Cricut

June 6, 2018 by Sydney Leave a Comment

DIY Hot Pad with Cricut and Simplicity

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Make your own hot pads in about 30 minutes with your Cricut Maker.

I am loving the Simplicity sewing patterns you can make with your Cricut Maker! They cut quickly, the directions are easy to follow and there are so many cute patterns available! Last week I took a stab at my first sewing project ever – a bike bag and key ring! They were so easy to make I decided to try something a little bit harder – these hot pads.

Even though they say intermediate, I feel like the pattern was fairly easy to follow. Somehow my loop wasn’t centered (thanks to a screaming baby and sewing at 1am) but other than that I LOVE how these turned out!

These hot pads are super easy to customize, you can use any fabric and button you like to truly make these hot pads one of a kind. They would even make a great housewarming gift!

I like using the Riley Blake fabric samplers from Cricut because the fabric is already cut to 12″ wide, making it even faster to cut! If you use other fabric, the Cricut Self Healing Mat and Rotary Cutter are super helpful with cutting your fabric to size so it will fit your mat. You can see what others tools you may want to make your sewing projects easier here. And remember IF YOU’RE BUYING FROM CRICUT.COM, MAKE SURE TO USE CODE TFRUGAL TO SAVE 10% AND SCORE FREE SHIPPING.

SUPPLIES:

1/3 yard of 45″ or 60″ fabric (I used one piece of fabric out of this Riley Blake Fabric Sampler)

12″x12″ piece of cardstock

Interlining and Batting (OR you can use Insul-Bright which is both the batting and the interlining) – about 1/3 yard

1 Packet Jumbo Ric Rac (you’ll really only need about 8″)

1 Button

Sewing Machine

Cricut Washable Fabric Marker

12×24 Fabric Cutting Mat

Cricut Maker

DIRECTIONS:

Open up the pot holder project in Design Space here.

Load your fabric pattern side down onto your cutting mat and make sure you have your Cricut Fabric Marker in the A clamp and your rotary blade in the B clamp.

Select Medium Fabric (like cotton) from the materials and send to cut.

Cut all pieces according to instructions in design space. If you’re using Insul-Bright, you can skip the first mat (the interlining).

Pin your cardstock to the Insul-Bright (or batting) and cut.

Pin your Insul-Bright (or batting) to the wrong side of your fabric and sew.

Sew along the two stitiching lines on the front of the fabric. Pin your ric rac on the third stitch line and sew through the middle.

Sew your button over the ric rac.

Make your loop by folding the small #1 piece in half lengthwise and using an iron to crease them. Sew together.

Pin your #3 fabric to the front of your fabric, right sides facing.

Sew and leave enough room to turn right side out.

Turn right side out and hand stitch your opening closed.

I can’t wait to try more of these Simplicity Patterns! What pattern are you most excited to try?!

If you’d like to check out more ways you can use Cricut products check out these posts! Need help with your Cricut? Join our Cricut Support Facebook Group!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

May 30, 2018 by Sydney 1 Comment

Sewing Made Easy With Cricut And Simplicity

Some posts may contain affiliate links. For more information please see the disclosure page.

The Simplicity Patterns on Cricut Design Space paired with the rotary blade in the Cricut Maker make sewing easy. There are several projects that are easy for beginners and today I’ll show you two of my favorites and how to make them.

I wish my grandma was alive to read this post. Well, she probably wouldn’t read the post, but so I could show her – I SEWED SOMETHING! She always tried to get me into sewing, but I never really had any interest in it when I was younger. Then when I got older, I always thought it was too hard so I never tried. But as soon as I got my Cricut Maker and saw all the fun Simplicity projects I knew I HAD to learn!

How does Cricut and Simplicity make sewing easy?

I get asked this question a lot. If the Maker doesn’t sew, how does it make sewing easy?! Yes, you do need to do the sewing part on your own but the Simplicity patterns and Cricut Maker do all the hard work for you. The patterns are all in design space (all 450+ of them!) and include easy to understand instructions. When you pick a project, the Cricut Washable Fabric Marker marks everything you need on your fabric and cuts out all the pieces for you! For someone who is challenged with cutting a straight line with scissors, this was the part I was most excited about.

Once your pieces are cut, just follow the PDF instructions and your project is done!

What project should I start with?

When you click into a project, at the very top it will tell you the skill level of the project (easy, intermediate or advanced) and the approximate time to make each project. For the key ring I made, it said 30 minutes – 1 hour and I easily had it done in 20 minutes. The small bag I made said the same but it took me a little longer. One, because I had a baby interrupting me every 2 minutes and two because I accidentally sewed the bag opening shut. Thankfully I had the Cricut Sewing Kit that had a seam ripper so that was an easy fix.

What else do I need besides my Cricut Maker?

