I received free product in exchange for this post. This post also contains affiliate links.

Over the eight years I’ve been blogging, I’ve put together quite a few gift guides. I have a gift guide for two-year-old girls, a Cricut gift guide, a non-toy gift guide for kids, and a gift guide for moms. I’ve written a few gift guides specifically for new moms, and I even have a new dad kit gift basket.

But there’s one age group I haven’t ever done a gift guide for, and ironically, it’s one I buy gifts for every Christmas–grandparents!

This year that ends. I’ve decided to put together a list of unique and meaningful gifts for grandparents, because if you’re a parent reading this post (which 90% of the people who read my blog are), then you’ve likely got some grandparents (aka, your parents or in-laws) that you will be buying gifts for this Christmas, and I want to help you out.

Gift Guide for Grandparents

Grandparent Balloon Art Gift DIY

Like I mentioned last week, this is what we got my parents last year. It’s just a super cute visual representation of all your parents’ grandchildren. And lucky for you, I put together a cut file and free tutorial so you can make your own! So this is a great cheap option for grandparent gifts!

Promptly Autobiography Journal

I’ve been a fan of Promptly journals for a long time, and I love their Autobiography Journals. Writing about yourself can be a challenge, but the autobiography journal contains guided prompts so you can get all the details down! It’s broken into different sections (birth, childhood, teenage years, young adult years, adult years, and golden years), and besides all the lovely writing space, there are places for pictures, too! I wish my own grandparents had filled out these journals before they all passed away. It would be so fun to go back and learn little details!

Promptly is having their Black Friday sale starting TODAY! It goes for a week, and you can get 15-40% off their products! So make sure you check that out while you’re on their site!

Digital Picture Frame

There are tons of options for digital picture frames on Amazon. The Aluratek Digital Photo Frame has tons of five star reviews and is only $40. If you want a fancier frame, the Nixplay Digital Photo Frame has WiFi so you can share photos with it via an app or e-mail. It also has a ton of five star reviews, but it’s pricier, at $175.

Photo Session with Grandkids

Another great gift for grandparents is a photo session with their grandkids! If you live close, this is an easy one, and if all the grandkids are spread out, this would be such a fun surprise! My parents always love getting pictures with their grandkids, and a professional session would be a gift they’d treasure for years!

Puzzle of Grandchildren

We did this last year for my mom, and it was such a cute gift! I love using Minted to make photo puzzles because they have tons of cute layouts so your puzzle can be more than just a flat picture of your children. If you have a new baby in the family, this confetti puzzle would be such a cute one to gift!

Grandparent Membership Pass

If you live close to your parents or in-laws and they love going places with your kiddos, this would be a great gift. A lot of zoos and museums offer grandparent membership passes where the grandparents are the membership holders and any grandkids under 21 can get in with them. If a year-long pass isn’t something you think would be utilized, you can also just get one-time tickets for them to go with their grandkids!

Tickets to an Event

Along the same lines, you could get grandparents tickets for them and their grandkids to go to a fun event! A sporting event, the theater, a concert, Disney on Ice (our personal favorite!), a special train ride, or anything else fun coming to your city (or theirs!). You could even plan a whole trip to visit them around the tickets!

Materials for their Hobbies

Grandparents have to have hobbies, right? So get them materials for their hobbies! My dad is big into coin collecting, so we’ve gotten him books and coin cleaning things before. Painting supplies, seeds for the garden, fishing lures (Mystery Tackle Box is a fun subscription box for fishers!), puzzles, books, yarn for knitting or crocheting, quilting materials, or anything else they may be interested in.

Blanket or Sweatshirt with Grandkids’ Picture

Another personalized gift that would be fun would be a blanket or sweatshirt with the grandkids’ picture on it! My friend recently told me that her husband’s family would gift their grandpa a sweatshirt with a picture of his grandkids on it every year, and I thought that was so sweet! You could do a blanket with a big picture on it, or even a pillow! It will be a constant reminder of the cute little people in their lives.

Custom Socks

The last wonderful gift on this list is the gift we’re getting my dad for Christmas this year–custom socks! Printify is a company that has a bunch of blank clothes and items that you can personalize. I had my kids draw pictures for their grandpa and then I uploaded them and put them onto a pair of socks! I chose the sublimation socks, and it was super easy to design and order them.

I love all of the ideas on this gift guide for grandparents, and I’d happily gift them all to my own parents (in fact I have gifted some of them!). Hopefully, as you make your Christmas lists this year, one or two of these gifts will stand out and you’ll be able to gift the grandparents the perfect Christmas gift!

The post Gift Guide for Grandparents appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for this post. This post also contains affiliate links.

One of the songs that was played at every high school dance I went to was “Get Low” by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz. As an adult, I’m horrified that the school staff allowed us to dance to that, but as a teenager, it was just a catchy song that everyone loved.

Last year, I decided to turn the lyrics of that rather-inappropriate song into a fun Christmas parody shirt. I took the lyrics of the chorus and changed them to

“To the window, to the wall, ’til Santa decks these halls!”

Unfortunately, I got a grease stain on it and had to throw it out, but I’ve never gotten over how clever it was.

Now that I’m getting into screen printing and with Christmas fast-approaching, I thought I’d make a new version of my “To the window, to the wall, ’til Santa decks these halls” shirt. After a minor redesign on Cricut Design Space, I grabbed a red sweatshirt and all my screen printing supplies and got to work!

I love the way my sweatshirt turned out, and because I love it so much, I wanted to share a tutorial on how I made it, complete with the free cut file for Cricut Design Space.

The first step when you screen print is to cut your design out of vinyl and apply it to your screen. It’s easy, but takes a few steps, so bear with me.

First, open up Design Space, press customize, and decide how big you want your design to be on your sweatshirt. If you like a more fitted look, you’ll probably want a smaller sweatshirt and therefore, a smaller design. I’m a fan of oversized sweatshirts, so that’s what I used. Obviously, my design was a little bigger, too.

I like to measure how big my materials are and then figure out how big I want my design.

You also need to keep in mind the size of your screen, because that will limit how big you go. This design is cut into two pieces because it’s bigger, but if you’re going to make it small enough to fit on your screen, you can easily weld the design together into one piece.

Once you have your sizing right, you get to cut! Press “Make It” at the top right, and then arrange your pieces on the mat. I know you can make this in one piece if you’re doing it smaller, but for the rest of this project, I am going to assume you’re making it in two pieces like I did. So make sure you have enough space around each cut to tape it onto the screen.

The easiest way I found to do this is to change the size of the material to 8.5×14″. That will give each piece it’s own cut.

Once you have the design ready on your computer, press “Continue” and select your materials. If you’re using an Explore Air 2 like I am, make sure that your machine dial is set to “vinyl.”

