Fields Of Heather: Elf Yourself (or your grandchildren) Ornaments

Make Yourself (Or Your Grandchildren)

Into Movable Elf Ornaments

A Print Then Cut Project With Cricut (Free Project)

Quick Links:

Design Space Project - the Elf Image is no longer free, you will need to purchase it from cricut to make this project. #M1E36ED
Melody Lane YouTube Tutorial showing how to add the string (I did not use string)
I used Plain White Card Stock
I used Red & Green Button Brads (I got them at Michaels)
Tips For Solving Common Print Then Cut Problems

This is what the project looks like in Design Space.

The white image in the middle of the first row is unused in my version, I am not really sure what it is for - but my best guess is if you would prefer to cut a photograph to glue fast, or have a child draw a face rather than use a photograph, that piece would work as the face.

For my version of this, I did not need two holes side by side on the leg and arm pieces, but I put two holes there, in case you want to make them with the string like Melody Lane did. I think our grand-kids would just break them faster if they had a string, I am happy just to have the arms and legs move.

This is the image that is used for these. This project was free in 2019, and is still free if you pay the monthly rental fee for Cricut Access. For me personally, I always find it better to purchase one image as need from cricut, rather than pay for access. When you purchase the image, you can use it as long as you can use Design Space. When you pay a monthly fee for cricut access, you are merely renting the images, and once you stop paying the monthly fee, you stop having free access to those images.

Quick Reference:

I sized this to fit on one sheet of paper, the finished elf is approximately 8.5 inches tall
Attach the black dots. Attach - not flatten. For all but the piece on the left, this is already done. If you flatten the dots to the body, they will not cut, and you will need to use a hole punch.
Once you add the face, select the hat, coat, and face, and flatten! Then attach the dots.

Crop your photo as much as possible before uploading it to design space. Then use the eraser tool to crop out the face. Do not worry too much about it being a little jagged, the imperfections will fade out, and many will be hidden completely by the hat and the coat. If you need help learning how to use the eraser tool when uploading to Design Space, this may help: https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2018/12/how-to-convert-simple-free-clipart-to.html

Move your face around and resize until you like the way it looks.

For this project, it's much easier to select in the layers panel on the right. Click on each item, while holding the shift key down. I group my 3 items to start. Then move them over the image on the left, making sure the hat and coat will line up when you put them together. once you are sure it's the right size, select your 3 items - hat, coat, face, and flatten.

Send your new flattened image to the back, and move your dots over. In the photo above, the dots are not lined up. You want to line them up so it looks like there is only one set of dots. Then over in that layers panel, select the dots, and the image with your face. Once selected, attach. Then drag the image to the side once again.

Click Make it, and send to your printer.

Place the printed page on a mat.

Use the blue one if you have it, it's meant for paper. I am using a green one here that is not too sticky - it's been used a lot. You can wash your mats with soap and water and the stickiness will come back - but this one hasn't been washed recently, and has been used pretty hard, so it is not TOO sticky.