A sewing machine is a must. But that’s pretty obvious, right?! This is the sewing machine I have and I LOVE it! It’s super easy to use and, from what I’m told, is great for advanced sewers too. I would also suggest getting at least one 12×12 Fabric Cutting Mat and one 12×24 Fabric Cutting Mat, a Cricut Washable Fabric Marker and the Cricut Sewing Kit. The sewing kit was a life saver for me on this one. It had scissors, pins and cute little pin cushion, a seam ripper, thread snips and a leather thimble. A needle and thread are good to have as well, for those small parts (like buttons) that need to be hand sewn on.

I also have one of these gorgeous double sided self healing mats that I work on. They are good for not damaging your work surface and then one side has measurements for easy to cut surfaces with a rotary cutter (which is also another great tool to have to cut larger fabric down to fit on your mats). A brayer is also helpful for making sure your fabric lays flat on your mat. That is the next purchase on my list. IF YOU’RE BUYING FROM CRICUT.COM, MAKE SURE TO USE CODE TFRUGAL TO SAVE 10% AND SCORE FREE SHIPPING.

Show Me How Easy It Is To Sew!

Ok, ok now that I’ve told you how EASY it is to use the Cricut Maker and Simplicity patterns and everything you need to make your projects fly by let me SHOW you how easy these projects truly are. I made the Small Bag I showed you above. It attaches to your bike and is perfect for storing sunscreen, band aids, house keys and a few other things our family may need on our bike rides.

I also made this cute key ring. This was the first project I made because I wanted something super easy to boost my confidence and this was definitely the perfect project for that!

SIMPLICITY KEY RING

SUPPLIES

Fabric remnant (2″ x 12″) I actually cut the pattern for the bag first and used the leftover fabric from that for this. This is the Riley Blake fabric bundle I used.

1 ¼” webbing or trim – 12″ long (I found some Simplicity Twill Trim at Joanns) – If you want to make a lot I found this bundle on Amazon for cheap too!

Key Fob Hardware

Pliers

Iron (or EasyPress)

Sewing Machine

Cricut Washable Fabric Marker

12×12 Fabric Cutting Mat

Cricut Maker

DIRECTIONS

Load your fabric pattern side down onto your cutting mat and make sure you have your Cricut Fabric Marker in the A clamp and your rotary blade in the B clamp.

Select Medium Fabric (like cotton) from the materials and send to cut.

Once you have your fabric cut, fold the sides along the blue line made by the fabric marker and use an iron (or I like to use my EasyPress because it’s right there next to my Maker) to keep them folded down.

Pin your fabric to your webbing or trim and sew together. I learned it’s best to do your first three stitches, and then back stitch three times to make sure everything is secure. Do the same thing at the end.

Fold webbing and fabric in half and attach key fob kit to the ends. Use pliers to close clamp.

Attach key ring.

SO easy right?! Now you’re ready for a little harder project. But believe me, it’s not much harder!

SIMPLICITY SMALL BAG

SUPPLIES:

3 fabrics – 1/2 yard 45″ fabric (I used this Designer Fabric Sampler from Riley Blake and used the pink, blue polka dot and mint green. Each piece was just enough for what this project needed)

1″ webbing or trim – 3/8y yard (I found some Simplicity Twill Trim at Joanns)

½” wide hook and loop tape – ¼ yard

¼” wide cording – ½ yard

1″ buttons – 2

Iron (or EasyPress)

Sewing Machine

Cricut Washable Fabric Marker

12×24 Fabric Cutting Mat

Cricut Maker

DIRECTIONS:

Iron your fabric to get as many of the creases out as possible.

Load your fabric pattern side down onto your cutting mat and make sure you have your Cricut Fabric Marker in the A clamp and your rotary blade in the B clamp.

Select Medium Fabric (like cotton) from the materials and send to cut.

Cut all pieces according to instructions in design space. My green piece was the interlining (the grey piece), my pink was the bag (blue piece) and the blue was the liner (pink piece) – that will all make sense when you open the design in design space.

Attach interlining (green piece) to the bag (pink piece). You’ll want to attach them wrong sides touching. Pin and sew together.

Cut two 11″ pieces of webbing or trim.

Cut two 3″ pieces of hoop and loop tape and separate.

Fold down webbing 1″ down and pin one side of the hook and loop tape to the top.

Fold over the other end of the webbing the other way 1″ down and pin the other side of the hook and loop tape to the top.

Repeat previous two steps with the other piece of webbing and hook and loop tape.

Sew hook and loop tape to webbing.

Line up webbing that has hook and loop tape attached centered to the holes on the right side of the bag fabric. Attach with a pin.

Cut a third piece of webbing to fit the length of the bag and pin along center.

Sew that third piece onto the bag. Remove pins from the other two pieces.

Sew together your two pieces of bag and interlining. You’ll want to pin the pieces, bag side (pink fabric) facing each other.

Pin on liner (blue fabric) two both sides and sew together.

Turn bag inside out and sew your openings shut. Make sure to be careful and not sew them together.

Hand sew buttons on where the blue circles are on your pink fabric.

Attach with cording to close bag.

I really do love how easy these Simplicity projects are to make and can’t wait to make more! have you had a chance to look at the Simplicity projects yet? Which one is your favorite?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

May 22, 2018 by Sydney Leave a Comment

3 Disney Dollar Store Crafts You Can Make In 3 Minutes Or Less

Some posts may contain affiliate links. For more information please see the disclosure page.

