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Penguins are one of my favorite symbols that winter has arrived, so I made these adorable Penguin Ornament Earrings using faux leather, heat transfer vinyl, and my Cricut cutting machine.

These Cricut Penguin Ornament Earrings are so easy to make with faux leather and heat transfer vinyl. You can make them with a Cricut Maker, Maker 3, Explore Air 2 or Explore 3, or even the Cricut Joy.

This SVG is included in my Christmas Earrings Event SVG Bundle – you can learn more and get it here.

I have the earring SVG template in my shop – the link is in the Materials section below.

So if you’re ready to try making these Faux Leather Penguin Ornament Earrings Earrings with a Cricut, let’s get started!

How to Make Faux Leather Penguin Ornament Earrings with a Cricut

For a printable version of the text portion of project instructions, click here.

STEP 1 – Get the Earrings SVG Template

You can get the Penguin Ornament Earring SVG template included in the 25 Days of Cricut Christmas Earrings Event Bundle here or from my shop here.

If you purchase the SVG from my shop, you’ll receive an order confirmation email with a link to download the SVG after purchasing.

Save the zipped folder that downloads to your computer. You’ll need to unzip or extract the folder FIRST so you can upload the SVG file to Cricut Design Space.

STEP 2 – Upload The Earrings SVG Template to Cricut Design Space

Click on Upload Image, then browse to where your unzipped Penguin Ornament Earring SVG is located on your device.

Click on the SVG file it to upload it to Design Space. You’ll see a preview of the SVG on the screen. Click the UPLOAD button.

Then select the Penguin Ornament Earring SVG from your Recent Uploads row and click Add to Canvas.

There will be two versions of the earring SVG – one with pre-cut holes and one without. Decide which version you want to use and delete the other one. You will need to ungroup both versions from each other first before you can delete.

I suggest using the “no-holes” version if you want to change the size of the earrings or if you prefer making the holes manually using a hole punch. If you use the “with holes” version, you can always finish making the earring hole with a hole punch if the Cricut doesn’t cut the hole completely.

I have a YouTube video all about earring holes if you want more information about faux leather earring holes or you need help deciding which version you want to use.

It isn’t necessary to resize the earrings. Click the green “Make It” button.

STEP 3 – Prepare to Cut Earring Shapes in Cricut Design Space

The mat preview screen will show all of the mats for this faux leather earrings project, separated by color on the left hand side.

See the graphic below to know which layer will cut from what material.

For this project, I used Black and white heat transfer vinyl for layer #2 and #3. I used Glitter Purple heat transfer vinyl for layer #4, Glitter Silver heat transfer vinyl for layer #5, and yellow heat transfer vinyl for layer #6.

First, toggle the MIRROR button to ON for all the mats in the project. This is because faux leather and heat transfer vinyl cut face down. (If you are using permanent vinyl instead of heat transfer vinyl, don’t mirror the mats you plan to cut from permanent vinyl).

On each mat preview, click and drag the shapes apart from each other just slightly.

Then click back on the faux leather mat to select it. Click the green CONTINUE button to make the first material selection.

STEP 4 – Make Material Selections

Note for Explore Air 2 users: Cricut Explore Air 2 users will need to turn the dial to “Custom” before choosing Faux Leather (Paper Thin).

Note for Cricut Joy users: Cricut Joy users should check out my tutorial on How to Make Earrings with the Cricut Joy with more specific instructions for Joy users.

I always cut the faux leather mat first. Click on the faux leather mat to select it.

On the Material Selection screen, choose Faux Leather (Paper Thin) as the material setting. If you don’t have this material setting as a favorite, click “Browse All Materials” to search for it and select it.

Then select “More” from the Pressure dropdown menu.

Now it’s time to prepare the faux leather mat to cut.

STEP 5 – Cut the Faux Leather Mat

NOTE: I didn’t put a backing on these faux leather earrings in this tutorial to keep it as short as possible. But I do have a post here and a YouTube video here that demonstrate four ways to put a back on faux leather earrings if you want to learn more.

Cut a piece of faux leather just slightly larger than the size shown in the mat preview screen.

Place it pretty side down on a sticky purple cutting mat in the same location shown in the mat preview screen.

Tape the faux leather down on all sides with blue painter’s tape.

