When I show someone something I've made, even someone who is admittedly crafty, and has a Cricut, I hear the same thing over and over.
"Mine is still in the box."
Is yours in the box?
Is it sitting in a corner of a room, draped in clothes or magazines, so you don't have to look at it?
Or worse, is it sitting on your craft table OUT of the box, taunting you?Â
I GET IT.Â
It's intimidating.Â
It's machinery.Â
Somewhere inside, there is a knife...
There are all sorts of reasons you can talk yourself out of getting started.
I am here to tell you, that you must just dive in. I wanted my Cricut so very badly when I got it, and when I finally got it I looked at it skeptically and thought now that I have you, WHAT am I going to do with you? I was determined not to let it sit in the back of my closet with the sewing machine. Ahem. Pun intended.
The answer, my friends, is everything. Plug it in. Turn on the power button, and press the open button. You know what happens?
IT OPENS! Not only does it open, it has the nicest, smooth and slow open mechanism. If it made a noise (which is doesn't), it would go swoosh. It's become one of those tiny joys in my life. Go into the craft room, open the Cricut, and watch it happily spring to life. "What are we makin' today?"
When you plug it in, you have to go through some minor setup, but the Cricut website walks through those baby steps really really well. Everyone on the website is happy all the time, in a way that would be irritating if they weren't so daggone helpful.Â
BUT, when you are done, you are ready....and then you just need to face your demons, and a blank screen in Design Space.
It's ok. You don't even have to come up with an idea on your own...that will happen later when you become friends. Cricut has a tutorial when you first set it up, and it walks you through making a phone card (at least it was this project when I got my machine).Â
When I finished that card, I WAS PROUD. I felt empowered. I tried a few of the pre-set projects in Design Space. Admittedly, some were easier than others, and the place where I really struggled was with instructions. Cricut was great at video tutorials for basic setup and tool use, etc. But how do I know how to put together the baby elephant card once I have conquered cutting all of the pieces out.
That's where I come in, and other craft bloggers, and YouTubers. The first thing I do is search for a YouTube video for a specific project if it looks complicated and there are surprisingly few of them...and also, Cricut is always coming up with new designs. Once you do a few projects, you'll realize that a lot of the steps are the same. And one day, you'll want to make something specific, like gnome placecards (coming soon to this blog), and you'll check Design Space for a project, and when you come up empty, you will say to yourself, I CAN DESIGN MY OWN. And then, my friends, you have arrived.
So, my commitment to you is that I will show you construction when I put together a project. I will show you how I change things to make them work, or make them work for me. I will act as a resource, and hold your hand when I can.
But first, YOU HAVE TO OPEN THE BOX.Â
*My resources tab contains links to some of my favorite items, once you get the swing of things. Many links are affiliate links, and if you make any purchases, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. If you do make any purchases, thank you in advance for your support of this blog. We will get through this together and do many things that make us happy. 🙂
Today's mandatory activity is a Cricut Tutorial for the design and construction of lovely little succulent placecards for the wedding of two friends that we adore. Isn't it one of the best feelings in the world when two people you love decide to wed? When they told us the good news, I did something highly uncharacteristic of myself...I WOKE A SLEEPING CHILD to tell him the good news. This flies in the face of all good sense, but I was that excited. The next thing I did was immediately start thinking about all of the beautiful things I wanted to make and create for the special day. To my delight, all of my suggestions were accepted, and welcomed (and I don't think I pushed any ideas down their throats!) This is the first tutorial in what is likely to be a small series, because I will be creating a number of goodies for the decor and reception. Â
Rustic wedding decorations are easily my favorite to conceptualize and construct. I think they jive with my personal aesthetic really well, so when I have a bride who has given me free reign, that is when my heart goes pitter pat, when I can make something that I want to make, instead of having to try to figure out someone else's vision.Â
For the purposes of this post and accompanying tutorial, I created 2 different rustic options with the same succulent image, so I could show you a few different techniques in Cricut Design Space, like adding a background to a print then cut image, and welding pieces together.Â
Additionally, I will walk you through Canva, which I now use to design everything.  When I started designing my blog, I was really really stuck. Not only did I not know how to start a website, or design and website (or a logo, or branding, or thumbnail images for videos, etc...you get the idea), I found Canva. I think it really saved me, or at the very least accelerated my timetable for launching this blog significantly! Now that I am familiar with Canva, it's my go-to for all of the photos and elements and backgrounds I need for blog posts AND project designs.
https://youtu.be/ibnjmnAi2HY
If you'd like to see the full tutorial on the design and construction of these placecards, I have linked the YouTube tutorial above.
