Three Little Office Crafts with Cricut Joy

I know from first hand experience that your workspace can totally affect your mood and productivity. Way back when I first started working for myself I had a small graphic design and administrative services business. Turning my third bedroom into a fully functioning office I decided to paint the room red. Within a few months the graphic design customers started to question why everything I was doing featured the color red prominently. Taking a look at the work I had created, they were right! It turns out that my red walls were influencing a bunch of red designs!

And so, I know first hand how a workspace affects your job. A happy space is a good place to get business done well. So today I’m sharing 3 different office crafts, all that can be made with your new Cricut Joy for a positive and awesome work day!

Using the new Cricut Joy for our Office Crafts…

But wait! What is a Cricut Joy? It’s a new itty bitty cutting machine that is amazing and, spoiler alert, like pretty much anything Cricut, I already love it. I know, I know… when I first heard about it I instantly thought it was adorable but that I didn’t need one because I already have a Cricut Maker. And I LOVE my Cricut Maker. But…

I’ve realized that more often than not when I’m busting out a quickly little craft project I’m cutting something small. A little bit of HTV or a tiny decal are needed on the regular around here. But I’m still nesting so I have limited desktop space in my new sparse but plant-filled office. And so my Cricut Maker sits in the closet of my craft room and has to be set up every time I need to cut something. It’s not a huge deal but it takes enough time that I tend to wait until I have quite a few things to cut rather than cut what I need when I need it.

The Cricut Joy is lightweight, easy to set up and will cut my smaller projects so quickly.

It’s seriously tiny. Like, I can hold it with one hand. And it works using Bluetooth just like my Maker meaning I don’t have to connect it to the computer or anything. I just set it up on the little table to the side of my desk and plug it in and cut what I need. While I can put my materials straight on an adorably tiny cutting mat, there are also a ton of Joy materials like vinyl and iron-on that don’t require a cutting mat, I literally load my material straight into the Cricut Joy, send the cut from my computer, unload the cut, unplug and put away my Cricut Joy. Y’all, it’s quick.

And so even though my first, “oh, it’s cute but I don’t need one” thought was totally wrong. I did need one. And I LOVE my Cricut Joy so much because it complements my Cricut Maker so well. But if I haven’t swayed you and you want some more information, head on over to Cricut.com and learn even more about the Cricut Joy, this tiny machine with big possibilities! Ready to Bust Out that new Cricut Joy and Get After it? Let’s make 3 little awesome office crafts!

The First of Our Awesome Office Crafts: Personalize a Travel Mug

In my experience coffee makes everything possible. And now I have a travel mug that expresses that very sentiment in hand lettered cuteness. Whether your commute is an hour of gridlock or a stroll across the house, this positive and upbeat mug is a fun way to start your work day! And if you’re like me, coffee isn’t just a work day thing… it’s a way of life :) making this one of the greatest office crafts that goes from the boardroom to the beach seamlessly!

To personalize your own travel mug you will need:

• Cricut Joy
• Cricut Joy PERMANENT Smart Vinyl
• Weeding Tool
• Transfer Tape
• Scraper Tool
• Cricut Design Space File

How To:

Load permanent Cricut Smart Vinyl into your Cricut Joy and run the coffee cut file, or use the design of your choosing. When working with vinyl there’s no need to mirror your cut file. Watch your Cricut Joy whir and buzz (barely, this little guy is so quiet!) and when done trim the cut design off of the roll and weed appropriately.

Double check your weeding and make sure you don’t have any vinyl inside of a “O” or something. Once you’re happy grab your transfer tape and apply it to the top of the weeded vinyl. Drag a scraper tool over the top of the transfer tape applying a decent amount of pressure. This ensures that the design sticks to the transfer tape.

Begin peeling the transfer tape away from the vinyl’s backing sheet and the vinyl design should be stuck to the transfer tape. If it is not, press the tape back down on the design and use the scraper to apply more pressure. Continue until your vinyl design is completely on the transfer tape.

Carefully place the transfer tape and vinyl design in place on your mug.

Be very careful as you lay the vinyl down because if you have to peel it off you’ll have to cut a brand new decal.

Since your cup is more than likely rounded a flat solid piece won’t wrap around easily. As you work if you’re met with resistance where the vinyl doesn’t want to lay down flat, use sharp scissors to cut darts in the bubbled areas to help the vinyl lay down. If you look really closely, you can see where I made a cut on the right side just above the word “everything”.

Once the design is fully seated on the cup, use your scraper tool to apply pressure to the entire design in a sweeping motion. Carefully peel the transfer tape away from the cup, working slowly. If at any time the vinyl tries to come away with the tape rather than stay on the cup, use the scraper tool to apply more pressure to that area until it does stick.

Adorable travel mug done! To care for, wash on the top rack of the dishwasher or by hand.

