Artesprix Iron On Ink ”My Stuff” Tote Bag

Hi, it’s Mandie from Mandie’s Scrappin’ Guest Designing today on the Artesprix Blog! I have a fun Tote Bag project to share today using the awesome new Sublimation Acrylic Paint which is a great form of their Iron On Ink. I had so many fun ideas run through my head when I got this awesome paint, especially because it seems I’ve been doing a lot of paint projects lately. I’ve also been using my Cricut for many projects so I thought it would be fun to combine paint and my Cricut machine. 

 

First, I grabbed a sheet of plain copy paper out of my printer. One of the things I love the most about Artesprix Iron On Inks is the fact that I don’t need to have expensive equipment in order to create some great sublimation projects. Next I grabbed a brush and started making random brush strokes all over my sheet of paper. I did one color at a time (red, yellow, and blue) and then just kept filling it in and allowing the wet colors to blend a bit in spots.

Next I let that dry overnight, just to make sure everything was completely dry. Then I did up my design on my Cricut. I used a rectangle shape and added a notebook paper edge for some fun, then added “My Stuff” in a fun font.

 

Then I set my Cricut to “Paper” and let it do it’s thing! If you don’t have a Cricut, you could still do a fun border with punches and hand cut the letters with an craft knife for a similar look. Something important to note – cut it on the Mirror setting (or trace your letters backwards if you are hand cutting)…

And here you can see my design all cut out! Notice, I totally forgot to Mirror my project, so make sure to Mirror or Reverse your design.

 

Next you’re going to heat up your heat press – you’ll want to check the exact temperature on your specific blank for this step. For this Tote Bag, Artesprix recommends 400 for 45 seconds with medium pressure. Because this is a fabric item you will also want to lint roll before press. While your press is heating up, you can add the Protective Paper to the inside of your bag to prevent the ink from transferring to the other side.

For fabric projects I like to use a temporary adhesive spray, like you would use for a quilting pattern, to hold my design in place. You can also just use Heat Tape, but for this I wanted to make sure my decorative edge didn’t get out of place.

Once it’s coated, you place it face down on to your Tote Bag. Then you want to add your Protective Paper to the top of the design to protect your press.

Now you’ll want to put this on the press, your sublimation sandwich should be, the Tote Bag with the Protective Paper inside, then your design facedown on top, then the Protective Paper sheet on top. If you have a pressing pillow you can use it under the tote bag to ensure most even pressure, especially if you have a larger sized press like the one shown.

Now you’ll press… you can dance a little jig or just dream up the next amazing project you want to create – however you want to make 45 seconds pass is up to you!

Then you will release the pressure and reveal your design. One advantage to taping the design is you can lift a corner to peek and make sure your design colors have fully transferred with out the danger of it shifting on you. I was pretty confident in my design so I just revealed my masterpiece!

Remember when I stressed the importance of mirroring? Well, I mirrored my photo to show off my design. Yes, I did realize my error before I pressed, but I LOVED what I did so much I realized that it is actually the PERFECT design for my crazy, busy life, that I wouldn’t change for the world – so I’m owning my awesome new tote bag for all my important stuff!

 

I should also announce that I have been asked to join the Artesprix Design Team so you'll be seeing more fun projects with awesome Artesprix materials soon! 

Project Supply List:

Sublimation Acrylic Paint

Tote Bag Blank

Protection Paper

 

Other-

Copy paper

Cricut Machine

Heat Press

Pattern Stick Temporary Adhesive

Cricut Infusible Ink Instructions and Project

Hello again! I've been so busy craftng that I haven't had as much time to blog! I'm going to be using my Instagram account more for my crafting in the future, so feel free to follow me @manhattanmandie to see the latest projects!

Anyway, I was lucky enough to get to go to the Cricut Infusible Ink Launch, since it was here in Chicago! Here are a few of the fun photos I took at my store and and the Launch party! Yes, we do travel with our Cricuts.... the stuffed version of course!

There are a few of the different ink transfer sheets I purchased first thing in the morning!

Look at all the beautiful patterns and colors that are available!

Lori, Betsy and I in line to see, touch and buy all the fun new Infusible Ink projects and products!

We also got to meet the AWESOME Cricut CEO, Ashish Arora! I love how much he loves Cricut and that he appreciates how much we love Cricut too!