These fun crafts are perfect for any Disney lover, or to take on any Disney trip. You can make them in 3 minutes or less and they cost $3 or less too! SWEET!

Planning a trip to Disneyland or Disney World can be one of the most exciting things you do! It can also be one of the most expensive. As we have planned our trips in the past, I’ve decided early on what things I want to splurge on (hello Character Breakfast and all the yummy treats) and what things we can do without or save on (gifts at the park being #1). My go to store for getting supplies for trips is the Dollar Store and today I’m sharing with you 3 easy crafts you can make to save money before AND during your Disney trip!

I got everything for these crafts at my Dollar Tree. Wait, I forgot, the jars came from Target, but they were in the Dollar Spot and were $3 for a 3 pack. To make one each of these for all my kids I spent $10 total. The kids love them and I love that we are able to cut down on costs for our Disneyland Trip this summer.

If you’re looking to book a Disneyland or Disney World trip and money is tight, you can book your vacation for as little as $125 down with Get Away Today’s Layaway Program. You can also save an extra $10 on your vacation package when you use promo code TFRUGAL. There are a ton of great deals going on for the summer too and you can read all about them and Pixar Fest here. Now let’s get on to these crafts.

Mickey and Minnie Tumblers

These tumblers are so fun and perfect to take to the park with you. Disney parks offer free water at several locations throughout the park so these are a fun way to save money and avoid the kids asking for the character cups at the park. You can even customize each cup with names. This font is Walter and you can download it free on Dafont.

SUPPLIES:

Plastic Tumbler

Black and Red Vinyl (I used Adhesive Foil for the red)

Cricut Machine

Mickey and Minnie SVG Files (find the SVGS at the bottom of this post and click the picture you want to download the files)

PS Use code TFRUGAL10 at Cricut.com to save 10% and get FREE shipping!!

DIRECTIONS:

Open your Mickey and/or Minnie head in Design Space and size it for your cup if necessary. They should be 3″ wide and that fit perfectly for our cups.

Send to be cut.

Since these are so big, you don’t need to use transfer tape, just weed design and press on tumbler.

DIY Autograph Books

The last time we went to Disneyland, I looked up how much autograph books were at the park (because that was one of my favorite things as a kid) and I was shocked to see they were $10-$20. I couldn’t be spending $40-$60 on autograph books for my kids! I made these autograph books from IKEA notebooks a few years back and these are just as easy to make!

SUPPLIES:

Notebook and pen set

Disney Scrapbook Paper

Black Vinyl

Scotch Tape

Cricut Machine

Best Day Ever SVG (find the SVGS at the bottom of this post and click the picture you want to download the files)

DIRECTIONS:

Open your SVG file in Design Space and size it for your notebook. These notebooks are 3″ x 4.5″ so I made mine about 2.75″ wide.

Cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit the cover (3″ x 4.5″).

Glue scrapbook paper to cover.

Cut your design out of vinyl, weed and use Scotch Tape to apply design to scrapbook paper. I use scotch tape for this because the transfer tape is so strong it will tear the paper when you lift it.

DIY Snow Globes

These little snow globes are perfect for the car ride or plane ride and at the park. My kids love to shake these up and look at the glitter over and over and over again. They are really good to hand to your little ones if they are starting to have a melt down – it seems to really calm them down.

SUPPLIES:

Small Jar

Disney Figure

Glitter

Water

Hot Glue Gun

DIRECTIONS:

Hot glue your figure to the inside of the lid.

Fill the jar to the top with water and add glitter.

Run hot glue around the inside rim of the lid and attach to the jar.

Tip up and shake.

If you want to see me make these LIVE, I’ll be on Facebook today, Tuesday May 22nd at 9:30AM with Get Away Today making all three crafts and talking about how to save money on your Disneyland vacation! I hope to see you then!

SVG FILES (click to download):

May 16, 2018 by Sydney Leave a Comment

5 FREE Father’s Day SVG Files – Perfect For Creating Father’s Day Gifts

Some posts may contain affiliate links. For more information please see the disclosure page.

Download these SVG files for FREE and use them to create a Father’s Day gift dad is sure to love!

I don’t know about you, but for me Father’s Day is one of the hardest holidays to shop for. Both my husband and dad are super hard to shop for and I feel like anything I can get them that they would use would cost me a whole lot more than I’m willing to spend (new camera, smoker, vacations, etc.). But one thing dads always need is something to make them laugh and smile.

So one night when I was up late with Mahle I decided to create some fun SVG files that I can put on shirts and coffee mugs for my husband and dad! And because I love you all so much I decided to share the ones I came up with for FREE!

Some of these SVGs are fun, some are funny but all of them are ones you can use to create a Father’s Day gift your dad, step dad, grandpa, husband are sure to love!

If you need ideas of what to put them on, these are my husband’s favorite shirts. They are super soft and don’t shrink in the laundry.

