Earlier this week, I shared with you the woodland animals cupcake toppers I made for my newest nephew’s baby shower. They were so easy to make with my Cricut and I loved how they doubled as decorations as well as dessert. I’m pretty much a fan of anything that does double-duty and is simple to create, like this baby boy nursery art!
I also used my Cricut Explore Air for this project (as soon as the cupcake toppers were done cutting out!), and had it done in no time. I used it as the centerpiece of the dessert table as decoration and then it also doubled as a gift for my nephew’s new nursery. I love to gift a piece of nursery art when I can, because the way I figure it, 30-plus-week-pregnant mom’s have more to worry about than tiny decor details (like, you know, giving birth, actually taking care of a new baby, and even just fitting into that cute maternity dress they bought for their shower – I speak from personal experience on that one!)
Supplies:
1″x2″x8′ Common Board (sometimes called furring strip)
Nails or Nail Gun
Looking at that supply list, it seems involved and complicated. I promise you… IT IS EASY!! You can have this typed up in Design Space in just minutes, and completely finished in no time.
Step 1: Open up Design Space and click on File and then New to create a new project. In the left sidebar, click on Add Text and type your quote into the text box. For this particular quote and size of canvas, you will need to break it up into 2 different cut files since it is too long for the size of the canvas.
Once you are done typing, click on Edit in the right-hand sidebar.
From the Edit menu, you can play with the font, size and spacing. Feel free to use whatever you like best, but I will give you the settings for what I used in case you want to recreate this exactly.
Step 2: Cut your stencil vinyl to the size of your mat and adhere it. Load your cutting mat into the machine and follow the prompts to begin cutting.
Step 3: Weed the letters from your vinyl and center on your canvas (remembering that you still have the rest of the quote to cut still!). Repeat the above steps with the rest of your quote and then adhere that vinyl to your canvas. You can see in the picture below, it was only the last 2 lines that I had make a second file for.
Once your whole design is cut and adhered to your vinyl, press down very firmly on all of the letter edges, so you’ll have minimal bleeding of your letters.
Step 4: Using your paint pen, go over each letter carefully. Feel free to use the paint pen of your choice (I know Sharpie paint pens are quite popular!). I prefer the Tombow brush pens, because I don’t have to worry about the flow of the paint and I don’t get nearly as much bleeding.
Step 5: Attach your felt ball garland to the canvas by draping the strings over the back of the canvas and hot gluing or stapling them into place.
Step 6: Cut your 1×2 into the correct size for your frame and paint all sides. Once it is dry, line it up with the back of your canvas and nail straight into the wood frame of the canvas.
Flip it over and admire your handiwork!
Total, with all my drying time and everything, I probably spent no more than 45 minutes on this project. It might have even been a little less!
Either way, it’s incredibly fast with your Cricut. And I really can’t tell you how impressed I am with how sharp the cuts are. This is a very thin, delicate font and it cut it perfectly. Literally not one hiccup for the entire project.
The same with the gold glitter cupcake toppers that were for this same baby shower. Such fine, intricate cuts and they came out perfectly!
Imagine the possibilities beyond this baby boy nursery art!! I’m currently working on an office makeover for myself and plan on making labels for some of the bins, artwork and more all using my Cricut Explore Air.
Be sure to check out How to Use Your Cricut Explore Air if you’re new to it, so you can get started on the right foot!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.