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hey friends welcome back to whiskey and whit 
i'm whitney and in today's video I am sharing   with you a ton of beginner-friendly projects 
for DIY decor for Christmas using your Cricut a ton of you have commented on recent videos 
asking for more tips and tricks when it comes to   cricut so i am so happy to deliver a huge thank 
you to cricut for partnering with me on today's   video so i can share a ton of tips and tricks with 
you guys so you can break out your cricut and diy   for the holidays the first project we're gonna 
do is this super cute door hanger these have   been all over the place on every social media 
platform but i wanted to show you how easy it   is to make with your cricut as i go through 
my projects i'm gonna share with you in the   bottom left-hand corner the products that i 
use as far as the vinyl and i will let you   know kind of best use cases for each of those so 
for this particular one i'm using removable vinyl   so this door hanger started out with a sign from 
hobby lobby it's actually a wood pile cut out   of a baseball but it ended up being so cheap with 
the 40 off coupon and the back is completely bare   i decided to take some stain to it my favorite 
dark walnut and i covered the entire back as well   as the edges to give myself a really nice base to 
work from then to create the dual tone look i took   some painters tape and some white waverly chalk 
paint i just eyeballed it i didn't really measure   where i put it i just wanted it to be not exactly 
in the center i wanted to be a little bit off   then i gave it two coats including the sides and 
measured how big i wanted my decal to be i usually   measure the area and then subtract about an inch 
just to give yourself breathing room around the   outside then it was time to get my item ready and 
qriket design space file i'm using today will be   linked down below for you to use for free you can 
grab the download and here i'm using the contour   tool to cut out what i want to be in different 
colors so you're going to click the contour tool   down in the right and select the parts of the 
words that you want to cut out and then you are   going to duplicate it and select the items that 
you want to cut out in a different color so here   it allowed me to make the mary be cut out on red 
vinyl and the christmas to be on black tell it   what color you want the letter to be they let you 
know which matte to load which is super helpful   now i'm using removable vinyl and black and red 
for this particular sign you could definitely   also use permanent vinyl and both of those are 
terms for sticky vinyls because this sign is for   inside my house i'm not super worried that it 
is removable vinyl but if it's outside you're   going to want to make sure you seal it and 
also i would suggest using permanent vinyl   and then i applied both of my pieces to my sign   i finished off the look with two 98 picks from 
walmart their picks are amazing this year and   a great price and then i added a cute little red 
buffalo check bow this ribbon is also from walmart   and i finished off the sign by adding a ton 
of hot glue to the back and glued some jute   twine to hang it because the sign is so 
thin it is going to hang just fine with   one piece of jute twine and the hot glue if 
you've got a heavier sign you're going to   want to give it something more substantial 
you could staple something in the back etc   i added this to my faux cedar wreath i got 
from walmart this year it adds some really   nice color to our gallery wall and i love that 
you could use this for a ton of different things   another way i love to use removable vinyl is to 
create a wall or mirror decal this does not leave   residue and it makes it really easy to switch 
out things per season for this particular area   i cut out oh come let us adore him christ the lord 
for above our nativity set in our living room so   i loaded up the same black removable vinyl and i 
cut out my free cut file that i will link for you   down below i made sure to measure my mirror and 
i ended up needing it to be 24 inches but you're   going to want to measure wherever you're putting 
it so then that way it fits your space correctly   then i added my transfer tape to both images 
and then i went over to my mirror i would also   suggest it's not shown here but cleaning off your 
mirror before you put the stuff on and allow it   to fully dry if you use windex or something to 
make sure you have the best stick i really love   how it changed our plane mirror above this area 
to a really fun themed area i also like that it   takes the true meaning of christmas and makes 
it stand out a little bit more in our house up next we're going to grab 
some permanent vinyl and i'm   going to show you how i created this 
santa claus as coming to town crate so i started with a pre-finished pre-stained crate 
from michaels just for the sake of saving time you   can use whatever container you have you could 
also thrift a container but the first step is   to measure how big you need to make a stencil 
so here i'm measuring it is about 12 inches   wide and i'm gonna go ahead and subtract two 
inches so then that way i have a pretty good   border around the outside now if you do go ahead 
and get a crate that is pre-done and you're not   staining it yourself it may not want to take 
the vinyl as well so what i like to do is go   through and just rough it up with a 100 120 grit 
sandpaper and that's going to make it a little   bit rougher so it takes your decal a lot nicer 
then i cut out my little decal exactly how i did   the other ones you just go in upload it 
decide what size it is and cut it out   and then i went through and weeded all the little 
pieces the santa face is pretty intricate so it   took a couple minutes and if you have 
large pieces that you're worried about   kind of sticking to other things you can just go 
ahead and cut it i like to section off as i weed then i took my decal lined it up straight made 
sure that i pressed it down without any bubbles   and voila it was so easy to put the stencil 
on there and i love that i can use this for   both decor and also the purpose that i 
wanted to so i added some books and a   little rudolph i'm gonna also add some pjs 
