Little Jo asked Santa to bring her a hair dryer for Christmas. Maybe she is going to be a hairstylist when she grows up because she loves using that thing. To go with it, I decided to put a mirror in her room. On a recent shopping trip to IKEA, I bought a plain mirror that would fit in the space and decided to decorate it. While Santa was visiting our house, he left me a Cricut Expression
machine. I hadn’t had a chance to really use it since Christmas so I thought this would be the perfect project. Oh what fun!
I ordered some pink vinyl to use. First, I selected the shapes I wanted. The Cricut Paisley cartridge
had just what I needed: a purse, a hair dryer and a cute saying. Since I am really fairly new at using the Cricut and tend to mess up the size thing sometimes, I cute my shapes out of scrap paper first and placed them on the mirror how I liked them before going to the vinyl.
Cutting the vinyl and using it was just as easy. I kept reading about this transfer tape to go with the vinyl. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why on Earth I would need to buy that as well. I now know and will share that knowledge with you right here. You need it to transfer images. Yes, just like the name implies. If you are cutting fairly small images like I did then you can do without it. However, if you are going to try and cut a large image to affix to your wall, I would highly suggest having it. I had a little bit of trouble getting my “just be you” phrase on the mirror without it sticking to itself.
I think my first vinyl cutting project turned out really cute and as you can see, Little Jo loves it as well! I would love to hear any vinyl cutting tips you might have or, even better, seeing some project pictures! Please add them to our Flikr group!
24 comments so far:
Cute project! I received a Cricut Create for Christmas and I love seeing ideas for it…I’m such a Cricut noob! So far I’ve only cut about 100 letters for my daughter’s school projects.
Please tell me…. what did you use to cut out WHOLE words? I am new to Cricut and it has been driving me crazy that I can only seem to find cartridges that cut out single letters in cursive. I want whole words cut. So I’d love to know what you used for that part! Thanks
The cartridge that I used had that particular phrase on it. A lot of the cartridges will have a phrase or word associated with each button as well as the picture. There is usually a page in the included instruction book that shows them all or the page for that button will show you the phrase or word as well. You can’t choose what it is but they always relate to the style of cartridge. So, you wouldn’t find a Merry Christmas phrase on a Disney princess cartridge, for instance. I hope that makes sense!
Oh, that is so special! I love it!
I had trouble cutting letters large enough to fit the space I needed using the circut but found a great site that can do it reasonably priced and just the size and style I needed. They even let you design and preview online before you buy. Thanks for the mirror idea… I am definitely going to try it.
I have a cricut and love it. I do NOT use cartridges. I bought sure-cuts-alot program and use my computers. the program is around$80 but I can use it for any font that is on my computer. it will also import and cut just about any graphic that you can find on the internet.
I do not use transfer tape. I use blue painter tape or making tape that i have that is not to sticky.
contact paper also works, wall paper, find a sign making shop and go in and ask them for vinyl. I got rolls of it from a shop that was going to throw a bunch in the trash. it was too old for them to use with their customers. But worked great for me. If nothing else you should be able to buy it cheaper at the sign shop. JoAnn fabrics will let you use the coupon on vinyl but not Micheal’s
@Melissa R. – Cricut makes software called Cricut Design Studio. You connect your machine to your computer with the USB cable and you can print out images designed on the computer, including “welding” the letters together to form a complete word. I just bought the software but haven’t used it yet.
PS – So far it’s only available for the PC…not Mac.
cricut design studio only works with the cartridges. so if you do not have the cartridge for that item it will not cut. if you already have lots a cartridges that might be the way to go. if new I would get sure-cuts-alot.
I sold my 6 cartridges on craigslist and only use sure-cuts-alot.
Thanks so much for the tips on alternatives to the transfer tape and alternate sources for the vinyl. @ggal I had heard about the Cricut Design Studio and would love for you to give us an update after you have used it. I would also like to see more project ideas for the vinyl if you all have any to share.
ggal, thanks, I already have the design studio and I was upset to discover you have to have the cartridges. It’s basically useless. BUT if you are saying you can “weld” letters together I will have to try to find that feature, that would make me SO happy!
Kris, I will look into that sure-cuts-alot, thanks SO much for telling us about it!
This is another cute idea! I love my cricut and have used it to add to mirrors, painted wood plaques, cards and the list goes on. You made a great gift for a budding hair stylist!
I have a mac and cannot use the Cricut Design Studio, but would be interested to see if Sure-cuts-alot is Mac compatible.
By the by…I LOVE your website. You always have fun ideas and I know that if I’m in a bind, I can usually come to your website and find an idea or get inspired somehow. THANK YOU!
BreAn, thank you so much for your nice comment! We love to hear that we inspire others to be creative, it’s why we do what we do! I have some silver metallic vinyl now that I am trying to figure out where to use. Let me know if you have an inspiring idea!
sure-cuts-alot does have a mac version
I LOVE my cricut!!! I have used it even more since being blessed with the Make the Cut software. It’s a lot like Sure-cuts-a-lot—but for me it was a little less costly, more user friendly,customer service is fab and they are continually updating it. (making it even better) Be so blessed!
Have you tried the glass etching? You still cut out the vinyl, but use it as a stencil instead to chemically etch your design in the glass…I bought a mirror, but haven’t actually tried the etching yet!
Hi Jennifer. We have done a couple of glass etching projects before (wine glasses and an apothecary jar) but we haven’t yet used the Cricut to create stencils for etching. Great idea, though! We actually have another glass etching project coming soon, so stay tuned
I used the Cricut to cut stencils out of contact paper for etching votive candle holders. The only difference I noticed between the contact paper and the vinyl was the cost! I did try a mirror, but rushed the process, so it didn’t turn out quite as well as I had hoped. I have also made stencils to etch names onto glass coffee cups. Sure Cuts A Lot makes the possibilities of the Cricut endless.
Shannon, I am not going to have to try the contact paper. Thanks for the tip!
Hello, I was wondering if anyone knew of a good website tutorial on how to make a popcorn and cranberry Christmas tree garland, preferably with images? I was wanting to make this a new family tradition
If not I still love this website (lol). Great ideas and projects!
~Melanie
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD A PROGRAM ON YOUR COMPUTER FROM SURE CUTS A LOT FOR JUST A FEW DOLLARS OVER THE COST OF ONE CARTRIDGE AND THEN DOWNLOAD ALL THE FONTS YOU WANT. ALSO TRY VINYLEXPRESSIONS.COM FOR YOUR VINYL; THEY HAVE THE BEST PRICES AND THE SERVICE IS GREAT
I agree with the sure cuts a lot – great program. Another great place for vinyl and glass etching supplies is http://www.PrintOnit.com. We get most of our vinyl supplies there and they have an amazingly friendly and helpful staff.
oi como vai
queria saber aonde vende a maquina de cortar letras que vc usou se puder me responda
obrigado. marcia cristina
Oi marcia. Nós usamos uma Cricut para cortar as cartas. Você pode encontrá-los na Amazon.com