For this project I used Cricut Smart Vinyl in black. You can use any color you want, though. I just discovered the new Smart Materials a few weeks ago and I LOVE them because you don’t need to use a mat and you can cut up to 3′ at once.

Load your vinyl into your machine and press start. It’s that easy!

After your design is done, unload it, cut about an inch away from the bottom, and then load it up again and cut out the next piece. Then unload it and cut about an inch away from the bottom again.

Once you have both pieces cut, you need to weed them. You’re going to weed out the words and the mistletoe design (which is the opposite of what you would do if you were using the vinyl design you cut). The Cricut tools in the basic tool set are really helpful here (and for transferring!).

Now get a big piece of transfer tape and transfer the first half of your design to your screen. Mine is a Speedball 10×14″ screen. Make sure you center the design in the middle of the screen.

Then use painters tape to cover the rest of the screen. You don’t want any paint leaking through when you do your printing!

Center your design (keeping in mind that it might not be the center of your screen) on your sweatshirt, near the top. Make sure it’s straight and right in the middle.

Once you’ve got it just right, grab your screen printing paint, a plastic spoon, and your squeegee. Spoon a little bit of paint on the side of the screen, and use your squeegee to pull the paint across your design. You may need to go back and forth a few times, or even add more paint. Make sure it’s completely covered!

After you spread your paint all over the design, slowly and gently lift your screen off of your sweatshirt.

Let this first half of your design dry for at least 24 hours, and then repeat the above steps again with the second half of your design.

If you’re worried about getting the second half of the design in the right place, you can place two pieces of tape on either side of your sweatshirt to mark the bottom of your first half.

After another 24 hours, it’s time to heat set your paint. I love using my Cricut Easy Press because you can adjust the temperature every 10 degrees, and you can even set a timer. You want to make sure you heat set your entire design at 320 for 40 seconds.

And that’s basically it! You’re done! Pull that sweater on and hit the club!

Just kidding. I’m not sure if that’s even a thing people say anymore, but it certainly fits with the theme of this sweatshirt!

Now put your hands up and sing along! “To the windooooooow! To the wall! (To the wall!) ‘Til Santa decks these halls!” We’re not going to finish the rest of that!

"To the Window, to the Wall, 'Til Santa Decks these Halls" Christmas Parody Sweatshirt

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

"To the Window, to the Wall, 'Til Santa Decks these Halls" Christmas parody sweatshirt that you can DIY! All you need is a Cricut, vinyl, screen printing supplies, and a sweatshirt to make this hilarious holiday sweater.

Print

Materials

• Red Sweatshirt
• Smart Vinyl
• Transfer Tape
• White Screen Printing Paint

Tools

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• Basic Tool Set
• 10x14" Screen Printing Screen
• Painter's Tape
• Craft Squeegee
• Cricut Easy Press

Instructions

1. Open Cricut Design Space and pull up the cut file here.
2. Decide how big you want your design to be and size down the design.
3. Cut out your vinyl on your Cricut Machine. Make sure each half is centered on the cut screen and you're making two separate cuts before pressing "Go"
4. Weed out the words and the mistletoe (the opposite of what you would do if you were using the letters you cut).
5. Using transfer tape, transfer your first half of the design to your screen.
6. Remove the transfer tape and cover up any open spaces on your screen with painter's tape.
7. Center your design on your sweatshirt.
8. Spoon out paint on side of screen and use a squeegee to pull the paint across your design.
9. Carefully lift your screen off the sweatshirt.
10. After at least 24 hours, repeat steps 5-9 with the second half of your design.
11. After another 24+ hours, heat set your ink. Use an Easy Press set at 320 degrees for 40 seconds.

In our home we always decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, and I bet you can guess what I’ll be wearing when I get everything out!

“To the window! To the wall! ‘Til Santa decks these halls!”

Merry Christmas, mamas!

The post “To the Window, to the Wall, ‘Til Santa Decks these Halls” Christmas Parody Sweatshirt appeared first on Life With My Littles.

This post contains affiliate links.

Last year for Christmas, my sister and I pitched in together and got our parents the cutest handmade gift. It was a silhouette of grandparents holding a bunch of balloons, one for each of their grandchildren. My mom especially loved it, and as I’ve been thinking about gifts to give this Christmas, the balloon silhouette gift kept coming to the front of my mind.

I also didn’t want to spend a ton of money to have someone make one for me, and since I own two Cricut machines, I knew I could probably figure out how to make it on my own.

Cricut Design Space had three different grandparent options that were perfect, but none of the balloons looked right for this project. So I decided to draw them myself!

I drew a few balloons, uploaded them to my computer, and imported them into Design Space, and they turned out great!

As a side note, I love uploading my own designs on Cricut Design Space. You used to not be able to do that, and it’s a huge game-changer now that you can. Anything is possible!!!

Anyway, this DIY grandparent balloon art project is really simple, and you can easily make one in less than an hour with the help of your Cricut Explore Air 2.

Ready for the tutorial? Of course you are. That’s why you’re here!

To start, pull up the project on Cricut Design Space. Click the “customize” button, not “make it.” You have to personalize it before you can start cutting!

Like I said, there are three couples, so choose the set that looks most like the grandparents you are making your gift for, and delete the other two.

Now either delete some of the balloons, or copy and paste them so you have enough balloons for all the grandchildren.

Choose what colors you want the balloons to be, keeping in mind that you don’t want to use paper so dark that you won’t be able to write the names on them. You can do one color for boys and one for girls, one color for each family, or just a combination of colors that look good together. It’s up to you.

To add the names on your balloons, you first have to detach the name from the balloon. To do this, select the first balloon and press detach in the bottom right corner.

Now double-click the name and change “NAME” in the text box to the name of the first grandchild.

Recenter (or resize, if needed) the name in the middle of the balloon.

Select both the name and the balloon and attach them together by pressing “attach” in the bottom right corner.

Repeat that step for all the balloons you need.

Once you have your balloons ready to go, it’s time to cut! Press “make it” at the top right, and get all your supplies ready. You’ll need to make sure you have the right size of cardstock set on the left before you begin.

You can use either a light grip or standard grip cutting mat, or you can use Cricut’s awesome new Smart Paper Sticker Cardstock and then you’ll get to skip the glue altogether.

Make sure you have your pen in the machine before pressing go, otherwise you’ll skip writing the names!

After each piece is cut, you’ll need to take it off, very delicately. The best way to do this without ripping the balloon strings is by using a scraper from the basic tool set. Be very gentle, don’t rush it, and if you do rip the string, you can still try to glue it on so it looks alright.

After your machine cuts all the balloons and the grandparent silhouette and you’ve taken them off your mat, you can assemble the picture.

