Taylor, Author at TaylorMade

Custom Pillowcase Tutorial

March 7, 2019 By Taylor Leave a Comment

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

A few weeks ago my sister asked me to make my niece a custom nap mat that needed to be the size of a pillowcase. I knew just what to do! I used to make these Custom Pillowcases by hand (!) but with my new obsession over my Cricut Maker and the rotary blade attachment I whipped this one up in under an hour! This would make a great gift for a kid birthday or a new mom to be… I also think adults would love one too. I mean, who doesn’t love something with their name on it?!

Here’s what you need:

a pillowcase (source for this one HERE)
fabric scraps (size will depend on the size of your pillow but I made sure mine were at least 6″ x 6″)
double sided interfacing
Cricut Maker
Cricut Rotary Blade
Cricut EasyPress 2
Sewing Machine

Choose some fabric scraps or pieces for the letters in the name and then you will want to decide on how tall the letters will be. I made my letters about 5.5″ tall so I just made sure all of my scraps were around 6″ x 6″.

Next, we need to iron the scraps. This is one thing that I love about the Easypress 2, it is a little larger/more square than an iron but just as easy and actually much quicker! You can read my honest review about the Cricut Easypress 2 HERE.

Then press a piece of fusible interfacing to the back of the fabric scraps. I like Wonder Under by Pellon. Be sure that the interfacing is a tad smaller than the fabric so interfacing doesn’t adhere to your EasyPress Mat. You will press it on for about 30 seconds and once it is cool, peel the back side of the interfacing off. You will know you did it right if the back now looks shiny.

Now here comes the fun part! We are going to cut the letters out using the Cricut Maker and the Rotary Blade attachment. I love using the Snap Mat Feature in the Cricut Design Space for this… if you haven’t used this feature yet you HAVE to try it, its pretty life changing!

Start out by placing as many fabric scraps (right sides up) as you can on your Fabric Cutting Mat and leave just a little room around the scraps.

When you open the app on your phone you can start by writing out the letters you are going to use for your pillowcase. My niece is named Collin so I plugged those letters in individually. Add each letter one at a time so you can move them freely in the next step.

Place your fabric mat with the scraps on it, on a flat surface. When you have the letters written out in your canvas choose “make it” in the bottom right hand corner and on that next screen that is when you will see the option for “Snap Mat”. Choose the Snap Mat and you will see a square that is shaped like your mat and your camera will open. Line your Cricut cutting mat up with the mat guidelines. The app will pick up the image and that will become your new background on your working canvas.

What is so cool about this is now you can place your letters EXACTLY where you want to on the fabric… you can line a pattern up perfectly or do fussy cut letters or quilt blocks, the options are endless! I was using pretty large letters so I had to split my fabric and letters into two groups. See how I was able to get a little part of everything on the blue floral fabric by moving the “C” around?! So cool!

Load your fabric into your Cricut Maker. Use the Rotary Blade and cut your letters out. Look at those sharp lines!!! Seriously so satisfying every time haha!

Find the center of your pillowcase and place your letters where you would like them. A trick I learned to mark the center of the pillowcase easily is to fold it in half then in half again and press that corner for a few seconds and it leaves a perfect little centered crease.

Once the letters are in place it is time to press them on to the pillowcase. The interfacing is already adhered to the back of our letters and the back of the interfacing is already pulled off (remember we did that before cutting the letters on the Cricut Machine). It’s always a good idea to preheat the surface a little before pressing anything on to it. I used the Jumbo EasyPress 2 for this part.

After pressing, your letters should be very secure at this point but after a few washes they would come right off so we are going to sew around the edge of each letter.

Sew 1/4″ around the edge of each letter, don’t worry about it being perfect!

And in under an hour we have an amazing Custom Pillowcase/nap mat cover that is totally machine washable!

DIY Scarf Tees with the Cricut EasyPress 2

March 6, 2019 By Taylor 1 Comment

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

I have been wanting to jump on the neck scarf trend forever but honestly I just don’t know that I’m a neck scarf girl. When I saw this project for Scarf Tees in the Cricut Design Space I pushed it right to the top of my to-make list!

I have been DIYing custom shirts forever with an iron, which is doable but not very effective so, last year I purchased a heatpress machine. I have really liked it but I will say it is very bulky and in a small craft space might not work. When Cricut came out with the Cricut EasyPress 2 I was super curious and last month I finally got my hands on not 1 but 2 of them!

