It is starting to feel like spring! If you enjoy getting out in the garden or garden themed crafts, the adorable garden gnome might be just the project for you! I will show you how I created him using patterned HTV for his clothing.
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Supplies
- Blank canvas
- Patterned HTV – for this project I am using a green plaid by Heat Transfer Warehouse
- HTV masking sheet for use with the patterned HTV
- Solid HTV – I used Sister Easyweed in light grey and bubblegum pin
- Weeding tool
- Heat source – I like to use a heat press
Choose your Garden Gnome image
Like most projects, this one started by finding the perfect image to use. Make sure that you use a good quality image, either from the wide selection in the Cricut Design Space library or by using a high quality SVG. I actually have a listing of over 20 places where you can get free svg files HERE.
For this project, I knew I wanted to do something spring or garden themed and when I saw this adorable gnome from Creative Fabrica I knew he would be perfect! If you would like to use the same gnome you can find him by clicking HERE.
Different Vinyl – Different Cutting Process
The most difficult part of this project was remembering that I need to set up and cut my patterned vinyl differently than I cut my solid colored HTV. For the solid color HTV, we place the shiny carrier sheet side down on the Cricut cutting mat, and mirror the image we are cutting. We do this so that after we weed away the excess vinyl we can flip the image over and use the clear carrier sheet to place the image on the project. Patterned HTV is different. The pattern is on the top of the vinyl and there is no carrier sheet attached. The first time you purchase patterned HTV make sure that verify that it comes with a HTV masking sheet. If it does not you may have to order that separately. You can save this masking sheet and use it more than once.
To cut patterned HTV, I place it on my Cricut cutting mat pattern side up. I still use the iron on vinyl setting on my Cricut . Once cut, I weed away the excess vinyl. You can see the weeded image in the photo above.
Now it is time to grab my masking sheet. When I peel the masking sheet off the backing, I can feel that there is one side of it that is sticky. Place that sticky side over the patterned vinyl. Next use a scrapper tool to smooth the masking sheet down. Make sure to rub all areas of your design to get a nice clean stick. Once that is done you can flip the whole thing over as shown in the image below and rub the image again with the scraper.
Once you are sure that the image is really stuck to the masking sheet, start to peel away the backing sheet from the patterned HTV, like I show in the image below. If the backing sheet does not peel off and separate cleanly from your cut image, use the scraper on it again. Now that the patterned HTV for your garden gnome is fully transferred on to the masking sheet you are ready to press the design on to your canvas.
Pressing HTV
For me, I started with the patterned HTV since it will be covering the most surface area on this design. This allowed me to more easily center my design on the canvas. Since I knew that I was going to press additional colors down for this same image, I did not do the press time for the full time to make sure I did not burn the first layer.
Once I removed the masking sheet, I allowed my canvas to cool all the way down to room temperature before applying the next layer. Please read the directions for the brand of vinyl you are using for the correct pressing time and temperature.
Where would you put this garden gnome?
I think that this little spring garden gnome would look adorable in a frame or on an easel stand. You could also place this image on a fabric garden flag. If you would like to make a spring garden gnome project make sure to head over to Creative Fabrica to add this garden gnome svg to your collection. If you have never used a svg file you can click HERE to learn how to use them in Design Space. Then head over to Heat Transfer Warehouse to pick out the perfect patterned HTV to dress your gnome for spring.
