The BEST New Paint Technique

September 21, 2022 by Paula W

You are going to love this new paint technique. This is such a fun tone-on-tone project that you have simply got to see! It makes the perfect backdrop for favorite quotes and other designs. Best of all, it’s really easy to make!

The BEST New Paint Technique

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links provided for your convenience. This means, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Cut Files/Fonts Used:

Roses
Affirmation

Supply Links:

Step-by-step Instructions:

Make sure that you have already painted the wood plaque in grey when starting so it can thoroughly dry before trying to apply the vinyl. Be sure to measure your plaque.
Import the cut file and font downloaded from Makers Gonna Learn into Design Space.
In Design Space, get a square and resize it to the same measurement as the wood plaque to give you a guide for sizing your design. Now, move the rose pattern over to the square and size it the same size or a bit smaller depending on how you want it to look. Change the color so it’s a lighter shade of the paint color you used.
Open a text box and type the quote you want. Change it to your chosen font – if it’s a font you have uploaded into Design Space, you will need to look in System Fonts.
Kern your text. There are multiple ways to do this. We are beginning one word at a time. With all but the first letter of a word selected, we are using our arrow tool to move those letters closer to the first letter. Then, we are selecting all but the first two letters, and do the same thing. Keep repeating this process until you have all of the words kerned. Once each word is kerned, weld it.
Next, kern the entire phrase to be sure that each of the words is placed where you want it in proximity to each other. Once you’re happy with that, select all of the words and choose Attach.
Place your phrase on your sign and size accordingly. Once you are satisfied with your design, delete the square because you don’t need that anymore then click make it. Make sure to mirror the pattern and the quote.
Choose Everyday Iron-on in the Material Setting and select more for the pressure (if your blade isn’t brand new and you need more).
Place your material onto your mat and load it into the machine to cut.
Once done cutting, weed the excess vinyl away and weed out the centers of the letters. .
Apply the background vinyl design onto the wood plaque. Make sure your EasyPress Mini is heated to the second setting (about 350 degrees) and heat your vinyl. Start in the center and work your way out. Give a little pressure as you heat. Too much pressure and you may start moving it around.
Let it cool a bit and remove the transfer paper.
If you see a few areas with bubbles, simply lay a Teflon sheet over your design and heat again to help lay those down.
Now, place down and position your text. If you’re worried about touching the background while you heat the words, you can use your Teflon sheet again. Heat your words with the EasyPress Mini. Remove the transfer tape and enjoy your new project!

Hanging Butterfly Art

September 20, 2022 by Paula W

This is one of our favorite projects for so many reasons: it’s really pretty and it’s really easy to make! We’re using the Slice function to cut apart a PNG file so we can use each of the components separately. Amazing, right?

We’ll show you how simple this is to do. In almost no time at all, you’ll have some beautiful art to hang in your home!

Hanging Butterfly Art

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links provided for your convenience. This means, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Cut File Used:

Butterfly Grid

Supply Links:

StandardGrip Mat
Cricut Maker
Printer
Cardstock
Printable sticker paper

Step-by-step Instructions:

Take the measurement of the frame you’ll be using. You always want to know how big your working space is so you can size your files in Design Space appropriately.
Import the cut file downloaded from Makers Gonna Learn to Design Space.
We’re going to slice these butterflies out one at a time so we can work with them just as we want. Since the file we are working with is a PNG, it is not layered. We want to work with the butterflies separately so we have to use Slice to do that.
Grab a Basic Shape and size it to cover one butterfly at a time. Select both layers and choose Slice. Repeat as many times as needed to slice out each individual butterfly.
Now, grab a Basic Shape again to mimic the shape of your frame and resize it to fit your frame. Make sure to give it a little extra space. Now you can move your cut files over to the shape and resize them to fit your frame. Repeat as needed until you have completed all your designs and frames. We’re going to cut out the Print then Cut butterflies as stickers and then oval pieces of cardstock to form the background for those butterflies to put in the frames.
Click Make It to send it to the printer. We like to choose Add Bleed. Then, under the printer’s’ System Dialog, increase the quality to Best.
Once printed, place your printed design onto the mat and load it into the machine for cutting,
Now, go back into Design Space to change the Material Setting to Medium Cardstock. Load your medium cardstock onto your mat and load it into the machine to cut out your cardstock background.
Place the sticker onto the cardstock and frame it.

