These adorable Cricut Christmas tea towels are the perfect gift for someone looking to get a new home in festive style for the season.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.
You can switch up the wording based on location. Going Idahome for Christmas? How about okla-HOME-a? Son-HOME-a? Get creative with your linguistic self!
A Festive Cricut Christmas Gift Idea
If you've been following us over on Instagram you already know that we're relocating to Idaho. We'll maintain tons of ties to California (including a home in the Bay Area) but as for our primary home base, San Diego's not working for us anymore.
I'm the type of person who's pretty much at home anywhere. In talking with Nate and the boys, though, there were certain things they wanted that our California community wasn't providing.
Seasonal activities. Small-town feel. Convenient airport access. Homeschool support.
We realized that we were spending a ton of time traveling and running around in an attempt to provide for these essential needs and cravings. So much, in fact, that we weren't left with energy to enjoy the things we love most about California: beaches, bustling cities, unparalleled experiences in the entertainment space. We were never quite able to relax. We eventually realized that we'd be better off moving to a closer-knit community that provides for our day-to-day needs with less effort – and we plan to visit California as often as possible to truly enjoy our time in the state.
It's a long story how this all came to be, but we've realized that Idaho is home for us. Multiple family members are already following our lead. My stepfamily is from Boise, so we received a warm welcome from them. My mom and stepdad already sold their Utah home and bought a place less than an hour from our new homestead! It's been a whirlwind, and I'm glad to be settling down just in time for our most-loved holiday.
I set about making these Christmas gifts with my Cricut machine as a way of thanking all of our Idaho buddies who happily held play dates and dinners for our family over the last few months while life was totally topsy-turvy.
An Easy Cricut Explore Air 2 Project!
I've raved endlessly about my Cricut Maker – but for this project, I decided to try the Explore Air 2. Next week I'm going to write a post detailing everything I love about this machine: the low price, straightforward functionality, and ability to do awesome projects like this! It's a great way to enter the Cricut space if you're not totally sure how committed you are to the craft.
Word of warning: you will become totally addicted and somehow wind up with multiple machines and rolls and rolls of supplies like I did. It's an inevitable snowball effect once you realize how fun and easy it is to customize everything in sight AND save tons of money since you will henceforth make thoughtful gifts instead of buying them.
Anyway, for this project I used the Explore Air 2 and the EasyPress 2 along with an old white tea towel and some iron-on vinyl. Easy peasy.
Get my custom Cricut Christmas tea towel template here!
As I often do, I trimmed vinyl strips and laid them out to coordinate with the pattern that I created instead of separating color prints. This takes a little more effort than slapping two full-sized vinyl sheets onto two separate mats, but it's a great way to save on supplies.
Don't forget to lay your material shiny side-down, and mirror the print since it's an iron-on.
Weed the material, lay the strips out on your tea towel and print at 315 degrees for 30 seconds. I don't use any fancy transfer sheets or measurements or anything – just eyeball where each cut word / decorative embellishment should be placed and press it all together in one fell swoop.
If you're being held back by fear that Cricut Christmas crafts might wind up being overly-difficult or take a bunch of time or become a whole nitpicky THING, don't stress. I did this project in a hotel room where I was holed up for a week while our RV had some repairs done. I keep my machine and basic supplies in a handy basket and tote it along with me. It's really fun and SO simple, not fussy at all. I love creating Cricut Christmas stuff, gifts, and personalized signs in my spare time.
Maybe if this blogging thing doesn't work out, I'll open up an Etsy shop. Or perhaps I can just do that on the side, because it's not like I have enough going on already. Hahahaha.
I am so very happy to be looking forward to HOME. I feel at peace with a simplified life in which I'm able to relish the little details, for once. We're still eager to travel as much as always, but with a quieter, easier jumping-off point that already feels like the right rhythm for us.
I'll be Idahome this season, and I'll be working on Cricut Christmas stuff as often as I can!
Where are you spending the holidays? Got any fun crafts or gift ideas? Share them with us over on social media!