County Fair Texas Pillow and Surprise Giveaway!

Living in Texas means you must embrace the whole Texas-logo-way-of-life!  So this pillow seemed like a great idea to make for my son's bed.

I had not tried cutting fabric with the Cricut before but had seen the infomercial and it looked very easy so I thought I would try it.

I got all the supplies for this project at Walmart.  They had some pillowcases for $5 for 2 in many colors. Surprisingly, the fabric doesn't even feel scratchy (LOL!).  In the fabric section, I bought 1/2 yard of each color except yellow, of which I bought 1/4 yard.

Finally, I bought Heat 'n Bond, shown above.  It was $2.99 for 17" x 1 yard. I bought two packets.

Instructions:

1) Wash and dry all fabric, including pillowcases. Now iron all fabric. (This is the longest step.)
2) I cut the fabric into 12" x 12" sections and then ironed on the Heat 'n Bond onto the wrong side of fabric according to the package directions.

3) Using the Cricut County Fair Cartridge, cut the Texas shape (shown above) at 10-1/4", all layers.

• Here are the settings:  Speed at Low, Pressure at Max, Blade at 6, multi-cut two times.  Regular Blade.
• My fabrics were 100% cotton and I tried both cutting with the fabric side up and then the Heat 'n Bond side up (with paper still applied).  I found the fabric side up to be better, which I wouldn't have predicted. If you do cut fabric side down, don't forget to flip your images, like I did (grr!). Some people do remove the paper backing - I did not and it still worked fine.
• Some tips: Use a new blade and sticky mat.  Use a brayer to smooth out the fabric onto your mat.

4) Start by ironing down the shadow layer, according to directions on packet.  Proceed ironing each of the layers on top of each other - they stack just like the Create A Critter Cricut cartridge.

5) The image is thick once all those layers are on so this wouldn't be the most comfy pillow to sleep on but for decoration, it's perfect!

Now for our Surprise Giveaway! 

TWO Martha Stewart Cake Cartridges!

These work in ALL the machines and can be used for papercrafting as well as cake making.

1) Cricut Martha Stewart Elegant Cake Art Cartridge:

2) Cricut Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art Cartridge:

How can you win?

1) Enter below by leaving a comment about a project you'd like to make using fabric or with the Martha Stewart cartridges.
2) Subscribe or follow the blog.

That's it!  We will draw winners from this post ONLY on Sunday, June 19, 2011.  Winners have two weeks to claim their prize.

Finally, have you heard about the Cricut Classroom?

Right now, they are having a super fun, FREE video class showing you how to make the cake above for Father's Day!

Check it out HERE!  There are many other cute classes to view for free also including a banner, wall art Cricut Cake and Expression 2 class.

Be sure and check out Joy's and Melanie's personal blogs for more creative goodness at Obsessed with Scrapbooking and Courtney Lane Designs!

 Have a great day!

Tomorrow,  Melanie has a super cute birthday card so be sure and check back in the a.m.

Also, Provocraft will be releasing another set of new Cricut cartridges tomorrow so check back to see those!

Subscribe to Everyday Cricut to learn more about ways to use the Cricut in your cardmaking and scrapbooking!