This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine.
If you’ve ever wondered if investing in a Cricut could lead to a side hustle, let me tell you How Cricut Helps My Business.
Let me give you a little history on Liz on Call. I started my blog in 2010 as a hobby after I had quit my 9-5 job to stay home with my 2 kids. Anything I was doing like recipes, kids crafts, baby items, crafts and more.
Crafting had always been a hobby of mine and I had purchased my first Cricut, a Cricut Personal, years and years ago. I had purchased so many of the cartridges over the years to use in my scrapbooking and other paper crafts. The 12″x6″ cutting mat was awesome! At least I was loving it at the time.
I don’t even remember when I bought it or when it came out, but I loved it! It was so much better than loading up all my scrapbook paper and schedule a 30 minute time to use the die cutting machine at the scrapbook store. Having a Cricut to use at home was such a game changer in my crafting all those years ago.
Liz on Call was a hobby blog until I decided to make it into a business in about 2014. It took me a few years to really decide what I wanted to share as part of Liz on Call. I knew crafting would be one of those things. But my craft projects didn’t really include much use of my Cricut Personal.
Cricut Explore Air 2
In January of 2017, I finally upgraded to a Cricut Explore Air 2! I was so excited to be able to use all the fonts on my computer and also, use all the cartridges that I had purchased over the years for my Cricut Personal.
My very first post using my Explore Air 2 is called Setting Up the Cricut Explore Air 2. If you decide to get an Explore Air 2 (which is an amazing machine), it is a great post to reference. Beginning to work with and use this machine really changed the face of my business. I moved away from doing so many recipe posts on my blog, and have been adding so many more craft posts. Including free cut files, print and cut designs, home decor and the ability to use my own lettering and doodles in all of it!
The Cricut has allowed me to widen the scope of craft projects I create and share on my blog. Although Cricut has a great library of designs to use in crafting right in Cricut Design Space, I love that I am able to use my own designs and hand lettering to create projects as well.
How Cricut Helps My Business
As I began creating more cut files and custom shirts, I was able to expand my posts to adding free downloads of these designs along with tutorials on how to make the projects. It started as just offering free downloads and not actually offering physical products. But I had family members and friends see these things I was creating. They loved the designs. Not owning a Cricut themselves, or not feeling like they could conquer one, they began asking me to make them shirts.
That is how it first started. With friends and family members buying shirts from me of designs I already created. It then turned into them asking for custom shirts if they were going to have a family reunion or were planning a special trip. Iron on vinyl is my first love when it comes to materials the Cricut Explore Air 2 can cut.
And I just love making custom t-shirts. You will find a lot of those here at Liz on Call. And when Cricut came out with the EasyPress… My life has changed for the better when it comes to t-shirt making.
Iron on vinyl is just one of the hundreds of materials it can cut. Curious about some other materials? Check out this post on what can I cut with my Cricut.
My Cricut has been so handy when helping the kids teachers with things at the school too. For fund raising events at the school I have made large farmhouse style signs using wood and adhesive vinyl. These signs were such a hit, that the teachers and aides at the school started to inquire how they could purchase these signs.
When these requests came in, it got me feeling more confident in creating physical products and thinking that I could add some of these things to my business.
Using Cricut To Build Your Business
It started out as me selling items to family, friends, and sometimes in local facebook groups. I slowly added products to a shop page hosted on my blog. Some of the products I sell I use my Cricut machines to create.
Last year I decided to step way out of my comfort zone and created enough product to sell at a booth in a boutique. I was super nervous to have an entire 10×10 space for my products. I wasn’t sure if I could get enough products to fill the space.
Since I am such a last minute person, my Cricut came in clutch in preparing for this boutique. Each vendor needed to price all their items with tags. Each tag needed to be the same size, shape, color and have the code for your business on it. Along with the price of each item.
I created a tag design in Cricut Design Space and used the pen tool to add my business code as it cut out all my tags. This was probably the easiest part of preparing for the boutique. The tags were done really fast and all I had to worry about was adding the price of each item as I attached the tag.
As I thought about how I would set up my booth, I knew I needed a sign. I could’ve spent a bunch of money having one printed, but why. When I had all the tools I needed to create it myself. I used a store bought framed piece of galvanized metal and some adhesive vinyl that I had to make the sign for my booth. I loved that it was the center, focal point of my booth.
The boutique turned out to be such a success for me! It went better than I could’ve imagined and I’m signed up to do it again this fall. I have already used my Cricut to cut out more tags as I’m starting to prepare. I even have a couple new items that I want to include and I’ll be using the print and cut feature for them!
Never in a million years did I think that I would be able build a business around my hobbies. Cricut made it possible to start me on that path. I look forward to what new things I can create to add to my product list.
Happy Crafting!
Liz
Liz Call
Owner at Liz on Call
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