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Left and right I see kids returning to school. My kids started this week and to celebrate I brought out my Cricut machine and made some DIY back to school crafts; a pencil bag and a personalized mug for their teachers. This is our first time back in person in a long time and well we were extra excited we needed to add an extra fun touch to everything we could!
My Cricut machines always save me in a pinch & make a simple gift so much more special with quick personalization. No matter what machine you have, there is SO MUCH you can make! For these two projects I used my Cricut Maker, stay tuned for some fun projects and information with my new Cricut Maker 3 coming soon.
But first, let me walk you through these two simple tutorials!
DIY Back To School Pencil Bag & Teacher Gift with Cricut
I’m going to start with the pencil bag because this was my first time using the offset feature as well as layering iron on to infusible ink! Trust me-I’m definitely doing this again! My favorite part is I used a set of cosmetic bags & loved how versatile they can be!
Back To School Pencil Bag
Supplies
- Cricut machine- you can choose from the Maker & Maker 3 and Explore Air 2 & Explore Air 3
- Cosmetic Bag Infusible Ink Blanks , remember Cricut Blanks will give you the best results with Infusible Ink materials
- Black Iron On
- Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets your choice of print!
- Standard Grip Mat– the green one
- EasyPress– I used my 9×9 for this project
- Weeder Tool
- Heat Resistant Tape
- Scissors
- White Cardstock
Designing the Pencil Bags
The design for the pencil bags is very simple. To create the offset look, all you do is:
- Choose to add text
- Write your name/text
- Choose your font
- Select the Offset feature from your top toolbar
- Choose your Offset settings, you can change the size and edge type
Cutting the Back to School Pencil Bag Designs
Once you finish with your offset design you can continue the prompts to cut. My girls decided on two different Offset background colors, in order to avoid having to create two projects I simply went ahead and selected two different colors so Design Space would prompt me to cut on different mats.
DON’T FORGET TO MIRROR YOUR DESIGN!!!!
If you are creating an iron-on/infusible ink layering design don’t forget to select the correct material to make sure your machine applies the right amount of pressure when cutting.
*When cutting Iron On you will place your material shiny part down on your mat
*When cutting Infusible Ink you will leave the pattern/color side up
After your design is done cutting, remove both parts from your mats and get to weeding!
To weed the Iron-On you will use your weeder tool and remove any excess material to reveal only your design, in my case, my daughters’ names.
When weeding Infusible Ink you will use your hands. You sort of crack the infusible ink and remove the parts you don’t need.
Applying the Designs
First, let’s start with Infusible Ink. Set your EasyPress to the correct temperature found on the Cricut Heat Guide. While it heats up, let’s get our materials ready. Each pack of Infusible Ink transfer sheets comes with some parchment paper, you will want to follow the prompts on how to layer everything. There is a cool visual but basically you will want to
1.Place the white card stock inside your cosmetic bag
2.Place your Infusible Ink design pattern down and secure position with heat resistant tape
3.Add a sheet of parchment paper on top
The EasyPress makes it so easy to apply everything correctly and at the right temperature! Once it’s finished, let your design cool before moving on to the next step.
Now that you have your Infusible Ink part has cooled down you can position your Iron On section on top. Once again follow the Cricut Heat Guide for Iron On and an Infusible Ink Blank for proper adhering.
The final look is so cool! I want to Offset EVERYTHING now!
Back To School DIY Teacher Mug
Supplies
- Cricut Maker
- 15oz Cricut Mug Blank
- Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets– I recommend using the smaller 2ct packs because they are the PERFECT size for a 15oz mug
- Heat Resistant Tape
- Standard Grip Mat
- Cricut MugPress
Designing The Mugs
The cool thing about Design Space is all the readily available designs they have to choose from. You can search the Mug gallery and find one to create or design your own. For these projects, I went ahead and designed my own using images from Design Space.
To start off select the Mug Design Setup from the Design Space home screen, select the edge you as well as the size of the mug blank you have. Once you have that ready, search the Design Space Image Gallery for “Teacher” or “Back To School” for some fun pre-made images to choose from.
With Lia starting TK the “Teacher of Tiny Humans” image was way too perfect! For Zoey, my 6th grader, I went with “Teacher Fuel”- because I can imagine teaching pre-teens requires A LOT of it!
Link to Teacher of Tiny Humans Mug HERE
Link to Teacher Fuel Mug HERE
Once the images are chosen, position your image on top of the mug layout space. Use the red lines as guidance. Once you have it positioned go ahead and hide the red lines. The next step is to select the blue layout and the design and attach the images to make them one.
Cut Your Mug Designs
Once you finish with your mug design you can continue the prompts to cut.
Place your Infusible Ink Transfer sheet pattern up on your Standard Grip Mat. DON’T FORGET TO MIRROR YOUR DESIGN!!!!*I recommend you use this time to turn on your MugPress & let it heat up so it’s ready to go!
Follow the prompts to select Infusible Ink Transfer Sheet as your material and let your machine get to work! When weeding Infusible Ink you will use your hands. You sort of crack the infusible ink and remove the parts you don’t need.
Weed Your Design
Weeding with Infusible Ink is more like a cracking of the material to remove the excess. I do recommend having a basic tool set to help you with detailed areas.
Applying Your Design
When using an Infusible Transfer sheet you want to place on your mug with the pattern down & use PLENTY of heat resistant tape to make sure it doesn’t move.
Your MugPress will beep and let you know it is ready to be used! Carefully place your mug in the MugPress and press the lever down to lock it in place and let your machine know to get to work. The heat press takes about 6 minutes to finish your mug and then you will need to place on an EasyPress Mat to cool down for about 15 mins. Don’t worry, the handle does not get hot so you can grab it from there!
Enjoy! These back to school gifts were a huge hit! You can fill them up with a gift card, school supplies, candy, etc for an extra fun touch!