The Write Stuff Challenge - Week 3 - Gift Tags and Labels

 

Welcome back for week 3 of our Cricut Drawing Challenge!
This week we are focusing on Gift Tags and Labels.

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I use my Cricut to help me create gift tags and labels pretty often. A cardmaker at heart, I often use stamps and dies because I love to color, and I prefer the look of outline stamped images. Stamps however, and especially their coordinating die sets, can be crazy expensive.

Recently Cricut has started to add a lot of 'drawn' images that I adore. They give the "stamped" look I want, and because I have Cricut Access, I can use them at no additional cost!



There are some differences between using stamps & dies, and using your machine that are worth noting. Here are some of the Pro's and Con's of using your machine:

Pros:

  • Drawn images are often cheaper than stamps (especially if you have Cricut Access). This can be really helpful if you only wanted the image for a specific project.
  • You can resize your image to the needs of your project (stamps are just one size - you get what you get)
  • Pen drawn images can give the illusion that you drew the picture yourself
  • You can still mix your crafting tools if you want (It's really no different than stamping in this respect - you can have your machine draw your image with no cutting involved, and then take that image and use other manual die cutting tools to get the final shape you want).
  • There are Cricut compatible 'embossing pens' that will draw using embossing ink (clear or black). You can use your Cricut images to get a completely different look if you use embossing powders and a heat gun. (Always remove the drawn image from you mat before adding powders or applying heat!)
  • You can mix print & cut with drawing to expand your possibilities even more - You can use a color printer to "color in" your images, or you can use a black and white laser printer to add places you might want to add heat transfer foil (like Minc) to your project. It is easy to ensure these elements are placed perfectly in relation to each other!

Cons:

  • Drawn images take a significantly longer time to make than simply stamping them (this is especially true for complex images like the ones I will be sharing today), so mass producing can be more time consuming.
  • You are limited by how fine or thick your pen is (so you might not be able to get the same amount of detail and variation that you can with a stamp).
  • You may encounter some issues with how well drawn images line up with cut lines.

With these things in mind, and as you can see below, the results you can get with your machine can be nothing short of spectacular.




 To make these tags, all you need is white cardstock (I used 8.5 x 11 Georgia Pacific 110lb cardstock), a Black or Midnight Cricut Pen, a blue mat, and your machine! So easy!

I wanted my tags to be extra thick and sturdy so I tripled them up (you will see blank tags in the cut file for this reason) by gluing blank tags to the back of my drawn tag.

You can find the file for this project here:  Floral Gift Tags  or click on the image below


Floral Gift Tags


 I hope you are enjoying the challenge, and that I will get to see all of your amazing ad beautiful projects on Facebook!

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