Crafting with Cricut!!

I absolutely love my Cricut. It is the most amazing thing to ever be invented. Besides a self loading and unloading dishwasher. Does that exist? Somebody needs to get on that.

Anyway, to put it simply the Cricut is a die cutting machine. (But it is SOOOOOOOO much MORE than that!!!) Before this came about, we used something that looked like this

or this 

which required hand cranking and lots of time. 

Thank goodness the lovely people at Provo Craft developed the Cricut. It does it for you!!

You just stick the paper on the mat and the machine cuts it out. Here is a great video about the Cricut Expression. 

from YouTube.

So I had a brainstorm this summer about my classroom. I really wanted to do a rainbow color theme with a black background. I looked everywhere for some ABCs that had a black background that didn't require me to spend exorbitant amounts of money on black ink in my printer. Okay, so extra exorbitant amounts of money more so than I already do. I found some adorable ones on TpT and I really wanted them but then I looked over and saw my Cricut in my craft corner

I have a Cricut Expression that I LOVE!! Cricut has a new machine called Cricut Explore that I am DYING to have, but let's face it...I'm a teacher. That's not gonna happen anytime soon. 

and it was like, "BAM!" Major idea!! I'll just make my own.

So I did!

I made a list of the letters and some picture ideas. Then I pulled out all my cartridges and started looking through the little books to see what pictures I could use. I decided to use black cardstock as the backing and Astrobrights paper for the colors. They have such great paper and the colors really pop against the black. The paper is fabulous for the Cricut mats. I pulled out all the paper I had and got to work.

Here is a list of the cartridges and which pictures I used:

Cricut Classic Font
I cut out all the letters using this cartridge on the 4 inch setting. Real Dial Size was off for every cut.

A Child's Year
Aa   p. 49 Apple, 4 3/4"
Dd   p. 63 Dog, 5 1/2"
Vv   p. 50, Violin, 3"
Ww p. 46, watermelon, 2 1/4"

Life's a Beach
Bb   p. 81, ball, 4 3/4"
Cc   p. 72, crab, 4 3/4
Ff    p. 46, Flamingo, 6" or p. 46, flower, 4"
Ll    p. 56, lizard, 5 1/2"
Oo  p. 54, octopus, 5"
Qq  p. 71, question mark, 4 3/4"
Ss   p. 44, sun, 5 1/4"
Uu  p. 59, umbrella, 5 1/4"

New Arrival
Ee   p. 112, Elephant, 5"
Mm p. 104, moon and hat, 5"
Rr   p. 109, rattle, 5"

Paper Doll Dress Up
Gg   p. 49, ghost, real dial size off
Ii     p. 42, island, real dial size off
Xx   p. 49, skeleton, real dial size off; also need to cut out one blackout doll shape

Designer's Calendar
Hh   p. 29, heart, 5"
Jj     p. 36, jester hat, 4"
Kk  p. 30, kite, 5 1/4"
Tt    p. 39, tree, 5 1/4"

Playtime, Cricut Lite
Pp   Pig, 5 1/4"

Made by me: (primarily because I didn't have what I wanted on the cartridges, but I am actively searching for new ones)
Nn   I made a nest by cutting thin strips of brown paper and cutting out white eggs freehand. I arranged the brown strips to look like a nest.

Yy   Yellow square. I just cut out a yellow square. I am looking for yarn, yo-yo, or yak. 

Zz     Zigzag. I just cut out a zigzag from scrap paper. I am looking for a zebra, zucchini, zipper, etc. Or zeppelin!

After cutting this is what I have: 

Aren't they so bright and fun?!?!?!?

Some of the cutouts you have to glue the layers together like the crab and watermelon. Also, use a marker to outline some eyes, ears, or mouths. Like on Mr. Crab up there I outlined his mouth with a red marker so it's a little more visible. You don't have to. It's up to you.

I attached the majority of the cutouts using a Xyron Creative Station that I got for 1/2 off at Michael's. SCORE!!

It makes stickers and such. It's so simple to use. Just insert the cutout face up in the front, turn the crank, and viola!! It comes out the back in a ready made sticker. 

Peel of the front plastic and you are left with the cutout with a sticky back. 

Stick everything on the cards and you are ready to roll!

I love how it came out and I have gotten such great compliments!! Thanks so much!! 

I had so much fun and can't wait for my next project. I'm gonna start to work on some number cards with tens frames. Or dominoes. Or a birthday board. I'm so excited!!

Hope this inspires you to create something! 

Happy Sunday!

Jessica

PS Cricut is hosting a contest through July 30 for creative projects. Just upload a picture to Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook with the tags #imadeit and #cricut.