Easter Felt Carrot

Happy Easter to y'all!  

I hope you are all surviving the snow and cold weather this winter.  I wasn't ready for all the snow we got, but we managed.  The yard is a sea of mud!  Ick!

I wanted to brighten up everyone's spirits and create some spring fling action!  I hope these inspire you to make some too!

I used the Cricut Maker to cut these carrot shapes, but in case you don't have one of those, you can cut them by hand.  No worries!  

I used the Pretty Pennants cartridge from Cricut.  For this one I cut it 8", and used poly fiber fill to stuff it with.  I also have some for the grandchildren filled with candy, I cut those 9".  

These were tricky to cut at first.  I tried four methods for cutting felt on the Cricut Maker  Finally the last go round worked!  Yes!

This is the magical product that finally helped get this job done!

Aleene's Fusible Web!  More on the methods in a bit.

I added a satin ribbon bow and a small felt flower and button with some hot glue just to add a little bit more bling.  These are darling gifts and decorations for your Easter celebrations!

Ok these are all the options I can come up with.  I wish I knew how to do a video...but will do my best with photos. 

Here is number 1 option.  It is Joann Fabrics orange felt with no backing except spray adhesive.  It had to be hand trimmed.  It is the second worst option in my opinion.

Option 2 is Joann's orange felt with spray adhesive Krylon Easy Tack and embroidery paper for sewing machines.  It did not work at all.  This is the worst option as it bunched in the machine and scared me to death.  We had to hand trim this one as well.

Option 3 is freezer paper and spray adhesive Krylon Easy Tack.  We did iron the freezer paper onto the felt (difficult to get it to stick firmly) then spray adhesive on back against the mat.  We did not hand trim this one but we cut it twice on felt with setting under custom.  That means it actually cut 4 times!  It also bunched up while cutting.  Also not my favorite choice.

Option 4 is by far the best!  Success!  I used the Joann's orange felt again, and this time I used Aleene's Fusible Web as the backing.  I ironed on the Fusible Web, then used the Krylon Easy Tack spray adhesive on the back of the fusible web paper to stick it to my mat.  I cut this using the felt with backing setting under custom.  

This is by far the best option for a clean cut.  It didn't even leave a sticky backing on the felt!!

Feel free to suggest other methods I have not tried for cutting felt on the Cricut Explore.  I love to hear from you!

Happy crafting!  Happy Blessed Easter!