for a really fun christmas eve box for finn   all the books in the crate did come from walmart 
all super affordable and the little rudolph came   from target so i will link it down below if you're 
looking for something like that for your littles   this next one we're making this really cute tray 
and this one is back to the removable vinyl but   we're actually gonna paint so this tray i actually 
found in the unfinished wood area at hobby lobby   and i was so excited to find it i went looking for 
that round for the first sign and this was such a   great find here's the dimensions and the upc if 
you're looking for this it was 15 but i use the   40 off coupon the first step was to disassemble so 
i could really work with the piece of wood it came   out really easily with just a screwdriver and then 
i grabbed that same dark walnut stain and stained   it exactly the same way that i did that first sign 
i like to use the same stain throughout my house   so then things tend to match so then to create 
our stencil we're gonna head over to design space   you're gonna go over to upload and select the file 
now this particular one is not gonna be a free cut   file because i purchased this off etsy i will 
link it down below i really like to design my   own but i am also in the realm of if it's quicker 
to purchase it and support another creator i will   definitely do that as well so i downloaded this 
file and i uploaded it into the system now what   i want to do is create a circle stencil so i'm 
going to insert a circle shape and i'm going to   size it to 11 and a half inches wide that is the 
size of my tray so whatever you're using you're   going to want to measure it and then i sent it 
to the back and i put my image over the top of   it this allows me to get it to the right size that 
i want and it also allows me to create a stencil   when both your circle and your text are selected 
you're going to go up to the top and hit align   center then that way you know it is precisely 
in the center when it cuts then with both things   still selected down the right hand corner click 
slice and that's going to cut it out for you so   that you have your outer circle as well as your 
words cut out in the center that's gonna create   three different pieces on my canvas and i'm gonna 
get rid of everything but the circle that will   leave you with your right sized decal stencil 
and then you can just go ahead and cut it out   follow your prompts on your computer load up your 
vinyl and it will cut out for you then you're   gonna go through and weed backwards from what we 
did before so instead of taking out the outside   you're gonna take out where the letters are and 
then that is going to create a stencil be careful   to leave in the little pieces that are the insides 
of s's e's o's etc or you won't have the letters   you're looking for then i applied some transfer 
tape peeled off the back and then i applied it   because my stencil is the size of the circle it 
makes it really easy to make sure it's centered   then i went through and gave the entire thing 
a thin coat of mod podge thin is key here you   don't want it getting underneath and then i went 
through with some disposable makeup sponges and   dabbed both the green red and the white paint to 
create the look i was going for i ended up needing   two coats just so then that way i had the vibrance 
of the colors pop off from the dark wood stain   once i was done painting i let it dry just a 
little bit but it doesn't need to fully dry and   i peeled off my stencil you're going to want to 
give it a little bit of off but also be careful   so you don't rip off the stain finish on your wood 
and then my final step was to cover it with some   dishwasher safe mod podge i am going to use this 
just as decor but just to be safe i wanted to make   sure it was sealed in case we put a drink on it 
or something then i added it back to the frame   and here is what it looks like i have made a lot 
of different trays over the years and this has   to be one of my favorites it's a great size this 
would be super cute in a kitchen or a guest room   and it has found its own little home right 
on our coffee table in our living room   continuing on the stencil train we are going to 
go big and create this huge home for the holiday   sign so here is all the information that you will 
need for the different cut pieces we are doing a   pre-sanded piece of plywood cut down as well some 
one by twos for the border if you don't have the   power tools to make these cuts yourself you could 
definitely cut the outside pieces with a miter box   or you could go to lowe's home depot wherever and 
have them cut it for you then when everything gets   home you're going to want to make sure you give 
it a good sand and then we're going to paint our   background white to give us a good base to create 
the stripes on the sign i started by putting one   piece of tape flush with the edge then a little 
piece of tape as a spacer and then another full   piece to paint that stripe then i ended up moving 
the strips and kind of just eyeballed the two   smaller ones you could definitely measure it out 
if you're not an eyeballer but i figured because   the tapes were straight lines and i was working 
with a straight surface i could just wing it i   followed the same little formula for the bottom to 
create three more lines that overlap so for this   large sign our surface area for the decal is way 
larger than your cricut mat so i'm going to show   you how you can create a stencil and kind of weave 
it together on top of your sign to get that large   area of coverage you're going to import your file 
and use the same contour trick i showed you before   to get there's no place like home in one 
section and then for the holidays in another   so i measured my sign and decided that i needed 
a decal that was 17 and a half inches by 17 and   a half inches so i made that size of a square in 
design space so i could line up my two pieces and   i knew that they would be the right size instead 
of trying to guess how wide each piece needed to   be just put it on your square and it will help 
you figure out what size it needs to be then   once it was all cut out on that removable vinyl 
again for a stencil i went through and weeded   out the stencil and then added some transfer 