Make Your Own Crackle Paint

September 17, 2022 by Paula W

You are going to LOVE this amazing sign we’re making using HTV on wood that we have painted with a fun crackle paint technique. You can use it for so many different purposes and projects.

Make Your Own Crackle Paint

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links provided for your convenience. This means, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Fonts Used:

Family Name Grid 4
Passion
Distillery

Supply Links:

Step-by-step Instructions:

Download the cut files and fonts from Makers Gonna Learn. Make sure to unzip all the downloaded files and install the fonts on your computer.
In Design Space, grab a square and size it to 24.25″x16.25″ or whatever size you need to match the size of your frame. Duplicate it or get another square and size it up to 21.5″x13.25 or whatever size you want. These are to represent the frame and then the center area where your design will go. Change the color of them if you’d like for better visualization and place the smaller rectangle on top of the larger. Select both and choose Align, Center.
Now, with your grid in Design Space, move it over to your rectangles and size it so that it fits as you wish.
Open a text box and type in your last name. Change to the desired font. Move the text to the grid and you can arrange it however you want. Size it and adjust the letter spacing as needed.
Repeat with the remaining text needed. To get the year positioned vertically instead of horizontally, just type in the first number, then enter, then the second number, and enter. Repeat this until you have all 4 numbers there.
Once you are satisfied with how it looks, you need to hide the red layer (the grid). We also contoured out the tiny little lines as they can be tricky to cut and weed well. When you’re happy with your design, select all of it (not the frame rectangles that you’re using for visualization) and choose Weld.
Delete the rectangles that you used to represent the frame. You don’t need those anymore.
Click Make It. Be sure to Mirror your design because we are using HTV. Click Continue and select your machine. Set your material to an everyday iron-on.
Place your vinyl on the cutting mat and load the mat into the machine. Once cut, weed your design.
Take the piece of plywood for the backing and paint it with black acrylic. Once dry, pour glue all over it and use a brush to smear it all over. You don’t want it super thick because it will take forever to dry.
After about 10 minutes, you are ready for the next step. You don’t want it to dry, but you do want it to feel tacky. Paint with the gray acrylic paint over the glue. You will see the paint start to crack.
Once dry, place the plywood backing piece into the frame and secure it with the staple gun.
Lay the HTV inside the frame and arrange it however you want. Use the Mini EasyPress to heat and adhere your design to the wood. Peel up the transfer tape.

Lighted Paper Shadowbox

September 17, 2022 by Paula W

Looking for a fun way to take your shadowboxes to the next level? This tip will impress everyone who sees it! Not only does this shadow box have lights but they are custom colored for this specific look!

Lighted Paper Shadowbox

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links provided for your convenience. This means, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Cut File Used:

Hot Air Balloon Shadow Box

Supply Links:

Step-by-step Instructions:

Upload the SVG file into Design Space and size to 8”. You can ungroup and change the colors of each layer to match a specific color scheme you’re going for, but we’re going to make all the layers white.
Use an older StandardGrip mat or a newer LightGrip mat. Add your first sheet of paper. I’ve found it helpful to use a brayer to make sure the paper is well adhered to the mat.
Select your material, we went with Kraft Board. It’s best to put a new blade in your machine as well. Please note this cardstock is very thick (about 110lbs) so be patient with your Cricut and give it “more pressure” if your blade isn’t new.
Once we removed the cut paper from the mat we would use a burnishing tool to scrape the tiny pieces of paper off our mats to get ready for the next piece of paper.
While your paper is cutting you can paint your fairy lights. Protect your work surface with a poster board and unravel your lights. Using a small paintbrush paint each little light. For ours, we painted all the lights on one strand blue and for the other strand, we painted the lights pink, yellow, and orange.
Full coverage is not necessary, we want to make sure the light still comes through the color. Allow them to dry for at least an hour.
While the lights are drying, turn on your hot glue gun.
Once your paper is cut, your lights are dry, and your hot glue gun has pre-heated, you can adhere the lights to the paper.
Set the base layer aside as you will only be adding lights to the middle and first layers. Flip the middle layer over and first hot glue your battery pack onto one of the corners of the paper. The middle layer is where we are using the pink, yellow, and orange lights, and the top layer is where we are using the blue lights.
Glue the lights along the edge of the paper being sure to add glue every few inches. Try to have the lights evenly spaced out. Get them close to the inner edge as well. This is time-consuming as each bead of glue must dry before you can move on.
Once all of the lights are glued down on that layer, move onto your top layer.
Repeat that process with the top layer. Glue your battery pack to the opposite side you did on your last layer as you want the finished project to be somewhat balanced.
Once those lights are glued it’s time to add the foam squares! Place a stack of 3 foam squares on 3 sides of the back of your middle layer, then add 1 foam square to your battery pack.
Carefully line that muddle layer up to your last back layer, and apply it down.
Now repeat step 13 for your top layer, and apply it down to your middle and last layers.
On ours, the on/off switches on our battery packs are easily accessible on the sides of the paper.
All that’s left is to add it to your shadowbox! We removed the backing and the glass on the shadowbox and carefully pressed the layered paper into place. It was a tight fit.
Add the back panel of the shadowbox and enjoy!