Make sure the white “star wheels” on the roller bar are pushed off to the side so the wheels don’t make indentations in your material.

Load the mat into the Cricut by lining up the mat with the guides and pressing the double arrows button. The machine will pull the mat into the machine.

Press the C button to begin the cut.

After the cut is complete and before unloading the mat, use a weeding tool to carefully lift the edge of the faux leather shape to see if the cut was complete.

If not, press the C button again to repeat the cut.

Unload the mat and remove the earring shapes. You can trim any stray fuzz with small curved scissors.

Use a sharp weeding tool to poke through the earring holes. If they didn’t cut completely, use a 1/16″ hole punch to punch the earring holes.

If you don’t like seeing the white edges on the faux leather, you can color them with a color coordinated Sharpie marker.

STEP 6 – Cut the Vinyl Mats

In Cricut Design Space, on the left hand mat preview, click on one of the vinyl mats. The black penguin head is the first vinyl layer that will be pressed to the ornament so I’ll cut that one first.

You can use your mouse to hover over the mat to make a note of the size vinyl you need to cut out the shapes completely. I like to use a small piece of vinyl trimmed just larger than the shapes that need to cut.

Reminder: if you are using heat transfer vinyl, be sure the MIRROR toggle is turned on. For permanent vinyl, leave MIRROR off.

Choose your material setting according to the vinyl type you are using. I use the “Vinyl” setting or the “Washi Sheet” setting for regular HTV with “default” pressure.

I use the “Glitter Vinyl” setting with “default” pressure for glitter heat transfer vinyl (and repeat the cut one time if the glitter is thick).

Place the first heat transfer vinyl you plan to cut shiny side down on a green standard grip cutting mat in the location shown on the mat preview screen.

Load the green mat into the Cricut and press the C button to begin the cut.

When the cut is complete, unload the mat and weed away the excess vinyl using a weeding tool.

Repeat cutting all of the vinyl mats, weed the excess vinyl, and trim the shapes apart with scissors.

NOTE: If you are using Siser Glitter heat transfer vinyl for any of your layers, I recommend repeating the cut once by pressing the C button again before unloading the mat.

STEP 7 – Press the Vinyl to the Faux Leather Earring Shapes

I press vinyl to faux leather using a Cricut EasyPress Mini on the “low” setting (one green bar). You can also use a traditional EasyPress set to 255-265 degrees.

It’s important to have a heat pressing pad to protect your surface, as well as a cover sheet of some kind to put between the heat and your materials. You can use a piece of parchment paper, butcher paper, or a Teflon sheet.

Place the faux leather shape on the pressing pad and layer the vinyl on top. Cover with a cover sheet and press for 7-10 seconds. You can move the EasyPress Mini around like an iron if you’d like to.

After 10 seconds, remove the cover sheet and carefully try to peel up the clear vinyl cover sheet. If it peels up easily, remove it. If the vinyl is pulling up, place the clear vinyl cover layer back down and repeat pressing for 5-7 seconds. Repeat this process until the vinyl adheres to the faux leather well.

Layer the next vinyl layer onto the earring shape. Refer back to the layering graphic in this post if you need help knowing what order the layers go in.

Repeat covering and pressing each layer until the last layer on vinyl is complete.

Then cover the earrings with your Teflon cover sheet or parchment paper and press one more time, for about 5 seconds.

STEP 8 – Attach the Jump Rings and Earring Hooks

Now it’s time to attach the earrings hooks.

You’ll need two jump rings, earring hooks, and two pairs of flat nose pliers. I use 6mm jump rings.

I like to twist the bottom loop of the earring hook 90 degrees first so the faux leather earrings hang straight.

For more details and step by step instructions on how to do that, you can watch my YouTube video here.

Then use the two pliers to open the jump rings and connect the faux leather earring shapes to the earring hooks. Close the jump rings tightly to keep the earrings secure.

That’s it! Your Penguin Ornament Earrings made with faux leather and a Cricut are complete!

If you made these earrings, I would love to see them! Please share them in my Free Cricut Crafting Facebook group, Get Crafty with Amy Romeu. You can request to join here.

Printable Instructions

Want to remember this? Post this CRICUT FAUX LEATHER PENGUIN ORNAMENT EARRINGS project to your favorite Pinterest board!

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