You can also put them on coffee mugs, tumblers, YETIs, custom cards and more!

If you need to buy vinyl or iron on to make your gifts, you can shop at Cricut.com and use code TFRUGAL to save 10% and score FREE shipping!

To download your SVG files, just click the design you like and save. What SVG file are you most excited about? Let me know in the comments!

May 15, 2018 by Sydney Leave a Comment

Disneyland Themed Teacher Appreciation Week

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This post has everything you need to plan your Teacher Appreciation Week including decorations, gifts, activities and more!

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw the craziness that was Teacher Appreciation Week the last few weeks. It was just last week but we started prepping a few months ago and really started getting ready for it a few weeks ago. I’ve had a lot of requests on how we did everything and why we did everything so I thought it would be easiest to put everything in one place.

How To Know What To Do For Teacher Appreciation Week?

When we first started talking about Teacher Appreciation Week we decided on a theme. In the past, the school had done western, decades, favorite things and more but we wanted something different. One of the moms in our PTA meeting suggested Disneyland and we ran with it!

We first decided on the layout for decorations. Our school is a charter school and goes from grades K-9 and we have 4 halls. We assigned each hall a part of the park (Tomorrow Land, Fantasy Land, Frontier Land and Toon Town) and then made our main lobby Main Street USA. We (the PTA board and volunteers) were in charge of the main lobby and the room parents were in charge of decorating the doors for each hall. We sent an email out to the room parents letting them know their theme and when they needed to have their doors decorated by.

In the next meeting, we decided on what activities to do for the teachers, daily themes for gifts and final choices for the Main Street USA decorations.

How Can I Make Teacher Appreciation Week Flow Smoothly and Easily?

The first thing you’ll want to do is get help – lots of help. More help than you think you’ll need because life happens and it’s almost inevitable that you’ll have at least one person cancel for each activity/day.

Secondly, start planning well in advance. Our Teacher Appreciation Week was the first week in May and we started planning in March. By the time May rolled around, we had everything planned and ready to go.

Make getting supplies simple. Ask for donations from parents and make the least amount of trips as possible. We got all the supplies we needed (that weren’t donated) from Dollar Tree, Costco and Zurchers. Zurchers is a great place to get supplies for not only the decorations but for the gifts and activities too!

Now let’s get into the details of what made Teacher Apprecation Week so magical!

Decorations:

Doors:

We don’t have room parents for our Middle School classes so the middle school coordinator and I did the doors for our middle school teachers. We went with Star Wars theme for most of them and they were super easy to make thanks to my Cricut and Zurchers. Did you know Zurchers sells butcher paper?! I just found out and we went in and got several different colors for the doors. They rolled it up for us, then we came home and put together the doors. Then, when it came time to hang the doors, all we had to do was tape them to the doors… easy peasy right?!

I also made a door for our Kindergarten class and a few of the other Toon Town doors since I knew there were some that wouldn’t get decorated (like the aids’ rooms and director’s office).

Main Lobby (Main Street USA):

We designed our lobby just like Disneyland Main Street USA. We made train tracks out of electrical tape on the floor, had railroad crossing signs made out of PVC pipe and wood, a train made out of moving boxes and a HUGE 9 foot Castle.

One of the amazing moms came in and got measurements for our learning center’s doors and windows. She then went home and uploaded the dimensions into Illustrator and added a silhouette of the castle to fit. Then she cast the design with her projector on the wall and used black butcher paper from Zurchers to draw the castle in several smaller sections. We then taped it all together at the school and hung it up with packing tape.

Daily Gift Ideas/Themes:

In one of our meetings we came up with some fun daily themes for teacher gifts to make things a little more fun. We sent out a favorites list (you can download yours here) to all the room parents to give to their teachers and then distribute to all of the parents. We also sent out an email to all the parents with the daily themes. Here’s what we did:

Monday – You’re Teacher Is Incredible – Give Them Something To Power Through The Day

Tuesday – Your Teacher Is A Princess/Prince – Give Them Something Pampering (could be something like lotion/bath bomb, or something like their favorite treat just for them).

Wednesday – Your Teacher Is Goofy – Give Them Something Fun/Funny

Thursday – Mouse-ka-tools – Give Them Something They Can Use In Their Classroom

Friday – Your Teacher Is Out Of This World – Give Them A Stellar Gift.

We made sure the aids got gifts for each day too! Here is a list of what I got our teachers each day as well as what we got the aids.

Monday – I made our teachers these Teacher Fuel Tumblers and added a Sodalicious gift card and their favorite candy. For the aids we gave them a bottle of Gatorade with a granola bar tied to it.

Tuesday – The teachers got nail polish, nail files and $10 Lush gift card. For the aids I made cherry limeade lip scrubs (recipe coming on Thursday). I had some extra lip scrubs so I added them to the teachers gifts last minute.

Wednesday – I found these fun hair ties on Jane.com and got our teachers a set and a $10 Baked Bear gift card (they make AMAZING ice cream sandwiches). The aids got a small popcorn box from the dollar store filled with a bag of popcorn and candy bar.

