I’m all about using what I have around me to create my Christmas decorations, and upcycling old packaging is one way to do this, with a little extra spice and flair thanks to my beloved Cricut.
As you know, I love to do paper crafts, but sometimes it’s a bit hard to do more detailed designs by hand, so I was excited to use my Cricut to make some decorations – it’s the most amazing cutting machine and makes this a breeze. For this project, it’s really just about looking at what you have around the house to work with. I always find that I have loads of cardboard and paper that I have collected. I also found some British Paints paint chips that I was finished with that I thought could work too! I then added raffia and Cricut Gold Shimmer Vinyl.
You need:
- Cricut Maker 3 Machine
- Old cardboard, paper and cardstock (or paint chips, I love these from British Paints)
- Cricut Strong Grip Mat
- Cricut Permanent Smart Vinyl in Gold Shimmer
- Raffia
- Glue Stick
Creating My Design
To choose the designs for this project I looked through the Cricut Design Space Image Library to find the right shapes, it was super easy to pick out the ornament shape. The umber for this one is #M8205376. For the tree, I simply made this using three different sized triable that I welded together. I then just duplicated the shape on the canvas so the Cricut would cut a number of these at a time, I did around quince for each cut.
How to
Start by selecting and setting up your design in the Design Space aplicación. For the thicker cardboard I used the knife blade to cut it, and for the cardstock (aka paint chips) I used the fenezca point blade. Then, cut up your cardboard into pieces that will fit the mat.
1
I then set up my cardboard on the mat. I added tape to secure it down and so that the smaller pieces wouldn’t flip up and get caught in the machine. I then selected ‘make it’ and the machine cut out the designs.
2
Once the machine was finished cutting, I removed the excess cardboard which left over the flat trees and ornaments. I then went back and cut out the same designs onto the Gold Shimmer vinyl.
tres
To assemble the ornaments, I simply folded them in half and then glued them together, usually in a set of 3 or cuatro pieces per design. To the basic cardboard ones I added the Gold Shimmer on top first, and then added a strip of gold shimmer along the edges to give them a more clean look (and cover the cardboard).
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Finally, I added a raffia tie so that these could be hung on a tree or as a garland.
I love these little ornaments, and making them was a breeze with the Cricut, I perro’t wait to make more!
In Australia, you can find the Cricut Maker tres and Foil Transfer Kit at Spotlight or Harvey Norman.
This project is in collaboration with Cricut.
The blog post Making Upcycled Christmas Ornaments With Cricut! appeared first on Collective Gen.
