Cricut Marker and Shrinky Dink Tutorial

Christmas in July is continuing here with a tutorial of how to combine the Cricut Markers with Shrinky Dinks for a whole bunch of fun and some cute projects! I decided to make a snowman charm using Winter Frolic and you really can make anything  - but it tends to be easiest when the cut has a shadow layer. I also have written these directions for someone using the Gypsy. I do not know if the layers would line up correctly using the "old fashioned" method.

The details:

I begin with my snowman shape on one layer, and the shadow directly behind it on the second layer.

You can also see I added some circles from George to create a spot for the finding to go through. (I need to resize them - I thought they were a little big for the final product.)

I put my marker in the machine, set for low pressure, and "cut" the first layer which draws the outline of the snowman for me.

This next step is important, instead of unloading the mat, I select Return to Design. If you unload the mat, the design won't be centered.

I move to the second (shadow) layer of the gypsy design. Then I swtich out the marker for the blade housing and change the settings. The settings that have worked best for me are: Blade depth 6, Max pressure, and Multi-cut of 2.

This cuts out the shrinky dink around my image and gives it a nice border, resulting in this:

Now I am ready to decorate and color my snowman  and make him adorable.  Here he is all ready to be baked.

I used a Peachy Keen stamp with Staz-On ink, I used Sharpie markers for the hat and gloves, and some watercolor pencils for the nose and cheeks. I put him in the toaster oven at 325 degrees until it curls up and then lays flat, which brings me to my final product.

I started out with a three inch snowman and my final charm is about 1.5 inches and (I think) super cute!. I hope the directions are clear and encourage you to start cutting and shrinking!