I made this easy to make personalised tote bag and i absolutely love it. This bag has been a design in my mind for a long time so I was so pleased to have actually found a way to make it. It came out far better than I ever imagined it would. I'm going to share with you exactly how I made it and just how easy it was.
To make these little bags you will need the following supplies:
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you.
Getting Started
To get started making the design for the bags head over to design space. Click on new project and that will take you to a new blank canvas.
Start by typing in the word Mum or any other name you are using. Next head up to the top right corner where you will see the Font box. Click in the box and you can select the font that you wish to use. I used the font Arial Black for the word Mum.
Next you need to change the size of the word to fit on your bag. You can do this by heading up to the size box at the top of the screen and change the size by clicking in the box. I made my design 10’’ wide which was the perfect size for the size of my bag. Circut then made the height 2.927’’.
Adding the names
Now you are ready to add the names to the inside of the word Mum. For the names I chose the font Arial Rounded.
Start by typing all the names you want to add into the word mum. Once you have the names you are now able to play about and position them inside your letters. By clicking on the little arrow button in the corner you are able to adjust the size of the name.
Names can also be rotated around to fit inside the letters. You can do this by clicking on the curved arrow button and moving the name around or by clicking on the rotate box at the top of the screen. Once you are happy with the size and placement of the names you are ready to move onto the shapes.
Adding shapes
I used stars for my bag but you could use hearts if you wanted to. To get the stars click on the shape icon at the side of the screen and select a star.
To change the size of the star, click on the size button at the top of the screen. I made the star 0.5’’ wide and it changed the height to 0.476. You can then double click on the star and then click on duplicate and this will duplicate the star for you. Duplicate the stars several times to fill in the letters.
Placing the stars
Start to move the stars so that they are inside the Mum letters. I just randomly placed them all about till I felt I had enough. You can create as many or as few stars as you feel you need.
Once I had placed all the stars within the letters, I then moved them about until I was happy with them. Make some of the stars bigger and some smaller, also place some on the edge of the letters for added effect.
Get ready to Slice!
Now the fun part starts and we now need to slice out all the names and stars from the word Mum. You can only slice 2 layers at a time so this part can take a bit of time to do. To make this easier you can change the colour of the name or the stars so they are different colours.
Select the star and the letter and then click on the slice button in the bottom left of the screen.
This will give you three slice layers, the letter, the star and the cut out star. At the end the unwanted letters and stars can be deleted.
You should now see that your star has been cut out. Repeat this with all the stars and the names. As you can see it looks like all the stars and names have disappeared but they haven't. What has happened is the word mum has been sent to the front. To send it back to the back click on the Arrange button at the top of the screen and click send to back and this will send the word mum so it is behind all the stars and names again.
Once you have sliced out all the stars and the names more the word mum down and you will see if you have missed any.
All the cut out stars and names can all be deleted as you don't want those to cut out.
Prepare to cut
Once your design is the correct size and all the stars and names have been sliced out, you are now ready to cut the vinyl.
To prepare the vinyl onto the mat you should place the heat transfer vinyl shiny side down and press down firmly. Load the mat into your Cricut by using the arrow button.
Head back over to design space and click on the make it button in the top right hand corner. This will take you to the next screen where it will show you the prepared mat and your design on the mat. This is how the maker will cut the design.
As you are using Heat Transfer Vinyl you will need to click on the mirror button, this will reverse your design. Next head over to the continue button in the bottom right corner.
You will then be asked to select the material you wish to cut. If you need to search for your materials then click on browse all materials and this will show you all the materials that the cricut can cut. I personally use premium vinyl as it gives consistent results.
Once you have selected your material you have the option to alter the pressure.it is always set to default but I always like to select ‘more’ so I get the best cut possible. To change the pressure just click on the box and it will drop down the options.
Now all that the material and pressure are selected the green cricut button on the maker will be flashing, press the button and the cut will start.
Once the cut has finished, press the flashing arrow button and release the mat.
Remove the vinyl
To remove the vinyl, flip the mat over and peel the mat away from the back of the vinyl. This will prevent the vinyl from curling up.
Trim around the edges of your design to save excess vinyl for another project and to save time weeding. Weed out all the unneeded vinyl so all you are left with is your design.
Heat pressing the design
For the final stage we now need to heat press the design onto the front of the bag. I used my cricut easy press for this. I heated the heat press up to a temperature of 160 degrees centigrade. Once the heat press was at temperature, I prepared the bag by heat pressing it for 10 seconds to remove any moisture that may be in the bag. Next, I lined up my design at the bottom of the bag making sure it was centred.
Once all the design has been pressed carefully start to remove the protective sheet from the vinyl. I like to do this slowly starting in the corner, if the vinyl is lifting up then just pop the protective sheet back down and press the design again and that should do the trick.
Once the design if fully adhered then your bag is all complete and ready to use.
You can see how I made these bags just click on the video below
I really hope you enjoyed my tutorial. Please take a look at my Jute Covered Easter Eggs blog post.
See you soon
Lisa