My first question was what does the EasyPress do that my heatpress machine or iron can’t? After playing with them for a few weeks now, my best way to describe it is that they combined the best features of each a heatpress and an iron and packaged it in one machine! The EasyPress has the heat capabilities and speed of a heatpress but the convenience of an iron.

The EasyPress has an edge to edge heat plate that will get up to 400 degrees with totally even heating. This is the problem with making custom tees with an iron… the heat source is usually in the middle of the iron so you are not getting a consistent temperature and you end up with peeling vinyl. I had a learning curve with my heatpress and it is also pretty big. I have to store it on the floor in my craft room and it takes up a lot of real estate. If you don’t have a big workspace the EasyPress would be perfect for you because I can actually store it right on my shelf. It is also portable, which would be so fun for showers or girls nights where there is crafting involved!

Cricut has an interactive online guide HERE that takes all of the guesswork out of it. On the guide, you enter the of type of material you are working with and what medium it is going on and it tells you the temperature and time needed. Then you set your machine and the cute little bug light will turn green when it is ready. I also love that after 10 minutes of idle time it will start to beep and then it will turn off for safety! If you are still working when you hear the beep you can just press any button and it stays on.

The EasyPress comes in 3 different sizes which is convenient for different types of projects. I have the petite and the jumbo (this is the jumbo pictured above). The jumbo is 12″x10″ and I love it! I have made shirts, pillows, bags etc. with this one. There is a mid-size that is 9″x9″ and the petite is 6″x7″. The petite one os perfect for, you guessed it… small projects; fabric scraps, onesies, hats, shoes, small quilt pieces etc.

Speaking of projects… lets gets started on the cute DIY Scarf Tees…

You will need:

Cricut Machine
Cricut EasyPress 2 and Pressing Mat
Blank T-shirt (I love this brand)
Cricut Heatpress Vinyl in Neon Blue, Red, Blush and Lilac
House that Lars Built Design File in the Cricut Design Space

The two shirt files that I used are part of a shirt collection from House that Lars Built. There are quite a few more so be sure to browse around! You can find the ones I used HERE and HERE.

Once you open your file in the Cricut Design Space software, you can customize it. You can change colors, size, layout etc. I was making one of these for my daughter so I made her design a little smaller.

I always cut my vinyl beforehand to make sure I don’t waste any vinyl. When you choose “make it” on the software it will show you exactly where the design is on the cutting mat and you can move it around and that is how you will know what size to cut your vinyl and you where to place it.

With heatpress or iron-on vinyl there is a shiny side and a matte side. The shiny side is the “top” and that will be the side with the carrier sheet to help you later when you press it with the EasyPress. You always cut heatpress vinyl with the shiny side down to protect that carrier sheet and keep it intact. After you cut your vinyl to the correct size, place it shiny side down on your cutting mat. Now we are ready to cut our design! Remember we placed the “top” or the shiny side down so we want to make sure to mirror our image.

After your design is cut you will weed it. This means removing all of the negative parts of the design. You will do these same steps with each design.

Don’t let a design with multiple colors scare you! You take the same steps, just cut each color one by one and weed each layer.

Then you place the design with the carrier sheet (sticky side down!) on your shirt right where you want the design to live forever :)

Now it’s time to press the design with the EasyPress! I looked up the settings on the EasyPress Guide for the vinyl I was using and for this specific shirt so I set my settings to 315 degrees for 30 seconds based on their recommendation. It also told me to preheat my shirt for 5 seconds before pressing the design on.

For a design with multiple colors, you do the exact same thing… just start with the bottom color and work your way up. I started with the blush vinyl, then did the blue then lastly, the red.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how these turned out! Bee and I love coordinating outfits and I am so excited to wear these!

Overall I’m super impressed with the Cricut EasyPress 2, I can tell that I will be using it a ton in the near future! Please let me know if you have any other questions about this machine that I didn’t answer! Happy Crafting!

