I’m so glad I finally have a Cricut machine! I love being crafty but my artistic skills are kindergarten-quality at best. Now that I have a Cricut, I can make anything I want and know it’s going to look professional instead of amateurish.
I was a bit worried about the learning curve but I forced myself to set up my new machine shortly after it arrived. I have the Cricut Explore Air 2 in the original mint color (available at Cricut and Amazon).
Getting started with the Cricut Explore Air 2 was so much easier than I thought it would be. I just plugged it in, turned it on and followed the simple step-by-step directions to register the machine and sign up for Cricut DesignSpace (where all the projects, templates and ideas live).
As part of the set-up, I was prompted to try a simple card project with the included supplies and was guided through every single step.
First I inserted the pen into clamp A. The cap comes off and it’s just pushed down into place. Then I put my cardstock on the Light Grip Machine Mat and loaded it into the machine.
Then I pushed the ‘Go’ button and my Cricut Explore Air 2 took it from there!
First, the pen wrote the card’s message.
Then it began to cut design details into the cardstock.
I couldn’t believe how easy it was!
Next, I attached the light blue cardstock to the Light Grip Machine Mat, loaded it into my machine and pushed ‘Go’.
In just a minute, the machine had cut out the filmstrip shape.
All I had left to do was to fit the pieces together and I had an adorable card!
I had expected the process to be scary and complicated but it was incredibly easy! The act of making that one simple card gave me the confidence I needed to try another project.
So I chose a DIY snack cone project from the Cricut Design Space. It was rated easy with a less than 30-minute timeline. You can get the project details here.
It was SO easy that I made four paper cones for food in less than 30 minutes!
First, I inserted the scoring stylus into the A clamp, attached a patterned piece of cardstock to the mat and loaded it into the machine.
A simple button push and my Cricut began cutting out the star and paper food cone and then it scored the fold line.
I pulled the extra paper off from around the snack cone, then carefully peeled the paper cone off of the mat, leaving the star cut-out behind.
All that was left to do was glue the paper into a food cone shape. I couldn’t find my glue stick so I used liquid glue. It still worked but it was messier and took longer to dry. Use a glue stick!
And voila!
Then I tucked a sheet of parchment paper inside each paper food cone and added some fun munchies.
DIY Paper Food Cones
I love how they turned out!
I’m so excited to try all the things on my Cricut Explore Air 2. It can make greeting cards, gift tags, paper flowers, vinyl sayings on mugs, t-shirt designs, stencils for wood projects and so much more. The possibilities are endless! Stay tuned!
