Happy fall ya’ll 🙂 Today I wanted to share my easy ‘Hello Fall’ porch sign I made. It’s perfect for getting into the autumn spirit, and in Minnesota, we go all-in for our fall porch decor. My hubby can attest to how much I usually spend on fall decor for our home, lol.
When decorating my front entrance, I have an extra wall next to my front door that usually needs a little something to bring the whole porch alive. At Christmas, I typically put a wall Christmas tree with candy canes for our delivery drivers, but in the fall, I usually change up this space and give it a refreshed look each year.
This year I decided to take advantage of my Creative Fabrica subscription and downloaded an adorable fall font I favorited several months ago for my Cricut Joy to use on this project.
First, What is Creative Fabrica?
Creative Fabrica is my go-to site for millions of fonts, graphics; think SVG files, coloring books, sewing patterns, teaching materials, digital backgrounds, illustrations. They also offer CF classes. There are endless bundles; get on their email list and create a free account, and you’ll receive freebies sent to you regularly too. For a bonus, there is also the commercial license included too.
Secondly, What is Cricut Joy?
Cricut Joy is your DIY best friend. This intelligent little cutting and writing machine is ridiculously easy to set up and use. You can use it to personalize, organize, and customize your projects every day. Make labels for your kitchen or office. Bust out custom cards or a birthday banner. This machine is also compatible with Cricut Smart Material for super-easy, super-long cuts without a cutting mat. Just load & go! The best part, it’s small and compact so you can move it with you around the house.
If you don’t have a Cricut Joy, you can find them at Cricut.com or other craft stores like Michaels, Joanns, Walmart, Target, and even Amazon. They almost always have discounts or bundle deals on these and other Cricut tools. I would also wait for a holiday sale like Labor Day or Black Friday. Currently, a Cricut Joy is $159 retail.
Easy ‘Hello Fall’ Porch Sign
My goal was to create a fall quote for this sidewall and add some leaf textures to the design. I couldn’t find a frame to match, so I got one from Michael’s stores and used my daughter’s water-resistant paint to give it the look I wanted. Painting the frame only took 30 minutes to dry, so don’t be afraid to do this if you can’t find the color you want. I feel like even the dollar store would have given me some options for this DIY, but I was at Michael’s and got everything simultaneously.
Materials You’ll Need For This Project:
- Cricut Joy
- Cricut Design Space AppCricut Joy Smart Vinyl (Removeable) in our choice of color
- Transfer Tape (I use Cricut Joy brand)
- Scizzors
- Weeding Tool
- Scraper Tool
- Tape Measure
- Frame from Michael’s
- Leaf Stickers from Michael’s
- Font file from Creative Fabrica: Let the Sunshine
- Paint of your choice and brush (optional)
Tips To Make This Project Successful:
- Choose a color vinyl that compliments your decor and space.
- If you’re not using the font choice in this post, choose heavy fonts so people can read your quote from a distance. (Since it’s going on your porch).
- I chose to use removable vinyl if I wanted to change up the look or reuse the frame later. Also, with removable vinyl from Cricut Joy, it removes easily without residue, and it’s so easy to weed.
- Clean the frame to ensure a solid and clean hold for your vinyl and reduce wrinkles or bubbles.
- Design Space is available on every device; however, I needed my computer or iPad for this project. I’m not great with adjusting sizing and seeing everything on my phone but go for it if you’re comfortable with your mobile device.
- You can reuse your transfer tape if it’s of good quality. So don’t toss it after one use.
Instructions:
- Use a tape measure and measure to determine how big your text will be on each line. Remember, the height minimum on Cricut Joy is 4.5 max even though the vinyl will say 5.5. This doesn’t apply if you’re using another Cricut machine.
- Head over to Creative Fabrica and find your desired font or clip art files you’ll be using and download them to your computer.
- Open Design Space on your computer or iPad and upload the files you got from Creative Fabrica.
- Type quote, then add your design element (optional). You will cut that separately if you’re using a different color vinyl for each word or element.
- Once uploaded, I selected my image, paper, and cut selection on my screen.
- You’ll also be able to adjust your size here before cutting. This is what you pre-measured in step one.
- Click MAKE IT!
- Your Cricut Joy should automatically connect via Bluetooth, and then select your material here and click GO once you’ve loaded your vinyl into the Cricut Joy.
- Once you Cricut Joy is done cutting, the next step is to remove all the unwanted vinyl from around the quote you’ve just cut. Be careful and peel it back slowly. It’s normal for some things to catch slightly, but be patient.
- Weed the excess vinyl, start at the top upper end and pull down. You should be left with just the words on the back surface.
- Cut each label off separately, then add transfer tape to each one by peeling off the back, or you can reuse your transfer tape a couple of times.
- Use your scraper tool to press out the transfer tape to the label. Then slowly lift the transfer tape (the letters should lift with it).
- Stick your transfer tape to your frame, smooth it down with your scraper tool, and slowly peel off the transfer tape.
- Repeat the same process with the second word and then any design files.
- Finally, add your leaf stickers or acorns to the rest of the frame. I did mine in such a way that it looks like the leaves are falling.
Tada!!
If you enjoyed this tutorial, please be sure to save and share it. You can find my Farmhouse Pantry Labels here and my tutorial on an Easy DIY card using the Cricut Joy here.
Feel free to visit my family & lifestyle blog, Life with Kami.
You can also create a free account with Creative Fabrica here.
Happy Creating!
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