Make your own DIY leather cord organizers for organizing headphones and chargers. see how the new Cricut EasyPress Mini made it a breeze to personalize these cord wraps, making them awesome DIY gifts!
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Who else is sick and tired of tangled headphones floating around the bottom of your purse and webs of charging cables shoved in your desk drawer? If you’re nodding your head along with me, I have just the solution for you today – DIY cord organizers!
These cute things are equal parts style and function. I love the cute scallop detail around the edge! Not only will they tame your cord clutter and get you more organized, but they also make amazing gifts. Personalize a set of three with sweet monograms and you have yourself a useful-yet-beautiful DIY gift idea for Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and birthdays.
You can whip up this simple DIY project in under 30 minutes using your Cricut Maker or Cricut Explore cutting machine plus the Cricut EasyPress Mini. It’s such a fun project!
Introducing the Cricut EasyPress Mini
Before we dive into the project tutorial, I need to introduce you to the newest addition to the Cricut EasyPress family – the EasyPress Mini. Isn’t it cute?
I gave the EasyPress Mini a test drive on this DIY cord organizer project and it worked like a charm for personalizing my project with sweet monograms.
Its petite size makes it ideal for all sorts of small and detailed projects that are difficult to achieve with a large EasyPress, heat press, or household iron. The heat plate measures just under 3.5 x 2 inches. It’s a great tool for intricate projects where you need to maneuver tight spaces or apply iron-on to a curved surface. It would also be handy to keep next to your sewing machine to iron seams and hemlines.
It joins the original EasyPress and three sizes of the EasyPress 2. The EasyPress Mini is an awesome companion to my much larger EasyPress 2 (I own the medium 9 x 9 inch size).
The EasyPress Mini has all of the same awesome features that I love about my EasyPress 2 (read more about that here). Unlike a household iron, the entire plate heats evenly for a flawless finish.
There are three temperature settings that can be adjusted based on the type of material you’re working with. And the highest setting is even hot enough to work with Cricut Infusible Ink which requires very high temps.
Related: What Is The Cricut EasyPress 2 And Do You Need One?
DIY Cord Wraps For Your Headphones & Chargers
I finally got an opportunity to try cutting leather with my Cricut Maker! I’ve been dreaming up fun leather projects for a while now because I was curious how well it really cuts. Moral of the story: The cut lines in this thick leather are astonishingly clean and precise! Even the tiny 1/8 inch holes I cut for the snaps cut no problem.
Also, did you know it’s possible to apply iron-on material to leather?! So, so cool, and the EasyPress Mini made applying those tiny monograms a breeze. I kinda sorta want to iron mini monograms onto everything I own now!
Related: What materials does the Cricut Maker cut?
SUPPLY LIST
- Cricut Explore or Cricut Maker
- Cricut EasyPress Mini
- EasyPress Mat or Folded Towel
- Deep-Point Blade
- Fine-Point Blade
- StrongGrip Cutting Mat
- StandardGrip Cutting Mat
- Cricut Metallic Leather (I used rose gold)
- Cricut Everyday Iron-On (I used white)
- Weeding Tool and/or Tweezers (I love this tool set)
- Scissors and/or Paper Trimmer
- Cut File (download mine in Cricut Design Space)
- Heavy Duty Snap Kit
Related: The Complete Guide To Cricut Blades For Beginners
STEP 1 – OPEN THE CUT FILE IN DESIGN SPACE
Open the cut file in Design Space and make any adjustments to the size that you wish. The design is sized 3.5 inches wide and I think this size works well for earbuds and phone chargers.
Modify the text to reflect the monogram, initial, or name you’d like to apply to your cord organizers.
STEP 2 – CUT IRON-ON MATERIAL
Click “Make It” and be sure to mirror the cutting mat that contains your monogram/text (very important step when using iron-on).
Select “Browse All Materials” and search for Everyday Iron-On. You will be prompted to load the Premium Fine-Point Blade into your Cricut.
Adhere your Everyday Iron-On sheet (shiny side down) onto a green Standard Grip cutting mat and load it into your Cricut, following the on-screen prompts.
The on-screen instructions will guide you through cutting out your project.
STEP 3 – CUT THE LEATHER
Once you are done cutting the iron-on material, the on-screen prompts will instruct you to select the material for the circle design.
Select “Browse All Materials” and search for Metallic Leather. That will prompt you to load the Deep-Point Blade (black housing) into your Cricut. You will also need to slide the small white “stars” on your Cricut’s rollers over to the right because they leave marks on thick material like leather.
Adhere your leather smooth side down onto a purple Strong Grip cutting mat. If your mat has gotten a lot of use and isn’t quite as sticky any more, you can use masking tape around the edges of the leather to help hold it in place.
Load the mat into your Cricut, following the on-screen prompts. The on-screen instructions will guide you through cutting the leather.
STEP 4 – ATTACH THE SNAPS
Note: You could do this step after applying you iron-on monograms (Step 5). I chose to attach the snaps first so I could line up my monogram on the finished product.
The design includes two 1/8-inch holes sized to fit these snaps. I bought a snap kit that included parts for 7 snaps plus the necessary tools to attach the snaps to your leather.
Every snap kit is a bit different, so follow the instructions on the package. The process is pretty straightforward, there are 2 pieces that will poke through the holes in the leather and then they connect to two other pieces. To connect them, you use the included tool and a hammer.
STEP 5 – APPLY THE IRON-ON LETTERING
Plug in your EasyPress Mini and select the medium heat setting. Let that sit off to the side in its base while it preheats.
Note: I always reference Cricut’s interactive heat guide for the recommended time and temperature for my project. At the time of writing this, they’ve added the Cricut EasyPress Mini to the guide but Metallic Leather is not an option. Cricut recommends the low heat setting at 30 seconds for faux leather but after some testing I determined that the medium heat setting was necessary for this project. Always consult their guide and/or test on scrap material first!
Cut a square around the monogram so it’s easier to work with. Then weed away the negative space using the weeding tool or tweezers. You should be left with the monogram/lettering stuck on the clear liner.
Lightly press your hot EasyPress Mini on the leather for 5 seconds to preheat it. Then position the monogram on your leather cord organizer (shiny liner on top).
Apply medium heat to the iron-on material for 30 seconds using light pressure and gentle movement.
While still warm, slowly peel back a corner of the clear liner and check that the iron-on material is stuck in place. If the iron-on pulls up at all, lay the clear liner back down and apply additional heat.
I hope these DIY cord organizers/wraps help you get organized or give you a fun DIY gift idea! They’re so cute and surprisingly simple to make which is my kind of craft project ;).
Cricut has a lot of leather colors, making them easy to customize as gifts for anyone. Use a classic brown or black leather for a Father’s Day gift or Christmas gift for your husband. Or go with a pop of color or metallic leather to gift to your sister, mom, and best friends.
I’d love to hear what you think of the new Cricut EasyPress Mini and answer any questions you may have! Learn more about it here.
Get inspired by these Cricut projects:
- DIY Labels Made With Vinyl
- Planner Lover DIY Tote And Coasters
- DIY Christmas Shirt For Kids
- DIY Fabric Banner Baby Gift
- Colorful DIY Valentine Popcorn Boxes
Check out these Cricut Basics blog posts:
- What Is The Cricut EasyPress 2 And Do You Need One?
- What materials does the Cricut Maker cut?
- The Complete Guide To Cricut Blades For Beginners
Have a fantastic day!
