Just can't cut enough vinyl!

My Step Daughter Danielle sparked my passion for vinyl phrases the other day when she showed me her beautiful book of Disney quotes from Hallmark. After taking my turn to browse through the entire book (it was very popular!) we decided that our dog Izzy had been ignored and needed 'her space' personalized with a nice vinyl phrase!

Izzy's space, minus her bowl.

Danielle, rightfully acknowledging that her space was equally important to Izzy's, also picked out a fabulous phrase and we both went to work picking our fonts and preparing the projects.

STEP ONE: For Izzy's space, I used the Hello Kitty font Cricut Cartridge (best friend) paired with the alphabet from the Cricut Classmate Learning Curve Cartridge. The paw prints came from the Cricut Lite Meow Cartidge ...let's tell Izzy it was the 'woof' cartridge instead!!

STEP ONE AGAIN: Danielle's project was a little more sophisticated that Izzy's. She picked this quote for her bedroom wall. I LOVE the crown and scroll details, they really complete the design! Danielle's project uses the Cricut Base Camp Cartridge  as well as Cricut Stone Script . The crown and scroll are both from the Cricut Solutions Home Accents Cartridge.

A couple of the cartridges that we used are now retired, but if there are SO MANY great fonts and images to choose from, that you won't be disappointed with the other options that you find.

I built my phrase on my Gypsy before cutting it out. This allowed me to really plan the project and see what the fonts and images would look like together. It also saved me piecing the phrase together once it was cut out.

Danielle used Cricut Design Studio for the same reasons. It was her first time using the program and as you can see from the results, she was very successful!

STEP TWO: Once you get your project designed, which really is what takes the longest, the next step is to cut it out on your Cricut. I used a blade depth of 3 and a medium pressure to accomplish a 'kiss cut'. A 'kiss cut' is when Cricut cuts through the top layer of the vinyl without cutting through the paper underneath. This makes it much easier to keep all of the letters in place and evenly spaced as you proceed.

STEP THREE: Once cut, the next step is to 'weed' your design. This is simply the process of removing the vinyl that you DON'T want. Use a pick tool of some sort or an exacto knife to pull it all away. Go slowly and be sure that you aren't pulling up part of your design!

STEP FOUR: Next, you'll need to lift your vinyl to place it onto the wall! You could, if necessary, pick each letter off of the backing paper and place them individually onto the wall. I did actually do this before I had Cricut Transfer Tape, but the transfer tape makes the task infinitely easier!

We cut a couple of sheets of vinyl to accommodate the larger sized lettering that Danielle chose. After everything was cut, we taped the words together to ensure that the spacing was correct for each line.

Danielle drew a light pencil line onto the wall to ensure that her quote was straight.

Once your design is weeded, simply peel the transfer tape off of it's backing and place it sticky side down onto your vinyl. Use the provided popsicle stick to stick the transfer tape onto the vinyl.

STEP FIVE: This is the best part!! Position your vinyl design onto the wall and burnish into place! If you do make a mistake on this step and find that a letter is out of sync with the rest of your design, you can gently lift it up and reposition it. Cricut brand vinyl is removable from most painted surfaces and I have successfully removed it months later with no paint lifting off along with it!

And that's it!! If you're looking for more vinyl decorating ideas, check out these bathroom ideas or the quote that I put up in my daughter's bedroom!

Izzy is currently on vacation in Saskatchewan with Alix, another of my daughter's, so I'll have to update you later with her reaction when she comes home to this fun surprise!