And another look at the backdrop with some awesome ideas, I seriously LOVE the flamingo shirts... think he's going to be project #2 for me! Also, my new Cricut Cutie matches my machine!

So on to me testing this one out! I designed my project in Design Space and read and reread the instructions that you can find right HERE. And yes, seriously read them, watch the videos on the Infusible Ink webpage... I can tell you, this is NOT one of those fly by the seat of your pants type projects!

Oh, also here's some pointers I picked up at the Launch... Don't Touch your Ink Transfer Sheets with wet, damp, slightly moist, sweaty or otherwise not DRY hands (or anything else), the ink will transfer and leave your sheet uneven. Lint roll, lint roll and if your think you've done enough, do one more... ANYWHERE the heat press or Easy Press will be sitting while your design is transferring. The lint will also transfer it's color to your project because of the long press time. And use the Heat Guide provided by Cricut right HERE to help you determine time and temperature. And finally, Cricut will only guarantee the results on their Cricut Blanks, although it will work with high polyester content fabrics (but again, the results are not guaranteed).

Step One: Cut out your design, MIRRORED and weed it. Here is what my design looks like partially weeded... and save those scraps for future projects! You know I will!  There is a Custom Materials Setting for the Infusible Ink sheets, that's what I used here.

Heat up your Cricut Easy Press or your Heat Press. You can NOT use an iron to do this and expect good results. The iron doesn't have a large enough surface are and will NOT get hot enough. I used the Easy Press 2 instructions with my Heat Press, setting it to 385 degrees for 45 seconds.

Once it's hot, you're going to put your Easy Press Mat inside your shirt (or tote bag) covered with a piece of white card stock. On top you will place your butcher paper, it comes with your Ink Transfer Sheeets. Then pre-heat for 15 seconds. Then let the shirt COOL DOWN. If you don't the ink may start to transfer before it's lined up properly. You definitely don't want that!

Now that it's cool you will remove the butcher paper, set your design where you want it to be and then put the butcher paper on top of that. This is going to prevent ink from transferring to your heat press plate.

Next your will press your shirt for the full 40 seconds. I'll admit, pressing this hot made me nervous... you may also notice that, Hey! That's not a Cricut Blank! Nope, it's one of my work out tanks that I've been dying to put something on. It is 92% Polyester and 8% Spandex so I figured it would work... and also, if I mess up my first project... well, I'd still wear it to work out, and I didn't mess up a $10 shirt! After that 40 seconds, you're going to want to carefully lift your pressing plate from your project (not as much of a concern with the heat press, but you don't want your project to shift at all). Now, impatiently (or patiently, who am I to judge) wait for your project to cool a little. It says you can hot peel this, and they were hot peeling at the demos, but when I was reading I heard that if your base is still hot you can accidentally transfer ink to other parts of the shirt. I'm pretty clumsy so I wasn't taking any chances.... the above photo shows the already transferred design cooling down a bit on my shirt, I've already removed the butcher paper.

And finally, you'll carefully peel away your ink transfer sheet to reveal your design! How awesome is this???? It's exactly what I was hoping for and turned out how I imagined!!!! Now, to go get ready for spin class so I can show off my NEW work out shirt!

I hope you've enjoyed learning a little bit about how to make your own Infusible Ink shirt!

Crystal Palace DIsney Layout

One of my favorite character meals in Disney World is at Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom. Not only is the food delicious, I get to see my favorite character - Eeyore!

I used another Scrapbook Generation Sketch for this layout and cut the title with my Cricut. I love that I'm able to weld all of my letters together to create titles like this so easily.

Spirit of Aloha Disney Scrapbook Layout with Photo Play Paper

Since I had already created a layout of my family enjoying this show, I decided to highlight all of the performers in this layout.

I found this amazing Scrapbook Generation Sketch that combined a ton of full sized 4 x 6" photos with a great collage of my beautiful Photo Play Papers. I again used the Rhapsody collection for this title page, and used my Cricut to write the title on my patterned paper! With a few simple embellishments and a little washi tape this layout came together really quickly!

Hurray for Hollywood Layout

Today I'm sharing another layout from my Disney Scrapbook. I was again inspired by a Scrapbook Generation Sketch. I highly recommend their sketchbooks (and I'm not paid to say that, I'm just a HUGE fun)!

