Grandparents Sign with Cricut Joy Xtra and Smart Vinyl
Here is a great beginner project made with the new Cricut Joy Xtra machine. Use Smart Vinyl on a wooden sign with a cute grandparents quote. This would make a perfect gift, or you can make one for yourself like I did.
When I saw this quote, I knew I needed it in my life. It's so much fun to spoil my grandchildren. The size I wanted to make my sign would work well with the Joy Xtra, and I could use Smart Materials, making it even faster. No cutting mat was needed.
Materials:
Joy Xtra machine
Joy Xtra permanent Smart Vinyl
Wooden sign (or other type)
Transfer tape
Cricut Tools
Quote of choice
First I created a rectangle from the shapes menu to fit the text into. I sized the template to the exact dimensions I wanted the text to be to fit on the sign. Then I typed the text and fit it onto the template.
I used two different fonts, Posterama for the word "Grandparents" and Poker Night for the rest of the text.
Before cutting out my design, I hid the rectangle template and grouped and attached all the text, so it would cut together exactly how I had it spaced.
When I was ready to cut out my design, I selected "without mat" since I was using Smart Vinyl. Design Space let me know what size material was needed.
After I made all my selections, I was directed to load the material in the machine and press Go. I opted to leave the roll of Smart Vinyl whole for cutting.
The Joy Xtra is like the Joy in that you handle all the controls in Design Space instead of using buttons on the machine.
Once my design was cut, I used a scissors to separate the cut design from the rest of the roll.
The extra vinyl underneath the design text could not be avoided. The entire width of vinyl is needed to be pulled through the machine. Since my design was wide, it was cut from the vinyl vertically.
Next up was weeding. I used a weeder tool and started removing the insides of the letters first.
Then I removed the vinyl from the outer edges of the design. It doesn't matter which order you do this in, as long as you remove every bit of unneeded vinyl.
Sometimes I used my weeder tool to pry up pieces of vinyl that wouldn't come off as easily.
Once the weeding was done, I laid the design onto my sign to see how it would look.
Next, I adhered the transfer tape to the design to transfer it to the wooden sign. I did this carefully since it was a large design, and I didn't want any creases or bubbles in the transfer tape to interfere with proper application to the blank.
Here is the design fully adhered to the transfer tape.
Now it was time to remove the vinyl backing in preparation for transferring my design to the wooden sign. I first burnished both the front and back sides of the design with my scraper to get good adhesion with the transfer tape.
Then I started pulling the backing off the design, with the design facing the table. I have found this to be a better way to remove the backing.
Unfortunately, some of the vinyl letters did not want to come off the backing and wouldn't stick to the transfer tape. The backing on Smart Vinyl is thicker and more stiff than the backing on regular vinyl, but I don't know if that caused the issue.
To solve this, I sharply creased the backing, which helped force the vinyl to come off and stick to the transfer tape.
Working slowly and carefully, I was able to get the entire backing removed from my design. It was worth taking the extra time to preserve my design and not ruin the project.
Before applying my design, I turned the sign over to see where the top was. This is always a good idea, to ensure that you apply the design right side up.
I positioned the design inside the sign, spacing it as evenly as possible.
Now I just burnished the design onto the wood, again using my scraper tool and rubbing it over each of the letters to get them to stick well to the wood.
Then I removed the transfer tape, keeping it close to the design on the wood and pulling it back diagonally. The vinyl stuck to the wood very nicely.
Here is the design fully applied to the wood and ready to hang up. I love it!
I look forward to my children seeing this hanging on our wall for the first time. I bet they will laugh, but they'll probably agree with it. I love humorous quotes that have some truth to them. They make me smile.
Do you have a favorite quote you'd like to display at your home? It doesn't take much to cut out text and apply it to a sign or other blank of your choice. It's a good way to surround yourself with things that lift you up.
The world needs more grandparents because those grandchildren aren't going to spoil themselves.
Leslie
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