October 30, 2019

Monogram Makeup Bags | DIY Gift Idea With The Cricut Maker

These personalized makeup bags are such a sweet DIY gift. Learn how to make these iron-on monograms and leather keychains using the Cricut Maker. These make great gifts for sisters, moms, and girlfriends!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are my own. This post also contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.

I am often asked what you can make with a Cricut, and my answer is “what can’t you make?”.

In all seriousness, you really can create almost anything you can dream up. My favorite Cricut projects are DIY labels and DIY gifts. And today I’m bringing you these cute monogram makeup bags–the perfect DIY gifts for your sisters and besties.

Check out my Complete Guide to Cricut Heat Presses for a deep dive into all things Cricut heat presses.

<<PIN THE IMAGE BELOW FOR LATER!>>

This project is so fun because it uses two of my favorite materials (leather and iron-on vinyl) plus two of the new Cricut Maker blades (wavy blade for the edges of the circle monograms and the engrave blade for the pattern on the leather keychains).

This is my first time trying out these two new blades and they are so fun! I really like how you can save money and storage space because the tips all fit in the same QuickSwap Housing.

I split this blog post into two tutorials–the first is the iron-on circle monogram on the makeup bags and the second is the leather keychain with iron-on monogram.

You can download the cut file for this project in Design Space. Make any adjustments to the design or size that you wish.

DIY Iron-on Monogram

Supplies

Canvas Makeup Bags
Cricut Explore or Cricut Maker
Cricut EasyPress Mini
EasyPress Mat or Folded Towel
Fine-Point Blade
Wavy Blade
StandardGrip Cutting Mat (green)
Cricut Everyday Iron-On (I used silver)
Hook Tool (I love this tool set)
Scissors and/or Paper Trimmer
Cut File (download mine in Cricut Design Space)

Step 1 – Cut The Iron-On Vinyl

Select “Browse All Materials” and search for Everyday Iron-On. Make sure you mirror the cutting mat that contains your monogram (very important step when using iron-on).

You will be prompted to load the Wavy Blade into your Cricut first. (Learn how to quickly change Quickswap blade tips here.)

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 monogram. After the wavy circles are cut, you will be prompted to load the Premium Fine-Point Blade.

Step 2 – Weed Design

Remove the cutting mat from your machine. Cut a square around the monogram and weed away the negative space using the hook tool. You should be left with the circle stuck to the clear liner and the letter inside it removed.

Step 3 – Place Monogram & Apply Heat

Plug in your EasyPress Mini and allow it to preheat.

Always reference Cricut’s interactive heat guide for the recommended time and temperature for your project. My makeup bags are a canvas material so I chose the option for cotton canvas, however, the recommendation wasn’t enough time to completely adhere the monogram.

After some testing, I found I got the best results when I used the EasyPress Mini on medium heat. Preheat the bag for 5 seconds, then adhere the monogram for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes using light pressure and constant movement.

You can use parchment paper or cardstock between your EasyPress and material to protect it but I found it worked best for my bags to apply the heat directly to the plastic liner on the iron-on material.

Make sure you test the heat settings on your own project because I scorched my bag a few times before I got the settings right! My mistake was cranking up the temperature when I should have used a lower temperature with a longer time.

Step 4 – Peel Off Lining

While slightly warm, slowly peel back a corner of the clear liner and check that the iron-on material is stuck in place. If the monogram pulls up at all, lay the clear liner back down and apply additional heat.

DIY Engraved Leather Keychain

SUPPLIES

Cricut Explore or Cricut Maker
Cricut EasyPress Mini
EasyPress Mat or Folded Towel
Deep-Point Blade
Fine-Point Blade
Engrave Blade
StrongGrip Cutting Mat (purple)
StandardGrip Cutting Mat (green)
Cricut Metallic Leather (I used silver)
Cricut Everyday Iron-On
Hook Tool (I love this tool set)
Scissors and/or Paper Trimmer
Cut File (download mine in Cricut Design Space)

Step 1 – Engrave The Leather

Select “Browse All Materials” and search for Metallic Leather. Follow the prompts to load the Engrave Blade 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.

Place your leather smooth side up onto a StrongGrip Cutting Mat. Use a brayer or other tool to create a firm bond between the leather and your cutting mat’s adhesive surface.

If your mat has been used before, you may want to tape the edges of the leather down with tape (masking tape or blue painter’s tape recommended).

Load the cutting mat into your machine and follow the on-screen prompts.

Step 2- Cut The Leather

After the engraving is complete, remove the cutting mat from your machine and flip the leather over. This is important! You need to engrave on the smooth side of your leather but the leather will cut much more smooth when the leather is smooth side down.

Place the leather back onto your cutting mat, this time it should be smooth side down. Make sure that the engraved side of the leather is oriented on the correct side of the cutting mat (refer to the preview on your screen.

Load the mat into your Cricut, following the on-screen prompts. The on-screen instructions will guide you to insert the black Deep-Point Blade and cut out the leather keychains.

Step 3 – Cut The Iron-On Vinyl Monogram

Once you are done cutting the leather keychain, the on-screen prompts will instruct you to select the material for the monogram.

Make sure you mirror the cutting mat that contains your monogram (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 monogram.

Cut a square around the monogram and weed away the negative space using the hook tool. You should be left with the monogram/lettering stuck on the clear liner.

Step 4 – Place Monogram & Apply Heat

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!

Lightly press your hot EasyPress Mini on the leather for 5 seconds to preheat it. Then position the monogram on your leather keychain (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 monogram pulls up at all, lay the clear liner back down and apply additional heat.

cricut-easypress-mini-with-leather-keychains

leather-keychain-engraved-and-cut-with-cricut

Step 5 – Attach Keychain To Bag

Attach your DIY leather keychain to your bag! The makeup bags I purchased already have a leather tassel keychain. I used a needle nose plier to open the metal ring and added the keychain.

Aren’t these monogrammed makeup bags so cute?! So perfect to make as DIY gifts.

I hope you enjoyed this cute DIY makeup bag project! Isn’t it amazing what you can make with your Cricut? So perfect for creating personalized gifts for the holidays.

Get inspired by these Cricut projects:

Check out these Cricut Basics blog posts:

Have a fantastic day!

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