Below is a list of materials I used for this project. Many of the links are affiliate links. If you make purchases through these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. If you do, thank you in advance for your support of this blog.
Cricut machine: If you don't have one, you will want the bundle in order to have all of the mats and tools needed to get you going!
Canva for design and images
Finally, my bone folder is a Martha Stewart Crafts bone folder...it's the pink one, embellished with rhinestones because I was feeling a little "extra" the day I purchased. Any bone folder will do nicely for paper projects, but if you love mine it's still available at a few stores (although, as I'm writing this, it's out of stock most places, but with the ability to notify you when it's back in stock).
Next up, let's get some table numbers and food selections on the back of these placecards to help streamline the flow at the reception!
It's easy to feel like you don't have time to do something "frivolous", especially during the holidays when a hundred other things all need to be done at the same time, but this adorable napkin fold literally took me 30 seconds. I typically try to pull off a cute napkin fold for the holidays, and I'm also typically planning ahead well enough that I don't need to worry too much about last minute folds...but this year, that didn't happen. It was Christmas DAY, and I was frantically ironing my napkins trying to think of what might be an easy fold. I've done trees, and elf booties (look for future blog posts on those!) but didn't think I had time for either. I pulled out a book my son got me about 4 years ago, and it's become kind of my bible for napkin folds. Even if I can't find a fold that I like, I often find a technique that helps me make my own easier adjustment. In this case, I just followed the instructions, and voila!
Once I realized how easy it was, I ran up to the filming studio and filmed for 3.5 minutes and folded 2 napkins while stammering a little along the way. So, rest assured, I didn't spend hours and hours practicing my napkin fold so I could perform on camera...this is an easy one. I literally ran out of the kitchen (if you listen closely in the video, you can hear my husband moving dishes around while cooking Christmas dinner). This is definitely a post that lends itself better to a visual tutorial, so watching the video below is probably your easiest bet!
Until next time, do what makes you happy.
https://youtu.be/y0fwcCd2Ywg
I recently bought a couple of Amazon gift cards for Christmas gifts, and they are BIG. They're super-cute, but come in tin containers, or dressed as ornaments, or snowmen, or similar large non-rectangular or non-pocket-sized items.Â
I didn't want to just plop them in the mail, because once it was opened, it would be immediately apparent what the gift was. I briefly considered putting them in a gift bag, but then decide that if I were a curious child and wanted to know what's good, I'd probably peek...
So, I went to Cricut to find a structure large enough to put this gift card into, and perhaps even large enough to disguise what it might be (and something that didn't look like an envelope, well, because).Â
I'll paste the video below in case you would prefer to watch it instead of reading this post, BUT if you'd like to hear the saga, I'll continue below.
https://youtu.be/nbQx-KJqWQU
I fumbled around in Cricut Design Space for a bit until I found something that looked like it would work, if it were a little larger. As I said in the video, a large gussetted envelope would be kind of perfect.Â
I resized the project, felt pretty good about it, went happily along my way with cutting out pieces and selecting pretty Christmas paper, and then went to the assembly table. And I got THIS.
The white arrow is pointing at the smaller piece of the gift card holder, the red piece. The blue arrow is pointing at the REST of the gift card holder. Clearly, something was very very wrong. I assumed that I had made some sort of error when I resized the project. I must have done something stupid like resized the big piece but not the little one, right? WRONG
Unless I'm totally missing something (and the assembly video will take you through me thinking I've lost my mind trying to figure out what I did), I think the answer is that the Cricut file was just not correct in the first place. It does happen. It's also equally likely that it was supposed to be constructed in some other way and I just didn't figure that out. But honestly, I turned it every which way I could, and didn't see one. If it exists and I missed it, chances are one of you did too!