Start by deciding where you want to put your grandparents. I put mine in the bottom left corner. You don’t want to glue down the grandparents until all the balloons are glued down, but you do want to make sure you know where all the balloon strings are going to meet in the grandparent’s hand.

Take a pencil and make a tiny dot under the hand where they are going to be holding the balloons. This will be key when you glue down the balloons.

Decide how you want to arrange your balloons on the paper, and then start gluing them by beginning with the balloons that will be at the top first. Some of the lower balloons may need to cover the strings, so you want to do those last.

The easiest way to glue your balloons down is to use a disappearing glue stick. Put some glue on the balloon part, then very gently run the string over the top of the glue stick.

After all the balloons are glued down, glue down the grandparents. Pop it in a frame and you’re done! You just made your very own handmade grandparent balloon art gift!

Grandparent Balloon Gift DIY

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Grandparent balloon art gift you can DIY and give this Christmas! All you need is some cardstock and a Cricut machine to make the perfect, personalized grandparent gift.

Print

Materials

• Colored Cardstock
• Black Cardstock
• 8x10 White Cardstock

Tools

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• Basic Tool Set
• Black Pen Set
• Glue Stick

• Standard Grip Mat (choose one)
• Light Grip Mat (choose one)

Instructions

1. Open Cricut Design Space file.
2. Choose the grandparent set that looks most like the grandparents you are making your gift for, and delete the other two. 
3. Make sure you have enough balloons by either deleting some of the balloons, or copy and paste to make more.
4. Change balloon colors to match cardstock.
5. Select the first balloon and press detach in the bottom right corner.
6. Double-click "NAME" and change it in the text box to the name of the first grandchild.
7. Recenter (or resize, if needed) the name in the middle of the balloon.
8. Select both the name and the balloon and attach them together by pressing "attach" in the bottom right corner.
9. Repeat steps 5-8 for all the balloons you need.
10. Press "make it" at the top right.
11. Load pen, load paper, and press "go" on the machine.
12. After each piece is cut, you'll need to take them off, very delicately. Use a scraper and be very gentle.
13. Assemble your picture by first deciding where you want to put the grandparents. Take a pencil and make a tiny dot under the hand where they are going to be holding the balloons.
14. Decide how you want to arrange your balloons on the paper, and then start gluing them by beginning with the balloons that will be at the top first. Some of the lower balloons may need to cover the strings, so you want to do those last.
15. After all the balloons are glued down, glue down the grandparents.
16. Pop your picture into a frame and you're done!

There are also two other variations of the grandparent balloon art that I want to mention.

If the grandchildren you’re making balloons for can write their own names, letting them personalize their own balloons might add a special touch to the gift.

Also, if the thinness of the balloon strings keeps throwing you off, you could also cut the balloon strings off with scissors and just draw the strings with a black pen.

I hope your own grandparent balloon art gifts turn out great, and I’d love to see them! Tag me on Instagram if you share them! Merry Christmas, mamas!

The post Grandparent Balloon Art Gift DIY appeared first on Life With My Littles.

I received free product in exchange for this post. This post also contains affiliate links.

Last year we watched the classic Christmas movie Home Alone with our kids, and they thought it was one of the funniest movies they’d ever seen. They watched it over and over, even after Christmas was over. And I have to say, I can’t really blame them!

One of my favorite parts of the movie is when Kevin and Buzz are arguing about the last slice of cheese pizza and the milk spills on the plane tickets and passports and everyone freaks out trying to save them. Then things calm down and Kevin’s uncle looks at him and goes, “Look what you did, you little jerk!”

Oh my goodness, can you even imagine! Everyone is quiet and glaring at little Kevin and blaming him for everything that went wrong. I laugh so hard every single time.

I have recently been experimenting with screen printing, and I thought it would be a fun idea to make a DIY Home Alone screen print shirt with that hilarious quote from Uncle Frank!

Screen printing isn’t too complicated, and as long as you have the right tools, you can create one-of-a-kind items that will last a long time! I haven’t ever shared a screen printing post on here, so I wanted to make sure I give you guys a full tutorial so you can follow alone and make your own Home Alone shirt, too!

I opened up Cricut Design Space and got to work. I even asked my Instagram followers their advice when I designed it, and had so much great feedback! I used the Cricut font “ITC Machine Medium,” and added the little house from Home Alone to the end of the quote. You can access the cut file on Design Space here.

Figure out how big you want your design to be on your shirt. I usually grab a ruler and hold it on my material to see how big I want it to be. Then size down your design. I did 12″ for my design. Just make sure your design will fit on your screen, too!

Cut it out on vinyl! I used my Cricut Explore Air 2 and Permanent Black Vinyl. You can use whatever color on hand, but you need to cut your vinyl all at once, so make sure you have a big enough piece of vinyl. Once you get to the “prepare” screen, center your design on the mat so you have a good amount of edge on each side. This will come in handy when you are screen printing.

Then press continue on Design Space, make sure your machine is set to “vinyl”, load your mat, and start cutting!

Weed your vinyl. Unlike a regular vinyl project, you’re going to be leaving the outlines of what you want to screen print. I always have my Cricut Starter Tools on hand, because the weeder and spatula come in handy when peeling things off the mat.

Grab a big piece of Transfer Tape so you can transfer your design to your screen. Use your scraper for the tool set to smooth out all bubbles, and make sure every little edge is stuck to that tape!

Pull up that Transfer Tape with your design attached and stick it to your screen. My screen is a Speedball 10×14″ Screen. Again, the scraper will help you eliminate any bubbles.

Pull off your transfer tape and then cover up any open spaces along the edges with painter’s tape. You don’t want any paint on you shirt where you don’t want it!

It’s time to paint! I’ve screen printed several times, but I’m certainly not a pro, so if you haven’t ever tried it before, it’s best to read up on how to do it because I can only give you the basics. Pigskins and Pigtails has some great screen printing for beginners posts.

The basics of what you need are your vinyl stencil on your screen, a paint squeegee, and paint. I also like to have something like a paper plate on hand to set my squeegee down when I’m done. And I use a plastic spoon to spoon the paint out onto my stencil before I squeegee it.

Okay, so once you have everything on hand, center your screen and design onto your tee. Now imagine how good your DIY Home Alone screen print shirt is going to look! You’re almost there!

Also, I didn’t get any pictures of this but make sure you have some type of paper or cardboard between the layers of your shirt, especially if you’re doing your design on a white shirt, too. The paint will bleed on a white tee a little bit, and if you don’t have something in between the front and back layers, you’ll print the reverse shadow on the back of your shirt.

Now spoon a little bit of red screen paint along the edge of your design.

Very careful and not too quickly, pull the paint across your design with your squeegee. It’s a big design, so the paint may not get the whole thing at once, and you may have to add a little more paint on the other side. Go back and forth with the squeegee until there aren’t any more white spots left and the paint isn’t pooling anywhere.