Thursday – I made our teachers this fun bouquet with EXPO markers from The Happy Scraps. The aids got to pick a few school supplies out of a big basket we filled from the dollar store.

Friday – I went to one of my favorite stores, Lush, and got our teachers Twilight Bath Bombs and EOS lip balms with a gift tag that says You’re The Bomb. For the aids we made Wookie Cookies and gave them Cosmic Brownies.

Activities:

Here is the flyer that we handed out to the teachers. We also included a “punch pass” for the store (I’ll talk about that in a little bit) attached to a lanyard for them to use as their ‘fast pass’. We gave these to the teachers the Friday before Teacher Appreciation Week so they knew what to plan for.

For the breakfast on Monday, we created a sign up and parents brought in everything. We had plenty of extras, we were able to stock their break rooms for the whole week!

On Tuesday we did some of our favorite Disney treats – Churros and Cotton Candy! We ordered a box of frozen churros from Costco for just under $30 and rented a cotton candy machine and bought all the supplies for making cotton candy at Zurchers.

On Wednesday we made Dole Whips. This was my favorite treat of the week and I think it might have been the teachers favorite too!

On Thursday we held our school store. We got supplies from the dollar store (and some of us moms decluttered our house and craft stashes to bring new products for the teachers to buy). They used their punch passes to buy school supplies, beauty supplies, treats, books, movies and more.

Friday was everyone’s favorite day! We started the day by having Star Wars characters from some of the local groups come and welcome the kids into school. You can usually find these groups by searching Facebook and a lot of time they’ll come for free.

Then after school, we had a ‘Luke I’m Nacho Father Bar’ and handed out Jedi Training certificates (download yours FREE here) and candy light sabers.

We made these candy light sabers out of neon test tubes, filled with sixlets and wrapped with light saber wrappers one of our moms made. You can get all the supplies you need for these at Zurchers too.

All in all I would say this week was a total success. Was it a lot of work, yes! But totally worth it! Our teachers take care of our kids 40+ weeks out of the year and do so much for them – the least we could do was spoil them for 5 days.

Does your school go out for Teacher Appreciation Week too? Let me know what you do in the comments!

May 2, 2018 by Sydney Leave a Comment

Fun Star Wars Shirts with Cricut

Some posts may contain affiliate links. For more information please see the disclosure page.

Make these shirts for May The Fourth or anytime you want to show your love for the Star Wars films.

I have to admit, I haven’t always been a Star Wars fan. It wasn’t until we watched Episodes 4-6 with my boys and saw how excited my boys got watching that I really started liking the movies. Since then, every time we walk past the Star Wars toy aisle, or they see a Star Wars movie on TV we have to stop. So I wasn’t the only one excited when Cricut announced their new Star Wars images into Design Space.

It was the perfect time too – since May The Fourth is this week! I made these shirts for my kids and I don’t know who was more excited, me or them! They didn’t take long to make thanks to my Cricut Maker and EasyPress.

I used Cricut’s Foil Iron On for these shirts and you can get all the colors I used here in the Bejewled Sampler. When ordering from Cricut.com, use code TFRUGAL to save 10% and get FREE shipping!

To get these same designs for shirts, pillows, home decor or whatever you want to add them to click here.

Which design are you most excited about?!

April 25, 2018 by Sydney Leave a Comment

5 Quick, Easy & Affordable Mother’s Day Gifts With Cricut Iron On Designs

Some posts may contain affiliate links. For more information please see the disclosure page.

Making custom Mother’s Day gifts is easy and affordable with supplies you can get at Target, Walmart and the Dollar Store and Cricut’s new Iron On Designs.

Mother’s Day is one of those holidays that handmade gifts are definitely preferred to store bought gifts (in my family at least). In the past I have loved making gifts with the kids help, like these hand print flower pots, but now that my kids are older, the time and attention span to make these types of gifts just isn’t there anymore. That’s one of the reasons I was so excited when Cricut released their new Iron On Designs!

What are Iron On Designs?

Iron On Designs are Cricut’s latest innovation that ANYONE can use. You don’t even need a Cricut machine. All you need is an EasyPress or even just your home iron. There are currently over 50 designs available on Cricut’s website with more being added in the future! The best part is they are all less than $5 AND you can use code TFRUGAL to get 10% off and score FREE shipping – meaning you’ll pay $4.50 or less per design!

There are two different sizes of designs, 4.25″ x 12″ and 8.5″ x 12″ and some of the smaller designs have two designs included.

How do Iron On Designs work?

You can use these Iron On Designs on there own or with other Cricut Iron On Vinyl. I used the small flower design with glitter iron on on this Spring sign I made a few weeks ago. The colors are so vibrant and designs are so unique they definitely are cute just on their own too. All of today’s gift ideas I’ll be sharing JUST use the Iron On Designs, nothing else.

To apply the Iron On Designs with your EasyPress – Set your EasyPress to 340°F and 50 seconds. Preheat your surface for 10-15 seconds. Place your EasyPress Mat under the surface you’re pressing. Place your design on your preheated surface and press with medium firm pressure for 50 seconds. On some of the bigger designs you may have to do this in two sections. Flip over your material and heat the back for 15 seconds. Let cool for 1-2 minutes before removing the lining.

