When I got my Cricut Explore Air I was so excited with all the possibilities! There were (and still are) so many things I want to make. One of the first things I knew I wanted to make was a sign for my office/ craft room. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out- especially because it ended up being one of the easiest projects ever!

I wanted the sign to reflect my personality and blog design, so that meant sticking with my color scheme of mint and navy. The sign is the highlight of the wall, but the wall also features polka dot decals, which is what made me want to make it round. In all- I really couldn’t be happier with it. I think I just have a love of customized signs ever since the ones I made for our wedding!

I played with a lot of different ideas for the sign lettering- different fonts and phrases. And Procrastination Studio seemed to be the perfect name for my workspace. If you couldn’t tell just from the name of my blog- I am a bit of a procrastination expert.

So after a big response from sharing my sign on social media I decided to finally write a post about it! Keep reading for step by step instructions on how I made this adorable and easy sign on the Cricut.

Supplies:

• A Cricut cutting machine (I use the Cricut Explore Air)
• Cricut mat
• Vinyl 
• Vinyl transfer tape
• Wood sign (I used this one)
• Craft paint
• Paint brush
• Mod Podge (optional)
• Cricut tools (optional)

Step One: Paint sign back

Pick out whatever color you want your sign back to be and paint your sign that color. I mixed a mint color with white to get a lighter color and painted my sign using a simple paint brush with craft paint. Let it dry in between coats.

I also used mod podge over the paint to give it a glossier finish, but this is totally optional.

Step Two: Design Sign

The first step is to design your sign. Decide what words you want the sign to say, and pick out fonts. You can do this on Cricut design space, or on a photo editing program. A .png file is the best format to upload to Cricut design space in my experience, because the transparent areas will be treated like empty space.

When you upload an image into cricut design space, you can “select and erase” out the white space. This will tell the machine where to cut. Don’t forget to select the spaces inside letters, like the circle inside the letter “o.”

Make sure your layer is set to cut.

(If you’re a cricut newbie and this sounds confusing to you, I previously wrote a more detailed post with pictures you can refer to).

Step Three: Cut vinyl on cricut

Once you have your design ready, you’ll want to cut your vinyl. Stick the vinyl onto your cutting mat, load the mat into the machine, and press cut!

When the vinyl is cut, you want to peel or “weed” off the excess vinyl, leaving only the letters you want to transfer. You can use the cricut weeder to get out the small pieces, like the insides of letters.

Step Four: Apply vinyl with transfer tape

I’ve given the instructions here for using transfer tape- but if you want to see step by step pictures on how to use transfer tape, I have a detailed how to you can refer to in a previous post

Peel off the back of the transfer tape, and place the sticky part on top of your design. Use a credit card or a scraper tool to scrape the design to make sure the vinyl is well-adhered to the transfer tape. Slowly peel the transfer tape up. The vinyl letters should come up, but if they don’t, just replace the tape and scrape over the top again. This may take a few tries.

When you’ve got the design on the transfer tape, align the tape onto your sign where you want it to go. Press down firmly, and you can use a credit card or scraper here again. Slowly peel away the transfer tape, and the design should stick to your sign. If it doesn’t stick down, put the tape back down and rub again.

Then your sign should be finished! I told you this was easy!

Step Five: Hang

Now your sign is ready to go! You can hang it up. I’m a huge fan of the command hanging strips, and I used those to hang this sign.

And now just step back and admire!

This was my first lettering project with the cricut, and it went really well! The sign turned out EXACTLY how I imagined. You may recognize the above photo from my about me page.

I mean seriously, who DOESN’T want a procrastination studio?

The sign is definitely the highlight of the office. I’ll be doing a full office reveal sometime soon so you get to see the whole thing! But the combination of the polka dots with my sign is by far my favorite part of the office.

Which is my favorite room of the house.

I love how it looks hanging in my office. It makes me smile every time I see it!

My office is definitely my procrastination studio- I spend most of my time in there procrastinating- making crafts, organizing, editing photos, painting watercolors… you name it.

What are you waiting for? Let me know how making your own sign on the Cricut goes for you!

Supplies used in this post

The post Easy DIY Sign Lettering: Cricut Project appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

Everyone knows that weddings are expensive! I experienced this first hand when planning my wedding for last October. You really have to save money anywhere you can. You know I love crafting and saving money-so I got to work. I really wanted to have some rustic looking custom wood signs around the venue.

I decided to make our own signs to save on some money. I knew I could use this great DIY method to make my own awesome looking sign. This simple technique will give you professional looking results for a fraction of the cost! This sign for our wedding cost me less than $10 to make.

That being said… this isn’t the easiest DIY out there. I make DIYs all the time that I say anyone can do- but I don’t think ANYONE could do this one. I’m not trying to discourage you, just letting you know it will still take some fine motor skills. But if you’re up for the challenge, the results will absolutely make it worth it!

So let’s get to the technique!

Tools to make your DIY custom wood signs:

• Wood sign (I got mine at Michael’s, but here is a similar one and here is another)
• Printer (I love my brother printer!)
• Ballpoint pen
• Masking tape
• Paint (Here is a single white, but this is the set I have)
• Small paintbrush (this set looks nice)

Step One: Print your words in your desired font and size

This should be your easiest step (unless you take as much time to pick out fonts as me!). Just print out your words in the font, layout, and size you want them on your sign.

If you are a bit of a messier painter, try going with a brush script like Bakery or Freeland. Neater fonts are harder to fill in- mistakes will show more.

The fonts I used are Goodlife Script and Typnic Tilted.

If you want you can cut around the words to position them where you want them to be on the sign. Use masking tape to tape them onto the sign where you want them to go.

Step Two: Trace your letters with a pen

After taping your printed words where you want them to be, trace the edges with a ballpoint pen. You don’t need to press very hard, but you should use decent pressure. This will leave outlines for you to fill in.

Step Three: Fill in with paint

The last thing to do is paint! I did two or three coats.You can see in the picture below that your tracing will leave nice lines that you can just fill in. It’s easier than it sounds.

Step Four: Hang and enjoy!

And enjoy your wallet being just slightly heavier and your hands just slightly messier :)

I don’t know about you, but I love crafting. In the weeks leading up to our wedding it totally helped me de-stress. I just turn on a podcast and get to work. Focusing on the detail work is really meditative. There’s a reason adult coloring is so popular!

I did end up improvising and painting a bit out of the lines on some of the letters. I accidentally taped my words down on a slight angle, so I had to correct them to straighten them out. So really make sure your letters are straight before you start tracing!

The sign was wonderful at our wedding! Here it is on our dessert table.

There are so many different applications for this DIY! Wood signs also make a great gift or fun decor project for the house.

I actually used this technique a few weeks after our wedding to make a gift for my good friend who got married. I made them a sign with their new last name to hang in their new place. It has such a different look from the sign I made for our wedding, and it uses the same technique!

I’ve actually kept our wedding hashtag sign and I plan to hang it in our craft room/ office. That is if I ever get done unpacking in there! But that’s a topic for another day…

This technique is so reliable, and the applications are literally endless- so get out there and make yourself some custom wood signs!

Supplies Used In This Post

The post DIY Custom Wood Signs appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.