Amazing Backpacks to Make For Kids in Need with Your Cricut

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine.

I saw it over and over when I was a kid. Children would come to our house with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. Often for the babies that was nothing but a onesie. One little girl had on a diaper and a pair of shoes. That was it. My mom would scramble through the drawers of things she picked up on sale and try to find items that would fit. Sometimes my mom would call the resource center and they would miraculously have some items in my new foster sibling’s size but a lot of time they wore baggy oversized shirts until the state could get around to giving us the resources that we needed to help them.

Over the course of my childhood, I had 29 foster siblings. They were all removed from their families for different reasons and in different circumstances but one thing was always the same. They were terrified. By the time my mom went to pick them up, they had sat in the back of police cars, been dumped unceremoniously on office couches while caseworkers desperately tried to find them a bed in a shelter. Then they were dropped off at a shelter while caseworkers tried to find a longer-term solution. Sometimes these kids are given an opportunity to grab an item or two but most often they come into the system with nothing but what they are wearing. If they do have things, they are put in trash bags with duct tape on the side with their names on it. It is a lot to go through at any age.

When I was a kid, I swore I would carry on my parent’s legacy. I would be the person who answers the call at 2 Am that a child needs a home and I would be there. Unfortunately, circumstances have prevented this. At first, I was pretty angry about it but since I have worked to find ways to help these kids even though I can’t personally be the one there meeting their needs. Together we can help the more than 440,000 children nationwide in the foster care system that need someone to see them and love them. Enter the Blue Ribbon Project.

The Blue Ribbon Project

The Blue Ribbon Project is near and dear to my heart. The Blue Ribbon Project is a 100% volunteer supported organization that runs a program called Backpacks of Love. These backpacks contain essential necessities for kids of all ages who are entering the system. Each backpack is designed to be gender and very age-specific. These backpacks include such things as a toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, children’s soap/body wash, children’s shampoo, changes of clothing for the child’s age, personal clothing (underwear, socks, pajamas), and age-appropriate books and toys. The organizations works to get backpacks to kids entering the system as quickly as possible in an effort to bridge the gap between when kids enter the system and when the state can get the resources the child needs to Foster Parents.

Here are some tips from the Blue Ribbon Project for filling a backpack:

A few tips:

• Each backpack is designed for each age and gender. (Find all of the lists for each gender and age here.) Every little contribution helps these kids. If you want to fill an entire backpack for an age, that is great. If you just want to donate a tube of toothpaste, that too is wonderful. Do not feel obligated to purchase everything on this list. Single items are also placed in the packs.
• Children’s development can be different, especially when it comes to abuse or neglected children. For instance, a child may be using a pacifier much later than when your child did.
• Kids come in all shapes and sizes and this makes purchasing clothing very difficult. Each child will need a change of clothes (actually two of them) so if you include clothing, try to include something that is stretchy or adjustable.
• Remember, these packs are designed for those first 24 to 48 hours. Many travel-sized items will work. Children will obviously use some of these things past that time frame and you can purchase either travel size or full size.
• If you are packing your own backpack, you do not have to include everything on this list. It is important to get these items to children, however, we do not want you to break the budget doing so. This is why we ask that you print and include the checklist so our staff knows what needs to be added to your backpack.

Now that you know a little bit about why this project is so important, let’s get creating and helping kids in need

Under the Sea Backpack

You will need:

• Everyday Iron-on in a variety of colors. (You just need little bits of each color, so this is a great scrap project)
• Cricut Machine
• EasyPress Mini

Images and Fonts Used in this project:

• Fish #M3A42A
• Coral #M3BD05
• Fish #M43C72
• Ocean Plants #M6D6B72
• Whale #MB02E962
• Dolphin #MB0D8C1E

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Step 1: Add all of the images to your canvas in Design Space.

Step 2: Measure all of the surfaces on your backpack to see what will fit. Since I wanted to fit a ton of images on the surface of the backpack, I decided to make each image no more than 2 inches wide. Shrink your images down by click on each image and then type 2 in the W box under size.

Step 3: Change the colors of the images on your screen so that you get an idea of how things will look cut with the colors you have.

Step 4: Cut. Hit Make It in the top right corner of your screen. On the left, you will see all of the colors you will cut one at a time. Make sure to mirror the images on each color.

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Step 5: Weed your vinyl. Pull your iron on apart, leaving just the design on the sticky sheet. Anything you want to appear on the backpack needs to remain on the sticky sheet.

Step 6: Iron on your vinyl. This is the PERFECT project to use the Cricut EasyPress Mini. It is a small heat press that lets you iron small images on and get into small spaces. For this project, you need to layer your iron on which means you iron down the first piece of an image. Peel the plastic off and then lay the next piece down and iron that as well.

Skater Backpack

You will need:

• Everyday Iron-on in white
• backpack, this design looks AWESOME on a patterned backpack
• Cricut Machine
• EasyPress Mini

Images and Fonts Used in this project:

• Man Skateboarding #M8B63496
• Man Skateboarding #M8B634AA
• Man Skateboarding #M8B634AE
• Man Skateboarding #M8B634B6

Step 1: Add all of the images to your canvas in Design Space.

Step 2: Measure all of the surfaces on your backpack to see what will fit. These are all about 3 inches high.

Step 3: Cut. Hit Make It in the top right corner of your screen. On the left, you will see all of the colors you will cut one at a time. Make sure to mirror the images.

Step 4: Weed your vinyl. Pull your iron on apart, leaving just the design on the sticky sheet. Anything you want to appear on the backpack needs to remain on the sticky sheet.

Step 6: Iron on your vinyl. This is the PERFECT project to use the Cricut EasyPress Mini. It is a small heat press that lets you iron small images on and get into small spaces.

Tips for use iron-on on a backpack:

Most backpacks have a kind of plastic liner on the inside. If you use high heat, this will melt. Use a lower heat and go slow.

What kind of backpack will you make?