Hello!

Good to see you! For this weeks blog, in the spirit of summer holidays, and we hope long warm days ahead,  we thought we’d share some more crafting love with you and show you how to create your own personalised water bottles for the kids!  These will help provide them with something to do together with you, and also for them to make into lunch boxes and accessories ready to return to school again.

This time we also thought we would show you our Brand new product,- Transfer Adhesive Roll or A4 Sheet – that can be used in so many different ways- including turning HTV into self adhesive!  Watch out for next weeks tutorial as we showcase even more of what it can do!

This cutting design can of course be used on t-shirts, and almost anything that you wish to personalise.

We would love to see what you make!  Have you found our  You Tube channel yet? The video showing this and all of our other tutorials are  available on there, as well as exclusive demos, inspiration and more!  Join us on Facebook , Instagram or Tiktok or  send us an email to [email protected] we would love to hear from you!

***Watch the video tutorial for this here***

What you’ll need:

• Cricut maker . Available here
• Or Silhouette Cameo 4. Available here  (Instructions for the cameo and Brother machines at the bottom!)
• Cricut Mini  Easy press and Easy press Mat here
• GM Holoshine HTV  Available  here   (Also found in the Christmas Festive Joy box here)
• Bubble Up HTV Available here (Also found in the Christmas Festive Joy box here)
• Transfer Adhesive Roll or A4 Sheets Available  here
• Self adhesive Transfer tape. Available here
• LED weeding pad. Available here
• Squeegee.  Available here
• Weeding tweezers . Or Weeding hook. Available here
• Scissors.
• Water bottles or Flasks Available  here
• Rubbing alcohol and lint free cloth here
•  link to create with your own font, is free below! PLUS free cut file below Including Silhouette.  Cricut and Brother instructions to follow at the end.

Download Your cut files here; Dino Bottle cut file

Instructions;

1. Before you start you will need to visit this webpage and download the font to your machine; Goonies Font Free Download (acefreefonts.com) click on the red download button and wait for it to download, you will find it in your download files on your computer, See below.

2. Right click on the Zip folder to unzip it, then right click on the font file itself and choose install. Once it has installed, please fully close your design space app (if open) then restart your computer, re open Cricut design space, and click the text tool on the left hand bar, see below. Now when you click the text button you can choose Goonies in the font box at the top left. Type the word you wish to use.

3. Next you will need to download the cut files for your chosen machine, link above. Unzip the file to use it by right clicking it in your downloads. Upload the PNG into the design space. Click “Upload Image”  on the left-hand Design Panel, and navigate to the  files you want to open. Select ‘Insert image’ and select image type ‘simple’ when prompted. Next you’ll be asked to delete any space that does not get cut, you can skip this part by pressing ‘continue’. When asked if they’re print-then-cut images or just cut images, select cut images. Click save. When it has been uploaded, Insert the images onto the canvas and resize to suit your project, I Recolour each one differently, so I can cut the different Vinyl for each layer, which means I don’t have to keep returning to the design page, see below, then click make it to move on to the next screen. On the next screen, If using the Cricut Maker 3 then you will need to choose to cut on the mat (unless using smart media)

4. Remember to Mirror the wording when using HTV, and when you have converted it at the next step to create self adhesive, remember to remove the mirror.

5. Click continue in the bottom right on the next screen. In the next window make sure your settings are all set to the successful settings from your test cut and ensure your machine is linked before proceeding to cut. Cut settings: (**please test cut) Press the flashing Cricut symbol on your maker to cut, after loading the sheet into the machine. Apply the settings needed for your chosen Vinyl, we made it with our GM Holoshine HTV on the maker 3, and used the Holographic Sparkle Iron on setting on the Cricut maker 3 with More pressure. (WHEN USING THE TRANSFER SHEETS WE REDUCED THE PRESSURE TO LESS – PLEASE TEST CUT YOUR MACHINE) For the bubble up we used Every day Iron on and default, (again when cutting the self adhesive version, reduce pressure to less.)

**A reminder that these settings, including the blade setting, are specific to the materials and machine we are using, adjustments may be necessary if using different materials and machine**

We always recommend before proceeding, you test cut your materials when first using so if you have not recently used this product in your machine. Please test cut for your chosen machine found on our Application guide, and also Blog.  Load the Vinyl chosen individually for each layer.

6. Place the Vinyl for the First layer you are cutting on the mat, remember to mirror the wording. Press the up arrow to load the mat, and press the flashing light to proceed to cut on the machine. Once cut repeat to cut with the remaining HTV layer.

