ExpressionsVinyl.com

Welcome to Simple Creations where I love to inspire others to craft and cherish memories through scrapbooking, cards, and home decor.

I found a great company to order vinyl from. It is Expressions Vinyl. They have so many types of vinyl to choose from. Indoor, Outdoor, Chalk Board, T-shirt, & Printable Vinyl. Not to mention they have the best prices and quick shipping. But don't take my word for it. Check out all the great deals for yourself at www.expressionsvinyl.com. If you decide to order from them, click on their button on the left of my blog and I will receive a percentage of it just for sending you their and being an affiliate with Expressions Vinyl.

Now I want to show you how I made a project using their Dark Red Vinyl. I cut out the vinyl on my Cricut Expression, using a "Kiss Cut." That means it will only cut through the vinyl and not the white backing. For the Circut the settings are Blade Depth 3, Pressure 3, and Speed 3. It is also important to have a sharp blade in the machine to get the best cut.

I used the 12" x 24" Mat to cut on

and the Gypsy to design with.

 To design it I used:

Opposites Attract Cricut Cartridge for the Words
Use the Opposite Function Key - Cut at 2.75"

Simply Sweet Cricut Cartridge for the Heart

Use Button #40 - Shift Blocked Feature - Cut 1.5"

I tilted the heart to get it to look like that.

 After cutting it, I cut off the extra vinyl to save for late using an exacto knife while it is still on the mat.

Carefully remove all the negative vinyl, including the centers of the letters.

Then place transfer tape over it & burnish. Burnishing means to rub with a firm surface, such as a flat scraper, a large popsicle stick, or a plastic card. I like to put my transfer tape on it while it is still on the mat to help keep everything flat.

 Remove the backing.

 Use a level and mark on the wall with a pencil to help place the vinyl on the wall level. After placing on the wall, burnish again to transfer it to the wall.

 Carefully remove the transfer tape. I like to pull it off slowly at an angle. If part of the vinyl comes off, then burnish again and then try to remove transfer tape again.

Here is what my finished project looked like. It is in our bathroom above the towel holder.

I love Expressions Vinyls for their great prices, quick shipping, and great customer service. If you have any question about their products, email them and they can assist you with it. They also have Vinyl Instructional Videos on their web site.

I am so excited to share this company with you and giveaway a $25 Gift Certificate donated by Expressions Vinyls. Leave just one comment for a chance to win. Please include an email address to contact you with, if you win. I will randomly pick a winner using Random.org on Monday, January 9th.

Wall Vinyl Verses

My mom is remodeling her bathroom. 

So she had me make some verses in vinyl to decorate the walls.

I love designing on my Gypsy when I cut vinyl so that I can see exactly what it will look like before I cut it.

I purchase my Vinyl from Expressions Vinyl because they have great prices and it is the best quality of vinyl. I have a button on the right side of my blog you can click to shop all their great products.

Child of God - Vinyl Wall Art

I had a customer ask me to make this wall vinyl for her grand baby's room. I love what she wanted it to say. I designed it all on the Gypsy so I could line everything up, just how I wanted, and see what it would look like before I cut it. I used the "Kiss Cut" settings on my Cricut - blade 3, pressure 3, speed 3. With those settings it will only cut through the vinyl and not the backing.

A well used Cricut Pick to remove the centers of the letters

Supplies

Gypsy

12"x24" Cutting Mats

Cricut Expression

Vinyl - The Paper Studio - from Hobby Lobby (Cut well)

Cricut Pick (to remove the centers of the letters)

Opposites Attract Cricut Cartridge - Cut at 2"

Autumn Wall Vinyl

I made this Vinyl Wall Art for our living room wall above our couch. We have such a long wall and I don't know what type of pictures to put there so I make Holiday Vinyls for it. See the Christmas one I made last year by clicking HERE. 

I designed it on my Gypsy using the following Cricut Cartridges.

Create A Critter

Leaves - Shift Layer 2 - Button #28 - Cut at 6"

Gypsy Wanderings

Autumn - Button #27 - Cut at 8"

Straight From the Nest  

Leaves - Button #29 - Cut at 9"

Stretch Your Imagination  

Leaves - Button #17- Cut at 2.84"

I cut the vinyl on a 12"x24" Mat

I used a "Kiss Cut" which means it will cut the vinyl but not the backing.

