Simply Made: Moon Child Mug with Cricut

Ever have the hardest time finding the perfect gift for those on your holiday gift list? Let me tell you, Same, y'all! But my creative mind is constantly swirling with ideas. My Cricut Explore Air 2 has been pretty great at helping me make the perfect gifts. 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine. This tutorial includes affiliate links. 

I've used my Cricut Explore Air 2 absolutely every single day since Thanksgiving. Aside from just being a lot of fun to use, I've made some really great things I'm fairly proud of. I had this vision for a mug for my sister-in-law. During the design process I ended up texting my cousin for help deciding on how I wanted to do the back of the mug. She ended up liking the whole project, so I got to thinking maybe I need to be making a second one. Thus prompted me to order a couple more mugs. And quite frankly, now that I see how it's turned out, I just might make myself one, too. Mugs for everyone!

Pretty cute, huh? You'd be surprised how simple the whole thing is, and it came together pretty quickly, too. 

Supplies Needed for Moon Child Mug

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• 15 oz White Coffee Mug
• Cricut Permanent Black Vinyl
• Cricut Holographic Vinyl 
• 12" x 12" Standard Grip Mat
• Transfer Paper
• Scissors
• Weeding Tool
• Computer, tablet, or smartphone with Cricut Design Space (free)
• Epoxy of your choice 

Okay, so listen, that last part is pretty important. If you want your mug to last and especially if you are gifting it, you are going to want to seal it. There are a few different products that you can use. Mod Podge makes a dishwasher safe epoxy that have mixed reviews. There are spray epoxies as well as ones you brush on. My personal preference is Triple Thick. Triple Thick is a much thicker seal which works great if you are using glitter vinyl as it covers it so nicely that there's no texture. It's 100% smooth and glossy.

Creating Your Moon Child Mug

Log into your Cricut Design Space account and Click Here to get the design. You'll want to click 'Customize' to personalize it with a name. Double click 'Name' and type in the name you want to personalize your mug with. 

Depending on the name, you may need to resize a little to get it to fit just right. We don't want the name to be so big that it takes up more of the mug than the background graphic. Once you are happy with it, Hit hat 'Make It' button. Double check to make sure your machine is set to vinyl. 

Place your first color vinyl on the mat and load into your Cricut EA2 and follow the on screen prompts that come up. This is where I like to have two mats. It's just easier to swap out the mats and work on weeding the first cut design while the second one is cutting. 

Once everything is cut by the machine and weeded carefully, I lay my transfer paper down on the design and mark where to cut the transfer paper. I'll then peel the backing off the transfer paper, place on the vinyl, and then peel the design off the mat and cut around each of the design pieces. This is just how I do it. You can cut your design first and then the transfer paper or I'm sure you can cut them at the same time if you are careful enough. 

Peel the backing from your vinyl and place the design on the mug. This piece is a little larger than the last mug I designed, and I had a bit of a snafu when trying to place it on straight and smooth it out. There's a few crinkles in it and I somehow lost two of the bottom lines in the design. You'll want to try extremely hard to avoid this, but a ton of caffeine and very little sleep was working against me here. Luckily, the Triple Thick (or whatever epoxy you choose to use) will cover that enough that it won't come up off the mug when it's washed. Carefully remove the transfer paper and then you can put the name vinyl on top using the center line in the design itself to help center the name. Once you start to layer the vinyl you'll see why sealing this is important. With it being layered, there's more chance of it lifting off after so many washes even if you hand wash carefully. We don't want that. Hence, the magic sealant! 

Do the same with the back design as the front. The moon goes on first followed by the 'Moon Child' text. I positioned these at the bottom middle of the back of the mug. 

Once the vinyl is all applied on both sides, you can seal it. And that's pretty much it! It's simple, it's fun, and it's pretty darn cute too!