.7 Once these have successfully cut, get the Transfer Application sheets (Or roll) and cut the same sizes of HTV again, only this time ready to apply to the Transfer application sheet, see below.

8. Peel the white side of the sheet back- you may find it easier digging your tweezers into a corner first to do this. Rub the vinyl HTV adhesive side down, so that the Vinyl design is facing you, Flatten and smooth with your squeegee, see below.

9. Once applied, again dig your tweezers in a corner of the HTV protective application sheet to remove it, leaving the vinyl behind on the new sticky sheet. Get your scissors and trim to size, to stop any sticky outline going into your machine. See below. Place on the mat, I used either corner to enable me to turn it round between cuts and they were both then ready to go. Follow step 5 to cut, remember to remove the mirror off the wording as this is now self adhesive.

10. Once cut remove from the mat to prepare to weed, I have deliberately cut the self adhesive words too deep, so I can show you how to rectify this, to rectify, leave on the mat, take the excess waste vinyl away (weeding) and put the transfer tape ready, rub this on the front of the design, with your squeegee, and then if needed turn over the matt and repeat on the back, before lifting the design off on the transfer tape. See Below.

11. Proceed to weed the remaining Vinyl both the HTV and the now  self adhesive Dinosaur. Switch on your easy press and set it to 140-150’c or the 2nd light on the mini. Let it preheat. For the self adhesive Dinosaur Take your transfer tape and lay it with the sticky side facing up on the table. Place it onto the sticky side face down, before trimming the application tape from the roll to fit. Take your squeegee and rub the back of the vinyl hard to transfer it onto the application tape. Lift the backing paper back upon itself  ready to apply. See Below.

12. Take the rubbing alcohol and tip some onto the lint free cloth, before rubbing over the surface area it will be applied to, and your own fingers so that you do not transfer any natural skin oils onto the freshly prepared surface. Allow to fully air dry.

13.  Place the easy press Mat under the bottle cover, and preheat once the press is ready for 10 seconds to remove any moisture.

14. Apply the first layer of Holoshine on the fabric, heat settings are as follows, however due to layering please reduce to 8 seconds and let cool completely between layers, and cool peel due to reduce application time, save the sheet to recover after layering the name. See below.

(Apply using 140’c -150’c for 8-12 seconds 1 press, front only, Medium pressure, warm or hot peel to remove the top sheet. Do not use a Teflon sheet. Leave for 24 hours after application before wearing or washing.)

15. Place the Name over the dinosaur before replacing the dinosaur protective sheet back on top (or use baking paper) The press time for this is 8-10 seconds at 140’c-150’c so 10 seconds at 140’c, with Bubble up it varies on how much pressure you apply to how much it bubbles, less pressure means more bubbles (expansion) the application sheet will lift itself and can be removed immediately.

If after removing the sheet the bag or  design is looking a bit untidy then recover with a sheet of Silicone Paper or baking parchment and quickly repress smoothing over it like an iron would, but quickly so not to over heat.

16. Now take the Bottle and self adhesive Dinosaur, carefully line up your design on your bottle, and rub down the middle of the design first before moving outwards to prevent creasing or bubbles. Take the leather side of the squeegee to add pressure to the design to activate the adhesive once you are happy with it’s placement. Repeat with the name if you are adding one. Allow 48 hours to reach full adhesion before use, and Hand wash only.

Don’t forget your finished design can be matched by using any material cut using a cutting file, card, self adhesive vinyl or even HTV. We’d love to see your makes on our social media pages! Or email them in!

Silhouette Cut File

Instructions:

Before you start, you need to download the cut file,  Upload the cut file into Silhouette Studio and resize as necessary,  (when resizing bring all  layers into the design software and select all  at once to get the correct offset layers and save the adjusted file, so you can cut layers individually at that correct scale you have chosen) Remember to test cut if necessary and cut settings are found here along with test cut guidelines for every machine.

Brother Cut File

To import these files into the Brother Canvas Workspace:

After downloading, please log in as usual to your design space account, open a new project mat, then left click on the SVG  icon in the top left bar in canvas, this will then allow you to import your files. Once you left click this icon, a pop up box appears with you to choose where to import file  from, choose to import the file from your downloads list or where you have chosen to save when unzipped.

Cut settings are found here

Just incase you need the link CanvasWorkspace (brother.com)