Weddingbee Blog

Ever since Miss Duckling introduced us to the Cricut, I’ve been beyond intrigued. I’ve come to realize that I’m not THAT into crafts unless it involves some kind of neat gadget (see Gocco). I sat on my desire for some time. I really had no reason to get one. But my girlfriend is getting married in October and asked me to help her with her paper stuff, and another friend asked me to make some stationery for her, and we’re throwing a shower at my place, and all of a sudden my excuses to get one were multiplying. Last week I finally bit the bullet and bought one! And I CAN’T believe I didn’t get one in time to utilize it for my own wedding. Boo-urns. Ah well.

Miss Duckling showed off her super duper cute save the dates using the Cricut, so I thought I’d make some stationery for a friend as my first project. I bought the Cricut Expression, which is the mac daddy of the Cricut machines. After regretting not buying a larger model Gocco, I decided I wouldn’t risk the same regrets with the Cricut and bought the largest format machine out of all the Cricut models. If you search, you can find some great deals around the web. Anyhoo, on to the project…

I used my Cricut in conjunction with program called Sure Cuts a Lot, which allows you to custom design your cuts. You’ll need a program (like Adobe Illustrator) to produce the .SVG files you need for the Sure Cuts a Lot program to work. Using a Martha Stewart place card template freebie and her initials, I exported an .SVG file into the Sure Cuts a Lot program:

Then, I let the machine work its magic! Here’s the video of my Cricut in action. I printed 4 per sheet of paper, but in the interest of time, I only cut one out for this video:

Then, I peeled the paper off the cutting mat:

Then ran it through my Xyron, and applied a green piece of paper behind her initials. To get rid of the sticky gunk that inevitably runs along the sides of things that you Xyron, I used an adhesive eraser. (Here is the Xyron brand of adhesive eraser, but I just have a generic one.)

I was so excited to make my first project! I showed it off to Mr. Peng.

Me: LOOK! Isn’t this fun?

Mr. Peng: Isn’t that green kind of dark for that pink color?

Me: Uh, no. Actually, it’s probably the most perfect green ever. Shut your hole.

Men. Harumph.

Anyhoo, the cutting didn’t end there. 50 envelope liners? Hand cut? No schank you. You can guess how I got that done in less than 20 minutes:

A little measuring and drawing in Illustrator:

Lining it all up in Sure Cuts a Lot:

Cut:

Peel:

Finito:

Dear Friends,

I hope you like monogrammed stationery because this is all I’m allowed to give you now as shower gifts to justify the exorbitant amount of cash I just dropped on my new Cricut machine.

Love,

Pengy

Do you want one??? Do you want one??? Ohhh, craft gadget. You evil temptress.