Cricut Make It Now Project: Christmas Pen Art

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I use my Cricut Explore mainly for scrapbooking but have been trying some new things with it for the Holidays.

I love the Make It Now projects in Cricut Design Space and decided to make the Christmas Pen Art Project.

                                   

I love the writing feature in Design Space.  I use it to add journaling to my scrapbook pages.  This project uses pens for Christmas Subway Art.  

I used Pilot Precise V5 Pens in my pen holder and love the very fine line that they draw. 

This project was very quick to do - the longest part was gluing the 5 layers of letters together.  

And that didn't even take that long.  I added some glitter that I had in my stash to the word "Joy",  then I glued the letters on top of the written words on my background sheet.  

I've had this frame sitting in a closet for a while now. 

I took out the glass and the mat so my popped-up project would fit inside it. 

After gluing together the pieces of the Poinsettia, I added a piece of CTMH Foam Tape to the back so it would pop up from my page. 

I added a CTMH Gold Bling Gem to the centre of the Poinsettia.

Here is my finished project - I cut a piece of Recollections Holiday Cardstock down to 8x10 to fit my frame and the  Recollections Red & Green cardstock used in this project came in a coordinating pack. 

Cricut Make It Now Disney Fund Jar Project

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. 

I was scrolling through the Make It Now projects in Cricut Design Space and found this cute Disneyland Fund Jar Project.  

Since Close To My Heart is holding Convention at Walt Disney World next summer I decided to make this.  It will be fun to toss my loose change in and see how much I can save up by next June.

There are so many great Make It Now projects in Design Space.  

Since I own the Mickey and Friends cartridge I didn't need to purchase any images.

I resized the pieces by selecting customize then putting in the right size for my jar.

I used an old Mason Jar and attached my pieces with adhesive.  I skipped the step that has each piece attached together on the ends with string or floss.  I added a ribbon from my stash and threw in a Loonie (Canadian Dollar) to get my Disney Fund started.  

Cricut Explore Make It Now Happy Day Scrapbook Layout

Here is another Make It Now scrapbook page from Cricut Design Space.  I love how this page turned out - I am loving this software and machine!

Here is the Make It Now project page in Design Space.

And here is my finished page.  

The solid cardstock is all CTMH:

Pacifica, Sky (retired), Canary, Sorbet & White Daisy & Pear.

I sponged Sorbet ink on the edges of the Butterflies.

I used some yellow chalk on the sun and light blue chalk on the white clouds.

I used CTMH Silver Shimmer Trim under the clouds.

The patterned paper is:

Recollections Light Blue Distressed

Recollections Teal Butterflies

SU Domestic Goddess (retired)

The images are all Design Space Make It Now except for the pennants which come from CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.

For more information on CTMH products visit my CTMH website

Check out the Cricut Explore & Bundles at Cricut.com

They also have the wireless adapter and other accessories available online.

Free shipping over $35 with code:  MARCHSHIP

Cricut Explore Make It Now Mickey & Pluto Scrapbook Page

In my last post I went over the calibration of the Cricut Explore for the Print & Cut feature.

I had found a scrapbook page in the Make It Now section that had a Mickey & Pluto image that was on the Mickey & Friends cartridge that I got back in January.

When I chose this page I didn't realize that it was a print & cut image.  The Design Space software prompted me to calibrate my machine and once that was finished it took me right back to the project.

The Make It Now project page gives you a list of materials needed to complete the project along with a few instructions on putting it together.  If you want to make a project but don't have all the images you can select the Customize button on the bottom right and substitute with your own images.

Since I didn't need to make any changes I selected the green Make It Now button.

It took me to the page with all the mats for my project.  The top mat is for the printed image.  I put cardstock in my printer and printed the Mickey & Pluto image then put it on my mat and inserted it into the Explore for it to cut it out.  

My printer had printed the registration marks quite far down the page so I trimmed the page by about a quarter inch and then the Explore scanned the marks and started cutting.  

Here it is after it finished cutting. 