To apply the Iron On Designs with your iron – Set your iron to cotton/linen. Preheat your surface for 10-15 seconds. Place your design on your preheated surface and press with medium firm pressure for 50 seconds. On some of the bigger designs you may have to do this in two sections. Flip over your material and heat the back for 15 seconds. Let cool for 1-2 minutes before removing the lining.

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas with Iron On Designs

Now that you know what Cricut’s Iron On Designs are and how to use them let’s get into these gifts we created. All of these were super easy to make and it took me less than 30 minutes to make all 5. You could easily make one in 5 minutes or less. And they are so easy to make, the kids can even help too!

Floral Ampersand Tote Bag w/ Flowers

I picked up this tote on clearance at Walmart for $5. I also got the flowers from Walmart for $4. This bag is made of vinyl, so you’ll want to use a Teflon sheet, or tea towel, to protect the bag while you’re preheating and pressing. Iron On Design used: Floral Ampersand

Bookworm Tote Bag w/ Books

I had a few totes lying around from a project I was working on last year, you can get this same tote on Amazon in bulk or at Hobby Lobby for less than $3. The books I picked up at Dollar Tree – crazy right?! They actually have a really great selection of books and they all are only $1. When you’re pressing this tote, make sure to put the EasyPress Mat, or a towel, in the tote bag as you press or the insides will stick together. Iron On Design used: Bookworm

This Home Is Built On Love & Shenanigans Canvas

This sign is perfect for any mom, especially moms with crazy little boys. I picked up a two pack of canvases at Michael’s for $4. Iron On Design used: This Home Is Built

Good Vibes Only Tee:

This is my new favorite shirt! Yes I totally made a Mother’s Day gift for myself! The design is so fun and it just puts me in a good mood when I wear it! I like to use Next Level Apparel or Bella Canvas shirts, both which you can get on Amazon. Iron On Design used: Good Vibes Only (coming soon to Cricut.com)

Floral Garden Basket:

This would be a great gift for any mom or grandma that likes to garden. I picked up this wooden basket at the Target Dollar Spot, along with the gloves and garden tools. The seed packets I got at Dollar Tree and you can get 4 for $1. Iron On Design used: Flowers

I love that these Iron On Designs can be used by anyone and they are such an easy and affordable way to personalize gifts, shirts, home decor and more! Remember when you’re ordering your Iron On Designs from Cricut.com (or any other supplies) to use code TFRUGAL to save 10% and get FREE shipping!

If you’d like to check out more ways you can use Cricut products check out these posts! Need help with your Cricut? Join our Cricut Support Facebook Group!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

April 13, 2018 by Sydney Leave a Comment

April Showers Bring May Flowers Wood Sign With Iron On Vinyl

Some posts may contain affiliate links. For more information please see the disclosure page.

Make this bright and fun spring sign in minutes with iron on vinyl and the new Cricut Iron On Designs.

Doesn’t it drive you crazy that as soon as you wash your car it seems like it rains the next day?! It drives me nuts and the SAME thing happened when I made this sign. When I was working on this project it was 70° outside, sunny and perfect weather. The next day…. it SNOWED! All I have to say is the flowers in May better be extra beautiful for all the rain and snow we’re getting.

That being said, I love spring time. The trees and flowers blooming, birds chirping, warmer weather and of course more light in the day to do crafts! If you’ve been reading the blog for anytime at all you know how much I LOVE working with Cricut Iron On Vinyl. It’s by far my favorite material to craft with because it’s so easy to work with and the results last.

Did you know you can use iron on vinyl on wood?! Yep, you can and it makes it stand up better to the elements outside. I used glitter iron on for this sign. I started with glitter for the clouds and rain drops and then foil for the wording BUT I had a really hard time getting the foil to stick. So I covered it with glitter and it turned out great!

And you see those flowers down at the bottom? Those are one of the NEW Cricut Iron On Designs! You may have saw the teacher tote bag I shared yesterday with another Iron On Design, and these are quickly becoming my favorite way to personalize gifts, home decor and more.

They are SO easy to use. All you have to do is take them out of the package and iron them on – easy peasy right?! You can use them alone or combine them with other iron on like I did hear to create a custom look. Right now there are over 50 designs available with lots more to come! I’ll be sharing a few more crafts with these in the next few weeks. But for now let me show you how to make this sign!

SUPPLIES:

Wood Shadow Box (I got this one from Joann)

Glitter Iron On (I used silver, blue and pink)

Small Flower Iron On Design

https://design.cricut.com/#/design/new/projects?category=My%20ProjectsCricut EasyPress

StandardGrip Cutting Mat

Essential Tool Set

Cricut Maker or Explore Air Machine

**If you’re ordering supplies from Cricut.com, make sure to use promo code TFRUGAL to get 10% off and score FREE shipping!**

DIRECTIONS:

Open up this design in design space and send it to be cut. Make sure to mirror your image when using iron on vinyl.

