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One of my favorite things to make with my xTool M1 is earrings. Going out for a date night? Make new earrings. Holiday time? Make new earrings. Baseball game? Make new earrings. It’s so fast and easy to customize any look. Our Christmas Earrings will complete any holiday party outfit!

Materials needed to make your own Christmas Earrings

• xTool M1 10W
• Brown acyrlic
• 3mm basswood
• Red acrylic
• Vinyl
• Transfer tape
• Red pom poms
• Hot glue gun
• Earring hardware

Because the xTool M1 uses a diode laser, you are limited in the acrylic colors you can cut. However, the ones available are perfect for Christmas! Download the Christmas Earrings file from the bottom of this post.

Open xTool Creative Space (XCS) and upload the reindeer earring cut file. Open lid of xTool and place the brown acrylic on triangle prisms. Close the lid to refresh the real time materials picture. Arrange your reindeer earring file and duplicate image to cut both earrings. You will need to add a small circle to the top of the reindeer in order to add the earring hardware when complete. While the image is still highlighted, adjust your settings to laser flat, BLACK acrylic and raised on triangle prisms. You will also need to change from score to cut.

Once arranged to your liking, send the image to the xTool by clicking process in the lower right hand corner. Click start and then press the flashing button on the front of the xTool. Your image will begin cutting.

Once done cutting, remove the acrylic and carefully pop the reindeer out. You will need to remove the masking paper from each side of the earring.

Add your earring hardware. To finish these off, hot glue a small red pom pom to the front of the reindeer. How stinkin’ cute are those?!

The wreath and light bulbs are done similarly in the XCS programming. However I had to layer our materials because I was unable to cut the green acrylic. The base for the wreath and light bulb are cut from basswood. You will follow the same steps but change your material type to 3mm basswood.

Remove the triangle prisms and clean the bottom of the machine with rubbing alcohol. Allow to dry and then add the two sided adhesive mat to the bottom plate of the xTool. Add you vinyl to the adhesive mat and be sure your blade is loaded in the housing unit. Change your settings to blade cut and use it to cut the green part of the wreath and the red and silver parts of the light bulb.

I cut the red bows on the wreath from red acrylic and then hot glued them on the front of the wreath. Follow up the above steps for setting to cut the red acrylic but change material to red acrylic.

Transfer the vinyl onto the wood using transfer tape. Follow the same steps for adding the earring hardware to complete.

I freaking love these! Everyone keeps asking if I will sell them!

Click HERE to download your Christmas Earrings cut file bundle!

All SVG files are for PERSONAL use only!  Please do not re-sell, redistribute or claim as your own.  If this printable is posted to the internet, please give credit and link back to Create.Craft.Love.

Download directions:  Click link above.  This will bring up a Google Drive folder.  Click the download icon at the top.  This will save the folder to your computer.  Simply open the file and print!  YOU DO NOT NEED TO ASK PERMISSION TO VIEW.

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Creating a customized tumbler has never been easier than with the xTool M1! Great project for gifting!

Next to the laser, the rotary attachment is what I was most looking forward to using when I received my xTool M1. The idea that I can take my personal cut files and engrave them onto tumblers blew my mind! There are oodles of YouTube videos available to help walk you through the process. I will do my best to convey that in this post.

Creating a Customized Tumbler Using Rotary Attachment

To use the rotary attachment, you will need to remove the baseplate from the machine. There are five screws that hold it in place. xTool provides you with 10 extra screws in case any go missing. I keep a tiny cup in my table drawer to easily drop the screws into to avoid losing any. Once you remove the screws, gently lift out the base plate and set aside.

My xTool M1 was bundled with the rotary attachment and comes with wooden risers. (You can add it on as an extra if you didn’t purchase the bundle.) The rotary attachment comes with a handy dandy measuring tape that will show you what level to place you risers and what width to set your rotary rollers.

Simply take the tumbler and place the measuring tape around the widest part. As you can see, it tells me I need to use the risers on the highest setting. I bought my tumbler through xTool.

Place the risers at the required height under the four corners of the machine. The feet on the machine will fit neatly in the depression on the riser. Slide the base plate under the raised machine. Turn on the machine.

Next you need to attach the rotary tool to the machine itself. There is a cord that connects to the back of the device. Gently slide the rotary accessories under the xTool and attach the cord.

I marked my tumbler with masking tape so I could place the design exactly where I wanted it.