One of the reasons I wanted this blog to include Cricut tutorials, is because when I first got my Cricut machine, I was a little stunned by the lack of instructions that came with the design space files. I think I have determined that the old days of Cricut cartridges for images also included some instructional information that simply didn't make it's way through to the online access of Design Space. Â
In any event, after some significant tinkering, and a return visit to the original file (to make sure I hadn't resized it and screwed it up in THAT process), I decided that this was the issue:Â
THE SEAM IS IN THE WRONG SPOT
In the first pic below, you can see how the original file looked, and in the second pic below, you can see I just needed to move the score marks down to the end of that smaller piece of paper! (The tutorial video has decent details on how to take off the original score marks and put the new ones in place).
In the end, I got a very successful outcome, and a project I was proud of, and happy to send off as a gift!
Some links below are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. If you do, thank you in advance for your support of this blog.
Here are the items used in this project:
If you don't have a Cricut, you'll want the bundle, which includes some mats and basic materials. Links to my favorite Cricut resources are on my resources tab, here. I also have a post dedicated to what you need to get started with Cricut, you can read that here: What Do You Need to Get Started with Cricut?
The paper pack used is Carta Bella, Christmas Delivery
The glue I absolutely adore is Art Glitter glue. Links to the glue and the small refillable glue bottles I like, are also on my resources tab.
Finally, my bone folder is a Martha Stewart Crafts bone folder...it's the pink one, embellished with rhinestones because I was feeling a little "extra" the day I purchased. Any bone folder will do nicely for paper projects, but if you love mine it's still available at a few stores (although, as I'm writing this, it's out of stock most places, but with the ability to notify you when it's back in stock).
Until next time, do what makes you happy.
2019 was a terrible year with a lot of personal challenges, and a lot of loss. One of the most impactful losses was the loss of my Dad in August. It was sudden, it was awful, and despite being in seemingly excellent physical condition, he was taken from us too soon.Â
I've lost both of my parents in the last 5 years, and there is a very clear sense of life-is-too-short at the moment. This is my first blog post on my new blog, A Mandatory Activity. I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time, but I've been busy, and honestly, I've been too scared. The prospect has been daunting. I've never made a website, I've never edited a video, I've never even really had a proper camera...but I have always scurried off to my happy place to make things for people (cards, gifts, crafts, cookies, cakes), and things that make me happy (that list is the same, duh). It's a part of my life that has been fulfilling because I enjoy those things, AND I enjoy making people happy. When I give someone something that I made, and that I enjoyed making, and it makes them happy in return, it's a double win. I want more of that from my life.
BUT, now is the time. Life IS too short, and there's frankly no time to be scared anymore. I bought a camera, a new computer, some soft box lights, several tripods, some editing software, a domain name, and have been watching back-to-back You Tube videos to try to teach myself how to start a WordPress blog from scratch (if you're reading this, yay! It worked). I'm also trying to do it right. I don't want to put out content that I don't think is helpful, or at the very least, amusing. I've been quietly creating in my craft room, and in my kitchen, for years and years, and I've learned some things along the way. I have stuff to share with you guys, I just need to get over having an ego of any sort, and let you see it all. I don't want the video and blog posts to be so polished that you can't tell it took a bazillion edits to get it right. Life isn't clean, and life isn't Instagram, but life does present us with many learning opportunities. I took some of them, and I'm going to share some of them.Â
Something else happened in 2019 that was less sad, and somewhat more curious in terms of timing. I've been decorating cookies and cakes for years (as a hobby, just to be clear, I have a full time job and a family I adore), but this year was the year when not one, not two, and not even three unrelated people asked if they could just come over and watch me decorate cookies. (?) And I got to thinking, do more than three people want to watch me decorate cookies? If I can figure out the delivery vehicle and the techie stuff for which I have basically no prophiciency...then I can make this work. And if I make it work, and do it myself, I will feel like I've taken a giant step into framing my own future. I don't know what it will hold, but I hope that I'm reading this in 5 years and thinking back to how terrified I am at this moment, on the precipice of letting people into my life in a way that is hopefully meaningful for us all.
Please subscribe to the mailing list, because I hope you'll join me for the journey. Fingers crossed.
It's All in the Wrist Roll-On Perfume
by Dayna
I'm All Gears Soap
by Michael Wills II