Cricut Maker Review

February 12, 2019 By Taylor Leave a Comment

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

I’m so excited to finally share the newest addition to my craftroom… the Cricut Maker! If you follow me on Instagram (@taylormadecreates) then you know how excited I was when the Cricut shipment showed up at my door a few weeks ago! I have been playing around with this machine for about three weeks so I could give an honest Cricut Maker review and have all of the answers to all of the questions ;)

What is the Cricut Maker? It’s a personal cutting machine that can cut a variety of materials such as paper, vinyl, iron on, fabric, leather, felt, chipboard, thin metal etc. Cricut is the brand and the Maker is the model that I received. I have had my eye on the Maker for a while now… literally since they released it haha! In my very early crafting days I had a Cricut but their first model was based on cartridges, so you had to buy a separate cartridge for every font and theme and it only cut paper. A few years later I switched to the other brand, Silhouette and I had that Silhouette machine for years. There was nothing wrong with it, I loved it and used it a lot. BUT… then Cricut came out with their new model, “The Maker” and it cut fabric in a way that would change lives haha! I knew I had to get my hands on one.

The Maker can cut fabric in a way that no other machine can! My other machine could cut fabric but only if you lined the fabric with interfacing. This is because the other machine has one type of blade for all materials so it uses a sharp knife type blade and if you try to cut fabric it will shred. The Maker uses an actual rotary blade that looks like a mini rotary cutter so it is super precise. To be honest I never really cut a lot of fabric with my old machine because it wasn’t a super clean cut even with the interfacing. The Maker can literally cut over a hundred different types of fabric! Felt, silk, jersey, denim, quilting cotton, rayon, tulle, velvet, lycra, canvas… you name it and it can cut it! Below is a screen shot of just a small list of the fabric options the machine pulls up. I couldn’t even sleep the night I got my machine because my head was so full of ideas haha! The only limit is the mat size… they carry a 12×12″ or a 12×24″ but it is perfect for small/medium sized projects like bags, children’s clothing, quilt blocks, zipper pouches, appliqué for clothing etc.

Another huge difference for me is that the Cricut Maker has an intuitive system that scans the material and the tool you are using to determine the settings and pressure needed. From start to finish this makes a single job so much easier. The software is also very easy to use, I felt super comfortable with it within a few days. Cricut software is web based so you do need to be online to use it, the Silhouette software is a downloadable software so it is more in depth. There are pros and cons to both, the Silhouette software is capable of a little more but that also makes it more complicated. I am pretty technically inclined so I like the ability to do a little more, for me this is literally the only “con” in a Cricut/Silhouette Comparison. As far as cutting, on my Silhouette machine, I would set the material, change the dial on the blade (which isn’t something you have to do on the Cricut) and then I would have to do a little trial and error. I would still end up with mistakes pretty often and have to redo things. I have used this machine almost daily for three weeks now and it seems to always know the correct setting. Another game changer that might seem silly but I am LOVING is the little side guide tabs that the Maker has. You can feed the mat right into them so there is no guesswork. The Silhouette machine only has rollers so you can’t always line it up perfectly.

The Cricut Maker has a new “Adaptive Tool System” which is what I think makes the Maker the most unique. It basically means they carry different types of blade tools for different types of projects. Older Cricut models and the Silhouette use a technology that moved the mat in and out and the blade goes side to side but with the new Adaptive Tool System the actual tool in the cartridge can stop and start and go up and down also. It also has 10x the force which is how it can cut balsa wood, mat board and leather. Cricut offers 6 different cutting tools that you can switch out (with more on the way) and 5 different mats that you can use for different materials.

Another huge “pro” for me is the fact that… wait for it… the Maker has bluetooth built into it so it can connect to your machine from across the room!!! SAY WHAT?! As you can see when I discovered this I was super excited. My old machine needed to be plugged in directly to my computer. I don’t have a lot of desk space next to my computer and cutting machines require a lot of room on both sides so the mat can move freely. So, I would usually have to push my computer out a little so the cord could reach and then I would always do all of my cutting on the floor. I have 3 kids and 3 dogs so you can imagine how clean my tile floors are haha! Now I just connect via Bluetooth (super simple to setup in your computers settings) and I can cut on my big center table! Guys…. I am living for this feature! You obviously do have to plug the power cord into an electrical outlet but it is super long and now I have so much freedom. Speaking of Bluetooth, and because the Software is web based the software is available in app format for your phone or tablet. This is also super cool because you can be on your phone and create a little project for example, in the car rider line :) Then when you get home you can connect to your Maker and cut away!