Cricut Personalized Family Sign

September 16, 2022 by Paula W

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links provided for your convenience. This means, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

This gorgeous personalized family sign is a perfect gift idea for any occasion – wedding, anniversary, new home, Christmas, you name it! It’s quick and easy to make, but the custom look of it makes it a personalized home decor item that’s right on-trend.

Cricut Personalized Family Sign

Making A Design For A Sign In Cricut Design Space

Fonts Used:

Split Monogram
Community

Supply Links:

Paper Towel
Rubbing Alcohol
Frame
Cricut Brand Removable Vinyl
Paper Masking Transfer Tape
Pattern Paper Pack
Paper Trimmer

Step-by-step Instructions:

Download the font from Makers Gonna Learn. Then unzip the file and install it on your computer.
In Design Space, open a text box. Type in the letter that you want for your monogram – this will be the first letter of the person’s last name. For your font, choose Split Monogram.
Open another text box and type in the family’s last name. Change to your desired font. We are using Community.
Kern the letters in your word by adjusting the letter spacing. If you want to make further adjustments, you can do this manually by going to the Layers Panel and choosing Ungroup. Adjust as needed. Select the entire word and go down to the bottom right of the Layers Panel and choose Weld.
You can move the last name over to the monogram and size it to arrange it in there. However, if it won’t fit the way you want it, click the shape button and grab a square. Size it up until it’s big enough to cover the lower half of the monogram. Now, select both layers (the square and the monogram) and go down to the bottom right under the Layers Panel, and press Slice. Then, delete all the sliced layers you don’t need. Now the monogram is in two pieces.
You can bring the text over in the middle of the monogram and size to arrange it the way you want. Since the monogram is two pieces, you can move it as needed to make more room for the name as desired.
Once happy with the arrangement, move the text (the last name) over to one side, out of your way. Now, select both pieces of monogram and choose Align, Center Horizontally. Select both layers again and go down to the bottom right under the Layers Panel and choose Attach.
Now, you can move the last name over to the middle of the monogram and arrange it the way you want. Select both layers and choose Align, Center Horizontally.
Open a new text box and type in “Est.”. Change to the desired font and kern the letters as needed. Repeat with each section of the date as well.
For each word/section of the date, once you’re happy with it, Weld. Then, take each of your welded words/numbers for the Est. and the date, and line them up, placing them as you wish. Once you’re happy with that, select the Est. and the date and Attach.
Select your entire design and choose Align, Center Horizontally. Then with it still selected, choose Attach.
Size your design to fit the available space on your frame.
Click Make It and then Continue. Set your material to Vinyl. Put the vinyl on the cutting mat and load it into the machine. Our blade is older and not sharp so we’re also adding more pressure.
While the machine is cutting, you can cut your patterned paper with the paper trimmer to fit your frame. Open up your frame and place the paper inside.
When the machine is done cutting, you can unload the mat. Burnish the vinyl to the mat. Then cut off the excess vinyl and then weed. Place the masking transfer paper on and give it a little burnish. Then, flip the mat upside down and peel it away from your design. Burnish again from the back.
Take the paper towel and clean the glass with alcohol. Peel away the backing from your design and place it on the glass of your frame. Burnish. Peel away the transfer tape.

Dog Paw Mandala Shadow Box

September 15, 2022 by Paula W

Making a mandala shadow box has become so popular! Whether you want to make them for your home or office, to give as a gift, or to sell them, be sure to watch this video to learn the ins & outs so you can feel confident making them!