Place the tumbler on the rotary rollers with the end on the leveling device. You want the laser to be at the highest point on the tumbler in the corner of your masking tape.

Place the cute little level on the highest point of your design space. Adjust the leveling device by turning the knob until the tumbler is level.

Close the lid to send the image to your software. Adjust your settings to laser cylindrical. Choose stainless steel necklace as your material. It is the best one I’ve found.

You will see that the canvas will change into a split view with a yellow line running down the middle.

Click auto measure to line up the edge of your tape to the yellow line. If it fails to auto measure, you can manually measure but I will not be covering that in this tutorial.

Once this is lined up appropriately, import your image. Adjust the image to customize your tumbler. You may have to rotate your image. When arranged appropriately, click process to send the image to the machine.

This took about 30 minutes to engrave. When the customized tumbler comes out of the machine, it may have some black soot.

Don’t be alarmed. We used barkeep’s friend to brighten it up!

I made this for my son. His baseball team is the Nixa Baseball Club and this is one of their logos. He loves it! I’m thinking about adding his name and number to the back of it. I can’t wait to make more!

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Add dimension to your crafting by learning to layer materials with xTool M1!

Layering materials is a piece of cake with the xTool M1. If you watched our review video, you saw an example of this in real-time. (In case you missed it, click HERE.) I love the look of natural wood but sometimes you want a pop of color with the sturdiness of a thicker material. The real time camera is the game changer here. You can arrange your cut exactly where you want it with minimal hassle all on one machine!

Layer Materials with xTool M1

Begin by opening xTool Creative Space. Turn on your machine. We will cut the paper layer first. If you do not have your blade in the housing unit, add it now. Place your scrapbook paper on the grid side of the blue adhesive cutting mat. Remove the backing to adhere the cutting mat with paper to the base plate. Close the lid to send the real time view to your software.

Pull up your image and size it to your paper. In the right hand tool bar, click blade cut and choose brown craft paper as your material. Click start to send the image to the machine. Once the light on the front of the machine is flashing, press the button to begin the cut.

Once cut, remove the adhesive cutting mat and gently peel off the scrapbook paper. Set aside.

Now we are going to cut the wood. Add your triangle prisms to the base plate inside the machine. Place the 3mm basswood on top of the prisms. Close the lid to send the real time image to your software.

Do not resize your image. Change the setting to laser flat and material to 3mm basswood. Be sure to click height raised to triangle prism.

Click the image to highlight it. Change your processing to cut and then click start to send to the machine. Follow the above steps to begin cut.

Remove the cut wood for the machine. Apply a thin layer of mod podge to the back of the scrapbook paper and adhere to the top of the wood cut out. Allow to dry. Repeat the process for as many pennants as you want.

As you can see, it’s a perfect fit!

Simply add some twine with hot glue and hang. I hung this pennant banner in my craft room above my peg board and I love it! The room is tall so this helps add a little something to that wall! When you layer materials with the xTool M1, it gives them extra life.

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Learn how to transfer images to wood with the xTool M1! This tutorial will walk you through the process step by step!

We are obsessed with the National Parks! Our vacations usually involve visiting a bunch of them. We are headed to the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest in a couple of weeks. My husband had an idea to transfer one of our family pictures from our National Parks trips into a piece of wall decor. He wanted to frame it in the National Park Service arrowhead. I was able to make that happen for him!

You will need a baseline knowledge of photo editing in order to complete an adequate transfer. That will NOT be covered in this tutorial. I had to lighten up the picture we chose in order for it to transfer.

This is an example of transferring your image without editing. You cannot even see me because the clothes I had on were too dark. Play around with the brightness of the photo and do small sample areas to see if you like the degree of contrast.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Transfer Images to Wood Using Your xTool

Start by firing up your xTool M1. Open xTool Creative Space. Place your triangle prisms on the base plate.

I chose to use 3mm basswood because I like the light color and I felt it would work best for showing the image. Add your basswood on top of the prisms. Be sure the laser is centered on the piece of wood. Close the lid to your machine which will transfer a real time image to your Creative Space Canvas.

Upload your image into the program. Size the image to fit on the piece of wood you are using. On the right hand side, you can see that I am set to laser flat. Choose your material – in this case, the 3mm basswood. Be sure to change your height to triangle prism.

Once you have the image sized to your preference, click process in the lower right hand corner.

Click start to send the data to the machine. Once the light on the front of the machine begins to blink, press the button to begin the transfer.