Slowly and again, very carefully, lift the screen off your tee. I start at the bottom and peel it away little-by-little. It will look AWESOME but you need to be patient and let it dry at least 24 hours before the next step. So set it somewhere away from little hands.

After your shirt has dried for a full 24 hours, you need to heat set the ink before you wear it, otherwise when you wash it, some of the ink will fade.

You can use an iron if you want, but the easiest way to heat set your design is to use a Cricut Easy Press. Set the temperature to 320 degrees and the time to 40 seconds. When it heats up, heat set your design by holding the Easy Press on your design. Repeat the process anywhere you miss (if your design is bigger than your Easy Press).

I also like to use the Easy Press Mat behind my materials when I heat set so I don’t damage the table or floor (or wherever I am) underneath. An ironing board works, too.

Now you’re ready to wear your shirt! Pull it on, grab some popcorn, and turn on Home Alone! Or, if you’re feeling brave, watch the new movie Home, Sweet Home Alone on Disney+. It comes out November 12th and I’m not sure how I feel about it! Although, if I’m being honest, I’ll probably still watch it.

Yield: 1 tee

DIY Home Alone Screen Print Tee

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

DIY "Home Alone" screen print shirt based on Uncle Frank's line "Look what you did, you little jerk!" One of the best lines from the original movie on a tee! Includes the free cut file on Cricut Design Space, and a full tutorial!

Print

Materials

• White tee
• Transfer tape
• Vinyl
• Red screen paint

Tools

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• Weeding tool
• Scraper tool
• Screen
• Painter's tape
• Squeegee
• Easy Press
• Easy Press mat

Instructions

1. Open Cricut Design Space and pull up the cut file here.
2. Decide how big you want your design to be and size down the design.
3. Cut out your vinyl on your Cricut Machine. Make sure it is centered on the cut screen before pressing "Go"
4. Weed out the words and the house (the opposite of what you would do if you were using the letters you cut).
5. Using transfer tape, transfer your design to your screen.
6. Remove the transfer tape and cover up any open spaces on your screen with painter's tape.
7. Center your screen on your shirt.
8. Spoon out paint on side of screen and use a squeegee to pull the paint across your design.
9. Carefully lift your screen off the tee.
10. After at least 24 hours, heat set your ink. Use an Easy Press set at 320 degrees for 40 seconds.

Notes

Before you paint your tee, put something in between the layers so the paint doesn't bleed through. Don't remove it until after your ink has completely dried.

The post DIY Home Alone Screen Print Shirt – “Look What You Did, You Little Jerk” appeared first on Life With My Littles.

This post is sponsored by Cricut and contains affiliate links.

After a long year of homeschooling last year, I am beyond thrilled that my kids are going back to in-person learning at the local elementary school in a few weeks.

For my son, that means starting third grade and getting back into the routine of learning at school. He did his first two years of elementary school at school, so he knows what to expect and he’s familiar with the concept of “going to school.”

For my daughter, who did kindergarten at home last year, “back-to-school” means something entirely different. She did two years of preschool before kindergarten, but it was only half-day, a few days a week. She didn’t get a true kindergarten experience last year, and I’m excited and nervous for her to spend her days in a classroom with other students and a teacher who isn’t me.

I know she’s feeling a little nervous herself, so I wanted to do something extra special for their first day of school breakfast. My kids loved the Valentine’s charcuterie board I made for them earlier this year, and I thought it would be fun to throw together a back-to-school-themed breakfast charcuterie board for their first day!

I wanted to make some school-themed labels for the board, and I knew that using my Cricut Explore Air 2 to make chalkboard labels would be perfect! I also wanted to make them as simple as possible so I could put them together quickly, and I was thrilled to see that Cricut came out with a sticker-backed Smart Paper cardstock for their larger machines that works without a cutting mat and doesn’t need any messy glue! Can’t get much faster or easier than that!

Besides the amazing Smart Paper Sticker Cardstock, I also grabbed a set of Metallic Pens to write on the cardstock so the labels looks like mini chalkboards, and a Scoring Stylus to make folding the labels easy and more precise.

After deciding I wanted to do a mix of proteins, carbs, and fruit on my breakfast charcuterie board, I opened up Cricut Design Space and got to work designing.

I made chalkboard-style labels that could be folded in half and stuck on toothpicks (thank you, Sticker Cardstock!). You can get the free cut file here.

Once you have all your labels designed and ready to go, it’s time to write, score, and cut! Design Space will tell you which pens to use and when to insert the scoring stylus. Just make sure you have a sharp Premium Fine Point Blade in your machine before you start, so you get crisp clean edges.

When your Cricut machine is done doing the hard work, unload your Sticker Cardstock, and one at a time, peel your labels off the sheet. You’re going to put a toothpick in the middle so your labels can go stick in your food, so make sure you have those ready.

After you peel a label off, gently fold along the score line, line the toothpick up inside, and press the label in half. Repeat for each label, and voila! You have breakfast charcuterie board chalkboard labels!

All that’s left to do now is assemble your charcuterie board and add the labels. When I make my boards, I do anything in bowls first (syrup and jam, then eggs and yogurt), followed by bigger items (sausage, waffles, bacon, croissants), one at a time, and then little things (fruit) to fill in any extra spaces.

Last, add your labels. If you have bowls and can’t stick the labels into what’s in them, try taping them to the side. Anything else, just stab with a label.

I love the way our back-to-school breakfast charcuterie board turned out, and my kids loved it, too. Serving this special breakfast is the perfect way to start the first day of school off right!

Back-to-School Breakfast Charcuterie Board

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Serving a breakfast charcuterie board is such a fun way to celebrate your child's first day of school! And with these cute school-themed DIY labels that you can make in a few minutes with a Cricut machine, the first day of school will get off to a great start!

Print

Materials

• Smart Paper Sticker Cardstock
• Toothpicks

Tools

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• Metallic Pens
• Scoring Stylus
• Premium Fine Point Blade

Instructions

1. In Cricut Design Space, open the cut file.
2. Press Make It! Connect your Explore machine, load your Smart Paper, and make sure the correct tools are loaded.
3. Press Go on your machine and watch it take care of the hard part. Make sure you stick around and switch out tools when prompted on Design Space.
4. When your Explore is done, unload the Smart Paper.
5. One at a time, peel your labels off the sheet.
6. Gently fold along the score line, line a toothpick up inside, and press the label in half, making sure to seal the toothpick inside.
7. Repeat for each label.
8. Assemble your breakfast charcuterie board.
9. Add labels.
10. Enjoy!

The post Back-to-School Breakfast Charcuterie Board appeared first on Life With My Littles.

This post contains affiliate links.

Over the last year, I’ve kind of lost myself. I’ve been on survival mode homeschooling the kids, having very little time to myself, running the house at a very basic level, and only doing the essentials to keep my blog up and running.