When I was playing around with the app (I downloaded it on both my iPad and my iPhone to see if there were any differences and there really aren’t) I found a really cool feature called “Snap Mat”. It allows you to apply your material to your mat (fabric, vinyl, paper etc…) then snap a picture of the mat within the app and it pulls the image of your material into the Cricut Design Space. The picture of your material now becomes the background of your project on the app. Then you can place a shape or text box and move it around right on top of the scrap material. This is the perfect way to use little pieces of paper or vinyl that aren’t a nice even, square size. It would also be great for creating fussy cut quilt blocks. It works with any material and is so satisfying!

I rarely used the Silhouette store but The Cricut Design store has really impressed me. They have a section called “projects” that include all designs, patterns and instructions to show you from start to finish how to complete a project and list all materials needed etc. Then there is a section called “images” with thousands of designs and pictures. There are also over 50 free projects to get you started and then you have the option to pay for the subscription too. I have added a ton of projects to the “my favorites” section of theDesign Store and even added a few to my immediate to do list haha! I always used my old machine for vinyl projects but I was shocked at how many sewing projects (with patterns) are available. This machine is truly a crafters and a sewists dream!

Overall I am SO impressed with the Cricut Maker! I have used it almost daily since receiving it and have some big plans coming in the near future! Can’t wait to see what else this machine can do :)

Shiplap Wall Tutorial

January 13, 2019 By Taylor Leave a Comment

First post of 2019! I finally got around to organizing my shiplap photos to share our Shiplap Wall Tutorial! You all probably have a shiplap wall in your house at this point haha, but for those who don’t, This is for you :) This treatment is so pretty and looks so put together but it’s actually really easy!

We have 10 foot ceilings and this wall is about 16.5′ wide so that is the area we are working with here. We went to Home Depot and got the super thin 3/16th” plywood (which my husband said is sometimes called paneling). We did the math and with our area we purchased 6 sheets and that worked out perfectly for us. A sheet of plywood is 8′ x 4′ so, we had it cut into 8″ strips (longways) because that way you don’t have any waste and you get 6 long boards out of one sheet. Don’t forget that hardware stores will cut your boards for you! We could have done it at home very but it’s free and why not just have it done before you even get home, right?! We found a super nice Home Depot employee and on their fancy machine it took him 10 minutes!

So, like I said with our 6 sheets of plywood that we had cut into 8″ strips that left us with 36 boards. You will have to do the math depending on your wall size but it should be pretty easy to figure out… each board ends up measuring 96″ x 8″. We started our boards at the top because if we had to cut anything to fit later on in the project it would be the part that is hidden by the couch. We used a nail gun and used two nails on the right, two in the center of the board and two on the left side.

I wanted it to look a random but that also took a little planning. I wanted to make sure that no seams ended up right over each other but also not “perfectly” bricked either.

Please excuse the terrible, badly lit cell phone pictures on this project. We had to work on this after Bryan got home from work and after the kids were fed and bathed. Get it in where you can fit it in right? Here are a few pictures I shared on Instagram stories. We used the “nickel method”. When we started a new board we each held up a nickel on both ends of the board then butted the new board up against the nickels. We did that on the horizontal gaps but not the vertical gaps.

Once we got going, we got into a grove and it came together quickly! We did have that corner angle and two electrical outlets that we had to cut around.

Then it was time to paint. I don’t love painting but painting one wall is doable for me haha! We had to stop for a few days in between for kids activities and Bryan actually loved the raw wood, I on the other hand could not wait to paint it white! I used Sherwin Williams Pure White.

These boards were super thirsty so I had to do 3ish coats.

Because of the “nickel” gap in between the boards the paint started filling in the spaces in some spots. I used business cards to go between each space and clean the paint up.

Finally after 3+ coats it started coming together! Before the shiplap was installed I always has a gallery wall over the couch but wood isn’t nearly as forgiving with holes like sheetrock is and I move pictures around a lot. So, I decided we needed some picture rails over the couch so we could move things around easier.

I drew the rails out and this is what Bryan came up with. We used 1″x4″ boards which are 8 feet long. He stripped down a little ledge into a 1″x1″ for the front of the rails. It looks like 2 rails but there are actually 4 rails that are just hung right next to each other. Again, our wall is a little over 16 feet wide so the two 8 feet rails fit almost just right. There is about two inches on each side of the rails.

Overall I LOVE how it turned out! It took a few days but the work was easy once we got going. It actually makes the room look so much bigger too, maybe with the help of the picture rails. We have a pretty small living room (or cozy as I like to call it :) so we have to utilize all the space.