Cricut Vinyl Project - Picture Frame

http://www.expressionsvinyl.com Cricut vinyl is an excellent product for decorating. It is also great for making gifts. In this project we are using a picture frame to make a decorative gift. The picture frame was purchased from a local craft store that offers 50% off coupons, so it was quite inexpensive. The idea behind this project is to apply vinyl lettering to the front of the glass and remove everything else behind the glass so that the color of your wall makes the background color of your picture, although you could also insert some decorative paper into the frame to achieve a different look.
We made this particular project as a wedding gift and chose fonts and colors that we felt our friends would like. You can use any fonts and colors you would like. The lettering consists of two parts. The background is the family name and we have chosen black Cricut vinyl foe this part. For the foreground lettering we used a beige colored Cricut vinyl. When layering lettering on a sign like this you always want to choose colors that contrast with each other. If your colors are to close to each other they will just turn in to an illegible blob where they overlap.
With your vinyl pieces cut, weeded, and transfer tape on you can begin to work on the placement of your elements. A neat trick on this project is to use the picture that came in the frame to determine your placement. To do this, remove the picture from the frame. Lay your background element on the picture and position it where you would like to see it on the glass. When you have it positioned make a mark around two of the corners diagonal from each other. Then lay the foreground layer of vinyl over the background layer and position it where you would like it to be. When positioned make the same type of marks at the corners of the foreground element. Now keep in mind this is all being done with the backing still on so your vinyl isnt sticking to anything yet.
When you have your locations marked you will then put the picture back in the frame. You can now see your mark through the glass. Then you will take the background element of Cricut vinyl and remove the backing. Use the mark that you can see through the glass to position this element. Remove the transfer tape, and then repeat for the foreground element. When working with glass, make sure you keep your ready to stick vinyl as flat as possible and lightly stick down the aligning corners and the work it down flat. Be careful though, vinyl sticks to glass very well and you usually dont get a second chance.
Now you have your vinyl attached to the glass, but we dont want all the stuff behind the glass. Remove this stuff and the glass. Put a small drop of hot glue in each corner of the frame and the set the glass in. If the frame has bendable tabs to hold the parts in you can also bend these over as a little extra insurance to keep the glass in.
With this step completed your project is now done and ready to display.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• cricut vinyl
• vinyl
• cricut
• picture frame
• project
• craft
• glass
• layered

[expressionsvinyl]

The font is LD Eleanor Rae from scrapnfontsdotcom used with the Sure Cuts A Lot program.

[thepinkscrapper]

did you get sure cuts a lot and what is the web site where you got your font

[expressionsvinyl]

Yes we do have sure cuts a lot, I will have to do a little digging to figure out where we got the font from. I will post as soon as I figure it out. Thanks

[mcg267]

SUPER cute!

[bikernana]

Beautiful

[0435lilah]

Very cute!

[vicandglenn]

@lovedog49507 - they are hangers for attching to the wall

[lovedog49507]

What is those silver things on the back of the black frame ? They look like circles.

[Jen83sd]

@jackyooh Awesome! Thank you!! :)

[jackyooh]

@Jen83sd

Great question! I have the cricut expression. It can be used as a stand alone machine with pricy cartridges OR you can purchase a program called SURE CUTS A LOT 2 or MAKE THE CUT. these programs allow you to cut virtually any font you have on your computer. You can even get an image offline or a scan an image, convert it and cut it on your cricut. these programs even do the conversion for you! You will need a standard printer cable to connect your computer to the cricut.

[jackyooh]

@Jen83sd

Great question! I have the cricut expression. It can be used as a stand alone machine with pricy cartridges OR you can purchase a program called SURE CUTS A LOT 2 or MAKE THE CUT. these programs allow you to cut virtually any font you have on your computer. You can even get an image offline or a scan an image, convert it and cut it on your cricut. these programs even do the conversion for you! You will need a standard printer cable to connect your computer to the cricut.

[Jen83sd]

This is a great idea! I just discovered the Cricut machine through some of your other videos and had a couple questions. Which Cricut model did you use to print and cut your own design, so far my understanding of the machine is that you need certain cartridges and are only able to use those designs. Is there a machine that you're able to create, print and cut your own designs?