Blade depth - 3

Speed - 3

Pressure - 3

It is also important to have a sharp blade to cut the vinyl clean.

I also flipped some of the images on my Gypsy so that the leaves would mirror each other and curve around the word Autumn.

All of the vinyl I used on this project was purchased from Expressions Vinyl. They have great prices, great quality, and quick shipping.

I also really like Provo Crafts Vinyl. It can be purchased at local Craft Retailers or Cricut.com

If you have any questions about cutting vinyl, let me know. Its actually quite addicting once you get started. I want to vinyl all over my house now.

Vinyl Storage Tip

I have an amazing tip for how to store vinyl cuts that you don't want on your walls all the time.  Save your old Cricut Mat Covers!!!  Use them for a backing for vinyl cuts waiting between seasons. It is hard to capture it in a picture so I will tell you about it. I took 2 Cricut Mat Covers, (because this was so large) then took transfer tape & taped the mats together on the back. Then I used transfer tape to remove this off my wall & put it on the Cricut Mat Covers. Of course I did it in 2 sections, because my tree wasn't sideways on my wall, but that was how it fit best on the Mats. Just leave the transfer tape on top of it & then it is ready to put back on your wall next year.

HERE is the original post with details of how I made this Vinyl Project.

By the way if you like working with vinyl, I found a great company with great prices. Click on my link on the right side of my blog for ExpressionsVinyl.

Fantabulous Cricut Crawl- Come Check It Out!

Fantabulous Cricut "Deck The Halls" Crawl!

Welcome to Simple Creations and the third Fantabulous Cricut Crawl...

Fantabulous Cricut's version of a blog hop! 

In honor of the approaching Christmas holiday, we're having a "Deck The Halls" Crawl...each Design Team member will be featuring an original Christmas/Holiday-themed project that could be used to decorate and spruce up their homes for the Holiday Season!

If you've come from visiting Andrea at http://divinedomestic.blogspot.com, you're in the right place! If you've just happened across my blog and would like to play along with our Fantabulous Cricut Crawl, 

start HERE at FCCB

Make sure to check out each DT member's blog for some awesome inspiration! There will be PRIZES along the way at our DT members' blogs, AND there will be a Grand Prize up for grabs at FCCB for one participant that submits a "Deck The Halls" project at FCCB!

For my project...I chose to do vinyl on the wall in our living room, above our couch. 

It was hard to get a good picture straight on without getting a glare.

All of the vinyl I used was Oracal 631. I have tried other vinyls but nothing compares to the quality of this vinyl. I purchased all of it from Expressions Vinyl. They have amazing prices, great colors & products. They also have how too videos, if you aren't sure how to cut with the vinyl. 

I cut the Merry Christmas from Lyrical Letters at 14" on the 12x24" mat. Make sure you change the mat size on the machine when using the 12x24" mat. The settings I use to cut vinyl is: Blade-3, Speed-3, Pressure-3. That is called a "Kiss Cut" because it cuts the vinyl but not the backing of the vinyl, which makes it easier to remove the negative vinyl and transfer with transfer tape. The Tree was cut from Jolly Holidays at 11". It is layer with green, brown, burgundy, and white vinyl.

I originally had the last Tree, above the Merry Christmas but I didn't like the style. So I put it on a wall in my kitchen now & used the more whimsical tree from Jolly Holidays. The original tree, with red background was cut from Lyrical Letters at 12" using the Portrait mode and a 12x24" mat.

Decorating with Vinyl is so much fun and it can really add alot to a room.
It is fairly easy and inexpensive to use.

I am so excited to have The Stamping Boutique sponsor my blog today. 

 One person will win 3 digital images of their choice. For a chance to win...I would love for you to follow my blog, leave a comment with your favorite thing about Christmas, and a way to contact you. 

Here is a special message from the Owner of The Stamping Boutique.

