Basic Vinyl Tutorial (on a plate)

 I love vinyl plates, and I am finding out that many of you do, too. My other plates are listed at the end of this post. Today, I want to go step by step, showing my own tricks, on how to make vinyl images to adhere to pretty much anything. Vinyl of which I am speaking just means a "plastic" sticker. :-)

I purchase my vinyl in a mass order to save the most money. It also helps that I now have a pretty decent ROYGBV set to choose from. This morning I chose Ivy Green from Oh My Crafts. They come in 12 x 24 sheets, so I cut mine down to 6x12 to fit in my baby Cricut. (I still love my Cricut.)

When I am ready to apply it to my Cricut cutting pad, I make sure to apply the paper side to the sticky part of the cutting mat. The vinyl will be facing up. Make sure to rub the vinyl paper onto the mat to help with the adhesion.

(Yes, this picture was taken later to remind myself to tell you to rub it down.)

I then upload the mat into my Cricut using the settings: top dial 3, bottom dial 2 and blade 4. I have found this to be the best combo for cutting vinyl versus paper, etc. 

After the image is cut, I peel the vinyl sheet off the mat and then peel the "sticker" off the vinyl sheet.

For this vinyl project, I placed the turtle sticker on the plate in a lower, center position. 

After I Cricut cut out DZ, I decide the plate needed more. Out comes my punch. I like the sunburst and decided to use the same green and some scrap white vinyl. As you can tell, I just use the area outside of previously cut vinyls to use up as much as possible.

 Advice on punching out vinyl is to make sure the paper part is seen through the bottom of the punch. This ensures that the vinyl is getting cut out before the paper. The image you are punching out is more accurate this way.

Any punch (even scissors) can be used to get a shape out of vinyl. Another trick I have learned is that when you are ready to apply the sticker, there is a better way to "peel" the sticker off the paper backing. The photo below is horrible, but bare with me. Face vinyl up and use your nail to flick down. The paper backing will peel away much smoother. If you forget this hint, you'll most likely remember when it takes you ten times to separate the sticker from the paper. Trust me; this easily reminds myself to flip the vinyl up.

And the finished product! I stuck the starbursts around the plate and then as a cluster inside. Tooo cute! I made this morning for my sorority's silent auction charity fundraiser. I might even bid on it.

If the image you are cutting out is a word or multiple shapes you want to line up "perfectly," see my Use Contact Paper to Transfer Vinyl. It is cheaper than store/online transfer paper.

I hope this tutorial gives you a better idea of how to work with vinyl, and I hope you learn some time saving, money saving and frustration saving tips.

~ hurley

Other Vinyl Plate Posts:

Holiday Plates Series: Valentines & Thanksgiving

Holiday Plates: Mother's Day & Father's Day

Holiday Plates: St. Patrick's Day