How to Make Your Own Chipboard

Save money and start making your own Chipboard embellishments.

If you are an avid crafter or scrap-**** you already know what Chipboard is. If not, it is a thick piece of cardboard (similar to what you find on the back of a writing pad) with a decorative finish. Many times you will find Chipboard as letters that help give your craft or scrapbook a layered or 3-D look. But you can find Chipboard in many shapes and sizes. At Christmas time, I used festive Holiday Chipboard pieces to make an advent calendar by putting magnets on the back of the Chipboard pieces. Although it was expensive (this was before I knew how to make my own Chipboard), it was a cute craft. There are endless and unique craft ideas that use Chipboard.

In this article we will be using the Cricut Expression Die-Cutting machine to cut out the Chipboard. The Cricut is the best tool for this type of job. If you don't have a Cricut, you can try cutting it by hand, but this will take time.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cricut Expression
• Plain Chipboard (you can use cereal boxes, backs of notebook pads, thick posterboard... anything that is thick)
• Spray Adhesive
• Scrapbooking paper
• Cricut Deep Cut Blade

1. 
    
   Deep Cut Blade

   Replace the blade in your Cricut machine with the Deep Cut Blade. You will need this blade to cut through the Chipboard.

2. 
    

   Spray adhesive glue on the back of the scrapbook paper you want to use and press it onto to your Chipboard sheet. Hint: Do this in a well-ventilated room with newspaper underneath. Let the paper dry for at least 1 hour.

3. 
    

   Press the new paper chipboard sheet onto the sticky mat. Press down thoroughly. Once set, place the mat into the Cricut machine and press the Load Paper button.

4. Use the dial on the Cricut to indicate size and type the letter or image you want to cut. Then, press the Multicut button. Multicut allows the blade to cut through the Chipboard by repeating the cut. After you click Multicut, click Settings, then OK to advance to the Multicut menu. Use the arrove keys to advance the multicut to cut 4 times. This will give you a nice cut on your Chipboard. Press Cut to begin cutting.

5. After the cut is finished, press the unload paper button and peel the Chipboard off. It should be relatively easy to come off. If not, use Cricut tools to pry it off.

6. 
    
   Finished Chipboard

   To get a finished edge to your Chipboard piece, lightly sand off the top edge of the Chipboard with light sandpaper. This gives the Chipboard a "finished" look.

Tips & Warnings

• The pieces I used in this article are also layered with a piece of scrapbooking paper on top of the Chipboard piece. This is a cute look and gives depth to your craft. Just use glue dots to attach them and make your dial a 1/2 size smaller than the original Chipboard piece.
• When using Adhesive Spray please be careful. Always spray in a ventilated room away from children.
• Cricut machines use very sharp blades. Be very careful when working with the Cricut machine or when you are replacing blades.

[luvmycriket]

on 4/27/2009 This is a great idea for making your own chipboard. Chipboard is so expensive and chipboard is not always available the way I want it to coordinate with my scrapbooking. I love making my own chipboard now. I highly recommend this article about making your own chipboard!

[scrapgal01]

on 4/20/2009 I've been wanting to do this for a long time. I just didn't know how. Thanks! This will save me tons of money!