Updated on July 23, 2024

Have you seen the new holographic vinyl from Cricut yet? I first saw it when I went to Snap and as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to get my hands on some to create something fun. Today, I am going to show you how easy it is to create a custom holographic phone case with your Cricut Explore machine.

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Supplies needed:

• Clear Phone Case
• Holographic Vinyl
• Cricut Explore
• Transfer Tape
• Weeder Tool
• Scraper Tool

Will it be easy for me to learn the Cricut Design Space software to create my own custom projects?

The answer to this question is – YES! The Cricut Design Space™ program is intuitive and easy to use to create your own custom projects. The first thing to do after setting up your new machine is to sign in and then create a new project from the drop down menu.

You will start by creating a rectangle the same size as your phone case. On the left select Insert Shapes. Choose the square shape.

Under the edit tab, you want to click the little unlock button so you can make the square a rectangle. Type in your measurements for your phone. Mine were 2.75″ x 5.75″.

Click on Insert Images. In the search box, I typed butterfly to pull up all the butterfly images in the library. You can choose any images you want, but butterflies are my favorite! I selected two different butterfly images to use.

Start by copying the lacy butterfly and adding them to the rectangle template. To copy an image, click on the image, select Copy at the top and then Paste. You can rotate them by using the little circle with an arrow in the upper right of the image.

To be able to use each of the other butterfly images individually, you need to ungroup them. Click on the image, and at the bottom of the layers tab, click on Ungroup. This will allow you to work with each one individually.

I resized each of the butterflies and added them to my template. To resize an image, click on the double sided arrow on the bottom right corner. You can then drag it in or out to make the image smaller or bigger. I positioned some of my butterflies to overhang off the rectangle, so I could wrap them around the edges of the phone a little.

Now that the images are where I want them, it is time to hide the rectangle template by clicking on the little eye in the layers tab next to the square shape.

At the top choose Select All and then on the layers tab click on Attach. This will allow you to cut out the design exactly as it is laid out. If you do not attach the images, they will be placed on the mat in the most space saving way possible. 

Note: I made all the images pink to match my project, but this step is not necessary. It is a habit of working with lots of different images and layers for projects.

Next, select Insert Shapes and choose the square shape again. At the top, click on Arrange and then Move to Back. Click on the little lock in the lower left corner of the square to allow you to make it into a rectangle. Drag the rectangle until it covers all the butterflies.

This is called a weeding box. It makes it much easier to weed your vinyl from the big piece you are cutting. Choose Select All and then Attach. This will cut out both the rectangle and images from the same piece of vinyl.

Click the green circle Go button. Once you see your mat looks correct, click the green rectangle Go button.

On the Cricut machine set the Smart Set Dial to Custom. From the drop down menu in Design Space be sure to select Vinyl, Holographic – .0.25mm (Cricut).

Load your holographic vinyl onto a Standard Grip or StrongGrip Mat cutting mat. Press the flashing arrow button to load the mat into the machine. Then press the Cricut button to start cutting.

Once your design is cut out, trim it from the main sheet. You can see how the weeding box will help you remove the larger piece of vinyl from the design.

Weed all the excess vinyl. Use your weeder tool to help get all the little pieces out of the lacy butterflies.

Apply transfer tape to your vinyl and remove the paper backing. You can use your scraper tool to help you with this step.

Apply the vinyl to your phone.

Remove any excess vinyl from the edges and the holes using an X-Acto knife or small scissors.

The holographic vinyl is perfect for all the unicorn and mermaid crafts that are so trendy right now! I love how when you turn the phone it looks blue and when you turn it the other direction it looks pink.

The great thing about this project is you can customize it to match your personality. You can add a saying, different images, or a pre-made design. Being able to customize things for me, my home, and gifts, is one of the reasons I love having my Cricut machine.

Custom Holographic Phone Case

If you love this particular project as it is you can use the Cricut Design Space project here: Butterfly Phone Case. It is sized for my Samsung Galaxy S6, but you can easily resize it to fit your own phone.

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