Thursday, May 19, 2011

That Girl is a Crafty One...

One of the things I'm really excited about with the impending nuptials and the Disney-ness of them (not considering for a second how excited I am to finally be Mrs. Prince Charming!) is that I get to be all kinds of crafty with all of the wedding accoutrements.

Hi!  My name is City Girl Lost and I am a crafting addict!

(Everyone say it together:  Hi City Girl!)

I spend a significant chunk of my time cutting out pieces of paper and gluing them together in interesting and appealing patterns.  I've also taken to playing with fabric.  So looking at the prices some of my other compatriot Disney brides are paying for things I can do for next to nothing, well, it makes me feel kinda bad.

How can I make such nifty things on the cheap?  I am a Cricut owner.

Never heard of a Cricut?  It's the niftiest thing ever.  It's kinda like a printer only instead of putting ink on paper, it uses a blade to cut an image (or letters) out of paper or fabric or vinyl. There's literally hundreds of themed cartridges filled with letters and graphics that you can  cut out. 



"Yeah, so what?" you say.

I have made some pretty nifty stuff with my bug,  Like Mickey Mouse tee shirts for everyone that attended my son's birthday party.  What?  Tee shirts?  Yeah!  I cut mickey heads out of freezer paper and used it like a stencil for fabric paint.  (I also made 'Team Edward' shirts for the opening of Eclipse.  Yeah, I'm a dork.  I know!)

I've made centerpieces and cards and pennant banners- paper and fabric!  I've made signs for my family with vinyl lettering.

So what Cricut-y projects do I have in mind for the wedding?  Oh boy, am I glad you asked!

These program fans are all the rage on the Disney boards. One side has the couple's names or wedding logo and the back has all of the ceremony information.  I've also seen them shaped like Cinderella's coach, but we're not going the way of the princesses.  We're all about the mouse. I even love that these are red and white, our colors, so mine will probably look a lot like this. 

I'm likely to make our invitations myself, utilizing the Cricut a little.  We're planning on a pocket-fold style invitation.  I'll buy the components and put it all together myself.

I've been on the fence about toasting flutes.  I found a pair of gorgeous Waterford flutes in red crystal that are just amazing, but at $250, eh, that kind of killed my enthusiasm a bit.  At best, we drink from them every year to celebrate our anniversary, or we put them in a curio somewhere where they'll collect dust.  At worst, the $250 flutes go back in their box and to the basement.  So I'm considering etching my own champagne flutes using a vinyl stencil that I cut on my Cricut. I even saw red flutes at one of the craft stores.

I haven't decided on escort cards yet.  You know, those little tent-folded cards with your name on it that tells you at what table you're to sit.  They're not called place cards like I thought.  They're escort cards.  (Oh, the things I learn by watching David Tutera on TV!) I'm going to go play around with my Cricut and see what kinds of nifty Disney shapes I can cut!  I've seen Cinderella's coach (Cinderella is a popular wedding theme apparently and not only for Disney-philes!)  I've seen leaves and trees and shells and Mickey Heads. 

I almost forgot-- I am going to make a custom aisle runner.  These look amazing and make for awesome photos and I can't believe how easy it will be.  I'm kinda psyched to do this one because of the major impact it will have and how much I know Disney charges if you order one through them!

I'm pretty sure I'll be adding more to this list... in the meantime, my Cricut is chirping for me to come play.

5 comments:

  1. U r so crafty. And give u mad props for doing a wedding! My coworker is getting married sat and she did a lot of the things herslef using her cricut. They all look great(@least the things I've seen) and all the thing I haven't I'm sure r ten times better. If I had my cricut in 1998 when we got married, u know I would've done a lot more, I decorated the whole thing myself (with the help of the awesome bridal party- wink wink). Go for it! And mayb we will b in disney when u say ur vows. We r looking into it. If u don't mind, of course.

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  2. Hello, I found your blog through the Create website when you commented about cutting fabric with the Cricut machine. Did they ever answer your question about pressure and blade depth? I've tried to cut fabric before and it was a miserable failure so I've never tried again. Congrats on your engagement and Disney wedding plans. Will they let you make your own escort cards and bring your own isle runner? I have to admit, I wish I had had my Cricut machine back when I married in 2003...oh, and had known about that fabulous customized isle runner in your post. How awesome that would have been! Well, just wanted to say hey to you. I live in Central Florida, near Disny, and you've helped me to see Disney in a new light. I take it for granted because I can go any time I want, but now I see it is the place that non-Floridians dream of going.

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  3. Hey Rebecca- no, they never answered. Kind of annoying, if you ask me. If you're going to provide a tutorial, you need to share all of the instructions!

    So I looked it up... and here's what I've learned:
    1. Spray starch the fabric and iron it first.
    2. Use Wonder Under or Heat and Bond.
    3. Set the speed to slow. Some people have said to set the pressure and needle depth to max and others seem to say 3, 3, 3 works fine too.

    Here's a good video!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FG6HNB6PMY

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  4. Hey, thanks! I had found some more info on it as well and was going to tell you the same thing...other peeps say speed/pressure/depth to 6 is what to use. I'll try both settings and see what happens. Can you just imagine how much more crap we can do with our Cricuts if we can use it for fabric???? Oh, and I was looking through Joanns.com and saw some nice champagne flutes with rhinestones that were only $29 (I think for a pair but not sure) and I thought of you. Don't know if they are what you are looking for but they sure aren't $200 a piece! LOL!

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  5. I need to go over to Joann's for fabric sizing and some ruffle trim. I have a couple friends who are having babies and I want to make some custom onesies. I love my Cricut and when combined with the Gypsy... I am unstoppable! :)

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