Getting Organized ~ Using Your Cricut to Label Your Totes

Joey's Totes Labelled for His Toys
Cricut Cartridge Used ~ Mickey Font

This year, I discovered how to cut vinyl with my Cricut machine.  I since have become a labeling machine, especially when it comes to my children's toy totes.  In order to cut vinyl, you do need to purchase the Deep Cut Blade Housing (this comes with the needed blade).  You also need to purchase the sheets of vinyl, which, for the Cricut brand,comes in several colors:

• Billiard (green)
• Burnt Umber
• Chocolate
• Cotton
• Dark Blue
• Gray
• Ice Blue
• Latte
• Light Brown
• Lime Green
• Peacock Blue
• Raven
• Rose Pink
• Ruby Red
• Yellow

Of course, my local Wal-Mart carries just the colors you see in the photo, and my closest craft store carries only black.  Not many choices here, but there are plenty of online spots to order any of the colors you would need.  I also purchase the vinyl that has the adhesive back.  This way I set my machine to cut just through the vinyl, which makes removing and adhering the letters much easier.

In order to cut vinyl, you need to 

1. Replace the blade housing that come with your Cricut with the deep cut blade housing
2. Place the vinyl sheet on your cutting mat
3. Load the cutting mat into your machine
4. Set the blade depth to 6
5. Set the pressure to 2
6. Select the images/font that you want cut (for my labels, I cut the letters at 1")
7. Press Cut

Once all the images/letters have been cut, make sure the area you plan to adhere them to is clean.  Then, carefully place the labels onto the surface of your totes. 

This has been a great way to keep the children's toys organized, as well as work on some reading skills.  I hope to experiment with the vinyl to create stencils for the girls' princess room and some wall decor throughout the house.  

How do you use Cricut vinyl?  I am always looking for new ways to use my machine, so feel free to leave your link below with your vinyl projects.  I would love to see them!