Select glitter iron on from the drop down menu of materials.

Load your StandardGrip mat with your iron on vinyl shiny side down.

Cut and weed your designs.

Heat your EasyPress to 340°F.

Preheat wood for 10 seconds.

Line up designs and make sure there is no plastic underneath any of the iron on. You can have plastic touching plastic but if you have iron on vinyl over plastic it will get pressed on to the plastic not the material.

Use EasyPress and press with medium firm pressure for 50 seconds.

Peel glitter iron on right away. Wait 1-2 minutes to peel iron on design.

Hang and enjoy! Every time I see this sign as I walk out our front door it makes me smile and patiently wait for warmer weather with lots of flowers.

If you’d like to check out more ways you can use your Cricut check out these posts! Need help with your Cricut? Join our Cricut Support Facebook Group!

I’m excited to join some super talented bloggers today as part of the Inspire My Creativity Link Party! The second Wednesday of every month (I was a few days late this month) we will be posting our projects and you can link your projects up too!

Shani | Sunshine & Munchkins Anna | Practical and Pretty Ali | Home Crafts by Ali

Cathy | A Boy and His Mom Christine | Swordfights & Starry Nights Meg | The Kusi Life

Candice | She’s Crafty Lauren | A Life of Love and Joy Amy | Leap of Faith Crafting

Jaclyn | The Dotted Nest Victoria | Dazzle While Frazzled Sydney | Tastefully Frugal

Lindsay | See Lindsay Julia | The Quiet Grove Pam | P.S. I Love You Crafts Marie | The Inspiration Vault

Check out the other spring projects these talented ladies made here:

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April 12, 2018 by Sydney 1 Comment

Teacher Appreciation Tote Bag And Tumbler

Some posts may contain affiliate links. For more information please see the disclosure page.

Need some ideas for teacher appreciation week? Check out this fun tote bag and cup and other fun ideas you can score at the Dollar Store. PLUS print your FREE Teacher’s Favorites List and give it to your teacher so you can make sure you gift her things she will love.

Can you believe we’re almost done with school?! I feel like it was just last week I dropped Rohrl off for his first day and now we’re getting ready for teacher appreciation week. Between work, school and family I haven’t had much time to make gifts for his teachers but I wanted to do something special for them.

Before I went out and bought (or made) gifts they wouldn’t like or use, I made this My Favorites List and gave it to them. This way I can actually gift them things they will use! You can download your FREE Checklist here.

After I got their lists back, I headed to Dollar Tree where they actually have a ton of really great gift ideas! I picked up some bath bombs (I picked a few up for me too and they actually are really nice), some coconut oil lotion, their favorite candy and some cute nail files. Because I’m buying for multiple teachers, I feel like I can do more for each teacher at Dollar Tree.

Then I headed home to make this tumbler and gift bag. They both were SO easy to make thanks to my Cricut Maker and EasyPress. The tote bag I actually didn’t even need my Maker for! Have you seen Cricut’s new Iron On Designs?! There are over 50 styles and designs available and all you need to use them is an EasyPress (or an iron).

TOTE BAG

SUPPLIES:

Tote Bag

Iron On Design

Cricut EasyPress and EasyPress Mat

**If you’re ordering supplies from Cricut.com, make sure to use promo code TFRUGAL to get 10% off and score FREE shipping!**

DIRECTIONS:

Heat EasyPress to 340°F

Place EasyPress Mat inside tote bag (this way the tote bag doesn’t get stuck to itself on the inside)

Preheat tote bag for 10-15 seconds.

Place design on tote bag and press with medium firm pressure on EasyPress for 50 seconds.

Turn tote bag over, remove EasyPress mat, and heat for 15 seconds.

Let cool for 1-2 minutes before removing the plastic.

TEACHER FUEL TUMBLER

SUPPLIES:

Tumbler

FREE Teacher Fuel SVG File

Red and Black Vinyl

Transfer Tape

StandardGrip Cutting Mat

Essential Tool Set

Cricut Maker or Explore Air Machine

DIRECTIONS:

Upload Teacher Fuel SVG to Cricut Design Space. Resize to fit tumbler (I had my design at 3.5″ tall)

Send to machine to be cut.

Weed excess vinyl from designs and apply transfer tape.

In layers, apply design to tumbler. I did the black first and then the red.

And there you have it!

I had everything I needed to make the tote and tumbler already so I spent less than $10 per teacher to make these gifts!

If you’d like to check out more ways you can use your Cricut check out these posts! Need help with your Cricut? Join our Cricut Support Facebook Group!

I joined a few of my blog buddies this week to share ways your Cricut Machine can help make Teacher Appreciation Gifts and End Of Year activities easier! Check out all the ideas here:

An InLinkz Link-up

April 4, 2018 by Sydney 1 Comment

Heart Outfit With The New Cricut Patterned Iron On

Some posts may contain affiliate links. For more information please see the disclosure page.

Make a cute coordinating outfit for you little one in minutes thanks to Cricut’s new Patterned Iron On.

