Please note that this post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links at NO additional cost to you (I have provided international links for everyone, but for Australian specific stockists, please click on the alternative links in the list below).

EDIT: This post was first created in 2018. Although the instructions and techniques are still relevant, I have since also posted about the Cricut Maker, Cricut Easy Press, as well as Cricut Infusible Ink.

Those who follow me on Instagram and Facebook will know how much I love my new Cricut Explore Air 2 machine and how much I love personalising things with it. I've received literally hundreds of requests to blog about how I do what I do with the Cricut, so here we go.

One of my most popular items in my shop last Christmas were my personalised mugs. So I decided to break it down for you, step-by-step. Although they can be fiddly and the steps may seem overwhelming, these are easily achieved using the Cricut.

Here's what I used (below are links to where you can find these items):

Apple iPad Pro 12.9" (click here for Amazon Australia)
Procreate App
Procreate Brushes
Apple Pencil (click here for Amazon Australia)
Cricut Explore Air 2 ( click here for Amazon Australia and Spotlight eBay)
Cricut Gold Adhesive Foil (click here for Amazon Australia and Spotlight eBay)
Scissors (click here for Spotlight eBay)
Kassa Clear Transfer Tape
Cricut Weeding Tool (click here for Spotlight eBay)
Cricut Standard Grip Mat (click here for Spotlight eBay and Amazon Australia)
Cricut Scraper (click here for Spotlight eBay and Amazon Australia)
Cricut Design Space
Mug

To make this blog easier to follow, I have broken it up into three sections: DESIGN, CUT and ADHERE.

DESIGN

So before we can cut out our design, we need a design. In this tutorial I will be personalising a mug for "Danny".

IMPORTANT NOTE: For the Cricut to cut out my lettering, it will need to be in a .PNG format. I personally LOVE lettering on the Apple iPad Pro, using the Apple Pencil with the Procreate app. The Apple Pencil is only compatible with the Apple iPad Pro, so it won't work with any other iPad. My custom Procreate Brushes are available here. Procreate is also only available for iOS, so unfortunately for those using other platforms, the first few steps won't be applicable to you. (*Note: I was an avid Windows and Android user until I "needed" Procreate and the Apple Pencil, and now I am an Apple convert).

Step one: Open the Procreate App on your iPad pro and create a new canvas.

Step two: Select your favourite brush/es and create or letter the design you would like on your mug. My custom Procreate Brushes are available here. Try not to make your design too thin or intricate as it may be difficult to cut and adhere later.

Step three: Go into the layers panel and uncheck the background layer, making it transparent.

Step four: Select Share, and save Image as a .PNG file to your iPad.

CUT

Step one: Turn on your Cricut Explore Air 2 or other Cricut device. Turn the dial on your machine to Custom.

Step two: Open the Cricut Design App on your iPad and Open New Project.

Step three: In your Cricut Design App, Upload your .PNG Image and Select from Camera Roll.

Step four: Insert your image to your new canvas (the checkered background means that it is transparent) and resize the image to your desired size. When you are ready, click on Make It.

Step five: Cut a piece of adhesive foil to the size of your project. Stick it on your mat, coloured side upwards.

Step six: On the Cricut Design App, follow the prompts to set material to Adhesive Foil. I use the original Cricut Adhesive Foil as I find that it sticks well to smooth surfaces. If it's stuck down properly, you can wash the mug forever without the adhesive ever peeling off, and that's what you want.

Step seven: Next, follow the prompts to load the mat. And finally, CUT!

ADHERE

Step one: After the Cricut Design App tells you that cutting is complete, unload your mat.

Step two: Carefully peel your adhesive off the mat, and then peel off the excess foil and negative space (the transparent part of the design).

Step three: Using a Cricut weeding tool, carefully lift off the negative space in between the letters and in the centre parts of the letters such as a, g, d, e and o. Once you're done, your adhesive should look exactly how you'd like it to look on your mug.

Step four: Next, cut a piece of transfer paper/tape, the size of your adhesive foil design. I use Kassa Clear Transfer paper/tape (Use coupon code "LETTERME" to get 20% off your Kassa products) as I find that it works best with foil adhesive. To make alignment even easier for you later, the Kassa Clear Transfer Paper comes with blue gridlines. You can use the guidelines to cut your transfer paper to size (the lines are exactly 1 inch apart) and I love lining my work up to the gridlines to help keep my work straight.