DIY Inspirational Art

Have you ever seen a kitten poster that says “Hang in there!”? I bet you have. Because inspirational art is a great way to keep up positivity in the workplace. Whether your office is in a packed high-rise building downtown, or across the hall, having art that displays a sentiment that helps keep you going is one of the great office crafts to give a go.

To make your own inspirational art piece you will need:

• Cricut Joy
• Cricut Joy Smart Iron-On
• Weeding Tool
• Cricut EasyPress & Mat OR Household Iron
• 5″ x 7″ Picture Frame
• Cricut Design Space File

How To:

Load the Cricut Joy Smart Iron-On into your Cricut Joy and run the create, hustle, repeat cut file, making sure to mirror the cut. Weed appropriately.

Now for the fun part! Grab a couple sheets of scrapbooking paper and your frame and cut design. Pop the design into the picture frame and place it on top of a patterned piece of paper. Make sure the sticky backside of the vinyl doesn’t actually make contact with the paper so you don’t loose any of its tackiness.

Slide the frame around the pages of a few designs until you find one where the text is readable. See that design above? It’s the one I really wanted to use but, unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to lay down the design to where you could read all of the words easily. And since I sort of tested the placement out before committing it to the paper I didn’t waste any iron-on making a piece of art you could only read a part of.

Once happy with the placement adhere the iron-on to the paper using your Cricut EasyPress or a household iron. Allow the design time to cool and peel away the carrier sheet.

Trim the paper down and frame to finish. Isn’t that too much fun? And that frame is pretty gorgeous, too. Can you believe I snagged it for only 1 dollar at the dollar store?

Saved the Best of the Office Crafts for Last… Make a Mouse Pad from Scratch

I go through mouse pads at a phenomenal rate. Being clumsy I’m constantly knocking over my sweet tea or whatever and my entire desktop gets to hear my mutter a bunch of four-letter words while I try to catch the liquid, something that only ever leaves me with sticky hands :)

When I tried to pick up a mouse pad locally I couldn’t find anything inexpensive. I guess because so many of us are working from home these days, there’s been a run on mouse pads. Luckily I can show you how to make one from scratch with a few supplies from the craft store. And you can add an adorable saying on top, too :) Maybe that’s why this is one of my favorite office crafts, I can make ’em easier than I can buy ’em!

To whip up a totally custom mouse pad you will need:

• Cricut Joy
• Cricut Joy Smart Iron-On
• Weeding Tool
• Cricut EasyPress & Mat OR Household Iron
• 6mm Thick Craft Foam or Similar (mine is from Michael’s)
• Fabric (slightly larger than finished mouse pad)
• Double-sided Iron-on Interfacing
• Sharp Scissors OR TrueControl Knife and TrueControl Knife
• Fray Check (optional)
• Cricut Design Space File

How to Make the Mouse Pad Base:

Using a craft knife and straight edge or very sharp scissors. trim your 6mm foam sheet to the size you would like your mouse pad to be. I opted to make mine a square, just a bit larger than my store-bought rectangular mouse pad I replaced.

Take a piece of fabric slightly larger than your mouse pad and place it pretty side down on you workspace. Cut a piece of double-sided interfacing similar to the size of your fabric and place it paper side up on the back of the fabric. (FYI – Interfacing is sold at fabric stores or in the fabric section at craft or big box stores).

Apply heat using your EasyPress or an Iron onto the paper side of the interfacing to adhere. Work in short bursts of 2 seconds testing the adhesion after the interfacing cools. When you can pull away the paper with the interfacing staying on the fabric, you’re set.

Completely remove the paper sheet from the back side of the fabric and place pretty side up on top of your cut foam. Apply heat in 2-second bursts checking for adhesion as the fabric cools. Once fully adhered trim away the excess fabric from the foam using sharp scissors or a craft knife and straight edge.

If you’re rough on things like I am, you can seal the edges of the fabric with Fray Check. Apply a tiny line of the liquid along the fabric’s edge and allow to fully dry.

Adding your vinyl design:

Cut (make sure to mirror the design) and weed your Iron-On with the Dream a Little Bigger saying or design of your choice.

Place the design carrier sheet up on the mouse pad where you’d like the design to be. Use your EasyPress or household iron to apply heat and permanently adhere the design.

The heat from adhering the fabric and the iron-on to the mouse pad might make it bow and not lay flat… If your mouse pad stays in the same place you can use a double-sided tape to hold it down and help it lay flat at the same time. You can also apply heat to the backside of the mouse pad and while still hot place on a flat surface with weight on top. After a few hours the foam should be nice and flat.

DIY Office Crafts for the win?

I do love to craft just for the sake of it, but seeing and using my creations daily really makes me happy. A happy work space is a good place to be!