I used my Cricut to cut the circles and star and then I cut the title from permanent vinyl. The vinyl can be cut a bit easier than cardstock for a cut this delicate, and the title transferred easily with transfer tape.

Minnie Mouse Nightlight and Box Card

Hey Everyone! I'm freshly back from my time at Creativation 2018 and I can't WAIT to share some of the NEW products that will be coming out from some of my absolute favorite companies this year! But first, I wanted to do a quick post with a project I had a ton of fun making!

I created this fun nightlight jar and box card for my niece who is OBSESSED with Minnie Mouse! The jar was created by using Polycrylic to coat the inside of my jar, I let it drip out for a few minutes into a cup and then dumped in the glitter and coated the inside of the jar with it. Then I added the battery operation night light insert into the lid. Finally I cut Minnie Mouse and her name from vinyl and put those onto my jar as well!

To create the box card I followed the instructions I found by Googling them. Then I simply cut patterned paper to decorate it and used my Cricut for the decorative pieces. It's so fun and easy to create a beautiful, personalized gift!

Spring Fairy Bucket

Here in IL it's been below freezing for over a week now, and the cold has been a little INSANE!The temps have been in the single digits or below zero (with mostly negative wind chills) so it makes going out side pretty unbareable! So I wanted to share a fun Spring project to beat the winter blues!

I found this pretty tin oval bucket in Target's Dollar Spot a while ago and wanted to dress it up a bit. Since it was already a pretty pink, I used my Cricut and the A Child's Year Cartridge to cut these adorable fairies out of Oracal 651 Vinyl. The hardest part was applying the vinyl over the ridges on the bucket, but if you go slow, it's fine!

I hope my fun Spring project helps warm you up on this very cold day!

Just Chillin' Layout

Hello there and welcome to my blog! Today I've got a fun layout to share with you. Sadly we recently put our beloved dog, Kobe to sleep so I decided that scrapping a few photos of her with my daughter would make me feel better. These photos were taken about 4 years ago when my daughter was about 4. She was sitting on our back stoop eating a Push Pop when Kobe decided to check out what she was eating.... 

Needless to say, Penny gladly shared her ice cream with Kobe and made Kobe's day! I used some of my FAVORITE paper for this one, Echo Park Paper's Country Drive. I love the colors in this whole collection! I also used my Cricut and cut the "Just Chillin'" title from the Create a Critter.

Make sure you stop back again soon! I've got some more great creations to share with you!

The Queen's Parade CTMH Layout

Hello again! One of my resolutions for the New Year is to blog at least once per week. Today I have a layout that I created using the Workshops On The Go® Laughing Lola Scrapbooking Kit. These kits are really fantastic because they not only come with a paper assortment and cardstock, but they also include a stamp set and embellishments. There are instructions to create layouts in the kit, but I chose to go in another direction with my kit and so I set those directions aside to use with something else.

I love to use sketches to create my layouts. I have made my own sketches, however I LOVE the Close to My Heart Idea Books and the sketch for this Layout came straight from the Imagine book. I made a few minor modifications to the sketch so it's not exact, but that's the good part about sketches, they give you somewhere to start and then you make it your own!

I wanted to add a few flowers to embellish my layout so I decided to stamp them in Black Ink out onto some scraps from the patterned paper and cardstock.You get a nice crisp image if you put that foam sheet that comes with your stamp set under your paper before you stamp. This stamp set is the one that comes with the Workshops On The Go® Laughing Lola Scrapbooking Kit. You will also want to make sure you have Acrylic Blocks to use your clear stamps on. I used the 3" x 3" My Acrylix® Block here.

Next I grabbed my Close To My Heart Micro-Tip Scissors and cut out the flowers I wanted. The smaller flowers are just the inner shape of the larger design.

For my title I used the Cricut® Art Philosophy Cartridge. This cartridge is only available through Close to My Heart and it has a huge variety of shapes and a really awesome font on it. I used my black marker to go around the edges of my letters to bring them out a bit without cutting a whole extra layer. 

Finally here's one last look at the flowers on the layout, as well as my favorite photo from the parade! This colorful dress just made me smile so much. If you head over to my good friend Lori's Close To My Heart page to shop, when you check out I'd appreciate if you'd click on the link that says Mandie from Mandie's Scrappin' Sent Me! Happy Scrappin' and I'll see you again real soon!

