HTV? What is that?

September 27, 2019 Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hi everyone! So today I’m going to talk about HTV. What is HTV? You may ask. It stands for Heat Transfer Vinyl or simply iron-on vinyl. When you have a Cricut the sky is literally the limit for all the different things that you can create. I have to admit that when I made my first couple of shirts (Pictured below) I was terrified.

I had no idea what I was doing and everyone was using their fancy easy press. The trick that I have learned is patience. To use a traditional iron is time-consuming, however, it works just fine. You need patience also with yourself. When you first start designing and apply your t-shirts there are going to be mistakes you will make. You can’t let those mistakes discourage you from your goal. You have to learn from them and try again. That is how we learn everything from walking to our chosen trade. This is no different and you will get there if you keep going.

If you are new to the Cricut world and are using your home iron it is important to know that for most types of vinyl (all the ones that I know of currently) require you to set your home iron to the highest setting. You also need to set it to the DRY setting. You NEVER use the steam setting when doing an iron-on transfer.

Also, make sure that you wash your shirts and dry them without fabric softener. You want to get the coating off the shirt that comes from the manufacturer. If you use fabric softener it is again putting a coating on the clothing that will give you trouble.

When using the older style iron on transfers the idea was to keep the iron moving. That is not the case with HTV. Instead, you want to press the iron down for 15 seconds before lifting it up and moving to a different area. This will prevent wrinkles in the fabric and vinyl.

If you are doing multiple layers of vinyl you must be careful. When you weed the vinyl it comes on clear transfer tape. Please, please, please learn from my mistake and make sure the clear plastic from a different section is under the vinyl. I cannot tell you how many times this happened to me because I was in a hurry.

Most importantly have fun with it! We craft to calm our anxieties or to relax. We don’t want to stress out so much that it no longer is fun. We want to enjoy the destination, or finished project, for sure but we also want to enjoy the journey as well. Before I close out for the day I want to share with you another shirt that I made at the beginning that I am proud of. It gave me so many problems, such as putting the vinyl on the clear transfer tape, but in the end, it was worth it and is one of my favorite shirts. Until next time, stay crafting my friends!

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Super Smash Trophy!?!

September 22, 2019 Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hey guys! So I have another exciting post for you today. So my husband today is having a super smash tournament with his friends today. So earlier this week he asked me if I could make him a trophy to give to the champion of the tournament. I thought about it for a couple days and looked online trying to find some sort of inspiration…well I didn’t find very much. I found maybe 2 trophies and they were 3D printed or you could buy it on Etsy for $30. So I thought to myself how could I make something that wouldn’t break the bank? So this is what I came up with.

It may look super complicated but it totally wasn’t. So the base of the trophy is a 5X5 round plaque that I bought at JoAnn Fabrics. I used a 50% off coupon and got it for $1. If you are looking for one you can find it here. I loved the detailed edging of this one. Then I used black glossy spray paint to give it a more finished look.

For the gold stand, my adventure took me to dollar tree where I found a package of three glass candle holders for $1. So I went ahead and picked that up. When I got home I got the one I wanted to use out of the package and use a metallic gold Rustoleum spray paint that I had from another project and used that to give it that first place feel.

For the Mario on top, there were many different ways that I wanted to do this but I figured that simple was probably best. I searched store after store to find a little 2″ Mario with no success. So then I turned to the internet and found a set of 18 Super Mario Action Figures all of them that were 2″ tall. You can find that set here. The set was $12.99 but I plan on either using them for cupcakes later or just selling the rest in my local buy sell trade. Then I used Gorilla Glue Epoxy to glue everything together.

I was almost done and so excited about my creation but I still needed some words on the trophy. So I downloaded the official Super Smash Brothers Font and cut it out with my Cricut on a permanent vinyl sheet and attached it. Then voila it was complete. I hope this is helpful in case anyone else wants to make a trophy but doesn’t want to spend a ton of money. Until next time, have craftabulous day!

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Fall in love with Autumn

September 22, 2019 Jasmine HustonLeave a comment

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog. So today I wanted to show you something else that you can make with the Cricut. This is probably my new shirt. You may not know this but Autumn is my FAVORITE season. I love the crisp air and beautiful leaves. Basically, I just love everything about it. Since Autumn officially starts on Monday I wanted to make a shirt in preparation. So here is a picture of my finished product.

This may look complicated at first but it is so worth it. The words in black are all 1 piece so that makes it easy. The leaves and words on the sides are in four different colors. I used orange, gold, medium yellow, and medium/dark green. The leaves are very easy to apply. The hardest part of the project is trying to align the “I live for autumn” and keep it straight but once you have it, you’re golden. The shirt is antique cherry red by Gildan that I bought at Michael’s for $2. If you are looking for the SVG file, you can find it here. That’s all for today. If you have any questions please send me a message. Talk to you soon!