Get Creative with your Cricut Explore Air 2!
OMG have you discovered the Cricut Explore Air 2? It's the machine that will change your world, you can create things that you would have never imagined or thought you needed! I recently created a California State image to hang in the kitchen, my goal is to create a silhouette of every state and country we've visited to hang on our kitchen wall.
First you need to download Design Space application, super easy to do so. Go to design.cricut.com. When the page has fully loaded, sign in with your Cricut ID, or create one if you don't have one, once signed in, select the New Project tile. You'll receive a prompt to download and install the Design Space plugin, the app is free to download.
There are two options: You can pay for the whole year at once for $95.80 which comes to about $7.99 a month OR. You can pay $9.99 a month for your membership with the option to cancel at any time.
Now, what you'll need to create your very own state!
Patterned card stock in the size and colors of your choice (I choose an 11×17″ card stock that could be easily trimmed to 11×14″ to fit my frame)
Background paper in the size and color of your choice (I used two of the large 22×25″ sheets of colored paper, found in the art section of most craft stores, Michael's is my go to)
E-cutter
Frame(s)
The first step is to find and cut out your state/country images
To really make this process easy and efficient, I took time to center the image within an 11×14″ boundary on my cut mat preview BEFORE cutting it so that once the image was cut, all I had to do was trim off the bottom three inches to get the right size for my frames. With the image cut out, you are left with both the cut image and the outline centered on the rectangle. Then Choose your background, you may consider alternating backgrounds, colors, and patterns for a pop.
Once you decide how to layer your papers, the artwork comes together quickly. I used a rotary cutter and ruler to trim down my background paper to 11×14″ and essentially layered the cut card stock on top of the solid. I didn’t bother gluing anything down since the frame keeps everything together and also the bonus, if you want to swap out the background colors for each season for a fresh look, you can. Choose your desired frame color, I picked a deep blue to pop the blue in the picture. It's super easy and you'll have a blast once you see your creation! Heads up, Michael's Craft Store is having a sale right now, they have Cricut card stock on sale, take advantage of it while you can.
*DISCLAIMER
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.