Searching what can I make with a Cricut? We are sharing our first project that we made with our Cricut with you today.
Have you ever looked at Cricut's? You know, the machine that cuts out vinyl, and paper, and engraves, and does all sorts of neat things?
I went back and forth with myself about whether or not I thought I needed one for several months.
I kept watching them online and looking at them, and trying to decide if I could figure the darn thing out or not?
Then Mr. VS said get it... I know you can come up with all sorts of projects to do with it. I expressed my concerns about how I thought the software may be difficult to use. He said if you can use a CAD program at work, then I think you can figure this out.
I explained how that was different, that was work, this is for play and if I do not have to learn how to use it, then I may decide I do not want to. I continued to go back and forth with myself.
Get it he says... you can learn how to use it he says...
Finally, I did a thing... I broke down on Thanksgiving and ordered one. Oh there was a lot of debating, I actually missed out on one of the sales because I kept debating.
Some decisions for me are no brainers, and then others? I have to make a list... nah, I am not one of those list people, that is too organized... I just make a mental list. Finally I said oh well, what the heck, I will do it, and I did because of one person.
A gal I went to high school with kept sharing all of her lovely projects and I was like ooohhh... ahhhh... I must have one of those! Oh, she has this thing mastered... her projects are lovely... and look professional.
Her projects are the sorts of projects I dream of making...
The actual thing is, will I be able to make the same kind of quality projects? I guess if you stick around, you may find out... or maybe it will be something that ends up in the back of a closet. Shhh... I would never do that, now would I?
Do you know I did not open it right away when it came. I had to let it sit and fester for a bit. My mom made comment, you mean to tell me you do not have that thing out of the box yet? I would have to figure it out as soon as it arrived!
My secret? I was a bit intimidated by the whole thing. LOL. Yes, Cara the fearless one was intimidated by a darn crafting machine! I can tell you folks, not much intimidates me. I have a whole long list of reasons I could share with you of examples, but I will spare you the details.
When I finally opened the box, I went to plug it into my computer and it would not recognize the Cricut. I set it up to update to the latest and greatest software, and I sat there for about 20 minutes and no magic was happening.
I sought out Mr. VS and said I need your help. He did the same thing I did... he said walk away from it and let it do it's thing... maybe it takes longer than you think.
Only... there was no magic happening when I returned about an hour later. I was beginning to think I could not figure it out as I feared, and this was just to get started. I Googled how long it should take for an update and Google said 5-10 minutes. I told him something is definitely wrong.
I finally broke down and called customer service. I was on the phone forever, but in the meantime, I figured out how to sync the Bluetooth, and the Cricut rep found that the cable was bad. She indicated she would send one out in the mail.
I received the cable in the mail, and do you know I still did not hook that darn thing up right away. I let the cable sit there for a few days. I would look at it and think about plugging it in, but then found something else more pressing for me to work on first.
Finally, on Sunday evening I said to the cable, you, me, we're going to make friends and figure this thing out. Yes, I spoke to the cable.... about at this time, you may be thinking this woman has lost her ever lovin' mind. Some days I wonder myself about that statement. HA!
I decided on my first project I would choose one that was free. Snowman it is! Plus, I love snowmen! They are the cutest thing ever with their fluffiness, and hat, and little nose, and do you know this one kind-of smirks too which makes me giggle just a little.
This is how the screen looks when you open the program and pick the snowman, then once I had him selected, I decided to copy and paste two more so I would have a total of three. Probably not the first project most would choose, but it was what I decided on.
I noticed when I looked online, most of the videos showed making a flower sticker for their machine. Only, I will not put a sticker on my machine, so I skipped that part and moved directly on to the good stuff, or what I think is good anyway.
When I finally had my three snowman faces all lined up in a row with the snowflakes around them, I pushed make it! There are a few other things you need to do, but I will not get into all of that because this is my first and only project so far, and I basically know nothing. If some folks want to get into tutorials, I will need to do a little more figuring out of what all this thing can do.
I fully intend to figure it out, but I do not see tutorials being my strong suite, more the projects... you know, the good stuff we love to see and share. I just wanted you to get an idea of how the program looks.
I will go ahead and say there are so many pieces and parts to this machine. There is the vinyl you have to purchase for those projects, then there are the weeding tools you need to pull the vinyl pieces off, then there is the sticker part (something I was unaware of, Mr. VS had to tell me this part) that keeps your project all together, and you need a scraper to transfer it to whatever you are putting your vinyl on. In my opinion, the list is endless.
My husband left to run an errand and took peanut with him, and when he came back, I had it all cut and was weeding out the vinyl pieces and placing them on my clear glass ornaments. This is when he tells me I am supposed to use the sticker, blah, blah, blah... then I hear of course, you probably would not be able to use that on a rounded object...
So I think to myself victory! I have completed my first project even if I did not use this sticker thing he is talking about! I took it as my win for the day and decided to keep moving along with my weeding and basically putting stickers on ornaments.
Of course, there is always some kind of drama when I do a project. I dropped one of the eyes and do you know, I was not able to find it. I searched high and low for the eye, crawling down on the floor on all fours, up under the dining room table, looking on the bench seat, on the table, and everywhere else in my immediate working area... since I had already began the project... I came up with an alternative fix and removed the whole face sticker and stuck it on the ornament and called it done.
I guess time will tell if this machine and I will get along or not. I have my fingers crossed we do and I get to implement all of the projects my creative brain can think up! How awesome will that be?
I can get pretty creative when I have the time to do so. I am looking forward to seeing what projects I can dream up after the holidays. There is just too much going on with getting ready for Christmas, and peanut being the handful he has been lately, and figuring out Christmas menus, and the shopping, and wrapping (yeah, I know I am running behind this year for some reason on wrapping!), and all of the regular life stuff like working. BLAH! So much to do, and so little time to get it all completed.
These babies are far from perfect, but overall I am happy with my first project. Now I need to take some online classes, they offer them through Cricut, and watch a few You Tube videos, and see what magic we can make around here. Fingers crossed it goes well!
Are you almost finished with decorating, or are you still working on it? I feel so behind this year for some reason. I am usually more on the ball with things. Oh well, it's life, it keeps getting in the way of my plans! Hope you enjoy your weekend! I know I am really looking forward to maybe a little R&R... I say that all of the time, and then I end up running around busy from the wee hours of the morning until I crash into bed.
Oh, I nearly forgot to ask, what do you think about the first project? Let's hope I can get a handle on it and keep the creative juice flowing! Interested in other projects we have worked on? Click to read:
