For me it's the last year as Cubmaster for Cub Scouts and last time for Day Camp as a scout. Hopefully the kids will still want to go to a day camp next year for their summer activities. This year we attended Camp Kiesel on the Causey Reservoir east of Ogden, Utah. The theme at camp was Jurassic Park. Several of the scouts were excited for this year's theme. I just wanted to go and not visit the first aid station with a scout this time.
The previous year was fun and a little crowded, and the boys spent a lot of money at the Trading Post. A pocket knife fell out of a pocket and was lost, gifts for their family were misplaced all over camp, and I got tired of keeping track of their gear. This year, out of purely selfish reasons, I wanted to make sure each scout had their own bag to carry their own things.
I prefer to carry my few things in a cinch style backpack. It's perfect for a day long activity. TotebagFactory.com is a great site to get all sorts of bags and backpacks at wholesale prices. There are no minimums and open to the public. I chose the Natural Economical Sport Cotton Drawstring Bag, and ordered enough for all the scouts at camp and the ones who couldn't go.
My sis-in-law gifted me her old Cricut Explore Air 2 and the Iron On Easy Press, plus a whole bunch of gear and tools to go with it. Best Christmas present ever! My hubby really liked it too, because he likes to design his own T-shirts. It was time to try out my new machine and crank out a bunch of iron-on designs for these bags.
Supplies needed:
Drawstring Backpacks
Cricut Die Cut Machine--with cutting mats
Easy Press 2 9x9
Cricut Everyday Iron-on Vinyl --I chose Cornflower and Yellow
Cricut weeding tools
Pressing Mat
Teflon or Silicone pressing sheet
Scissors
Optional but really helpful:
Cricut Bright Pad
I wanted a simple design that didn't include the actual Jurassic Park name on it, and found this image.
Only use it for your own personal purposes, please.
In Cricut Design space I welded a rectangle at the bottom of the picture so I could add our pack name to it. The scouts picked Beastmasters as their name a few years ago, and it stuck. I used the Jurassic Park font found here. I ended up moving the letters closer together because they looked funny father apart. Save your project as two layers, one for the logo and one for the text.
Time to start creating. My final image was about 9 inches square, so I used a lot of blue vinyl. Two of the logo should fit on the 12x24 inch single color roll of iron-on vinyl.
Cut out all your images. Don't forget to set up the mirroring feature when cutting! You'll be upset with yourself for wasting vinyl if you don't. I could keep the machine constantly going because I used two cutting mats. While one was cutting, I was trimming and carefully placing my next vinyl piece on the next mat.
Start weeding your images. While some say that the Cricut Bright pad isn't that helpful in seeing the lines through the vinyl, I thought it was most helpful weeding out the small pieces. I could place my pick in the middle of the shape I didn't want and gently wiggle it on the carrier sheet to expose the cut edge. Once the light came through, I could more easily get my pick under that edge. It's really hard to see the cut lines on a white backed vinyl. The Bright Pad helped me tremendously with the letters and the middle part of the font.
It's easier to weed your vinyl if you peel off the outside excess first and then you can see the smaller pieces. You don't want to peel off a piece you need!
Now that you have all your images ready, time to iron them on to your bags. Cricut suggests that for a cotton canvas and everyday iron-on vinyl, set your Easy Press to 340 degrees and set the timer for 30 seconds.
I have the medium sized Easy Press, but my sis-in-law uses the large Easy Press most often. It would have made my project go a little faster if I had the larger one, but I made do with this one.
Start off by warming up your bag on the pressing mat. Basically, just iron out the wrinkles and get it warm to accept the vinyl.
Center and place your first layer of your picture where you want it on the bag. I put mine a little closer to the bottom so that the picture wouldn't be squished when the bag was cinched up.
Cricut says when layering vinyl, to only press the first layers about 5-6 seconds until they will stay stuck to the fabric. Since my image was slightly larger than my iron, I had to move the iron around in a few places to make sure all the edges were tacked down. Then, when the project is still warm, but not hot to the touch, carefully peel up the carrier sheet. If everything is not pressed down, put the carrier sheet back down and press for a few more seconds.
Then get your next color layer ready and line it up on your image.
You'll need to cover your entire image with the Teflon or silicone sheet so you don't ruin your picture. The sheet I have actually is used for dehydrator trays to help peel off sticky food. Make sure your Teflon sheet is clean. I had to clean mine a couple times after ironing, because sometimes the edge of the vinyl would get the adhesive stuck to the sheet. I didn't want previous adhesive ironed on the front of my next picture.
This is the time to use the Easy Press to the full 30 seconds. After you put your last vinyl layer down, then turn on the timer and gently hold down the iron over the whole image. You can move the iron around to reach all the edges if you need to. The last press will really make sure the vinyl is stuck to all the front fibers of your bag. Turn the whole thing over with the Teflon sheet under the bag and press the back of the fabric for another 10 seconds to set it.
You have a finished project!
I made about a dozen of these bags, and the kitchen got a little warm with the iron on the whole time. But, if you're only making one, it won't seem as bad..or tedious.
The scouts really enjoyed their bags at camp, and I didn't have to carry anything extra all day!
*All content is my own personal opinion. I'm not getting compensated for promoting anything.
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