How to Make Personalized Gifts for Friends and Loved Ones This Christmas

The holidays are almost upon us. Can you believe that? This year, I’m starting with gifts early this year and I decided to make some personalized gifts for friends and loved ones for Christmas!

While there are so many great gift ideas out there for every person and every budget, I thought there’s nothing more sweet and personal than a personalized gift! So I decided to ask my friends what their most favorite Bible verse is and decided to create a t-shirt or a tank based on their favorite scripture.

I’m not the most crafty person. I usually don’t like working with my hands. BUT thanks to Cricut! It’s really quick and easy to create personalized items that you can make for yourself, family, and friends for everyday use or as holiday gifts! The Cricut Air Explorer 2 makes creating personalized items so fun and easy! Even if you’re not the most creative person and the Cricut Easy Press 2 makes creating t-shirts so much easier!

If you’re thinking of creating personalized items this Christmas, here’s what you’re going to need:

1. Cricut Air Explore 2 (or Cricut Maker)
   

   I personally have the Cricut Air Explore 2 in Rose as shown below but it comes in few different colors in white and mint I believe. These machines are basically what’s going to cut your design. Cricut Air Explore 2 cuts vinyls and card stocks while the Cricut Maker series are more versatile because it can cut 300+ types of materials including leather and fabric. But for what I need and as a starter, the Cricut Air Explore 2 definitely does a great job!

   I had a cutter from a different brand and this machine is definitely much easier to use and it cuts faster and more accurately. Set-up is fairly easy as well.

   

2. Easy Press 2
   

   Gone are the days of using just a mere household iron to transfer your iron ons! Although you can still use it if that’s what you prefer, however, there’s a lot of room for error with just the regular iron. One major one is really not knowing the temperature of the iron, how much pressure you need to put on your iron on to make sure it sticks and for how long! This can be very frustrating.

   With Easy Press 2, you don’t have to deal with all of that. Everything is just one press of a button. See, there’s a temperature and time setting for every type of material that you want to make. With the regular iron, you will have a ton of mistake. And even with the professional heat press, it’s not as easy! How do I know? Because I have one!

   So when I got the Easy Press 2, the frustration with fidgeting with the settings and not know for sure if it’s going to work is gone. I had a ton of mistakes and wasted blank shirts with my professional heat press. But with the Easy Press 2, I had none! I ironed on the design perfectly in one shot!

   The Cricut Easy Press comes in 4 different sizes: Easy Press Mini (which I have also by the way and I can’t wait to share the projects that I will be making with it!), Easy Press 2 6×7, 9×9, and the one I got which is 12×10.  I decided to get the largest one because it’s the best one for making t-shirts. The fun part is that these machines also come in different sizes.

   So below is one of the shirts I created with a friend’s favorite scripture.

   

3. Materials

   Depending on what you decide to make, there are different materials that you’re going to need. Do you want to make shirts? Then you’re going to need the iron on vinyl. What about personalized mugs or tumblers? You’re going to need some adhesive foil.

   Thankfully, Cricut is a one-stop shop. So you can order everything from their website – from the cutting machine to vinyl materials. They got you covered.

   

4. Tools and Accessories

   Last but not the least, you’re going to need some tools and accessories such as the weeding tool which you will use to weed out the unnecessary vinyl from your design and the machine mat which is where you will stick your vinyl on when cutting it with the machine. I also recommend getting the Brayer to flatten out your vinyl on your mat.

   If you decide to do iron ons, you’re going to need the Easy Press Mat which is really just a cushion. You can always use your ironing board if you’re doing any projects if you prefer not to spend extra money on it. But I personally consider it as convenient because if I’m in my office crafting, I just pull it out and put it on my credenza.

 

In conclusion, creating personalized items as gifts may seem a lot of work and a lot of investment at first because of the machines, tools, and materials that you need. However, the machines and tools aren’t a one-time use only. You can use it in different occasions – Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s, Patriotic Holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc. So you will find later on that you will get a lot of use out of your initial investment.

I remember the days when crafting used to be so tedious. But with Cricut, it’s a lot easier to get done with your personalized projects and crafting is now more fun!

 

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Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Cricut.  The opinions expressed herein are mine and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Cricut. Thank you for supporting LynneGabriel.com sponsors. They make my blog possible!