Dog Paw Mandala Shadow Box

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links provided for your convenience. This means, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Cut File Used:

Mandala Paw Print

Step-by-step Instructions:

Upload the SVG file into Design Space and size to 8”. You can ungroup and change the colors of each layer to match a specific color scheme you’re going for, but we’re using the same colors that are already in the file!
Click “make it” and on that screen, it’s much easier to see the paper colors so you can go through your craft space and grab the colors of cardstock you have that match each mat.
Use an older StandardGrip mat or a newer LightGrip mat. Start with mat one, add the paper of the correct color. I’ve found it helpful to use a brayer to make sure the paper is well adhered to the mat.
Select your material, we went with Medium Cardstock. It’s best to put a new blade in your machine as well. Please note if you are using any varying thicknesses of cardstock to be sure and change your material setting accordingly.
Go through all 10 colors of paper and allow them to cut. Once we removed the cut paper from the mat we would use a burnishing tool to scrape the tiny pieces of paper off our mats to get ready for the next color.
Once all your paper is cut out, refer back to Design Space. Ungroup your image and pull your layers out one by one and line them up. This is so you can clearly see how the papers are layered!
Start from the very back layer. Refer to Design Space to see the order of how the layers need to adhere. Flip the second to last layer over and apply ATG along the edges. Turn it over and line it up with the last layer and apply it down.
Repeat that process until you’ve come to the second layer where you will also add the three small circular mandalas. We used the glue pen for those tiny layers!
Once those small pieces are on the larger second piece, add ATG to the back and adhere as normal.
Now, add ATG to the front piece of the mandala and apply it down to finish the design.
Add the mandala into a shadowbox and enjoy.

How to Print on Fabric

September 14, 2022 by Paula W

Prepare to have your mind blown! In today’s video, we’re teaching you how to print on fabric. You don’t need a special printer, special ink, OR special fabric.

We can’t wait to share all of our tips and tricks with you so you too can up your crafting game and print on your inkjet printer at home. Enjoy!

How to Print on Fabric

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links provided for your convenience. This means, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Cut File Used:

Barn With Flag

Supply Links:

How To Print On Fabric Patriotic Pillow2 300x200 1

Step-by-step Instructions:

Cut the fabric and freezer paper to 8.5” by 11”.
Heat the freezer paper (shiny side down) onto the fabric.
Download and crop the cut file on your computer.
Load your fabric in your rear printer tray and print.
Fray the edges of the printed fabric.
Cut the heat n bond to 8” by 10.5” and heat (shiny side down) to the back of the printed fabric.
Peel the backing off the heat and bond.
Center the printed fabric on the pillowcase and heat.
Place your pillow insert and enjoy.

DIY Family Photo Frame

September 14, 2022 by Paula W

For this adorable project, we’re using our Cricut to make a DIY Family Photo Frame using Print then Cut paper dolls to depict our family.

In our cut files, we have lots of options available for bodies, arms, hair, clothing, accessories, pets, backgrounds, and more so it’s easy to customize your picture to represent your family members. These paper doll pictures make a great gift.

DIY Family Photo Frame

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links provided for your convenience. This means, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Cut Files Used:

Swimsuits
Clothes
Bodies
Dogs
Brown Hair
Blond Hair

Supply Links:

Step-by-step Instructions:

1.     Upload your files into Cricut Design Space as Print then Cut images. You can hide the ones that you aren’t currently using in your design as needed to make space on your canvas.
2.     Working with the bodies first, grab a square, unlock, and resize it to fit over the body you want to use.
3.     Select both the body and the rectangle and choose Slice. Delete the unneeded slice results.
4.     Repeat for any other bodies you need.
5.     Using the same technique, slice out the arms that you need.
6.     You’ll also need to slice off the arms currently on the bodies if you want to replace them with new arms.
7.     Find the clothing that you want to place on the bodies and use the same Slice technique to cut it out. Layer it over the body.
8.     Choose the hair you want each person to have, slice it out, and add it to the bodies.
9.     Take your time as you layer these elements. You may need to move them forwards and backward, resize them, and line them up a few times as you go to get your design just right.

You can also add some accessories and pets to the background you have chosen for your family. Once again, you will simply slice them out of the file and place them onto that background.
Be sure to size the background to fit your chosen frame. Then, you want to make sure that the family and all the accessories and other elements fit well onto that background.
When you have everything placed and lined up as you’d like it, select all layers and Flatten.
Click Make It to send it to your printer. Be sure it’s set to Add Bleed.
After printing, place your printed design in the top left corner of your cutting mat and load it into your Cricut machine to cut it out.
Place the image in your frame.