tape to put it on to my sign i ended up making   a silly mistake here and not cutting the contour 
underneath home i just cut out the pieces for   holiday so i had to do some extra work don't do 
this definitely trim out around each word so that   where they're intertwining you have the space so 
that the stencil can just be stuck down if you do   it the right way it will be a lot less complicated 
than how i did this it ended up turning out just   fine but i gave myself a few extra steps for this 
one we're going to follow the same process that we   did with the tray so start with your mod podge and 
then take your makeup sponge and put your desired   color onto your stencils and then go ahead and 
peel it off and then because i made that silly   mistake i just had to do the top and take it off 
but if you do it correctly and not like how i   did it for this particular one you'll just have 
one big stencil and you can do it all at once   another trick i like to do is keep painters 
tape on hand so if you have little areas like   the tops of the l or the d that you think you 
may accidentally like overlap on your stencil   then you can definitely go through and put the 
tape down so then that way you aren't going   to chance like getting that all on your pretty 
white sign once you peel up your stencil if you   have any areas with some imperfections i just went 
through and covered it with some white chalk paint the last step here is to take your borders and 
these i stained with my dark walnut by minwax   stain and i lined everything up the thing here is 
that you're gonna have a one inch overlap for the   two sides so then that way you make a full frame 
then i just grabbed my nail gun but you could   use some brad nails and a hammer if you didn't 
have the nail gun but i absolutely recommend the   snail gun i use it all the time and i added 
the top and the bottom first because those   are flush with the sign and then i added the 
two sides if you're looking to hang your sign   i'm just going to set it up but you can grab 
a little sawtooth hangers and that's how i   recommend putting it on the wall i absolutely 
love this sign i made this for my mom she's got   an area in their house that could really use 
a huge sign like this so i'm really excited to   give it to her i had to put it up in my house 
to style it and i had a couple minutes where i   was like oh i should keep this but then i decided 
it will definitely go to a good home these large   signs easily sell for 75 plus and so you can 
make them for a lot cheaper with your cricut   and finally we are going to make some really 
fun pillow covers and this time we're going to   use cricut's infusible ink so the cool thing 
about this is that the pigments actually go   in to the fabric versus sitting on top like a 
heat transfer vinyl so i went through on design   space and sized up everything i had one situation 
where i had to cut the word griswold in half on in   a world full of grinches be a griswold because it 
was too wide for my mat so i went through and did   the exact same process that i did for the sign 
to get everything in the right size to cut out   and then i used the infusible ink sheets to cut 
everything out now for these you're going to   do the same thing that you do for heat transfer 
vinyl so you're going to put the shiny side down as far as your machine settings you can select 
custom and then tell your computer it's an   infusible ink carrier sheet and then also make 
sure that you mirror the image because you are   going to then infuse it onto the fabric backwards 
once i got everything cut out it was time to   weed it so this is definitely not like a vinyl 
material it's more like a card stock so things may   rip as you go and you can pop out the inner 
pieces of letters a lot easier than you can   vinyl you don't have to really like scoop it up 
or pick it out you just pop it off and it just   comes unstuck now here you can tell how it looks 
a little bit more like paper than it does a vinyl   but it doesn't look super pretty pulling it 
off but once you get it off it works great   then i'm using my qriket easy press 2 to transfer 
these to my items my settings are 385 for   40 seconds but you could definitely use an iron 
for this as well then i took out my cricut little   pillow covers and first i used my easy press 
to just press out any of the creases in there   then i made sure to get off any little lint pieces 
and then i lined up my sheet now this backing   is sticky so it's nice that you can kind of 
stick it down if it moves around a lot you can   use some heat resistant tape to make it stay 
definitely don't put regular tape because it   will melt and it will ruin your project 
but heat resistant tape will work great   then i went through and pressed each area 
for the full amount the 40 seconds for my   red pieces and then also my two red and black 
buffalo check pieces for the last name griswold   i absolutely love how this 
turned out with the buffalo check   and then to finish it off you can either throw 
in a pillow you already have or an insert   or i just pulled apart some old pillows i was 
getting rid of anyway and used that stuffing   to just stuff the pillow i absolutely love this 
saying you guys know i love christmas vacation   and i was inspired to do this by nicole over 
at the week's nest she recently did a really   cute dollar tree diy sign and i will link that 
video down below for you but i had to put that on   something i also used some red and black buffalo 
check infusible ink as well as the red again for   there's no place like home for the holidays and 
i did my little illinois cut out in buffalo check   thank you so much for watching and a huge thank 
you to cricut for partnering with me on today's   video more information on the supplies i use also 
my machine and any other faqs will all be linked   down in the description below as well as other 
videos that include a lot of other qriket tips   and tricks you can keep on learning be sure to 
hit the subscribe button if you haven't done so   already so you don't miss any future whiskey and 
what content including more christmas stuff coming   your way thank you so much for watching 
and i will catch you in the next one bye do   do you