Unfortunately, I know I’m not alone. This last year has taken a toll on everyone, especially moms. We’ve had it dang hard, with navigating distance learning, staying home with kids all day, and even working from home.

DANG HARD.

Moms always have a lot on their plates, and it’s easy to put yourself last and forget to do things you enjoy. And if you’ve been mommin’ hard for a few years (or more), you may not even be sure what that is anymore.

If you’ve been wanting to pick up a hobby but aren’t sure what kind of hobby you want to try, this post is for you. I talked to some friends and have put together some ideas that make great hobbies for moms. Bonus: they’re all pretty easy to pick up!

25 Hobbies for Moms

Houseplants

Every heard of a plant mom? Well I have fully become one over the last year. And I’m planning on writing a post with some of the easiest houseplants for beginning mamas, too!

Brush Lettering/Calligraphy

I’m lumping these two together, but I know there are slight differences. Learning how to do brush lettering has always been on my to-do list, and I may have to actually take it up some time! You can do so much with it!

Crafting

This is a pretty general term, and it can include so many different things. You could even start selling your own little crafties!

Journaling

If you’re not a frequent journaler, you may not thing this can be considered a hobby, but I assure you, it can. Journaling doesn’t just mean writing “Dear Diary” and recording your latest crush. Promptly has great journals for beginning journals, and if you already know what kind of journaling you want to do, a blank one from Scribble & Jot is my favorite. You can even keep memory journals for your kids!

Yoga

This one’s not for me, but if fitness is your thing and you want a hobby that helps you stay healthy, yoga is perfect! There are tons of free videos on YouTube to get you started.

Baking

I do love this one. There are so many different things you can bake, and if you bake a lot, you can share your treats with neighbors and friends! Everyone loves the friend who brings them treats!

Cake Decorating

Cake decorating is a great hobby for moms. It’s a great artistic outlet that has a bonus of being delicious. You can do it from home and even make your kids’ birthday cakes if you want. I love Cake by Courtney for cake recipes, and I get lots of my decorating inspiration from Instagram accounts.

Gardening

If indoor houseplants aren’t your thing, maybe try gardening! Fresh vegetables from the garden are the best way to eat vegetables, and there are lots of things you can grow that are pretty foolproof and hard to kill. We used to have a huge garden at our old house, and now we have three garden boxes with cute little garden markers I made myself. Even if you just start small with one tomato plant, it’s so satisfying to harvest food and flowers you grew yourself!

Watercolor

Another one of my favorite hobbies is watercolor. If it sounds intimidating, it’s not. I’m mostly into abstract paintings, and I’ve got several things I’ve done hanging in our house. It’s a pretty forgiving art form, and it’s a lot of fun to try! I have a set of Prima tropical watercolors and I love them.

Embroidery

This is a great hobby for moms because you can just sit wherever you are and work on it! Plus, supplies are pretty cheap (embroidery hoop, fabric, embroidery floss). I embroidered one of my favorite quotes a few years ago and I still love it.

Quilting

Quilting isn’t just a grandma hobby! You can make quilts for your family and friends, or even donate them to shelters or hospitals.

Card Making

I know this also sounds like a hobby your grandma might do, but it can be so fun to make and send handmade cards in the mail! And who doesn’t love getting a handmade, handwritten card in the mail? (Side note, the Cricut Joy & card mat make card making SO EASY)

Pilates

Another healthy hobby, pilates is great for moms who want to work on strengthening their muscles and looking good! I was really into pilates after my first son was born, and it was great for me!

Running

Remember when I was really into running and then there was this pandemic and everything came crashing down? Me too. Anyway, running is a great hobby, even if you’re super slow and not in it for the competition. You can even listen to podcasts or audiobooks while you run!

Knitting

Another hobby that I’ve never learned, but I know some people love it! And since it has minimal materials you can do it on-the-go!

Crochet

Crocheting is pretty easy to pick up, and also different than knitting! But another great one to take on-the-go.

Sourdough Bread

If you haven’t tried to make your own sourdough starter yet, now’s the time! Since the pandemic, sourdough has risen in popularity, and the internet is flooded with delicious sourdough recipes!

Reading

One of my newly-renewed hobbies that I forgot I loved so much is reading. I love reading and being pulled into a story. And it can be a free hobby if you get a library card!

Paint by Sticker (or Number)

Paint by Sticker is one of our family’s newer favorite activities. It’s basically like painting by number, but instead of actual painting, it comes with stickers for each spot. The pictures turn out amazing, and it’s kind of soothing! Or you could always go with the classic paint by number, too.

Coloring Books

There’s a reason adult coloring books have risen in popularity, too. They’re an easy, calming hobby and something you can do while listening to a podcast, music, or an audiobook.

Procreate

I’m not very artistic, but I think Procreate is so cool. You can create all kinds of digital art, and when I asked my Facebook friends what their favorite hobbies were, several mentioned Procreate!

Diamond Painting

Another hobby that a few mama friends mentioned was diamond painting. It’s described as a mix between cross-stitch and paint-by-number. I saw someone doing it at the rec center last month and it really did look cool!

Stamp Collecting

One of my secret hobbies is stamp collecting. I don’t have very many, but I think it’s so fun to track down stamps that have a special meaning or tie to somewhere I’ve been or something I like. One of my favorites I have is an old Walt Disney stamp from the 1968.

Puzzles

Puzzles are another pandemic hobby that’s taken off the last few months. We’ve done a few, and my kids have even helped a few times. If you can make a space in your home to set up a puzzle spot, it’s worth it! Even a small little card table works.

Lego Sets

My kids love Legos, and it wasn’t until one of my best friends showed me the Lego set she had gotten for Christmas that I realized Legos can be a hobby for adults, too! I even got my own set (Harry Potter Legos, what else?) for Valentine’s Day, and it was a blast to put together. If you have somewhere you can keep them up, Legos make a great hobby!

Being a mom is a busy, full-time job, with no breaks, no holidays, and no weekends, and this last year has been ROUGH. But despite all that we have on our schedules, it’s important to find things to do for ourselves.

Hobbies allow us to do things we enjoy, just because we want to, which is something we don’t often get with all the little people in our lives.

Pick one or two of these hobbies for moms, try them out, and if they aren’t for you, try something else. You may even find something you’re passionate about and can enjoy for years to come!

The post 25 Hobbies For Moms appeared first on Life With My Littles.

This post is sponsored by Cricut and contains affiliate links.

I remember when I was in high school and my mom got the original Cricut machine. She was big into scrapbooking, and it could cut out so many fun shapes and letters. I loved sneaking downstairs and cutting out my own shapes and letters.