The black part left on the cardstock are the bleed lines.  Good to have so there is no white outline showing on your finished cut.

I was impressed with how well the Explore cut this image.  Especially the tips of the tails on both Mickey and Pluto.

The image on the left is the Print & Cut and the image on the right is one that I cut out with my Expression 2 in January and pieced together by hand.  I like the dimension on the hand-pieced images but it a definite bonus having the option to print and cut. I have problems with the tendons in my left thumb/wrist and the piecing together of the small cuts was difficult. 

After that I loaded the other papers onto my mat and had the Explore cut them so I could quickly assemble the page.  They were simple cuts and only took a few minutes to put together.

Here is my finished page. Just need to get a photo printed for the left side.  

I've been working on an album from our trip to Walt Disney World in 2003

 so I should have lots to choose from.

Here is a short video I took of the Explore doing my first Print & Cut.

Check out my Close To My Heart website for more information about these products.

Close To My Heart Products used:

Black Cardstock, White Daisy Cardstock,  Canary Cardstock

Disney paper is from an EK Success Paper Pad I bought at Joann.com

Check out the Cricut Explore & Bundles at Cricut.com

They also have the wireless adapter and other accessories available online.

Free shipping over $35 with code:  MARCHSHIP

Cricut Explore Calibration for Print & Cut

I made a couple of cards with my Explore then I decided to check out the scrapbook pages in the Make It Now section of Design Space.  I found a cute page with Mickey & Pluto on it so I decided to test it out since I have the Mickey & Friends cartridge.

I chose the project and right away the program prompted me to do the calibration for print & cut.

I was able to print this out on a piece of white cardstock with my Canon inkjet printer, then stuck it on my mat and followed the prompts in Design Space. 

The machine goes through a series of cuts along the top and sides of the cardstock then cuts out these two boxes.  

If it doesn't cut properly you can adjust the settings and try it again.  It was pretty easy to set up by following the instructions on the screen.  

Quick video I took while the Explore was reading the registration marks and doing the calibration.  

Once the calibration was finished I was able to start my Make It Now Mickey & Pluto page.  

See the next post to see the Print & Cut and the finished scrapbook page.  

Check out the Cricut Explore & Bundles at Cricut.com

They also have the wireless adapter and other accessories available online.

Cricut Explore Make It Now Card with CTMH Hopscotch Paper

One of the features in Cricut Design Space Software is the Make It Now projects.  There are all sorts of projects available, like cards, scrapbook pages, home decor and vinyl projects just to name a few.

One of my first projects was a Make It Now Birthday Card.  It was really easy - they give you a list of materials and instructions.

The machine cut, scored and wrote "Happy Birthday". I added the liner piece which was also a cut from the project, then went over the Happy Birthday sentiment with a white Jelly Roll gel pen since the silver pen that came with the machine was too light for that colour of cardstock.  Whole project only took a few minutes from start to finish.

You can also customize the Make It Now projects by adding different images from your own cartridges or from the Cricut subscription images.

CTMH products used:

Hopscotch patterned paper & CTMH Sunset solid cardstock

 Visit my CTMH website for more information on these products.

See all the Free Projects in Cricut Design Space

Check out the Cricut Explore & Bundles at Cricut.com

They also have the wireless adapter and other accessories available online.

Free shipping with code: FREESHIP35

Cricut Explore First Project

Here is the project that I did with the materials included with my Cricut Explore.  It was very quick - two pieces of cardstock and the silver Cricut pen.   I did this right after unpacking my Explore.  I think the pen had been sitting on an angle for a while. The ink started to fade away as it was writing.  I left it overnight standing cap down and it works great now and I'm storing it horizontally like usual. 

Here's a quick video I took with my phone as it was printing and cutting. I love how quiet this machine is compared to the Expression 2.

See all the Free Projects in Cricut Design Space

Check out the Cricut Explore & Bundles at Cricut.com

They also have the wireless adapter and other accessories available online.

Free shipping with code: FREESHIP35