Today, I'm talking about a little thank you gift I put together for the Bean's dance teachers at the end of the season. But first! I've talked about my cricut before, but when I met with a couple of my friends last week, they said "What the heck is a cricut!?" I never considered how foreign a cricut machine might be to some! This is my cricut machine:
I know there are several different models and makes, but I can only speak for the Cricut Explore Air - it's the only cricut brand machine I've ever owned. That being said, I love it and I have heard equally great reviews about their other cutting machines. Cricuts cut and write. I think they can do more, but I have yet to uncover the other features! I use mine to cut cardstock, vinyl, heat transfer vinyl or regular paper. The machine can also cut fabric which I've thought about using to quilt... maybe one day!
I use my cricut to make card, signs, regular vinyl decal and heat transfer vinyl decals. In the past I have shared how I've used my cricut to make shirts, personalized water bottles, baseball caps, mugs and more! Today, I'm taking about how I used my cricut to make a little thank you gift!
THis is what my compute screen looks like when I'm working in the cricut design space. I found the design space a little challenging to get the hang of at first, but once you get it, it's really easy to use! I downloaded an image of a Starbucks cup and imported it into the design space , then separated the image into the main part of the mug, the lid and the sleeve. I program colors just to see what it will look like, but the color is totally dependent on the color of cardstock you load into the machine.
I based my design on an image I saw on Pinterest - so I write 'Thanks' across the top of the cup and 'a latte' across the bottom of the screen. At the bottom of the cup, I wrote 'from' and left a space for the Bean to sign her name. Once you've programmed everything into the design space, the cricut does the rest of the work! I can usually catch up on some other work while my cricut is working. The design process is really hands on, but once the machine is cutting it's super independent!
When your design is ready to be cut out, you load the material onto the cutting mat and into the machine, then let the machine do it's thing! For this project, I used a white cardstock for the cut and I chose to use a sturdier cardstock so the card held together well. Then, I used a dark green cardstock for the lid and a brown cardstock for the sleeve. I used a regular BIC black ball point pen for the writing.
Once the machine cuts everything out, this is what you end up with. At this point, you have to put everything together. So, I glued the green lid onto each cup and mounted the brown sleeves onto the center of the cups, I used little foam adhesive squares to secure the sleeves onto the cup. I made sure to have a few adhesive squares along the bottom of the sleeve and up the side so that the gift card would hold in well.
I colored in the gaps on the word 'thanks' with a dark green marker. This was the most tedious part, but I like the way it looked.
The Bean had 3 dance teachers this year, so I made three cups total. We bought 3 Starbucks giftcards to put in each card. I positioned the sleeve onto the cup so that the gift card would line up right under the word 'thanks.' I used an old gift card as a guideline as I use putting the card together to make sure everything fit nicely.
I wrote the Bean's dance teacher's names in dark green along the bottom of the the sleeve and the Bean signed her name in the same green next to the word 'from.' I chose to stick with white, brown and dark green to match the Starbucks colors but you could really make these with any color! I saw some on Pinterest that were pink and red for Valentine's day and they were so cute! There could easily be adjusted to fit any season! There are also so many cute sayings on Pinterest! The Bean chose 'thanks a latte' but there are many other options out there!
If you have any cricut related questions or ideas, let me know! I've had so much fun experimenting with my cricut over the years!
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