This took about 35 minutes to transfer.

I did not move the wood after transferring the image to wood. Since Kyle wanted it cut out as the NPS arrowhead, I closed the lid and refreshed the real time camera image.

Next I uploaded the arrowhead image to cut. Click the image button in the upper right hand corner and choose the file you want to use. I sized the arrowhead to the transferred image.

Click the image and then choose cut. After you double check your settings, click process in the lower right hand corner. Then click start to send the image to cut to your xTool M1. Push the blinking button to begin the cut.

I finished it off by adding a piece of twine to hang in on our National Park accent wall! He loves how it turned out! I love that

Learn more about the xTool M1! Check out our review!

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This State Flower Spring Wreath is a gorgeous nod to fresh beginnings in your home state!

Missouri’s state flower is the white hawthorn and the state tree is the dogwood. I found a shop on Etsy called Owly Kat Originals that makes these state flower cut files. They are stunning! So when I first started playing with the xTool M1, I knew I wanted to cut the Missouri one.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Materials needed for State Flower Spring Wreath

• xTool M1 10W
• State Flower cut file
• 3mm basswood
• 3mm walnut
• Wood glue
• Clamps
• Grapevine wreath
• Silk flowers
• Hot glue/hot glue gun
• Ribbon

First thing we are going to do is open xTool Creative Space. Turn on your xTool M1. Place the triangle prisms on the base plate and add the 3mm walnut on top of the prisms. Center the wood to the laser. Close the lid so your material uploads into the software.

Open the state flower image. For the walnut layer, we are working with the background image on top. Isolate the intricate floral cut and move it off the canvas. Set your material to 3mm walnut, height raised to triangle prism. Be sure to select “cut”. Click process to send the image to the xTool. Press start and the button on the front of the machine.

Once the background is cut, it’s time to work with the intricate floral layer. Set aside the walnut background. For the floral cut, I chose to use 3mm basswood for contrast. Place your basswood on the triangle prisms and close the lid to send the real time camera image to your software.

Delete the background image and move your floral image to the real time canvas view. Change the material to 3mm basswood. The rest of the settings will remain the same. Follow the above steps to send image to xTool for cutting.

Once the cutting is complete, gently pop out any negative space. Brush a light layer of wood glue to the back of the floral cut and place directly in the center and on top of the walnut background. Clamp and allow to dry.

Assembling Your Wreath

Hot glue the finished state flower wood piece to your grapevine wreath.

Now we are going to add our silk flowers. I couldn’t find any white hawthorn blossoms at the craft store so I bought dogwood since it’s our state tree and the blossoms are pretty similar.

Start arranging and gluing the stems into place. Once you have that arranged as you would like, add your bow.

I am in love with how this State Flower Spring Wreath turned out! It’s so unique and simple in its design. Spring wreaths are my favorite!

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The new xTool M1 Desktop Laser and Blade Cutting Machine is a crafter’s dream!

xTool M1 Laser and Blade Cutting Machine

• What is the xTool M1?
• The Details
• xTool Software
• What Materials Can Be Used?
• Making Your First Project with xTool M1
• Pros and Cons of xTool M1

What is the xTool M1?

The xTool M1 is the first machine of it’s kind. It is a hybrid device that combines laser cutting, laser engraving and blade cutting all in one! What this means is you can engrave thicker materials like acrylic, wood, slate and use it for cutting vinyl and paper as well.

It’s great for crafting, gift giving or small business use. No more going back and forth between devices. Now you can create everything with one machine!

I’ve had the machine for a little over two weeks and I’m obsessed. It has been so gratifying to take my crafting to the next level. For years, I felt I was stuck in a bit of a slump. When you’ve blogged for 10 years, you begin to run out of new and fresh ideas. My creative mojo has been refilled with this machine!

Here’s my video review of this machine:

About the xTool M1 Laser and Blade Cutting Machine

What is included?

• M1 10W device
• USB cable
• Power cord and brick
• 4 cutting mats – 2 pink fabric mats and 2 blue lightgrip mats
• Ventilation system
• Materials sample pack
• Blades
• Triangle prisms

10W Deluxe RA2 Pro also includes:

• Rotary accessory
• Premium materials pack
• Risers

The xTool M1 comes pre-assembled except for the ventilation system. You will have to add an exhaust hose once the machine is out of the packaging box. However, assembling the exhaust hose took me less than 2 minutes.

