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    The Makers Guide to Cricut: Easy Projects for Creating Fabulous Home Decor, Wearables, and Gifts
    The Makers Guide to Cricut: Easy Projects for Creating Fabulous Home Decor, Wearables, and Gifts
    The Makers Guide to Cricut: Easy Projects for Creating Fabulous Home Decor, Wearables, and Gifts
    Ebook311 pages1 hour

    The Makers Guide to Cricut: Easy Projects for Creating Fabulous Home Decor, Wearables, and Gifts

    By Megan Meketa

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    About this ebook

    Take your Cricut crafts to the next level! The Cricut machine has made it easy for anyone to create adorable, one-of-kind creations in their own home. Now, with this book crafting expert Megan Meketa shares all of her tips and tricks for making colorful, eye-catching projects that make every day a celebration. Featuring all the information needed to get started, including: 

    -Straightforward details on Cricut models and software (Maker, Explore Series, Joy, and EasyPresses)

    -Essential tools and materials (adhesive vinyl, iron-on, felt, cardstock, acetate, leather, etc.)

    -Ideas for celebrations including cake toppers, pennant banners, party favor bags, stencils for pastry decorating, thoughtful gifts, and more

    -Creative wearables such as iron-on designs, leather earrings, tote bags, flowered headbands, and hair bows

    And so much more! Whether you're a brand new owner of a Cricut and not sure where to start or a seasoned pro, this book is the ultimate one-stop shop for information and ideas for creating stunning projects. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRocky Nook
    Release dateJul 7, 2022
    ISBN9781681988351
    The Makers Guide to Cricut: Easy Projects for Creating Fabulous Home Decor, Wearables, and Gifts
    Author

    Megan Meketa

    Megan Meketa’s passion for crafting goes as far back as she can remember, coloring and making cards with her mom. That creativity stayed with her as she now crafts with her own children, teaching them a tangible way to show love to others with handmade gifts. Following her heart, designing, creating, and sharing has provided Megan with opportunities to collaborate with Michael's, Tulip, B-Flex, and more. Megan was also featured in the Cricut product release commercial of Infusible Ink. She spreads love and creativity online and in person through her business, Lovebird Heartworks. You can connect with her on Instagram @lovebird_heartworks or visit www.LovebirdHeartworks.com for more works of heart.

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      Book preview

      The Makers Guide to Cricut - Megan Meketa

      Introduction

      Reads as cry-cut, sounds like cricket. Cricut brand electronic cutting machines can be life-changing, let me tell you! What might start out as a fun pastime of cutting vinyl decals, creating cards, customizing shirts, and making custom labels around your home can quickly become a passionate hobby or can turn into a small business. My point being, a Cricut machine and its possibilities can be whatever you want it to be. Get creative, explore your machine and the software, and let’s get making!

      WHAT IS CRICUT?

      There are several Cricut models to choose from. The No. 1 question I am asked is, Which machine should I buy? My answer is, If you could dream up what you would like to create in the next several months to a year, what would you include? Check out the machines listed below to help narrow down your choice.

      CRICUT JOY The smallest of the Cricut cutting machines. This little cutie is a whiz when it comes to making custom cards, but the Joy can do so much more. This machine can cut a wide variety of materials including cardstock, vinyl, iron-on, sticker paper, cardboard, and faux leather; and it can even cut lengths up to 20 feet long (of a repeated cut/pattern) when using Cricut Smart Materials. The Joy can also electronically write, which is a great option for making labels, cards, envelopes, and more. However, there are limits to Joy’s capabilities. The compatible materials list for the Cricut Joy is shorter than the other machines and there is no option for Print Then Cut, which is important to know if you plan on making stickers. Cricut Joy Smart Vinyl is 5.5 wide and the maximum cut width is 4.5 if using a Cricut Joy Mat.

      CRICUT EXPLORE (AIR) SERIES These machines are full size and can cut more than 100 different types of materials. The Explore Air machines are a great option if you want to mainly work with cardstock, stickers, leather, vinyl, and iron-on materials. There is a blade for bonded fabric as well as a Deep-Point Blade that is compatible with this machine. The Explore machines have a dual tool holder, which means your machine can hold a Fine-Point Blade and a Scoring Tool or a pen at the same time. This machine can cut material up to 2mm thick. The dial on the Air and Air 2 machines only mentions some of the materials you can cut with these machines, but you can select the Custom option from the dial and it opens up a list with many more options when it comes time to Make It. The Air 3 model does not have a dial, but you will select your material from a list within Cricut Design Space. Unlike the first two versions of the Explore machines, the Air 3 is capable of cutting Smart Vinyl without a mat for cuts/designs larger than 11.5 x 23.5, which is the maximum size of the previous Explore machines.

