DIY Holiday Wall Decals

DIY vinyl holiday wall decals are perfect for adding some festive touches to existing decor during the holidays. Great for making new decor too! Last year I added gold vinyl lettering to a large mirror (Glory to God in the Highest).

Christmas Dining Room 2012

Christmas mirror

I also love using vinyl lettering to create signs or to place directly on the wall.

Reindeer Games Sign Tutorial

DIY chevron Christmas Reindeer Games sign

But this year, I have a large world map in the family room. I tested the vinyl on the canvas and it didn’t cause any damage so this project got the ‘green light’ for me! Yay! (Please do your own test before applying vinyl directly to canvas or art work.) If it didn’t work, plan B was to use vinyl lettering on a wood plank sign for above my canvas. or to add vinyl lettering to a laminated map poster. 

before {family room makeover}

family room makeover

MaterialsI used:

Tools: 

  • Silhouette Cameo

What I did:

I created my lettering for “Joy to the World” using my Silhouette Studio software.

Joy to the World Christmas lettering

*Incidentally, there is a nearly identical ‘world shape’ as shown on my canvas, so you could also cut out vinyl continents in any color and apply directly to the wall or onto a large piece of plyboard to create your own overall “Joy to the World” wall decals. 

Load the vinyl into the Silhouette Cameo color side up. 

Happy Crafters Tutorial

Adjust the blades as needed and send design to “cut”. 

Remove vinyl from machine and weed away negative space around lettering and centers from the letters o and e.

Joy to the World vinyl wall art

Place transfer paper over the design and rub with a credit card. 

Joy to the World vinyl wall art

Peel away waxpaper backing from lettering. If letters are sticking to the wax paper, replace transfer paper and rub again. Sometimes I have to use my thumbnail to help the vinyl transfer.

Place vinyl design with transfer paper onto the canvas.

Tricky! Rub the design without stretching the canvas. I supported the back side of the canvas with a book before rubbing. 

Joy to the World vinyl wall art

Peel away transfer paper. 

Joy to the World vinyl wall art

All done!

The best part is that I can remove the vinyl letters after the holidays without damaging my printed canvas (remember to test your art before attempting this – or create a specifically designated piece for the holidays). 

Joy to the World Christmas wall art

I also added “peace on earth” to my globe to help camouflage the area where numerous price tag stickers removed the map paper…

peace on earth globe

How are you adding vinyl to your holiday decor this year? 

Joy to the World Vinyl Decals on Map

*This post is sponsored by Happy Crafters. Tutorial, experience and opinion is my own. 

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Personalized Trick or Treat Bags

Trick or Treat is coming up at the end of the month. I sure do miss having little ones at home. We don’t even get trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood but I do have two nieces and one nephew, all under the age of 5. With help from FrogTape® and Happy Crafters, I whipped up a little Halloween surprise for them. They’re going to love these personalized trick or treat bags!

DIY personalized trick or treat bags

Materials:DIY personalized trick or treat bags

  • canvas/linen tote bags
  • fabric paints
  • FrogTape® Shape Tape (I used all 3 patterns: chevron, wave and scallop)
  • stencils (I created my own stencils using glossy black vinyl and transfer paper from Happy Crafters)

Tutorial: (please pardon the poor lighting…it’s raining today)

Part 1 – Shape Tape

Iron the tote bags to remove wrinkles.

Insert cardboard into the tote bag (to block bleed-through to the other side).

Cut a piece of FrogTape Shape tape a little wider than the bag. Decide placement. Remove half of the strip of wax paper backing from the Shape Tape. Position and press into place. Remove the other half of the wax paper backing and smooth into place. I found that securing the edges of the tape to the table underneath on the sides, kept my tote bag from sliding around, holding it in place for painting.

DIY personalized trick or treat bags

Repeat step 3 to create a ‘stencil’ border/line for the design. 

Using a credit card, I rubbed the Shape Tape to make sure it was nice and secure, sticking to the canvas…check closely to be sure the Shape Tape is complete adhered to the canvas. 

Paint! Be careful not to lift the Shape Tape with brush strokes. It helps to move the paint brush from ‘on the tape’ moving to the fabric rather than starting on fabric and pushing paint to the tapeline. 

Remove Shape tape. Nice crisp lines!!! Let the paint dry. DIY personalized trick or treat bags

Part 2 – vinyl stencils

Using my Silhouette designer studio software, I created name stencils as well as purchased a few Halloween shapes from the Silhouette American online store. Then sent it to cut to create vinyl stencils. DIY personalized trick or treat bags

Peel away lettering and design to create a stencil. Using transfer paper, position vinyl stencil on tote, rub with a credit card and remove transfer paper – leaving the vinyl stencil in place on the canvas. DIY personalized trick or treat bags

Paint and remove vinyl. Allow paint to dry 4 hours. 

DIY trick-or-treat bags

*Using a black Sharpie, I traced around the ghost where his white body met with the white chevron. 

DIY trick-or-treat bags

Aren’t they darling? Years of use! Machine washable (inside out) after 72 hours. Cute.Cute.Cute!DIY personalized trick or treat bags

 

Now I have three little trick-or-treaters! Treators? What’s your favorite kind of Halloween candy?

FrogTape Blog Squad

*I’m a member of the FrogTape® Blog Squad. This post is sponsored by FrogTape®. As always, the opinions are completely my own based on my own experience. See more DIY from the FrogTape® blog squad.

*This post is sponsored by Happy Crafters. Tutorial, experience and opinion is my own. See more projects at Happy Crafters blog.

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DIY Vinyl Pumpkin Decals

With the girls all grown up and on their own, I have little desire to carve a pumpkin to create a jack-o-lantern. And my pumpkin carving skills are a bit juvenile so I’m loving this alternative to carving…my pumpkins look so pretty! 

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

Materials:

  • large glossy adhesive vinyl from Happy Crafters
  • transfer paper  
  • pumpkins

Tools:

  • Silhouette Cameo

What I did:

1. I purchased a deer silhouette and frame from the online store and sized them in my Silhouette Studio designer software to fit my pumpkins.

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

2. Then sent my decals to “cut”. 

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

3. Peel away (weed) the negative part of the design.

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

4. Cut transfer paper to size. Peel away wax paper backing and smooth transfer paper into place.

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

5. Rub design with a credit card.

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

6. Peel away paper backing from the vinyl decal, transferring it to the sticky transfer paper. 

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

7. Position on pumpkin and lightly rub decal with a credit card. 

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

8. Peel away transfer paper. This might get a little tricky because of the pumpkin’s uneven surface. You may have to use your fingernail to help with the transfer.

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

 

9 .There are also wrinkles in my vinyl decal…but it doesn’t take away from the design. I just smoothed it down the best I could using my fingernail and credit card. 

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

All done and so cute! SO many options. I noticed that the Silhouette America online store even had sets of eyes, noses and mouths for jack-o-lantern faces. A monogram or spooky ghost or black cat would be great too!

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

See the tutorial for the candy corn here.

DIY vinyl pumpkin decals

 

Linking up to the Lettered Cottage, Pumpkin Party and Cuckoo4Design Pumpkin Parade

*This post is sponsored by Happy Crafters. Tutorial, experience and opinion is my own. See more projects at Happy Crafters blog.

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