By: Benee Meade

Ever since I purchased a Cricut Explore Air 2 as a holiday gift to myself a few years back, crafting has become an almost daily event.   While I love browsing the endless, inspirational project options offered through Cricut Design Space, I do truly enjoy the process of using Design Space and their preloaded images and fonts to create my own designs.  The beauty of Cricut is that you aren’t limited to cutting simple crafts, you can cut just about any material to bring you vision to life! The most fulfilling part is involving my kids and watching them express themselves through holiday themed art projects using our Cricut, and art supplies we keep fully stocked in the house.

The Holiday season is a such a great time to experiment with cutting new materials, and I am sharing below 4 Holiday projects- each using a different Cricut setting- that will provide some festive inspiration to your crafting this season!

Festive Holiday Crafts with Cricut

1. Kid Designed Holiday Garland- Paper Cut Setting

Supplies:  Cricut machine and StandardGrip Cutting mat, multi-colored cardstock (12×12 sheets preferred) in festive holiday colors and patterns, paint, stickers, etc.

Directions:  Using Cricut Design Space, select 5-6 (or more) pre-loaded images and drop them into your project canvas. We chose a Santa hat, wreath, ornament, snowman, gingerbread people, and a Christmas Tree. I prefer single layer, or I simply remove any additional layer colors so they kids can decorate accordingly.  Resize the images to your liking, for a 7ft garland I size each one to approximately 5” and duplicate each image 4 times.

Once you are ready to cut, follow the directions on design space, set your machine to cardstock and Go. The next step is the fun part, let your kids raid their art bins for their favorite supplies to decorate each image- nothing is off limits and no crafting tool is left behind.  

2. Cookie Plates for Santa- Vinyl Cut Setting

Supplies:  Cricut machine, StandardGrip Cutting mat, Cricut permanent vinyl, transfer tape, weeding tool, 2 plastic or melamine plates (12” and 9”)

Directions:  Using Cricut Design Space, click on the Shapes icon and draw 2 circles, resizing them to the size of your plates. On the right side panel, change the color of the circles to the color of your plates- this creates a template for your design and will be hidden when you are ready to cut. Using the images icon, lay out a fun holiday plate design on the large circle to welcome Santa to your home (use your creativity or search for project inspiration on Design Space).  We like to leave a little something for the reindeer too, so lay out a second design on the smaller circle to create this plate. If you choose, click on the Text icon, find a fun font, and label the plates so Santa knows they are for him!!

Once you are ready to cut, follow the directions on design space, set your machine to vinyl and Go.  Carefully weed out your designs from the vinyl, and use the transfer tape to attach them to the plates- simple instructions can be found here.  On Christmas Eve, enlist the kiddos help to select cookies and treats and place them where Santa will find them!

3. Holiday Inspired Jammies- Heat Transfer Vinyl

Supplies:  Cricut machine, StandardGrip Cutting mat, Cricut HTV, weeding tool, Cricut Heat Press or standard iron (steam setting off), Pajamas of your choice (100% cotton work best)

Directions:  Using Cricut Design Space, select words or images suited to your taste and fun for the kids!  I kept mine simple this season and used ‘merry’ and ‘bright’, one word for each child. Use your creativity and adorn the top and bottoms- the more decorative the better!  Use the layers panel to change the colors and size up or down on the images based on the size of the jammies.

When your design is ready, follow the directions on design space, set your machine to iron-on and be sure to select ‘Mirror on’ as you will be flipping the image over to iron, and Go.  Carefully weed out your designs from the vinyl and prep your Heat Press or iron for transfer. The backing of the attached negative transfer tape is sticky and allows you to place your design and move it around if need be. Once you are happy with your creation, follow the Cricut application instructions found here.  Who doesn’t love matching jammies for the big day!!  Click here to learn how to layer images as shown in the photos.

4. Letter From the Elf- Cricut Writing

Supplies:  Cricut machine, StandardGrip Cutting mat, Cricut pen(s), Cardstock, Decorative paper, Glue stick

Directions:  Sometimes our Elf has to send messages to the kids direct from the Big Man, and as the kids get older- let’s be honest- they know our handwriting.  The writing option from Cricut Design Space makes it easy to write simple notes ‘handwritten’ by your Elf. Open Design Space and select Text from the left side bar.  Write a brief note, communicating something naughty or nice, and change the font to your Elf’s chosen handwriting and resize it accordingly. When you are ready to print, attach the cardstock to the StandardGrip Mat, insert the Cricut pen color of your choice and Go.  To make the letter official, I like to cut it down to size and glue it to our Elf’s stationary (a festive cardstock of your choice). Place the note near the Elf for his or her overnight journey and watch the kids eyes open wide when they read that Santa really is watching…..

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