June

Well…the end of it, anyways.

Click HERE or scroll down to view the ‘making-of’ process video on YouTube.

Products Used

Better Late Than Never

I feel like I’ve said that on a previous post before. After some time away to work on my mental well-being, I am finding my groove once again. I originally intended to post this June project on June 1st, but clearly that did not happen. I’ve been in a darker mood as of late, so I took some time away from crafting and posting to really reflect and work on myself. I’m glad that I did as now I feel more and more like me.

Cut Settings

As always, remember that the specified settings are specific to the Cricut Maker. For a reference guide to cut pressures for each Cricut setting, check out this handy chart:

materials-to-cut.pdf Download

Shimmer Glitter Adhesive Vinyl in Violet Purple: Sparkle holographic vinyl setting with less pressure
Opal Holographic Chrome Adhesive Vinyl in Rose Pattern: Sparkle holographic vinyl setting with default pressure
Holographic Glass Flower Adhesive Vinyl in Fuchsia: Sparkle holographic vinyl setting with more pressure
Glossy Adhesive Vinyl in Glossy Mint: Premium outdoor vinyl setting with more pressure
Glossy Holographic Rainbow Chrome Adhesive Vinyl in Diamond Pattern: Sparkle holographic vinyl setting with more pressure

The settings were almost perfect. I had a bit of trouble weeding the purple shimmer vinyl, needing more effort to pull away the pieces. Next time, I’ll try to remember to bump up the pressure to hopefully get a cleaner cut. The fuchsia glass flower vinyl had a bit too much pressure, resulting in some pieces popping out during the cut. This can cause problems while cutting if a piece of vinyl sticks to the blade. When vinyl sticks to the blade, the cuts made after will end up more like indents than actual cuts.

Why This Post Took a While/Talking a Bit About Mental Health

On a normal basis, my content is released three times a week: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Not this month! During the month of June, I’ve taken most of the month to center myself once again. Mental health is important for anyone, regardless if one is ‘ok’ or not. Keeping tabs on your mental health and knowing it’s ok to not be ok and when to seek help can save a lot of heartache.

For me personally, I have depression, anxiety, and acute stress syndrome. Stressful situations cause greater anxiety. Unfortunately that means that I can become pretty paralyzed in day to day living. I’ve let a lot of things go, specifically socializing, housework and crafting. These things are usually things that make me feel ‘normal’ (if there is such a thing). When the anxiety hit this time, it hit hard…really hard. I’ve spent the past three weeks trying to find some semblance of normalcy to make myself feel like me.

Some things I’ve been doing to help have been suggestions from therapy and have been useful. The biggest one was trying to accomplish one task each day. The task doesn’t have to be big. It could be something like matching socks in the clean laundry, moving dirty dishes to the dishwasher, taking out the trash, etc. One day all I managed to do was go for a bike ride with friends. But it was still one thing that I got done. Another useful strategy has been keeping my mind from worrying by allotting only a certain amount of time each day. After I’ve used up that time with worrying, I make myself focus on other things. When I find myself wandering back to it, I try to do my one task to bring my thoughts away from the worry.

The other strategy that has helped is grounding myself to the present. I cannot ever remember the count for each sense, but I try to name each thing I can see, hear, feel, and smell. When I do thing, it forces my brain to take stock of the present moment rather than focus on the past or future.

The Finished Project

It’s a bit hidden within the project and I believe it is only mentioned on the YouTube version of the video, but there is a bit of a personal revelation within this June project. The very bottom, almost hidden but still slightly visible bottom layer is a rainbow gradient. Yes, I know I love rainbow colors and it’s a staple in my projects. But the positioning was intentional. June is known as pride month. I don’t usually announce it about myself and avoid the conversation most times. I am bisexual. This intentional hidden rainbow is like that part of me being revealed in small sections here and there.

So even though this June project has been super delayed, I still want to share it with everyone here. It’s been a pretty personal and meaningful project for me and one hell of a self-reflection journey. Hopefully I will be back to posting a bit more regularly, even if it’s not three times per week.