There are starving crafters out there who don't have Cricuts you know!

I'm going to make a confession and hope that you won't think less of me.

I've had a fabulous brand new Cricut Expressions sitting in my craft room since my birthday in March and I just finally used it a couple weeks ago.

I know, I know - It's awful. I'd been pining for that machine for years and then when it was in my hands I was at a loss. I could give you lots of excuses - no time, no planned projects, can't afford other cartridges etc. - but the truth of the matter was I was frightened. Here was this fabulous thing and I was humbled and in awe. Was I worthy?

Well I finally got over it and took the new toy for a spin to create some cupcake toppers for my sweet little nephew's first birthday party (it was a bug theme obviously). I also made some larger bugs to decorate the walls.

But what I've been having the most fun with is using it to cut some intricate images for freezer paper t-shirt stencils.

I'd been wanting to try this technique ever since I saw it several months ago on a craft blog but the mere idea of meticulously cutting images with an xacto knife was enough to make my head hurt. So I got to wondering if I could use the Cricut. And as you can see - yes you can.

I won't give you a meticulous step by step since there are tons of great tutorials by people out there (just do a search), but if you're curious the trick is to apply the freezer paper to your cutting mat with the waxy side up - otherwise it won't stay put and will move and rip when you're cutting your image.

Also you'll need to adjust your speed, pressure and blade settings. I put my blade at 2, speed at low and pressure at medium, but do a sample to determine what works best. Oh and if you're doing text you'll need to utilize the "flip" function on your Cricut since you'll essentially be cutting on the wrong side of the paper.

Once your Cricut has done it's work just iron the stencil, waxy side down to your t-shirt, grab your fabric paint (I used Tulip brand Soft fabric paint) and go to town.

Now that the Cricut and I have become more intimately acquainted I'm sure the projects will continue to flow.