DIY Welcome Home Sign for All Seasons!

Instructions

STEP 1: GET MY WELCOME TO OUR HOME SIGN

You can get my Welcome to Our Home Sign design file (Design #235) from my free resource library (get the password to the library in the form at the bottom of this page.)

Here is what my Welcome to Our Home Sign file will look like when you upload it to Cricut Design Space:

Tip: If you are not sure how to upload an SVG cut file to Cricut Design Space, watch this helpful video training series I made. If you are on an iPad or iPhone, here is how to download and upload SVG files to the Cricut Design Space app.

Once you have decided what designs you want to cut, delete, or hide the rest of the design layers.

STEP 2: PREPARE YOUR WOOD BOARD

Using a piece of 150-grit sandpaper, sand the board smooth. I like using a sander or a sand block.

After sanding, wipe the board down with a cloth to remove any debris left on the wood from sanding.

Apply paint to the board using a baby wipe or a brush. If you are using a baby wipe, dab the baby wipe in paint and then wipe the board. Continue to do this until the board has the desired coverage.

Let the board dry prior to applying vinyl. You can also use a blow dryer or heat gun to speed up the drying process.

STEP 3: CUT THE INTERCHANGEABLE PIECES

The interchangeable pieces are used in place of the letter "O" in the word HOME. You can choose to cut the designs out of Heavy Chipboard on a Cricut Maker or out of Kraft board in either the Cricut Explore or Cricut Maker.

If you are using the Cricut Maker to cut your interchangeable pieces out of Heavy Chipboard, you will need a StrongGrip mat (purple) as well as painter's tape.

Tape the Heavy Chipboard down to the mat on all 4 sides to ensure that it doesn’t move while cutting. The Cricut Heavy Chipboard is only 11" x 11", so review the placement of the interchangeable pieces on the Mat Preview Screen in Cricut Design Space (after pressing the Make It button) to ensure the pieces will cut on the 11" x 11" material.

Move the star wheels on your Cricut all the way to the right to avoid leaving indentation marks on the chipboard.

Use the knife blade and the material setting of Heavy Chipboard. The Cricut will need to make several passes to cut through the heavy chipboard. Design Space should show you exactly which pass it is on and what the expected remaining time is. Please be patient as this does take time to cut.

Use the PAUSE button on the Cricut to pause the cutting so you can check the progress and remove any debris that may be loose from the mat. Press the Cricut C to resume cutting.

Do not eject the mat from the machine until you are certain the cut is complete. Make sure you check the progress and remove the mat as soon as you determine the chipboard is fully cut. If you allow it to keep cutting you may cut through your mat.

If you are using the Cricut Explore machine, you will need to cut the shapes out of Kraft board using the LightGrip mat (Blue) and the fine-point blade. Since the Kraft Board material is a thinner material than the heavy chipboard you may want to consider cutting duplicates or triplicates of the shapes and layer them together using mod podge or glue of your choice.

Once the pieces have all been cut you will need to put a light coating of mod podge on them to seal them. This will help to keep the moisture of the paint from causing your piece to curl.

After the mod podge has dried, paint the pieces in your desired colors and embellish as you wish. I did find if my piece curled a bit from the moisture, laying it under some heavy object, like a book, after it had dried will flatten it down again.

STEP 4: CUT THE VINYL

Apply the permanent vinyl to a 12" x 24" StandardGrip mat (green) if you want to cut the design all in one piece. Set the materials to Premium Vinyl and use the Fine Point blade. Prior to cutting the design, you can delete the letter O in the word 'home' or let it cut and just remove it when weeding.

Weed the vinyl after it is cut. I find it much easier to weed the vinyl while it is still on the mat.

Apply transfer tape to the weeded vinyl while it is still on the mat.
Flip the mat over and remove the vinyl from the mat by rolling the mat away from the vinyl with one hand and holding the vinyl flat to your surface with the other.

STEP 5: APPLY THE VINYL TO THE BOARD

When applying a large piece of vinyl to a board I like to use the Hinge Method.

First, arrange the vinyl on the board in the position that you desire. I placed my design with a 1-1/2 inch margin on the sides and a 1-inch margin on the bottom.

Tip: To help your design stay in place, tape the transfer sheet to the board with a piece of painter's tape vertically near the middle of the board. Be sure to use a piece of painter's tape that is long enough so it covers the whole design with enough excess to fold over and adhere to the other side of the board.

Use your scraper tool to burnish the vinyl to the wood board.

Pull one side of the vinyl towards the middle and remove the vinyl backing paper. Cut the paper off. Roll the vinyl slowly laying it down onto the board. Use a scraper to adhere the vinyl to the board.

Remove the painter's tape from the middle of the board and repeat the process of removing the paper backing from the vinyl and rolling the vinyl slowly down onto the board. Again, use a scraper to adhere the vinyl to the board.

Remove the transfer tape at a 45-degree angle…use the scraper tool to push down any vinyl that may not stick on the first pull.

Once all transfer tape is removed, use the scraper tool to burnish down all vinyl pieces to ensure they are all well adhered to the board.

STEP 6: APPLY THE VELCRO TO THE BOARD

Cut the Velcro into strips so that they are approximately 2" in length.

Place a ruler horizontally between the H letter and the M letter about at the bottom of the 4th set of leaves on the M. Use the 4-1/2" mark on the ruler as a guide to straddle the 2-inch strip of Velcro. I laid the Velcro down with the nylon teeth side to the board. You will need to remove the adhesive strip from that side of the Velcro prior to adhering it to the board. Once adhered to the board, remove the adhesive strip of the other side of the Velcro.

Take one of your painted pieces and arrange it on the board over the Velcro where you want it to be. Press the piece down onto the Velcro. Remove the piece and the Velcro piece will stick to the interchangeable piece.

With the rest of the interchangeable pieces, cut a 2-inch fuzzy piece of Velcro and remove the adhesive strip from it. Place the fuzzy piece on the tooth piece of Velcro already stuck to the board.

Put another interchangeable piece onto the Velcro and press down. Remove the piece from the board and follow the same steps for all the pieces. Doing it this way will take all the guesswork out of trying to get that piece of velcro in the right place on the interchangeable piece.

STEP 7: SHOW IT OFF!

Here's a look at the Welcome to Our Home sign when it's done.