Recently, I purchased a Cricut Explore 2 which was on sale during Black Friday. I've been trying to learn all I can on YouTube so I could make some family Christmas gifts. Some of my favorites people to follow on YouTube are Mr. Crafty Pants, Jennifer Maker, Design Bundles and Daily Dose of DIY. I just started flipping through several of their videos to learn as much of the basics as I could. Grab some paper and take notes also. I'm a big note taker and it really comes in handy after watching several videos in a row. Top ten Cricut hacks has some great info too.
Today's project was from:
Secrets to a Perfect Hand Painted Sign With a Vinyl Stencil
One project that I felt would be a good test run was making some stocking tags for my daughter's stockings from last year that I purchased at the Dollar General. I had planned on redoing the back and replacing it with some cute fabric from Joanns, but life got busy and I put it off till a few weeks back. I used some leftover fur trim I had for the tops and I used some candy cane striped fabric, on sale for $5, for the hanger as well as the back of the stocking. I used the backing as a pattern for the fabric. They were a little floppy in the way they hung so I fused some heavy interface, I had on hand, to the inside on both sides of the stocking for stability. They turned out super cute for under $13 and they are reversible. :)
To make the tags, I used The Skinny and can be used for personal use, but you need a commercial license to sell products using it. The link is here. This was the perfect font for the Rae Dunn look, but a little tricky in weeding out the letters on the vinyl I used. I'm new at this so there is that. I tried Dollar Tree shelf liner to experiment while I waiting for my Oracle 813 stencil film order to arrive. I used this video to learn the basics. It gave me some cheap "trying to learn" time, but I noticed it would leave a weird residue on my painted wood tags after applying it which made more work for me when I had to sand the whole thing down and start over. Maybe it was the paint I used that caused that...not sure, but it wasn't working for me the way I wanted. Grrrr.
I had a tag pattern downloaded from several years back, opened it up in Photoshop and made it longer and skinnier in size for the look I wanted. The measurements I used are 2-1/2 x 5-1/2". The paints I used were Anita's acrylic in white and Folkart in wicker white. Anita's is a thinner paint and glides nicely on the wood, but you will need several coats. The Folkart is thicker and has a tendency to streak if you don't add a touch of water to help it along to get a smooth look, but it will coat with less strokes compared to Anita's. Just use what works for you. I had to fix some mistakes and sand over many tags before I got the process down so the thicker paint came in handy more than once.
A scroll saw was used to cut out the tags from remnant 1/4" Revolution plywood found at Lowes. It cuts okay, but has a tendency to split a bit on the underside of your wood. Go slowly in cutting or just be sure to have a newish blade and sand down with a fine grit of sandpaper to smooth out as paint will cover a lot. I wanted a bit of a worn look anyway as I sand out the edges when my project if complete so it didn't bother me too much, but smooth it out for a better look and feel. You don't want wood to catch on fabric.
After the wood is cut out, sanded and painted, you are ready to bring your tag jpg into the Cricut design space. Size it the way you want and start typing out the names you will be using. Go here for the newbies who are still learning. Everyone is at different stages of learning and there are many tutorials listed here to help you along the way. Again, check out the YouTube people I listed above and start binging on how to better use your Cricut! There is so much good info out there to glean! This lady from Daily Dose of DIY really helped me figure out my paint bleeding issues! Seriously, check her out! This is another goodie of hers that teaches you how to make a stencil with the Cricut only larger and more detail using your own files.
Once you have your names sized, weld them together and hit "make it"; arrange on your "mat" where you want them and hit "continue". Have your Cricut dial turned to Vinyl if you want to see how your vinyl cuts first, but if the weeding has resistance, proceed with how I did mine and turn your Cricut dial to "custom" so you can edit. On this page, click vinyl then on pressure I changed it to "add more" as the first time I cut the project, my vinyl didn't cut through well enough for me.
Notes: If the vinyl is tearing while you weed and there is resistance, add more pressure. Also, do a small sample before you print out the entire project so you don't waste any materials needlessly.
Transfer tape suggestions: I used the Duct clear laminate from Walmart for now until I can spend some more on a better size and quality. This works fine for me now, but I'm doing small projects and I'm tired of spending money at the moment. I want to get this one when I can as it was suggested on one of the videos I watched as longer rolls of product is a better value over time.
I placed the stencil 1/2" from the top of the tag and when the stencil vinyl was a bit short on the top, I lightly drew a pencil line 1/2" from the top of letters for placement on all tags.
Once I had my stencils transferred to my tags, I lightly coated my white paint using the Folkart brand as it was not as thin as the Anita's and I though it might help in preventing any bleeding under my stencil. It worked is all I know. Just be sure to use a thin amount. I stippled one coat on with my One Stroke round #8 brush being sure to get in the edges of my letters. Let it dry while working on the other tags. Then I added my Anita's black acrylic paint in the same manner, lightly up and down over all letters. Do two coats allowing dry time in between. I did paint (3rd coat) downward some more black paint for a darker line, let it dry and then pulled up the stencil. Here are some pics of how mine turned out. PERFECT when I used a thin amount of paint and didn't glob it on.
Stipple on the paint...thinly.
When I peeled off my painted stencil, the direction you use makes all the difference too. I was going with the grain and it was taking a LOT of my paint with it. She says to go against the grain slowly peeling up as you go and it worked perfectly for me! I was getting so frustrated seeing that paint pull up which meant I had repaint and to do the whole thing all over again! Also be sure to let your paint dry/cure a bit before putting a sticky stencil on it. It's easy to get in a hurry...I know. ;)
This little gummy square is from the Dollar Tree in their craft section. It is a handy little tool for removing pencil and graphite lines. LOOK at those clean lines!
Perfection!
Once all stencils have dried thoroughly, I lightly sanded off the edges for a rustic look, wiped off dust and sealed with a clear sealant. I used Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Matte Clear spray. I did two coats front and back. Then I drill holes at the top center and added a 3 ply jute or white string I found both at the Dollar General. They are now ready for hanging!
I hope this all made sense to those who have made it all the way down to the part of the "tutorial". LOL! I wanted to write down a general idea of how I did this so I can remind my future self what I did so please forgive me if it was a bit jumbled. Please feel free to ask me anything about this project and I will do my best to help. :)
Happy Crafting!
Lee Anne