When I was in college, I got my first Cricut machine, a Cricut Mini. It worked by using Cricut Craft Room on my computer, and I loved using it to create. One of my favorite things I used it to make was a key-hanger that we hung in our entryway the first few years we were married.

Unfortunately, when Cricut changed over to Cricut Design Space, they stopped updating Cricut Craft Room, and my Cricut Mini became obsolete. For a few years, I didn’t have my own Cricut machine. I had to rely on the kindness of friends when I got an urge to create. It was a rough time.

In 2018 I bought a Cricut Explore Air 2, and this year, I got a Cricut Joy. As a result, my creativity has flown free! I use my Cricut machines all the time! I’ve made shirts, bags, home decor, door mats, labels, and party decorations. I’ve even helped friends create their own projects during girls’ nights!

As Cricut has grown as a company, the machines it has come up with have improved impressively. Not only can you cut paper, but depending on your machine, you can cut leather, chipboard, fabric, felt, and vinyl, not to mention drawing with pens and markers! Cricut also now has the EasyPress to make creating beautiful projects even easier. You can even use your own fonts or upload your own designs on Cricut Design Space. I honestly don’t think there’s much you can’t create with a Cricut machine!

With Cricut, the possibilities are literally endless! And that’s why Cricut machines make great Christmas gifts! I’ve used a lot of different Cricut machines and products, and today I want to share a few holiday gift bundles for the creative person in your life!

Cricut Gift Guide

Cricut Joy Bundle

Cricut Joy

The Cricut Joy is Cricut’s newest machine, and it’s also their smallest! This bundle is great for someone who doesn’t have a lot of storage space, but still has a lot of creativity! It has a few features that are unique to it, like Infusible Ink, that bonds to projects instead of just sitting on top, and Smart Materials, that don’t need a cutting mat.

The Cricut Joy cuts 50+ materials, can draw or write any shape, works with Bluetooth, and can cut designs up to four feet long, or make repeated cuts up to 20 feet long! It’s a tiny machine that packs a big punch!

Insert Cards

Forget the days of cutting out your own cards. With these amazing pre-cut insert cards, all you have to do is design, load into your Cricut Joy, and sign your name!

Card Mat

If you plan on making custom cards with your machine, I highly recommend adding this to your bundle! This makes card making SUPER easy and fast!

Transfer Tape

If you plan on transferring vinyl to anything, I highly recommend transfer tape. I didn’t know it existed until I got my Joy, and it’s a game-changer!

10′ Permanent Smart Vinyl

This amazing 10′ roll of permanent vinyl doesn’t come in a lot of colors, but I love that it’s so long and will last forever! Plus I can make cuts up to four feet long when I use it!

Cricut Joy Tote

I got this little tote bag to store my Cricut Joy in, and it’s so handy! It also fits pens and the cord for the Joy, so when I want to use my Joy all I have to do is grab my tote and bring it upstairs!

Smart Label Writable Vinyl

I LOVE this writable vinyl! I used it to make school supply labels for my kids this year, and honestly, you could probably use it to make labels for anything! Plus, it’s one of the Smart materials, so no mat!

Extra Fine Point Pens

Use these little guys to write on your writable vinyl, address envelopes, write on cards, or draw pictures!

Infusible Ink Markers

These markers are amazing, and so much fun! Include these in your gift bundle and the recipient will fall in love with Infusible Ink!

Infusible Ink Blanks

I personally love the Tote Bag Blanks, but Cricut also makes several other blanks that are compatible with Infusible Ink (like shirts for everyone in the family, coasters, pillow covers, and even cosmetic bags).

Cricut Explore Air 2 Bundle

Cricut Explore Air 2

The Cricut Explore Air 2 is perfect for serious makers who are constantly coming up with big projects. It’s a fast-cutting machine that cuts up 100 different materials–everything from cardstock, vinyl, and iron-on to a range of specialty materials.

You can make shirts, custom stickers, labels, cards, and pretty much any paper craft you can imagine! The Cricut Explore Air 2 is a crafter’s dream!

Felt Sampler

I used this felt to create a felted word art sign in my kids’ school room, and it turned out so well! Let me tell you, using a Cricut to cut felt makes it SO MUCH EASIER! If you’ve ever wanted to make a quiet book, it’s never been easier!

Patterned Iron-On

Cricut makes so many cute sheets of patterned iron-on, from Disney characters to designer patterns, they have it all (even leopard print!). You can create some seriously fun things with this!

Premium Permanent Vinyl

Cricut’s premium permanent vinyl comes in over 40 colors, so you can either pick a favorite color, or choose a sampler with a few colors.

Foil Transfer Kit

Foil transfer sheets are the newest material from Cricut, and they can make some pretty fabulous projects! To use the foil sheets, you need this foil transfer kit, and it comes with some sheets to try out. I haven’t tried them myself yet, but I have friends who have and they look awesome!

Printable Vinyl

This is another material I haven’t tried out yet, but I REALLY WANT TO! Imagine all the stickers you could make!!

Transfer Tape

Like I said before, if you’re transferring designs, you’ll need some transfer tape!

Cricut Maker Bundle

Cricut Maker

The Cricut Maker is the machine that does the most, so if you know someone who runs an Etsy shop or business out of their home, this would make an incredible gift!

Not only does it cut all the basic materials (paper, cardstock, vinyl, iron-on), but it can cut leather, chipboard, fabric, and stamp material. Guys. It can cut over 300 different materials. That’s just madness! I think if you get a Cricut Maker you can just throw your scissors away forever!

Side note, the Maker comes with a rotary cutter and FabricGrip mat for cutting fabric,

Deep-Point Blade

To cut thicker things like magnet, chipboard, foam, stamp material, and cardboard, you’re going to want some of these bad boys!

Aluminum Sheets

If you want to make wall art or keepsake cards, aluminum is a great option! You can also make dog tags, monograms, and engraved jewelry with this.

Engraving Tip

What use is your aluminum if you can’t engrave it!?

Genuine Leather

You can make so many cool, unique things with leather! Imagine a personalized luggage tag made of leather!

Chipboard

Another cool material the Maker can cut is chipboard. Can you imagine making your own puzzle!?

Ultimate Fine-Point Pen Set

I have these (you can use them on the Explore, too) and they write beautifully!

Premium Permanent Vinyl

This one’s a must-have for all three machines 🙂 It’s just so versatile!

Patterned Iron-On

Again, versatile! Every bundle needs some!

Transfer Tape

You get it 🙂

Materials and Accessories Bundle

Maybe you’re gifting to someone who already has a Cricut machine they love. Here are a few things you can gift them to help make their creative dreams come true!

Cricut EasyPress 2

Forget about trying to transfer a design with an iron! The EasyPress makes it SO much easier! The Cricut website has a helpful heat guide chart showing what temperature it should be on for what material and for how long. You just heat, hold, and remove! Voila!

