Thursday, January 5, 2012

Exploring Cricut Daily Project - Snowflakes

Hi Guys! Today I have a project that is so simple and using items you probably have around the house. All the Christmas decorations are down and the snowmen and snowflake decorations are being put out. I needed something for my table and of course the Cricut came to the rescue. I remember doing projects with wax paper when I was little so I began my search. Of course, Martha Stewart had a great idea. I thought it was so pretty and hope you do too.

I took a picture of different lighting sources just so you could see which one you might like if you try the project.
LED battery lights
Tea lights


I was just planning on doing the table decoration, but the bag would be so fun for baked goods or just any present you might have.


This is one of the glass hurricanes that I used for the project. 


I chose the snowflake image from the Christmas Solutions. This is the layout that I made on the Cricut. The snowflakes were cut at 1.5". I filled up the page as I wasn't sure how many I would need for the 3 hurricanes. I ended up needing one and a half  12 x 12 sheets for the hurricanes and a half  12 x 12  sheet for the bag. If you do not have a gypsy you could also pick your image and hit the button auto fill. This will fill your page with as many as will fit on a 12 x 12 sheet for the size you've chosen.


This is what the images look like after they are cut for the hurricanes. I will say it was time consuming to get all the little pieces out of the snowflakes, but well worth it. The bag's snowflakes are just as pretty with the shadow feature. However, I do think for the hurricanes it is nice to have all the light shining through the cuts.

Here are the directions to fuse the wax paper:

These are the snowflakes used for the hurricanes.

I laid the grocery bag down first, then the wax paper and placed the snowflakes randomly. 


I then placed the next sheet of wax paper over the snowflakes. Make sure that both sheets of wax paper are cut to the same size. 


The next grocery bag was placed over the wax paper.


Lastly, the iron is set to the highest setting (no steam). I ironed over the bag to fuse the wax papers together with the snowflakes in between.

The wax paper is then trimmed to fit around the hurricane. Per Martha, you can measure the outer diameter, multiply by pi --3.14 and add 1/2" for overlap.  The wrap is then secured using double sided tape. The easiest way to do this is to place a strip the length of one of the edges of the paper. Begin wrapping with the side that doesn't have the tape. Adhere the taped side to the non taped side.

Another nice thing about this project is that the tape is not attached to the glass, so you can still use the hurricane for future uses.

Snowflake Bag:


I then switched to Tags, Bags, Boxes and More and chose the image on page 128 to cut. This bag was cut at 10.86". 


I added snowflakes from Christmas Solutions, but this time I used the shadow feature of the same snowflake I used for the hurricanes.  As you can see from the picture, I layed the snowflakes out before cutting the bag to assess how many I might need.  I then grouped the snowflakes together and opened a new page to copy them in. I cut the snowflakes first and ironed them onto the wax paper. Once that was done, I cut the bag out with my Cricut. I set my Cricut blade to 4, speed 3 and pressure 4 (this is the setting I use for vellum too). 

So there you have it. If you have any questions please let me know:)

Recipe:
Wax Paper
White Paper
Grocery bags
Glass Hurricanes
Double sided Tape
Iron
Snowflakes - Christmas Solutions 1.5"
Bag - Tags, Bags, Boxes and More 10.86"
Tea lights or LED battery operated lights
Ribbon

Thank you for stopping by!
Annette

6 comments:

Sharon said...

WOW!!! These are awesome!!! Love them! :)

Diane said...

I love your beautiful project and so glad you shared with us!

Unknown said...

So cute and so clever! I love it! I have everything here that I would need to try this! Thanks for sharing a great idea.

Scrapping Girl said...

Annette, what a great project! Nice step by step instructions! I love the way the it looks with the tea lights lit-so pretty!

Kate said...

I LOVE your projects! I especially like the bag. Thanks so much for the instructions, too. (I tried to make the bag, but it doesn't seem to work with our Canadian wax paper. Too bad, as your bag is so beautiful!)

BeanBugCrafts said...

I love this idea for both the hurricane globes and the gift bags. I'm having a Winter "One"-derland party for my daughter and may have to put the bags on the list of things to do! Thanks for sharing!