Share the love!

Learn how to make these pretty Butterfly Keychains with your Cricut using faux leather and heat transfer vinyl.

This butterfly keychain is the perfect spring craft project, whether you’re keeping it for yourself or gifting it to the butterfly lover in your life.

The SVG file is available in my shop if you want to make this project!

Ready to get started? Let’s dive into the materials and steps!

Step 1: Get the SVG Template

Step 2: Shop the Supplies

This page contains some affiliate links (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you). Read my full disclosure policy here.

Compatible Machines✅: Cricut Maker, Cricut Maker 3, Cricut Maker 4, Cricut Explore Air 2, Cricut Explore 3, Cricut Explore 4, Cricut Joy Xtra, Cricut Joy
Not Compatible Machines❌: none
Blade Used: Standard Fine Point Blade
Cut Setting Used✂️: Faux Leather (Paper Thin) with “More” pressure

• Faux Leather & Heat Transfer Vinyl
• Use any smooth faux leather and easy to weed HTV you’d like. I used:
  • Pink – this solid pink faux leather and Siser Easyweed HTV in Bubble Gum Pink.
  • Peach – this solid peach faux leather and Siser Easyweed HTV in Melon.
  • Yellow – this solid light yellow faux leather and Siser Easyweed HTV in Yellow.
  • Green – this solid mint green faux leather and Siser Easyweed HTV in Sage.
  • Blue – this solid light blue faux leather and Siser Easyweed in Sea Glass.
  • Lavender – this light purple faux leather and Siser Easyweed in Lavender.
• Other Project Supplies
  • Fabric Glue or Craft Glue. I used Beacon Fabri-Tac
  • 3/16″ Grommets like these (I got the Macaron color set)
  • Colorful 4 inch Ball Keychains
• Other Cricut Supplies
  • Blue Painters Tape
  • Small Curved Scissors
  • Teflon Sheets
  • Purple Strong Grip Mat
  • Green Standard Grip Mat
  • Weeding Tool like a Pin Pen or like the one in the Cricut Basic Tool Set
  • Cricut EasyPress Mini
  • EasyPress Mat, 8×10 size

🛒 To shop many of these supplies below in my Amazon storefront, click here.

Step 3: Make the Project

Set Up Your Design

1. Open a new canvas in Cricut Design Space.
2. Upload the Butterfly Keychain SVG file to your canvas.

Prepare to Cut

1. Click Make It.
2. Mirror your mats, since you’ll be cutting the faux leather and heat transfer vinyl face down.
3. Choose the Faux Leather (Paper Thin) material setting with More pressure for the faux leather mat.
4. Choose the manufacturer’s recommended cut setting for the type and brand of heat transfer vinyl you are using. I use the Iron-On setting with Default pressure when cutting Siser Easyweed.
5. Trim a piece of faux leather to a size just larger than the size needed in the mat preview screen to cut both shapes out.

Cut the Faux Leather

1. Place the faux leather pretty side down on a Strong Grip (purple) mat.
2. Secure all edges with blue painter’s tape.
3. Load the mat into your Cricut.
4. Press the C button to begin cutting.
5. When the cut is complete, without unloading the mat, use a sharp tool to gently lift the edge and check the cut.
6. Repeat the cut if necessary by pressing the cut button again.
7. Once the cut is complete, unload the mat and remove the butterfly shapes.

Cut the Heat Transfer Vinyl

1. Cut the butterfly layers from heat transfer vinyl using the manufacturer’s recommended cut setting for your brand and type of HTV.
2. Place the vinyl layer shiny side down on a green cutting mat. Load the mat into the Cricut and cut.
3. This is an intricate design, so you’ll want a good quality, easy to weed heat transfer vinyl and a weeding tool with a small tip. I like Pin Pen Weeding Tools for projects like these.
4. Weed away the excess HTV.

Press the HTV onto the Butterfly Shapes

1. Press the HTV butterfly layers onto the faux leather butterflies with an EasyPress Mini on Low or an EasyPress set to 265°F.
2. Cover the HTV and faux leather before applying heat with a Teflon sheet, butcher paper, or parchment paper.
3. Press for 7-10 seconds all over. Carefully try to peel the HTV layer. If it doesn’t come up easily, cover and press again. If necessary, let the HTV layer cool for about 60 seconds before trying to peel. This is often helpful with detailed HTV layers.
4. Place the warm butterflies under your heat pressing pad for a minute or two so they cools flat.

Glue the Keychain

1. Use fabric glue to glue the two butterfly shapes back to back. Press the glued butterfly under a heavy book for an hour.

Attach the Hardware

1. Follow the directions in the grommet kit to install the grommet in the pre-cut hole.
2. Add the ball chain to finish off the project.
3. Or skip the grommet and just thread the ball chain through the keychain hole.

The Butterfly Keychain is complete! What color butterfly is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!

Answers to your questions about making a Faux Leather Butterfly Keychain with a Cricut

Q: Which Cricut machines will cut faux leather?
A: You can cut faux leather with any of the current Cricut machines because they all cut faux leather with the standard fine point blade included with each machine. For this project you can use the Cricut Maker, Cricut Maker 3, Cricut Maker 4, Cricut Explore 5, Cricut Explore 4, Cricut Explore 3, Cricut Explore Air 2, the Cricut Joy Xtra or the Cricut Joy.

Q: What do I need to press heat transfer vinyl onto faux leather?
A: To press heat transfer vinyl onto faux leather you’ll need a traditional heat press, Cricut EasyPress, or Cricut EasyPress Mini. I used a Cricut EasyPress Mini for this project because it’s great with pressing small projects like earrings, keychains, and accessories. I set the EasyPress Mini to the Low setting and covered the HTV on the faux leather with a Teflon sheet before pressing for about 10 seconds. For a larger EasyPress I set it to 265 degrees F.

Q: How do I get the SVG template for this project?
A: Get the SVG file from my SVG Shop here.

Until next time… and happy creating!

Pin this project to your favorite Pinterest board!

Share the love!