Portable Trimmer

If you’re cutting cardstock or vinyl to a certain size before your Cricut cuts it, this is super handy (and makes for a lot straighter edges!).

Machine Mats

Depending on how often you use your machine, your mats will eventually lose some of their stickiness, and that’s a recipe for disaster. So include some extra mats in your gift bundle, and you won’t have to worry about that!

Basic Tool Set

Having these tools makes weeding and applying designs so much easier.

Gifting Cricut machines and gift bundles this holiday is a great way to show friends and family that you care, and you support their creative endeavors! There are literally millions of projects you can make with Cricut, so the possibilities are endless! Choose a gift from this Cricut gift guide and you’ll have one happy maker!

Merry Christmas, mamas!

The post Cricut Gift Guide for the Holidays appeared first on Life With My Littles.

This post is sponsored by Cricut and contains affiliate links.

My kids are always asking me to print out coloring pages for them. They love coloring their favorite characters, cute holiday scenes, and even geometric patterns.

So when they asked me to make them their own bags for Christmas, I knew exactly how we could personalize them!

Last year Cricut came out with Infusible Ink, an ink transfer product. You cut designs out using Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets, or draw pictures with Infusible Ink Pens & Markers on laser copy paper, then using high heat, you press your design into the Cricut Blank base material.

Unlike vinyl, which sits on top of your base material, Infusible Ink gets pressed INTO the base material. No flaking, no peeling, and no cracking. It’s an awesome, long-lasting, high-quality way to transfer bright colors and your own designs onto shirts, pillows, coasters, and yes, even tote bags.

Are you intrigued? I was, too. It’s amazing.

I already use my Cricut Explore Air 2 to make all kinds of things around the house. Why not use it to design and create tote bags for my kids!?

All three kid-colored tote bags turned out perfect. Honestly, they turned out even better than I had imagined in my head, and the kids love them, too!

They were so easy to make, and the kids had a blast designing and coloring them. They’d be a great gift to give to kids to make for themselves, or a great gift to make for friends, grandparents, or teachers!

Kid-Colored Tote Bags

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Kid-colored tote bags are an easy, personal DIY holiday gift! Make custom tote bags for your kids or friends, or gift them to grandparents or teachers!

Print

Materials

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• Cricut Infusible Ink Markers
• Blank laser copy paper
• Cricut Infusible Ink Tote Bag Blank
• Cricut EasyPress
• EasyPress Mat
• Blank butcher paper

Instructions

1. First, you want to open Cricut Design Space. The Infusible Ink Markers I used (and link to) only work with Cricut Explore machines, so next set your machine to Explore.
2. Next add a template of a tote bag onto Design Space. This will help you design something that will fit nicely on the bag. Go to templates on the left-hand side, and then select "totes." This will put the outline of a tote bag on Design Space. Depending on if you have a large or medium-sized tote bag (ours are medium), you need to change the size. At the top of the screen, select "size" and switch it to "custom." The medium bag is 14x14" so I made the tote part of the bag about 14x14" big.
3. Now you're ready to design! This is where you get to be creative. You can do your child's name, a monogrammed letter, a favorite character or animal, inspiring phrase or quote, just a word (toys or books or snacks), or anything else you might think they'd like to color, from simple to complex. For my daughter, I had a picture of a dog and her puppy with the text "P is for Puppy." My oldest son just had a big J to color, and my youngest son colored in the words "BOOKS." Make sure you're using the "draw" linetype and not "cut."
   NOTES: Once you have your design, make sure it's aligned the way you want it. You may need to center your images if you have more than one piece to your design. Do this by going to "align" and then "center horizontally." You also want to weld your design into one piece if you used more than one piece in it.
4. Next, you get to draw the design onto paper so your child can color it! Click "Make," change the layout to 8 1/2 x 11", make sure mirror is ON, and then with a piece of laser copy paper on your mat, draw your design!
5. After your design gets drawn onto the copy paper, it's time to grab your kids! Hand over the Infusible Ink Markers and let them color. They can color as much or as little as they want.
6. When they're all done coloring, plug in your EasyPress and turn it to 385 degrees. Each Infusible Ink Blank has a different temperature and time for pressing, and the tote bags are 385 for 40 seconds. Once it's ready, lay your tote bag onto the mat, then your design onto the tote bag where you want it. Then place a piece of butcher paper in between your design and the EasyPress. Apply gentle pressure to the EasyPress for 40 seconds, and then take it off your tote bag. Once the bag is cool, remove the butcher paper and your laser paper, and you're done!
   NOTES: Make sure you use a new piece of butcher paper for each design, or if your design is too big for your EasyPress and you have to press one half at a time. Otherwise, you'll end up with residue from the ink on the paper that transfers to the bag.

As soon as we finished these kid-colored tote bags, they immediately filled them with a bunch of things and carried them around all day.

I love that each bag is so unique, and shows off each kid’s personality. And making them was so easy, I want to make them as gifts for everyone! Can you imagine how cute these would be for grandparents or teachers!?

Seriously, I would recommend Cricut Infusible Ink markers and totes to anyone looking to make a personalized, meaningful gift. And yes, that does include gifts for yourself, too! I was super impressed with how these turned out, and I know the kids are going to use them for years to come!

The post Kid-Colored Tote Bags with Cricut Explore Air 2 – An Easy DIY Holiday Gift! appeared first on Life With My Littles.

These DIY labels for school supplies are so simple to make and apply! You can easily personalize them for your child and they only take a few minutes to make. Such a great way to label supplies for school!

A few weeks ago, we made the big decision to homeschool our kids this year.

It was a very difficult, personal decision that we came to after our school district announced they were starting school with a combination of distance and in-person learning and were likely to switch to just distance learning or just in-person learning throughout the year.

There were a lot of factors that went into our decision to homeschool, but now that we’ve officially decided, I’ve started preparing for the school year. And if I’m being honest, I’m really excited for the upcoming year! My daughter is starting kindergarten and my oldest son is starting second grade, so I think it is going to be really fun!

One thing that we always love doing is buying school supplies, and it’s been even more fun buying supplies for homeschooling because I get to decide what to add to our list!

We’ve gotten new crayons, markers, colored pencils, glue sticks, pencils, paper, folders, and binders. But once I bought all of our homeschool goodies, I had to figure out how to organize them.

Thankfully, my Cricut Explore Air 2 was up to the challenge! It’s so easy to use, no matter what you’re making, and these labels were no exception!

I have two beautiful pen sets from Cricut, the Extra Fine Point Pen Set and the Ultimate Fine Point Pen Set. I love the colors in both, and they’re both compatible with my Explore Air 2.

The only issue I had is that the pens won’t write on regular vinyl.