I'm Tracey Malnofski, the artist and owner of The Stamping Boutique. My team and I are very happy to sponsor Simple Creations. My store has been open since September 2009. I am currently a stamp artist for UnityStampCo. and I've worked for InStyleStamps, Squigglefly, and TheDigiShack in the past. I'm a professional artist and an active member of the Artist' Guild in my community. I have quite a busy household with a husband, 3 teenagers, 5 mini-dachshunds and an Appaloosa mare. It's noisy, but I love them all. I'm truly blessed.

"The Stamping Boutique" is dedicated to quality products and original artwork. We not only provide wonderful digital images in our store, but also several lines of red rubber images. Our designers are chosen for their character and personality,as well as, their beautiful designs. We work hard to give you our very best. Thank you so much for having us as your sponsor this week.

Tracey Malnofski http://thestampingboutique.com

Now it's your turn! Let's see your Christmas/Holiday-Themed Decor projects!  

Make sure to include a Cricut cut somewhere on your project!

When you're done, make sure to link up your project to FCCB's Fantabulous Cricut Crawl 

post to be entered into the contest!

Next stop...Angji's blog, http://sweetpineapplescrapping.blogspot.com. Go see what she has in store for you today... And remember, when you're done, make sure to link up your project to FCCB's Fantabulous Cricut Crawl post to be entered into the contest!

Thank you for joining us today & Happy Crawling!

Angela
Simple Creations

Wall Vinyl

Wall Vinyl

I made this wall vinyl for a wall in our guest bedroom.

I used Opposites Attract Cricut Cartridge to cut it.

The verse was in the Opposite function at 2.5"

Lord was cut in the Upright function at 2 differnt sizes.

L- 5"

ORD-4"

If you have any questions about how I did this project feel free to email me. 

Window Vinyl

Window Vinyl

I made window vinyl's for our young adult group at church. There are several things I learned that I want to share with you. I designed this on my gypsy so I could have it as long as I could make it on a 24" mat & space it how I wanted. When cutting vinyl with the gypsy the settings are a bit different. For a kiss cut (cutting the vinyl but not the backing) I set my blade at 3 & my pressure at 3. Right now you can't control the speed when cutting with the gypsy so that makes a difference when cutting vinyl. I also learned (after I had them made) that there are different types of vinyl. If you check out 
http://www.expressionsvinyl.com/

they have outdoor vinyl and regular vinyl. I emailed them to find out the difference & how important it was to use outdoor vinyl on the car. Regular vinyl is considered temporary adhesive & has an outdoor rating of 1-2 yrs, while outdoor vinyl is considered permenant adhesive & has an outdoor rating of 6 yrs. Their concern with using regular vinyl on a car is it might come off in the car wash.

Well, I already had mine on my car so well find out how long it lasts.

Girls Butterfly Room

Just found out the project I did in the girls room will be featured in "MyPinkStamper" Galley. So excited!

Recipe:

Use the following Cricut Cartridges to cut shapes from vinyl.

Simply Sweet-Butterfly 10"

Graphically Speaking-Swirl 24" mat, fit to page

Alphalicious (short stack shadow)-Name Font 5"

Plantin SchoolBook-Heart 2"

Simply Sweet-Flowers 3" & 2"

12x12 and 12x24 mat

Settings on Cricut used to cut vinyl:

Speed 3-med

Pressure 3-med

Blade 6

Bubble Gum- Oh My Craft Vinyl

Sweet Lilac- Oh My Craft Vinyl

Hot Pink- Oh My Craft Vinyl

Lucky Green- Oh My Craft Vinyl

Chocolate- Provo Craft Vinyl

Transfer Tape- Provo Craft

Designed project with Gyspy (optional)

Directions:
This project uses a lot of cartridges. If you don't have all of them, many similar images can be found on other cartridges. In the recipe I included the size I cut out each image in inches. For the font I chose the short stack shadow function on the Alphalicious cartridge so that the font would be bold enough to read on the wall.

Cut out each image in the size & color of vinyl you choose.

Cut off good vinyl that may be used for other projects.

Remove any negative vinyl (vinyl around image that won't be used).

Cut transfer tape a little larger than your cut images.