Go Lions! The Katies are so excited to see the Lions success this season, which has inspired their crafting!
They’re DIY’ing some drink koozies, perfect for a watch party, tailgating, or enjoying the game at home!
For this project, the Katies used:
- A Cricut Explore
- White drink koozies
- Blue puffy iron on vinyl
- A Cricut Easy Press
- Scissors
- A measuring tape
- A laptop to access the Cricut software
- Cricut accessories (standard grip mat, weeding tools)
Step one: Take your tape measure and measure the length and width of your koozie.
Step two: Head to Cricut Design Space to make your koozie design. This can be anything you want! Some ideas include:
- I was a Lions fan before it was cool!
- One pride
- All Grit
- In Dan Campbell we trust
- A player’s name and number
Step three: Once you’ve got a design you like, and it’s sized to fit your koozie, click the “Make It” button on Design Space.
Step four: Time to prep your vinyl. You’ll want to cut a length of vinyl that will fit your design, with a little extra on each side. Adhere that to your sticky standard mat with the color facing down.
Step five: Turn on your Cricut if you haven’t already. You can go through the Design Space settings while it’s starting up. Select the proper vinyl you’re using and make sure you mirror the image. This will cut your design “backwards” but once you flip it over to iron on to your koozie, it will be right side up.
Step six: Feed your mat with your vinyl through the machine so it measures how much vinyl you’re using for the project. Hit the start button on your machine when you’re ready, and watch it cut!
Step seven: When it’s done cutting, carefully remove the vinyl from your mat and cut your design away from any extra vinyl.
Step eight: Now you’ll want to get rid of any vinyl on your design that you do not want on your koozie. Usually, that’s the vinyl around your design and any inner extras, like the inside of an “o” or an “a”. Take your weeding tools and carefully remove that vinyl. Make sure the design you want is still stuck on the transparent paper and doesn’t lift up.
Step nine: Preheat your Easy Press (you can also use an iron) to the required temperature to attach your vinyl to your koozie. For the vinyl we used, the recommendation was firmly pressing the Easy Press for 10 seconds at 280 degrees. You can find the recommended temperature on the Cricut Heat Guide or it’s sometimes advertised on your vinyl’s packaging.
Step ten: Once the Easy Press beeps, meaning it’s ready to go, make sure you lay out your design the way you want it on your koozie. Hit the “C” button when you’re ready to start ironing. Firmly hold the Easy Press down on your koozie for the time allotted until the machine beeps.
And just like that, you have a fun, customized koozie to help keep your drinks cold while you cheer on the Lions!
If there’s a craft you’d like to see the Katies do, email them at katywashburn@910mediagroup.com and katiebirecki@910mediagroup.com.