Mailbox DIY Vinyl Decals

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Roeshel

This poor mailbox had seen better days…don’t you think?

Time for a new one…

One of the perks of owning a vinyl cutter (I have a Silhouette Cameo) is the convenience of making my own vinyl labels/stickers/decals.

Mailbox Upgrade

new mailbox
Happy Crafters adhesive vinyl (I chose metallic gold as shown below.)
transfer paper

Open up the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software. Click the text button on the left, choose font and type house numbers and a monogram design. Size to fit flat mailbox surface.

Click the “cut” button on the navigation bar. Choose “vinyl” and adjust blade settings. Insert vinyl color side up into the machine and click “cut”.

Remove vinyl from machine and weed away excess vinyl.

Apply a piece of transfer paper and cut apart individual designs. I have three. Numbers for the front of the mailbox, a monogram design and numbers for the side.

Rub with a credit/gift card to ‘transfer’ the vinyl decals from wax paper to transfer paper.

Peel away transfer paper (vinyl decals should be stuck to tacky transfer paper).

Place onto clean, dry, flat surface of mailbox.

Rub with credit/gift card to transfer design.

Peel away transfer paper.

Ta-da! Pretty new address decals for the new mailbox.

*This post is sponsored by Happy Crafters. Tutorial, experience and opinion is my own. Check out all the supplies at Happy Crafters for inspiration for your next project.

DIY Metallic Iron On Decal Tutorial

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Roeshel

I know, I know. I just shared a t-shirt tutorial a few weeks ago that I created for my sister but making up your own personalized iron on decals is so fun! Recently my blog buddy Julia from Cuckoo 4 Design (love her!) shared on her FB page the coolest t-shirt. It read “#BLOGGER”, however it’s only available in Germany so thinking along the lines of DIY (as usual), I decided to make my own for my August Happy Crafters project. They have a great selection of metallic iron on vinyl that I couldn’t wait to use.

Materials:

Happy Crafters Happy Face Metallic Iron on Vinyl (gold medal shine)
black t-shirt

What I did:

Open up your Silhouette Studio Design Edition software and create the text “#BLOGGER” for the front of the shirt. I also added “@DIYSHOWOFF” for the back of mine. Center on a 12×12 space.

Right click the text box to bring up the edit menu and select “flip horizontally”. You’ll need to mirror the text for cutting.

Load the iron on vinyl into the machine gold side down (back side up).

Adjust blade setting for heat transfer and send to cut.

Unload from the machine and weed away excess vinyl. The silver/gold side will peel away from a tacky transparent side (your text will be stuck backwards to the tacky side).

Smooth out the shirt onto an ironing board. Place iron on vinyl decal tacky side down in the spot where you’d like it to show on the front of the shirt.

Cover the decal with a cotton dish towel (or scrap fabric). Iron on high adding pressure according to the instructions provided with the Happy Crafters iron on vinyl.

Slowly peel away the transparency. If you notice that the vinyl hasn’t adhered, replace transparency and iron again applying more pressure.

Once transparency is removed, I replaced my cotton dish towel and ironed the lettering flat.

Repeat the same steps for adhering the iron on vinyl decal to the back you may want to slide a piece of cardboard inside of the shirt first to prevent re-heating the front iron-on decal.

That’s it. I may have ironed mine on too high a temp so I have a sort of distressed look to my decal … which I love! So you may want to do a practice run/test to get it just right if you’re not a fan of the distressed lettering. Good luck!

And…it coordinates with my black and gold polka dotted iPhone case. #stylish haha!

What hashtag would you choose for your shirt?

*This post is sponsored by Happy Crafters. Tutorial, experience and opinion is my own. Check out all the supplies at Happy Crafters for inspiration for your next project.

Glitter Iron On Vinyl Decal Tutorial

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Roeshel

Many of you have asked how my sister is doing and guess what? She’s finally completely “all done” with her treatments! Hurray! Confetti & champagne! My hero! And my hero’s superpower is “hope”…

…and like most heroic milestones, it’s an occasion for a celebration, right?! Right! Well, that’ll be coming up in just a few weeks when we celebrate her birthday with a super-hero themed “Bobbi-fest” but in the meantime, I whipped up a cute breast cancer survivor shirt.

What I used:

a knit peplum style t-shirt from the thrift store
Happy Crafters party pink glitter iron on vinyl

What I did:

1. Using my Silhouette design studio software, I created a design using text and a breast cancer ribbon, keeping the overall size in mind for a good fit on the shirt.

2. Right click each part of the design and choose “flip horizontally” to mirror the text and image.

3. Load the vinyl shiny-side (pink glitter side) facing down into the vinyl cutting machine.

4. Choose glitter/flocked iron on adhesive from the drop down menu in the cut settings. Adjust blade settings. (Always do a test cut first to ensure the blade doesn’t cut too deep or too shallow.)

5. Hit “cut”.

6. When cutting is complete, remove from machine and peel away excess vinyl. Weed away the vinyl surrounding the design.

7. Following the iron on’s printed instructions, I laid out the shirt on an ironing board and smoothed out the wrinkles. Place vinyl onto shirt.

8. Cover with a cotton dish towel or cotton fabric and iron, applying pressure 25-30 seconds and then moving to the next spot on the design and repeating. I used the highest setting on my iron (no steam).

9. Slowly peel away the transparency. (If letters peel away too, repeating step 8, applying more pressure/holding a few seconds longer.)

Ta-da!

Despite nausea and having tests done the same day, she agreed to model my handiwork. Isn’t she beautiful? {I love how despite not feeling 100%, she smiles. And how her hair is growing back with curls!}

Now that the treatment is behind her, she’s free to focus on recovering, building up strength and feeling better every single day. Thanks for your prayers! xoxo

Glitter is so difficult to photograph. It’s a more uniform and sparkly than shown above.

*This post is sponsored by Happy Crafters. Tutorial, experience and opinion is my own. Check out all the supplies at Happy Crafters for inspiration for your next project.

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Tag Archives: happy crafters

Mailbox DIY Vinyl Decals

DIY Metallic Iron On Decal Tutorial

Glitter Iron On Vinyl Decal Tutorial