I knew as soon as the doctor’s told me I was having a little girl that I was going to have so much fun dressing her up. Don’t get me wrong, I loved dressing my boys in cute outfits too, but there are so many more cute options for girls (and way more cute ways to customize them too). When Cricut released their Patterned Iron On last month, those possibilities grew even more.

Not only are there are a ton of really cute styles but they come together in sampler packs with coordinating colors/patterns. It makes it really easy to make coordinating designs in different patterns.

When I was making this outfit I designed a dress and some nursery art with the Patterned Iron On in mind too, so keep an eye out for those in the coming weeks. You can check out the 9 Patterned Iron On Samplers here.

In addition to this new Patterned Iron On, I’m obsessed with Cricut’s new EasyPress Mat. I talked about it a little bit last week, but seriously guys this is a game changer! It makes applying iron on with your EasyPress much easier and it protects your table (or countertop) from the heat that comes out of your EasyPress. I didn’t really realize how much heat the EasyPress puts out until I felt my counter underneath where I had pressed a few shirts and it burnt my fingers to the touch. Thanks to the EasyPress Mat know I don’t have to worry about my kiddos getting burnt after mama crafts.

Now that you’ve heard all about my obsession, let’s talk about this cute outfit! I love getting my blank tops and leggings for Mahle’s outfits at either Walmart or Old Navy or The Children’s Place when they have a sale. I got this top at Walmart for $2.88 and the leggings are from Old Navy and I think I got them for $3 – so $5 for the whole outfit; not too shabby! Let me show you how easy these were to make.

SUPPLIES:

Cricut Patterned Iron On (I used the Chantilly Patterned Iron On Sampler)

Plain White Shirt (this is the one I used)

Plain Colored Leggings (these are the ones I used)

Cricut EasyPress and EasyPress Mat

StandardGrip Cutting Mat

Essential Tool Set (the weeding tool makes removing the extra iron on SO much easier and the paper cutter is perfect for slicing the heart and dumbell in half)

Cricut Maker or Explore Air Machine

**If you’re ordering supplies from Cricut.com, make sure to use promo code TFRUGAL to get 10% off and score FREE shipping!**

DIRECTIONS:

Open up this design in design space and size your design to fit your shirt. I measured from seam to seam to determine the width for my shirt. Also, measure your leggings from seam to seam to determine how big you need your bigger hearts.

Send your design to the mat. *make sure to Mirror your design.

Select Patterned Iron On in the drop down menu for materials.

Load your Patterned Iron On design side facing your mat and cut design.

Weed excess vinyl.

FOR PATTERNED IRON ON, YOU’LL WANT TO HEAT YOUR EASYPRESS TO 340°F AND PRESS FOR 30 SECONDS ON THE FRONT AND 15 SECONDS ON THE BACK. IT IS ALSO A COLD PEEL. THAT MEANS YOU’LL WANT TO WAIT ABOUT 45 SECONDS AFTER YOUR PRESS YOUR SHIRT TO PEEL THE PLASTIC BACKING OFF. This chart is super helpful for determining the temperature you need based on the material your pressing and the type of iron on.

Once your EasyPress is up to temperature, place your shirt on the EasyPress Mat and preheat the area you’re putting your design for 5-10 seconds.

Line up your hearts and make sure they are equally spaced from the seams.

Press for 30 seconds with medium firm pressure.

Flip your shirt over and press for 15 seconds.

Let cool for 45 seconds to 1 minute and then slowly peel at an angle.

Repeat with the larger hearts on the leggings.

Isn’t Mahle so cute in this outfit?! What Patterned Iron On Sampler are you most excited to try?! Let me know in the comments!

If you’d like to check out more ways you can use your Cricut check out these posts! Need help with your Cricut? Join our Cricut Support Facebook Group!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

SUPPLIES:

DIRECTIONS:

How does Cricut and Simplicity make sewing easy?

What project should I start with?

What else do I need besides my Cricut Maker?

Show Me How Easy It Is To Sew!

SUPPLIES

DIRECTIONS

SUPPLIES:

DIRECTIONS:

Mickey and Minnie Tumblers

SUPPLIES:

PS Use code TFRUGAL10 at Cricut.com to save 10% and get FREE shipping!!

DIRECTIONS:

DIY Autograph Books

SUPPLIES:

DIRECTIONS:

DIY Snow Globes

SUPPLIES:

DIRECTIONS:

SVG FILES (click to download):

How To Know What To Do For Teacher Appreciation Week?

How Can I Make Teacher Appreciation Week Flow Smoothly and Easily?

Decorations:

Doors:

Main Lobby (Main Street USA):

Daily Gift Ideas/Themes:

Activities:

What are Iron On Designs?

How do Iron On Designs work?

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas with Iron On Designs

SUPPLIES:

DIRECTIONS:

TOTE BAG

SUPPLIES:

DIRECTIONS:

TEACHER FUEL TUMBLER

SUPPLIES:

DIRECTIONS:

SUPPLIES:

DIRECTIONS:

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