Spend some of your extra time at home to make these beautiful and heartfelt Mother’s Day gifts for the mom or moms in your life with these simple Mother’s Day Cricut Joy projects.
Many of us are spending much more time at home these days. I love seeing all of the crafting and other types of creativity happening out there as a way for people to find joy and inspire others during these crazy times. My Cricut Joy has been the hardest working little machine around here since I first got it about a month ago. It has certainly lived up to it’s name by bringing me joy! The last week I’ve been using it to make cards, Mother’s Day gifts and some more organization helpers (check out the first organization hacks I made with my Cricut Joy).
Simple Mother’s Day Gift Ideas to Make with a Cricut Joy
If you were thinking about trying some Mother’s Day Cricut crafts, than these simple adhesive vinyl projects are a great start. They can even be made with some things you may have around the house (or can easily be found online) so you don’t even need to go into a physical store to find a special Mother’s Day gift. For these projects I used a Cricut Joy but you can certainly use any Cricut machine. You can find a printable tutorial card at the bottom of this post to keep on hand while you’re crafting… the instructions for the mug work for all 3 Mother’s Day Cricut craft gift ideas!
“Love You Mom” Customized Coffee Mug Gift Idea
Supplies
- Cricut Joy (or any Cricut machine)
- Blank coffee mug
- Love you mom design
- Weeder tool
- Permanent Smart Vinyl in Mint, Coral and Silver
- Strong Grip Transfer Tape
- Tape
- Scissors
Directions
Open the Love you mom cut file in Design Space. If you haven’t used your Cricut Joy yet, you learn about how to use it through the Cricut app here.
Select your materials for each layer and cut each color of vinyl (the app will guide you through each step).
Cut around each element of the design and weed away the negative space.
Layering Adhesive Vinyl
*When making any project with layered adhesive vinyl, it’s easiest to build the layers with transfer tape altogether rather than adding each layer to the mug (or whatever item you’re applying layered vinyl onto).
The leaves in this case will be the “base” of the design (the layer that acts as a frame that all of the other elements fit into), so each layer will be added to the liner of the leaves with transfer tape.
NOTE: When using Smart Vinyl, I highly recommend using Strong Grip Transfer Tape. The smart vinyl liners are very thick and not very flexible (so that they can cut without a mat) which makes the vinyl more difficult to peel away with the transfer tape.
Cut 2 pieces of transfer tape to fit the flower layer and the “love you mom” layer and press firmly onto those liners. Be sure to press all around each element of the designs so that it peels away with the transfer tape.
I printed out the complete design to size for my mug and then kept it to use as a guide for placing the vinyl. You can also do this by simply referencing the original design (in another window of Design Space or from a screenshot or photo of the design).
Peel away the liner from the flower design and place onto the leaves design, making sure to press around all elements from both layers. Peel away transfer tape. Repeat for the wording.
Once all elements are layered, cut another piece of transfer tape to cover the entire design and burnish around all elements.
To avoid any placement mishaps (of which I had plenty before I used this method!), position your design where you want it on the mug prior to removing the design from the layer and place a piece of tape vertically all the way down the middle of the design to keep it firmly in place.
Taking care to not shift the tape or design, begin to peel the liner away from the transfer tape on one side of the design until you reach the taped area. Cut that portion of the liner off with scissors and press the transfer tape onto the mug, smoothing from the inside out. Remove the tape and peel away the remainder of the liner from the transfer tape and smooth onto the mug from the inside out.
Peel back the transfer tape and voila! A beautiful mug for mom to enjoy her morning coffee or to proudly display on her desk!
This same process can be used to customize any ol’ thing into a special Mother’s Day gift with the Cricut Joy. Customize a plain candle jar with this “you’re the best mom in the world” design using teal and party pink permanent vinyl.
Add a “Mer-mom” design to a bottle of bath salts with teal vinyl, a spoon and some ribbon.
There are so many ways to customize a Mother’s Day gift with vinyl and any Cricut machine. And don’t forget about Mother’s Day Cricut crafts with iron-on like this “MOM” wood flower box I made for my mom a couple of years back. Yep, you can use iron-on with wood projects!
I have a whole post and tutorial coming up on the amazing card mat that came out with Cricut Joy but here’s a sneak peak of one of the many cards I’ve made with it so far. Hallmark isn’t an essential business so my card mat has been getting a workout lately!
What things would you like to customize for a Mother’s Day Cricut craft?
You can find many more DIY Mother’s Day gift ideas here!
Love You Mom Coffee Mug with a Cricut Joy
Equipment
- Blank coffee mug
- Love you mom design
- Weeder tool
- Permanent Smart Vinyl in Mint, Coral and Silver
- Tape
Instructions
- Open the Love you mom cut file in Design Space.
- Select your load type and materials for each layer and cut each color of vinyl. Cut each layer.
- Cut around each element of the design and weed away the negative space.
- The leaves in this case will be the "base" of the design (the layer that acts as a frame that all the other elements fit into) so each layer will be added to the liner of the leaves with transfer tape.
- Cut 2 pieces of transfer tape to fit the flower layer and the "love you mom" layer and press firmly onto those designs. Be sure to burnish all around each element of the designs so that it peels away with the transfer tape.
- Peel away the liner from the flower design and place onto the leaves design, making sure to press around all elements from both layers. Peel away transfer tape. Repeat for the wording.
- Once all elements are layered, cut another piece of transfer tape to cover the entire design and burnish around all elements.
- To avoid any placement mishaps (of which I had plenty before I used this method!), position your design where you want it on the mug prior to removing the design from the layer and place a piece of tape vertically all the way down the middle of the design to keep it firmly in place.
- Taking care to not shift the tape or design, begin to peel the liner away from the transfer tape on one side of the design until you reach the taped area. Cut that portion of the liner off with scissors and press the transfer tape onto the mug, smoothing from the inside out. Remove the tape and peel away the remainder of the liner from the transfer tape and smooth onto the mug from the inside out.
- Peel back the transfer tape and voila! A beautiful mug for mom to enjoy her morning coffee or to proudly display on her desk!
Notes
- When making any project with layered adhesive vinyl, it's easiest to build the layers with transfer tape altogether rather than adding each layer to the mug (or whatever item you're applying layered vinyl onto).
- When using Smart Vinyl, I highly recommend using Strong Grip Transfer Tape. The smart vinyl liners are very thick and not very flexible (so that they can cut without a mat) which makes the vinyl more difficult to peel away with the transfer tape.
Mary says
Handmade gifts are the best.