This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine. Affiliate links used.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine.
Hey guys, long time no see!!! However, I come here bearing some great news I have something special for you!!!!!! I did something…I used the Cricut Maker and I didn’t run into trouble. You see, one point in my life I once owned a Cricut that my sister gifted me for my birthday and I struggled with it, I couldn’t figured it out…It was like me and gardening…we just did not go together. So after one use, I gave it to my mom and vowed never to mess with a Cricut again. I am handy so I couldn’t understand why I had a hard time mastering my Cricut. There are so many things I can make, that I want to make, but don’t have the energy or time to hand create…but now I have a CRICUT MAKER to make all my crafting and seasonal dreams come true. No more hand cutting bats for halloween or hand cutting letters for signage!
The Cricut Maker is new and improved from the original Cricut that I once owned. I found it so easy to use, it left me feeling liberated! With the Cricut Design Space, I was able to design and create from my couch, my porch, and my bedroom!!! WiFi baby, this machine is portable!!
I love to create tablescapes and I thought that this would be a great opportunity to use the Cricut Maker to create some fun outdoor entertaining tablescape pieces that can be used all year long. For those of you who follow me on Instagram, y’all know that I have been working on creating an outdoor living space on my front porch. I took an old dining table and refinished it in concrete, I built an outdoor seating area, I built a dining bench, and fixed the corroded columns on my front porch. There are still some minor things that need to be done, but we have been soaking up the sun in this outdoor space with family (just us bc of COVID) dinner parties.
I went a bit Cricut happy and just started creating anything that came to mind, but today I am going to show you how I created a family snake crest that I applied to acrylic to be used as an oversized placemat for finger foods. I used to use painted hardboard and wrap it in seran wrap, now I have something prettier, reuseable, lighter in weight, and that can easily be stored.
Materials Used for this Cricut Project
- Cricut Maker
- 2 different colored vinyl
- Cricut knife blade
- Cricut basic tool set
- Cricut transfer tape
- Cricut cutting mat-lightweight
- Acrylic/Plexiglass -I bought mine from the hardware store in the Window aisle
Cricut Tutorial
I decided that for this project I wanted to create my own images. I really wanted to challenge myself to make something that was true to my aesthetic. However, Cricut has a plethora of images and fonts to choose from that should make your wildest crafting dreams come to life.
After creating your image, your are going to want to open up Cricut design space and upload your image. Depending on what you are making, will depend on whether you choose simple, moderately complex, or complex for your image type. Once you select your image type you will need to deselect the items you do NOT want to use. For my snake crest, I chose a moderately complex image type because my crest was two-toned. If I were going to make it all in one color, the Cricut maker would cut it out as one family unit for easy transfer.
After I inserted my snake crest into the design space I adjusted the size to fit proportionately to the piece of acrylic that I was applying it to.
I color coded my cuts in the design space so the Cricut knew they were two separate cuts. For this particular project, I used vinyl from Cricut’s Joy line because the hobby stores were out of regular sized vinyl. I also used the light stick Cricut mat. The vinyl stuck to mat perfectly and I had no problem readjusting for proper placement.
Once the image was cut on the Cricut Maker, I cut the excess vinyl with my Cricut scissors and weeded the rest with my weeding tool.
Once the whole image was weeded, I applied Cricut transfer tape over my design and smoothed it out using a Cricut scraper for maximum adhesion. Transfer tape is used for easy transfer of the vinyl to the object you are adhering it to. Once the image is detached from vinyl backing paper and safely on the transfer tape, safely and evenly place transfer tape with vinyl to project and smooth out with Cricut scraper.
For this particular project I created an acrylic/plexiglass placemat large enough to hold desserts and finger food. I wanted something with a bit of pattern so you aren’t just looking at a solid piece. I thought about adding handles to acrylic but decided against it so that we can easily store it with our platters.
Why I Chose a Cricut Maker
Now for the fun part! I bet you are wondering why I chose a Cricut Maker…Well, I chose it for the simple fact that you can basically do anything with it. It is so versatile it can accurately cut over 300 different type of materials, including everything from delicate materials like crepe paper, to fabric, to thicker materials like matboard, leather and basswood. I even read that it can etch designs on acrylic/plexiglass using the engraving tip.I am really excited about that! With us spending more time at home this is the perfect tool to add to your tool collection and to help with all the handmade cards the kids can make for family and friends. How sweet would that be?
For more outdoor Cricut inspiration, please visit inspiration.cricut.com
