Dollar Tree Metal Sign with Vinyl Decal


After last week's successful project made with a Dollar Tree galvanized metal sign and some vinyl that I cut on my Silhouette, I knew I had to make another. I bought a star-shaped sign when I picked up the heart-shaped sign, so I already had a sign to decal. 


Since it was star shaped, I wanted something that made sense to put on a star. I searched for designs and found a cute "Wish Upon a Star" design. I sent it to my Silhouette using standard vinyl settings and hoped for the best.


I cut off a piece of black vinyl and stuck it to the mat to load it into the machine. After a minute of wheezing and grinding (these old Silhouettes are pretty loud--are the newer ones quieter?), I had my pattern cut out.


And...that's when things went from going smoothly to crashing and burning. The design was not completely cut through. I managed to make it about halfway down the design before a letter got stuck and I couldn't salvage it.


So, I went back to the machine and cut it again. This time I set it to do two passes, and it came out perfectly. I probably need a new blade. Weeding the second one was a lot less stressful.


I used some paper transfer tape on the design and did my best to center it. I burnished (rubbed) the tape down onto the vinyl letters and stars to make sure that it stuck.


Then I peeled the backing off of the vinyl and placed it on my star. And that's when I realized I had slightly misjudged the size. Stars are hard shapes to get a good measurement on. I did my best to get all of the design onto the sign, but part of the "W" ended up hanging off the side. I rubbed the paper tape down onto the star and carefully peeled it off to leave the vinyl.


I used a craft knife to carefully cut the cute curly bit of the W off so that it would fit on the sign and applied the extra stars from the first cutting that failed.


Even though there were a few hiccups along the way, this project still turned out cute. I look forward to decorating more of these little Dollar Tree signs in the future.

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