Echo Park "Fly" Card

Have you ever had one element that you made just to try out a technique and end up loving it sooooo much that you then create an entire project around it? When I experiment I usually make something I like and put it in the "Someday" pile... and for most of that stuff Someday hasn't come yet. But when I was playing with my embossing folders and Glimmer Mist I created a super cute paper that I LOVED and had to create a project with it! Add my Cricut (of course), the GORGEOUS Echo Park For The Record papers and a few odds and ends and I came up with....


... this beautiful card! So here's what I did to create this. It all began with a one of the Tim Holtz Texture Fade Embossing Folders. The one I used is called Patchwork Card which isn't currently in the store but a great substitute would be the Postal Folder. First I embossed a sheet of plain white cardstock which I had cut to fit the folder (4 x 5.5 if I remember right). Then I grabbed my Yellow Daisy, Walnut Gold and Coffee Shop Glimmer Mists and started spraying. I dried everything with my Heat Tool and then used the Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink with my sponge dauber to bring out the embossing even more. Then I tore the edges off my paper down both sides and inked those too.


Then I grabbed my Echo Park For The Record 6 x 6 Paper Pad and started flipping through it. I will admit, I LOVE the smaller paper pads for card making not only because of the scaled down size but also I don't feel like I'm *wasting* a whole sheet of 12 x 12 paper that I may want to use in my scrapbook one day (yes, I'm a TOTAL paper hoarder)! Anyway, I selected a few sheets and decided that I wanted a big butterfly for the front of my card. I used the Once Upon A Princess Cricut cartridge to cut out my butterfly and inked all the edges of my cuts with the Walnut Stain Distress Ink. I actually used a makeup sponge to get into the small spaces on my cut. Then I added the patterned paper to the background of my card and decided to adhere my Glimmer Misted Patchwork Card at an angle. I trimmed it to fit and inked all the way around the card. To adhere my butterfly I used some Pop Up foam only on the body of the butterfly so the wings can flap. I inked my Baker's Twine a bit and wrapped it around my card 3 times and tied it off. Then I decided to add antenna to the butterfly with a scrap of the twine. I wish I had thought of it before I had adhered the butterfly but I just tied a knot in it and stuck it on with a Glue Dot. Then I stamped "Fly" on a scrap and matted it with another scrap after inking them both. Finally I added my green Chick'N Feed buttons with more Glue Dots. I love the way my "experiment" ended up and I can't wait to play more!

"It's Easter!" Blog Hop - Day 2

Hi everyone! Welcome to the “It’s Easter” Blog Hop to help you get ready for this wonderful Easter season. Joining me in this fun celebration are some of the most talented crafters that I know. There are a few rules for this hop, in support of each crafter and the time they have put into their work, to be eligible for my blog candy you MUST visit each blog and leave a comment. If you have just stopped by to check my blog you can find the beginning of the hop HERE.

This hop runs from April 7th - 10th, and there will be new projects posted on each blog each day! Check out each blog and see what each blog has to offer for BLOG CANDY!


Today's card is a super simple card that could easily be mass produced! I cut my card base from light pink cardstock at 5" x 10" and folded it in half to make a 5" x 5" card. Then I cut the dark pink layer from the Stretch Your Imagination Cricut Cartridge at 5" from using the Card Frame function. The little bunny is on the same key with a basket. I used my Gypsy to hide the basket in the cut and the layer. I set the size to 2 3/4", then I cut the top layer in white and the bottom in dark pink. Then I added some Polar White Flower Soft to his tail so it would be super fluffy!


Here's a closer look at my happy little bunny. You could easily use this card for invitations to an Easter celebration or just as a sweet card to mail out to friends and family! Don't forget to come back tomorrow and see my next creation!

Now you might be wondering about my blog candy... I have a TON of goodies in my stash from CHA so I will be drawing one name for every 50 comments that are made during the entire run of the hop to win a mystery gift! So, if you come back and comment (only ONCE per day) each day you will have a total of 4 entries into each drawing! I will pay for shipping to the U.S. and Canada. If you are outside of this area, you can win but you must pay for shipping. Please make sure that you are following my blog as well, because the more followers I have, the more goodies I giveaway! After you leave your comment your going to hop on over to Mickie's Blog!

Here's the line up for the hop in case you get get lost along the way....