Luckily, Cricut also makes writable vinyl that’s permanent, but unluckily, right now it’s only available for Cricut Joy. Yes, there are a few Cricut Joy pens that will work on the writable vinyl, but I wanted to use my wide array of colors I already had!

With a simple tweak, I was able to use the writable vinyl that’s made for Cricut Joy with my Cricut Explore Air 2. It was simple and even the most beginner Cricut users can easily replicate what I did.

These adorable labels are perfect for any child’s school supplies, whether they’re going to school or homeschooling. You can even customize them so they have your child’s name on them! And today, I’m sharing the whole process, and the Cricut Design Space file, with you!

First, you need to decide which of the DIY labels for school supplies you want to use, and how big you want them. My supply boxes are 8.8″ long, so I made my labels each 5″ long.

The Design Space file include labels for crayons, thin and thick markers, glue sticks, pencils, colored pencils, and dry erase markers. If you want to create or change your own labels, detach the pieces of a label in the file, change the text, and if you want, change or delete the picture. You can also change the pen colors. Easy peasy.

So let’s get started! Cut a piece of your writable vinyl so it’s 8.3″ long (one of the choices for material size is 5.8×8.3″ long, and since the writable vinyl is 5.5″ wide, it works).

Next, put it on your cutting mat. I like to use my scraper from my Cricut Joy tool set to make sure it’s stuck on there good and flat.

Make sure your Cricut Explore is set to “Vinyl” and the right pen is loaded into your machine. Load your mat and press go! The machine does all the work for you. Every time it finishes with a color, it will pause and wait for you to insert a new pen. When it’s done writing, then it uses the blade and cuts out your labels!

I loved watching my designs come to life on my writable vinyl. The machine worked perfectly and the designs came out flawless!

Once my Explore finished its job, I unloaded the vinyl, peeled the stickers off, and placed them onto my supply boxes. I got my supply boxes on Amazon, but you can really get them anywhere as long as they are flat on top.

Make sure you carefully apply the labels so they don’t bubble up or wrinkle. The scraper tool is an easy way to make sure you get the labels on without any bubbles.

Once all your labels are on, fill up your supply boxes with school supplies and you’re done! Yay!

Regardless of if you’re homeschooling, sending your child to school, or distance learning this year, labels for school supplies are a must! You can even go a step further and label your child’s lunch box, notebooks, or backpack. These DIY labels or school supplies are so easy to make, and you can personalize them pretty much however you want.

Now that our school supplies are all ready to go, I can hardly wait to get started with the school year. I hope that wherever you are, whatever your children’s school year looks like, you’re excited, too! Good luck!

The post DIY Labels for School Supplies: Personalize with Cricut for Back-to-School! appeared first on Life With My Littles.

These DIY Garden Markers are the perfect way to mark fruits and vegetables in your garden! Permanent vinyl and plastic garden tags combine to make durable, long-lasting markers! 32 different fruits and vegetables included!

When we bought our first house in Texas four years ago, one of the first things we did in the yard was build a garden box and plant a garden. Every year since then, we’ve had a garden.

I absolutely love gardening and I love growing my own food and flowers, but one thing that drives me crazy is trying to find affordable garden markers that last the whole growing season!

Popsicle sticks and even metal garden markers don’t last very long, and by the end of the season, you can barely read what’s written on them, or they’re so weathered that you can’t even find them!

This year I decided to try something new. I got a Cricut Joy machine back in April, and it has completely changed my DIY game. It’s the smallest Cricut smart cutting machine ever, about half the size of my Cricut Explore Air 2, so it’s easier to store and transport. It connects via Bluetooth so you can set it up super fast, and you can use it with Cricut Design Space on mobile or desktop.

My favorite part is that you can buy Smart Materials, which are different from other vinyl and paper because they’re designed to work without a cutting mat! I can’t even tell you what a game-changer the Smart Materials are! Creating your own projects has never been so fast and easy!

I decided to make DIY garden markers using my Cricut Joy, vinyl, and plastic garden markers. Of course, I wanted to use the Smart Materials to cut out my labels! I grabbed Permanent Smart Vinyl in Tangerine, Tomato Red, Coffee, and Lime Green.

I grabbed my Transfer Tape and some plastic garden markers I got off Amazon. I also got out my Starter Tool Set to make weeding and applying my vinyl easier.

When I was designing my labels on Cricut Design Space, I wanted to make not only the fruits and vegetables we’re currently growing, but as many as I could think of so other people could use the labels, too! You can access the file in Design Space by clicking the image below.

After you’ve opened your file, you can delete any images that you don’t want, or even change the colors. Make sure that each image will fit on your markers that you’ve chosen, and then, get ready to cut!

Press “Make It” in the top right-hand corner, and then select “Without Mat” for your Smart Materials.

Next, you’ll be brought to a screen where you can review all of your cuts on the mat. Make sure everything looks good, and then press “Continue.”

Now select your material. I used the Permanent Smart Vinyl for this, so obviously that’s what I selected!

Next you’re given the option to change the pressure. Mine worked fine with default, so you can just leave that. Make sure you have your fine point blade loaded in, and load in your Smart Materials. The Cricut Joy is very intuitive, so it knows when you’re loading the material and just rolls it in the rest of the way for you.

After you load the material, just press “Go!” Your Cricut Joy will do all the work for you!

Cricut Design Space will give you a little progress wheel and at the end of each color, you just unload it. Then you confirm you’re using Smart Materials on the next color, load it in, and press “Go” again!

When all four colors have been cut, you get a fun little “Complete” notification. Then it’s time for you to actually get to work!

First, you want to trim around each label so you don’t have a big long sheet with a ton of labels on it. This makes it a lot easier to weed!

Next, weed off the extra vinyl around the outside of each label, and then use your weeding tool to get any interior vinyl off that you don’t need (like inside letters or in the fruit and veggie pictures).

Now, using your scraper tool, transfer your labels to the transfer tape. I usually cut out a small rectangle of transfer tape so it will fit on each label. If the vinyl isn’t sticking to the transfer tape when you start pulling it off, that means you need to use the scraper tool more.

Once the vinyl is stuck to the transfer tape, peel off the backing paper and align it onto your garden marker. Press down firmly with your scraper again, and then peel off the transfer tape!

And you’re done! So fast, so easy, and the perfect durable garden markers for your garden!

I love the way my garden markers turned out. And they look even better in my garden! I obviously can’t tell you with 100% certainty that these will last all season, but I’ll update this post in the fall and let you know! But I’m not worried 🙂

My Cricut Joy made my DIY garden markers so much faster and easier. I’m not kidding when I tell you you’ll LOVE the Smart Materials! They save a lot of time!

For more home improvement inspiration, head to the Cricut blog, where you can find weekly home renovation project inspiration and tutorials!

The post DIY Garden Markers appeared first on Life With My Littles.