Step five: Stick your Kassa Clear Transfer Paper over your foil design. Using the Cricut Scraper tool, go over the design to make sure that the transfer paper is properly adhered to the foil.

Step six: Slowly and carefully, remove the backing paper of the foil adhesive off the transfer paper. Be careful as to not touch the adhesive surface of the foil as the oils from your hands will effect the adhesiveness and longevity of your adhesives.

Step seven: Making sure your mug is clean, carefully line up the transfer tape with your foil design on to your mug. Using the Cricut scraper again, scrape down every part of the foil adhesive on to the mug, ensuring that all bubbles are removed.

Step eight: Carefully remove the Kassa transfer tape off your mug. Voila, your mug is complete!!

*Please note that Adhesive Foil is not recommended for dishwashers, and of course, do not ever put foil in the microwave!

Hope you've enjoyed reading this blog! Please "like" the blog and leave me a message!!

CHECK OUT MY NEW BLOGS: Hello Cricut Maker!, Cricut Easy Press 2 and Cricut Infusible Ink.

I love reading blogs. Blogs can be so intimate, so vulnerable, reading someone's inner thoughts that they've put out there in the world wide web, but not professionally edited or premeditated. I love reading about another person's passion, and seeing the photos that accompany the post. I've always wanted to start my own blog but keep putting it off as I don't know whether anyone would be interested in hearing what I've got to say. So I'll give this a try and see how it goes!

I thought it would be most fitting to start my very first Cake Me! blog entry about a cake we created for my mum's sixtieth birthday. Mum has always been a low-fuss, low-key, simple, yet classy woman. She has always put her family ahead of herself and has made uncountable sacrifices for us. So it was quite a surprise for us when she announced that she was having a big dinner celebration for her sixtieth birthday.

From the very beginning, Mum has been a huge supporter of our cakes, so we knew she would like pretty much anything we created for her. We thought her cake would be easy - something classic, classy, pink with roses. I had the perfect design in mind.

Then my dad came into the scene.

No, he's not a baker or cake decorator. He knows very little about cake aesthetics. But for the cake to be "perfect" he said it needed something "extra special, symbolic and traditional". He said that cake should have a symbolic cake topper of the Goddess of Longevity. For those of you who are South East Asian may know that this Goddess has huge ear lobes, carries around a peach in one hand and a walking cane in the other. For luck and prosperity, she is usually dressed in bright red with gold accents. I had no idea what she looked like so I went to ask google for help. Google came up with the male version:

*JAWDROP*... without offending anyone's culture or beliefs, I wasn't sure if this character/God was one I wanted on top of my mum's "simple, classy, classic" cake.

Firstly, everyone knows that red does not go well with pink. Secondly, my mum is a very young sixty year old (still can't believe she's 60!). She is vibrant, beautiful, fun and happy. She doesn't look or feel a day over 40, so we were beginning to wonder if this was part of my dad's quirky sense of humour? Joke or not aside, the question is, how do we incorporate THAT with our cake?!

Anyhow, a "client's" request is a client's request. And a VIP one at that. So off I began sugar sculpting a female version of the images I found on Google, with a mumsy-twist.

My brother was horrified. He was the first to object to the walking cane and said it was "not our mum at all". He didn't mind the topper as she was quite cute, so as a compromise, we swapped out the walking cane for my mum's most prized possession.. her iPad! So... the result? A semi-old Goddess of Longevity with huge ear lobes, holding a peach in one hand and an iPad in the other. Pink flowers surrounding the base of the topper with the red and gold-accented costume, to help her blend back into the pink cake.

So what's the verdict? What do you think of the final cake? Which cake do you like better?

PHEW! There, my first blog entry done. Thanks for reading! xx

P.S. If you are enjoying these blogs, please let us know, we'd love to hear from you. Please leave a message in the box below or on our facebook page www.facebook.com/cakeme. You may also subscribe to our blog and will receive emails when we have posted a new blog.

Introduction to Cricut

Cake Me!'s first blog entry