The system in enclosed for safety. The lid filters blue light from the laser to protect your eyes. It weighs about 21.5lbs and measures 22 x 18 x 9 inches. The working area is 15 inches x 12 inches.

The machine comes with a materials test pack that includes 3mm basswood, leather, vinyl and a stainless steel dog tag. There are two material grip mats for using the cutting blade – one for fabric and one for other materials.

Lastly, there are triangle prisms to use when laser cutting. This provides ventilation under the wood to reduce burning.

The housing unit contains the laser on one side and the blade cutter on the other side. The blade is held in place by a magnet and easily removed to replace blades. The machine contains a diode laser which is different than a CO2 laser.

The diode laser works well but it is slower than a CO2 laser from my understanding. (I have never used a CO2 laser so it would be unfair to compare. xTool does have a CO2 laser device.) However, the diode laser makes this device more cost effective.

My favorite feature is the 16MP smart camera with real time view. This feature is something the Cricut does not have. The camera is capable of visualizing the entire creative space and makes sizing for different projects a breeze. Your object becomes your canvas! With just a click, it will auto adjust. (I will get into the specifics in a separate post.)

xTool Software

The xTool line of machines comes with free design software called xTool Creative Space (XCS). You can download it directly from their website. It is compatible with Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS. Use the USB cable to connect your computer to the M1. It will also connect through Wi-Fi.

To crafters familiar with Cricut Design Space, this software is a breeze. I found it intuitive and easy to use. There are loads of projects in the software to choose from or you can upload your own images. I will provide a step by step post on how to use the software.

What Materials Can Be Used?

M1 laser cuts and/or engraves:

• wood
• paper
• foam
• opaque acrylic
• fabric
• felt
• leather
• rubber
• stone

M1 blade cuts vinyl, leather, and felt.

xTool M1 Review

To review the xTool M1, I wanted to show you three projects that feature the three main functions of the machine – laser cutting, laser engraving and blade cutting.

Making Your First Project with xTool M1

My first project with the xTool M1 was these adorable baseball mom earrings. When cutting with the laser, it is important to elevate your material with the triangle prisms. This will help prevent burning your material. The machine comes with a starter pack which includes a piece of 3mm basswood. Since I’ve never owned a laser, I wanted to try it first.

I found the earring file on Etsy. (You can find a step by step tutorial on how I cut these earrings by clicking HERE.) The wood cut like butter and was fascinating to watch. Those holes are tiny to accommodate the jump rings and I was amazed by the precision. From uploading the image to cutting and assembling, this project took less than 20 minutes!

Laser cutting: A+

Next, I wanted to try out the engraving capabilities. I was skeptical when I put the slate coaster in since it isn’t wood. But the machine preset engraved these perfectly! This image is my own design. Engraving took longer on the coaster but it turned out great! I can’t wait to try it on leather and other materials.

Laser engraving: A

Lasers are fun but they are not always needed. I used the blade to cut this heat transfer vinyl. The blade housing was easy to remove and add the blade. It is a magnet system just like Cricut. I uploaded my image to the software, changed my settings and added the light grip mat.

The mats are adhesive on both sides. The non-grid side sticks to the bottom of the machine and the grid side holds your material. This is where things got a little tricky and I think it was user error, not the device. I didn’t “unstick” the mat like I usually do with my Cricut mats so when I peeled away the HTV after it had finished cutting, the HTV stuck to the mat and pulled away which ruined the design. So I had to re-cut it. (To unstick your mat, use some fabric or a tshirt to pat on the adhesive. This will help it not be like super glue when you add your material.)

The second cut went much smoother. Again, the presets worked well.

Blade cutting: B

Pros and Cons of xTool M1

PROS:

• Laser (diode)
• Hybrid capabilities (laser and blade cutting)
• Smart camera
• Rotary accessory
• Quiet
• Software ease of use
• Cost effective

CONS:

• Speed of laser
• Smell
• Project size is limited

Overall, I give the xTool M1 two enthusiastic thumbs up! The smell can be a bit overwhelming. Perhaps I should invest in the air purifier package or a fan. The laser is amazing! I have wanted one for so long and this machine makes it so easy to create things you will love.

To be honest, I will likely continue to use my Cricut to blade cut projects larger than this device allows. In my opinion that is the only drawback! I love that you can create so many things with one machine!

Purchase your xTool M1 Laser Blade and Cutting Machine here OR you can also shop the entire xTool-Direct Store on eBay here.

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