      CRICUT MAKER This machine is the cream of the crop! It has all the features of the other machines and more. My favorite things about this machine that the others don’t have are the blades and specialty tools for cutting more than 300 types of materials. Many of these tools are used for the projects within this book, like the Rotary Blade for cutting felt and the Knife Blade for cutting craft foam. While the Explore Air 2 has blades that will work for felt and foam, I’ve found the Maker delivers the smoothest results (more on that when we get to those projects). Other than the blades and tools that are exclusive to the Maker, you can even cut wood with this machine. Balsa wood and basswood are two of the most common types of wood you can use in your Maker, up to 3/32 thick. Like the Explore machines, the Maker machines have a dual tool holder, which means your machine can hold a blade and a pen at the same time. The Maker 3 is capable of cutting Smart Vinyl without a mat for cuts/ designs larger than 11.5 x 23.5", which is the maximum cut size of the original Maker machine.

      HEAT PRESSES

      Let’s chat about heat presses. A heat press is a machine that uses heat and pressure to bond materials. Heat presses are commonly used with iron-on material and garment customization, but can be used for so much more. You can even use a heat press on canvas, socks, shoes, wood, and the list goes on. I use two different presses in the projects that follow: a handheld EasyPress Mini and a 9 x 9 EasyPress 2. These aren’t the only options for presses though. We’ll start small.

      HANDHELD PRESSES The EasyPress Mini or mini-iron is exactly what you need for those tiny personalized projects. The small size of these presses helps to monitor and manage the amount of heat you are applying to delicate projects.

      SPECIALTY PRESSES Hats, mugs, and tumblers, oh my! Some full-size heat presses come with attachments that can be used to create a variety of projects. If you have a particular passion, it may be a wise investment to focus on one specific type of press. Cricut has a mug and a hat press, both of which are fun and user friendly.

      EASYPRESS COLLECTION These come in a variety of sizes and colors. These handheld presses are a great option if you prefer a more portable heat press. They are available in 9 x 9 and 12 x 10 sizes. (Note that the 6 x 7 EasyPress is no longer available.) The 9 x 9 EasyPress is great for tote bags and other medium-sized projects, while the 12 x 10 is perfect for larger designs on shirts or canvases.

      FULL-SIZE HEAT PRESS This is the way to go when you need more pressure or a larger heat plate. There are many options available across the Internet and in craft stores. Cricut also offers the Autopress machine, which is aimed toward professionals who produce batches of shirts or other goods. Full-size heat presses provide a great amount of space to make adult shirts and other items that need to be mass produced.

      The above covers some essential points about each of the Cricut machines and tools. For more detailed information, check out help.cricut.com.

      YOU’VE GOT YOUR CRICUT, NOW WHAT?

      The first thing you’ll want to do is get that beauty out of the box. Next, go to design.cricut.com or the App Store on your handheld device and download Cricut Design Space to install the necessary software. At first glance, Design Space can be confusing as there are so many tools, features, and options. I will introduce you to each of these functions in the pages and projects ahead to build your confidence to create any vision you may have.

      I’ll share images from Design Space from my computer, and please know the functions are the same whether you are using a tablet, phone, or other device.

      When you sign into Design Space, you’ll want to set up your machine. If you are not immediately prompted to do so when signing in, start by clicking on the three small horizontal lines in the upperleft corner to open the main menu, which looks like the image below. This is the menu to go to when you hit a snag. If you want to make stickers, I suggest starting with Calibration. This will ensure your Print Then Cut settings are precise (you may need to repeat this process every so often).

      This is a great place to dig deeper into what your Cricut can do. Check out the Manage Custom Materials and you will discover all the different materials your machine can cut. Cricut Access is a subscription-based plan that gives you discounts on Cricut products as well as access to fonts, images, and features throughout Design Space. Cricut has a number of free images, shapes, and fonts, and their free offerings change regularly. The images used in this book are available through Cricut Access and many are also free.

      Within the Settings option you can choose how you want to set up your Design Space save options, grids, mat selection, and more. You can personalize Design Space to what works best with your design flow.

      The large workspace in the center of your screen is called your canvas. This is where you will design and create, this is where the magic happens.

      Now, let’s take a tour down the options in the left column. Templates are fun to use to help you size a project or play around with simple mock-up designs. Take note that Templates are not available in the Design Space app on handheld devices.

      Projects are where you’ll find Ready to Make projects that can be searched by category. Cricut has many projects available, including free projects, community projects, and featured projects, which can all be accessed through the Projects tab.

      The Shapes tab is where you’ll find a variety of basic shapes to add to your canvas. In the projects to follow we will reference these shapes often.

      The Images tab is where you’ll find access to over 250,000 images within the Design Space database. The

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