1. Shawnee's Blog
2. Rachelle's Blog
3. Lisa's Blog
4. Suzanne's Blog
5. Patricia's Blog
6. Shelly & Kitty's Blog
7. Rhonda's Blog
8. Mandie's Blog - You are HERE!
9. Mickie's Blog - Go HERE next!
10. Deborah's Blog
11. Kristy's Blog
12. Tristan's Blog
13. Ellen's Blog
14. Monica's Blog
15. Robin's Blog
16. Christine's Blog

Cricut Circle February Challenge: Banners!

Banners are hot, hot, HOT in the papercrafting world so this month's Cricut Circle Challenge was to create a banner! I've been wanting to make one for a while now and this gave me the perfect excuse. Is it my little girl's 5th birthday on Sunday so I wanted to make her a gift that we could not only display at her party but also hang in her room.


I used the Country Life Cricut Cartridge to cut all of my banner shapes at 10". Then I used Nursery Rhymes to cut the letters in her name at 4" (I think). Then I used Once Upon a Princess to make Princess Penny and a sort of Ariel (hey, she needed to be pink). I used my brand new Peachy Keen Stamps "Wide Eyed Kids" for the faces, aren't they ADORABLE? I just want to make a TON of dolls now! Finally the birthday girl and I went through my mounds of stickers and embellishments to pick out stuff to represent her favorite things: Ballet, Princesses, Hello Kitty, Littlest Pet Shop and Dress Up. I'm really happy with the results and she is too! Here's close-ups of all of the letters to see what we did:

Cricut Circle February Everyday Cricut Challenge

This month's magazine challenge for the Circut Circle is to use at least three cuts from the new, exclusive Cricut Circle Cartridge, Cricut Everyday in a project to define yourself at Meet-Ups, Crops or other events. I decided that I would make a little sign that I could hang in my scraproom or take places with me.


My nickname at work is actually Cricut Girl because I'm the go-to gal for any questions regarding the machine or cartridges. I might even take it to hang on my locker there.... but it's so stinking cute, I may have to enjoy it at home for a while!


I used one of the layers from the "Cricut Imagine" logo to get just the word "Cricut". I set my dial to 1 1/2" and turned on the Real Dial Size function. Then I cut "girl" at 1" from the All Mixed Up cartridge at 1".


The Bug Head is a cut from the cartridge and the background is actually the Cricut Cake logo! I just didn't cut the last layer with the words on it. I have a feeling I will be using this cut a LOT! Then I added a little bling with my i-rock and attached the ribbon so I could hang it up. A fun and easy project!

So You Think You Can Dance???

So one of the MOST amazing parts of the Provo Craft Cricut Gala was the evening's entertainment! I'm a HUGE fan of So You Think You Can Dance and I was rooting for Twitch and Joshua all during Season 4. Joshua was the winner that season and here is a video that I shot at the Gala!



Joshua really is an amazing dancer and I feel soooooo blessed to have not only got to see him dance in such an intimate setting but I also got to MEET him and the other dancers. I have to get the pics from my friend Betsy because I only had my iPhone and sadly it has no flash so the nice dark Conga Room wasn't idea for photos....

Hello Thursday!!!

Hello again! So now that the Hello Thurday posts have officially gone up I can share the new ones here on my blog as well! I showed the ones that "leaked" earlier but the pics were not as good as I would have liked. But I wanted to make sure that I didn't leak ANYTHING that I wasn't supposed to... so I used the photos from the JoAnns.com website... but I have bigger ones from my *other* source! Just click on the photos to make them larger and thanks for checking in!

Campin' Critters

This is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE of the new releases! I MUST have this NOW! I've been waiting for a fun camping/outdoor cartridge like this for a while and the character are soooo cute!! Plus the 3D objects on this one are really fun!

Florals Embellished

This has some really cool cuts and I would love to play with it to see if it's for me. It does look really pretty though.

The next couple I posted about earlier but I have better pics now:

Kate's ABCs

Formal Occasion

Baby Steps

All Sports

A brand new Cricut Cake Cartridge:

Martha Stewart Birthday Cake Art

I think this is set up beautifully! What a fun idea!

And the NEW Imagine Cartridges:

Bubble Gum Art Cartridge

Some really fun patterns here!

Buccaneer

I am in LOVE with this one!

All Wrapped Up

I'm looking forward to seeing more info about this one...

Well, that's it for this edition of Hello Thursday! How many of these new releases are on your MUST HAVE list?