

This SVG comes with a PDF for assembly, which you can either print out or view on your screen to help with the assembly.

Now head on over to Design Space and start a New Project. Choose “Upload Images” on the left column. Once there, choose Upload Image and search in your downloads for the SVG folder. As with most SVGs, this pattern has a few parts that need to be uploaded separately. Go ahead and upload all the parts into DS. Your imported image screen should look something like the next photo. Click on all of the parts you’ve just imported and at the bottom of the screen choose Insert.

Once you have inserted all of the parts of the SVG, you will want to find the parts that have dashed cut lines and make sure to attach them to the the image…otherwise they will not cut together.

Now pick out your paper.

In my project, I’ve chosen white for the base parts of the box and then a Christmas patterned paper. For this project, I needed three pieces of 12 x 12 for the base and two pieces of patterned paper. The entire SVG fits on five mats total. Go ahead and cut out all your pieces and remove them from your mats.  When all your mats are cut, take your completed cuts and head on over to your workspace with some glue or tape for your box assembly.

Before assembly, be sure to score all the dashed lines on your pieces so the box forms properly.

Here’s a photo of what your workspace should look like:

Identify the two main box pieces and glue or tape one tab to make one long piece:

Once you’ve glued the first tab, fold the box and glue or tape the second tab, which forms the box:

Here’s the front of the glued box base:

Now it’s time to attach the top piece to the box like so:

At this point your box is functional and can be used this way, but adding the decorative side pieces not only gives your box more personality, but it strengthens the box, too!

So go ahead and adhere the decorative paper cuts to the sides like this:

Here is a photo of the back and top of the box with decorative sides adhered:

And here is the front:

Note: the bottom doesn’t have a decorative panel. You can simply fold this part. But to make the bottom sturdier, I glued my middle flap inside the box:

You’re almost done! Now it’s time for the bottom insert piece:

Once you’ve placed the bottom piece in the box, place your beautiful, handmade ornament inside the box and place the smaller-holed insert on top to hold your creation in place:

And that’s it! Doesn’t it look great?

You can do it!

Go on and give it a try and let me know how you made out!

 

Making Glitter Ornaments

Glitter Ornaments are going to be BIG this year–as they should be!–because they are:

• Simple to make
• Easy to personalize
• Not messy like most glitter projects!

Here’s my “quick and easy” guide to making beautiful ornaments!

What you need:

• Clear Glass Ornaments (available at most craft stores)
• Your choice of glitter (chunky glitter works as well as fine and superfine glitter)
• Minwax Polycrylic Clear Gloss (you can use other brands or even floor polish)
• Squeeze bottle
• Sturdy disposable cups (I used Solo brand cups)
• Newspaper
• Ribbon, vinyl or other embellishments for decoration

Instructions:

• Gather all your supplies ahead of time and set up your newspaper and Solo cups on your work area
• Remove the tops of ornaments and set aside
• Squirt a small amount of polycrylic into the ornament and gently roll it to coat the entire inside; add more if needed to fully coat the inside
• Turn ornaments upside down and let drain in the cups while you finish adding all the poly to your blanks. Allow your ornament to drip thoroughly–I usually set them aside for about 15 minutes
• Using a small paper funnel or your hand, pour glitter inside the ornament and shake to coat the entire inside…it is okay to add more than is needed or even add more if you started off too lightly
• Once glitter covers the entire inside of the ornament, return it to the cup (upside down), giving it one last shake to remove excess and allow to dry (I usually dry them overnight)
• Replace ornament tops on dried glittered ornaments and embellish as desired

Please note: If you are planning on embellishing the outside of the ornament with vinyl, you need to consider the size and shape of the ornament as the surface is usually rounded. This takes some time and you may have some flubs, so practice.

Images of process:

I PURCHASED the Grinch face svg on Etsy and all other images were purchased or in my collection. Please respect copyrights of artists!

Here are a few glitter bulbs I have made with vinyl embellishments:

Floating Christmas Bulbs with Cricut

Last week  saw a tutorial for Christmas Ornaments that didn’t require using glitter or polyurethane or waiting and I made a mental note to play around with the idea.  Here is what I came up with.

Please note: This is NOT my original idea.  I could not find the original tutorial.  In an effort to explain how it works to my Facebook Group: “Cricut Newbies and Pros”, I slapped together this tutorial.

I apologize for the rush job, but it is just before Thanksgiving and I’ve got a million things to do.

So here is a Floating Glittery Christmas Ornament and it was made–on the cheap–with my Cricut Explore and a few, easy to find materials.

Materials needed:

• 3″ plastic craft ornaments <–do get plastic as it makes this project very “kid friendly” and reduces the chance of breakage, available at Michael’s
• Transparent acetate OR the cover to your Cricut mat!
• Glitter vinyl
• Glitter or ribbon, if desired

In Cricut Design Space, place a 2.5″ circle and a one half inch square together and weld together.  Here’s a screen shot of my project to show you what I mean:

 

 

Cut this shape with acetate or your Cricut cutting mat using Custom Settings, Magnet Medium. I’m so sorry this picture is hard to see…

Design your image.  Put whatever you want.  I happened to have these designs from somewhere, so I used them.  Only “rule” is you need to keep your design within the shape of the acetate.  I used glitter vinyl to cut out my designs and then weeded it. I am not a big fan of weeding…

After weeding, adher your glitter to the acetate making sure the image does not overlap on your acetate. You may want to use transfer tape.

Next careful roll your design in a tube like so:

Make sure the square part is “last in” so it will be at the opening of the ornament.

Release the roll inside the ornament.  The acetate will unfurl, but you may want to use tweezers or another tool to adjust it so it is right in the middle of the ball.  That’s the “floating” part.

Replace ornament top or you can add glitter for more effect. Add a bow if you’d like, too!

And that’s it folks!  Super easy!!  Kid friendly and very inexpensive to make, too!  I hope you try it and let me know what you think.