DIY Gamer Pillow

September 13, 2022 by Paula W

Look how cute, easy, and affordable this DIY gamer pillow is for any gamer fanatic! This would be such a great gift.

We are using a premade pillowcase, so no sewing is needed for this project. Cricut beginners, this is definitely a craft you could handle with our easy step-by-step instructions.

DIY Gamer Pillow

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links provided for your convenience. This means, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Cut File Used:

Eat Sleep Game 1

Supply Links:

Step-by-step Instructions:

Download cut file to Design Space
Size your cut file to fit your pillow
Slice your design, its going to be too big to cut as one image
Gather your HTV & put it onto Cricut mat
Cut out design
Place onto pillow accordingly
Iron on HTV to pillowcase
Once your design is on your pillowcase, hot glue your buttons on
You’re done! Enjoy!

DIY Leather Wall Hanging

September 12, 2022 by Paula W

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links provided for your convenience. This means, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

If you haven’t made any leather craft projects with your Cricut yet, this DIY Leather Wall Hanging is a great one to get started with. This pouch holding sprigs of eucalyptus adds a lovely touch of rustic decor to your home. It would make a great gift or item to add to your craft shop.

DIY Leather Wall Hanging

Fonts Used:

Hopeful: https://makersgonnalearn.com/fonts/hopeful/

Supply Links:

Diy Leather Wall Hanging With Cricut 300x227 1

Step-by-step Instructions:

Download the font from Makers Gonna Learn. Then, unzip the file and install it on your computer.
Get a square from the Shapes button on the left and size it to 4.5 by 11.5 inches.
Open a text box. Type in a period and change it to the font Comic Sans. These are going to be the holes in our leather pouch.
Move the periods over to the bottom of the rectangle so you can size them and space them out (using Letter Spacing) accordingly. Once you’re happy with that, duplicate it. The duplicate will be for the holes at the top of the rectangle. Select all 3 layers and Align Center Horizontally.
Duplicate one of the period layers again and rotate it so it’s vertical. This will be the holes on one side of the pouch. We need 9 holes there so open that text box and add in 4 more periods.
Duplicate the set of 9 periods for the other side. Place each of the text boxes containing 9 holes on a side of the pouch. You should now have holes at the top and bottom and on the right and the left.
Choose the periods on each side of the pouch and then select Align, Top or Bottom.
Grab all 4 period texts and go over to the bottom right of the Layers Panel then press Weld. Select all layers including the rectangle and go over to the bottom right again then press Slice. Delete the unneeded sliced layers.
Select the remaining rectangle with the “holes” in it and Duplicate.
Open a text box and type in the text you want. We’re using the word “bloom”. Change the font as desired and kern it by adjusting the letter spacing. Select your whole text and Weld. Add your text to the bottom of one of the rectangles.
Click Make It. Be sure to mirror your text because we’re using HTV for it. Connect to your machine and set the material to Faux Leather Paper Thin.
Press Continue. We are cutting with the Fine Point Blade. Allow the machine to cut. It will take a bit longer to cut out the leather.
Remember after it cuts out the leather to change your material setting to Iron-On for the text. If you don’t do this, it will cut right through your HTV and the cutting mat.
Take the 2 layers of cut faux leather and place one on top of the other, wrong sides together. Fold the leather to create a pouch with an opening at the top. Start at one of the holes at the bottom of one side and knot it on the back to secure it. Sew up one side, and then halfway across the top of the pouch opening. Using a new piece of cording (and once again, securing with a knot), sew up the other side and then halfway across the top of the pouch opening.
Where the cords meet at the center of the opening of the pouch, knot or tie a bow to secure.
Use a new piece of cording to sew halfway across the very top of the pouch, securing with a knot at the end. Then, use another piece of cording to sew halfway across from the other side of the very top of the pouch, securing at the end. Where the two cords meet in the middle, tie a knot to secure. Use the ends to create a hanger for the pouch.
Weed the text you cut out of iron-on vinyl. Adhere to your HTV text using your EasyPress Mini. Once adhered, remove the transfer tape.
Decorate your pouch as desired. In this tutorial, we used eucalyptus sprigs and put it inside the leather. The eucalyptus sprigs are cut out of Benzi felt and the cut file is from our cut file library at Makers Gonna Learn. If you want to know how to assemble the eucalyptus sprigs, you can buy the Spring Summit because this is one of the projects we did.