Handmade Gift Giver

*Note: This tutorial requires use of a Cricut or other die cutting machine. Don’t have one? Visit my shop and let me make the decal for you!

*This post contains affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase from a link on this page, I may earn a small commission – at no extra cost to you!! Read my full statement here!

Sometimes getting gifts for others is really easy for me. Of course there are times when people will flat out say what they want. Other times I’ll have a perfect (I think!) idea that’ll be sure to please. However, there are lots of times that I just. don’t. know.

I’ve always been a big supporter of two types of gifts: handmade and “experience”/consumable gifts. Whenever I’m stuck on a gift giving occasion, I usually start with these two categories in mind.

This year, I bought myself a Cricut for Christmas. I think that probably 90% of the gifts I’ve given this year have been Cricut-made! I have also really been into turning handwriting and custom drawn designs into cut files for the Cricut. (This was one of the main reasons I upgraded to a new machine!) I recently turned a friend’s daughter’s handwriting into a sweet keepsake, and posted earlier about turning my handwriting into a fun summer doormat.

handwriting keepsake — Keepsake from child’s handwriting

It was on my mind that I wanted to turn my oldest son’s handwriting into keepsakes for his grandmothers this year for a DIY Mother’s Day gift. Inspiration struck in Wal-Mart when I saw these $5 vases. My middle son was with me, so I let him pick the color of vase for them so he could feel like he had a hand in the gift too!

From Handwriting to Cricut Design Space Cut File

Get The Design On Paper

The first step in this process is to get your design/word onto paper. I had my son write “Grammy” and “Nannie” on white paper using several different markers. We tried a magic marker, a Sharpie, and a Crayola broad tip marker. We ended up liking the look of the Sharpie writing the best – it had fewer color streaks/gaps and made a nice solid line.

Take a picture of the paper using a smart phone or camera. When you take the picture, just make sure there’s no shadows on top of the word. (If there’s a phone shadow somewhere else on the page it’ll be fine!) Either e-mail the picture to yourself or upload it to your computer. Take note of where you save the picture!

Upload the Picture in Design Space

Open a new canvas in Cricut’s Design Space, and click “Upload.” Click the option to “upload image,” and find your picture on your computer. Select “simple” once the picture of your design appears, since a word has only one color and is not an intricate design!

Upload in Design Space

Crop & Clean Up Your Design

Zoom out and crop your design. This will minimize the amount of tiny imperfections you have to erase before cutting your file!

Use the Select & Erase tool to delete your background and any “holes” of letters.

Switch to the Erase tool, zoom in, and scroll around to look for any tiny random black dots left in your design. I find that these are far easier to spot after switching to “Preview” mode!

clean up custom uploaded image in design space

Save and Insert Into Canvas

Once the design is cleaned up, choose to “save as a cut image” and rename your design.

After saving, you should be redirected to the Upload page. Select your design, and click “Insert Image.”

save and insert custom upload in design space

Re-size and Cut!

Measure your project space to see what dimensions your cut file should have. One way to resize it exactly to the size you desire is to select the file, then manually type the desired dimensions in the dimension box. (Hit enter to apply! If the lock icon is locked, you will only need to adjust one of your dimensions, the other will auto-adjust.)

If you have multiple files to cut, arrange them on your mat with some space in between them, select both layers, and click “attach.” This will make them stay spaced out exactly like you want them when sent to the cutting mat!

When your design is sized correctly, load your materials and cut your file!

Apply Your Design

When done cutting, weed your design, clean the surface of the vase with rubbing alcohol, and use transfer tape to apply your design!

Get Started on YOUR DIY Mother’s Day Gift

The possibilities are endless when you learn to turn handwriting and drawings into custom vinyl cuts. You can turn anything into a keepsake! Are you going to use handwriting to personalize a DIY Mother’s Day gift?? Please share your pictures with me on Instagram using #MoreTimesMothersDay!

Don’t forget to check out my tutorial to make a custom drawn design into a fun doormat, and to visit my shop if you need me to cut the vinyl for you!

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase from one of the links in this post, I’ll receive a small commission, at no extra charge to you!

Please only use my file for personal use! Do not create items for sale to others using my handlettered design in any way. You also may not use the file in its original or in an altered form to sell it as an .svg or any other type of digital download.

A Fresh Greeting

I’ve been seeing fun DIY door mats all over social media lately (if you haven’t – remember, I run in crafty circles!) Anyway, I was more than ready to get one made up for our porch since ours was old and gross. I was able to find some time over Spring Break to knock it out!

Come In We're Awesome Doormat DIY — At least I think we are…

This was suprisingly simple after following a few YouTube tutorials for tips on stenciling. There are lots of methods out there, but I went with a freezer paper stencil pressed onto my mat. I used acrylic paint marked as safe for outdoor use (found at WalMart!) and a stiff bristle stenciling brush to paint on a plain coir doormat. (I got my mat at Home Depot, then found this one at Target cheaper!)

DIY Doormat materials

From Handlettering to Doormat DIY

After this successful project, I really wanted to do one that I could share with you. (The one I made was created using free for personal use fonts – so the file I used to cut my stencil can’t be shared! I’ll be happy to tell you what fonts I used if you want to create it for yourself!) My sister was putting together a summer themed basket for an auction at her daughter’s school, so we thought a summer-themed door mat would be a unique addition.

I started with a hand-lettered “summertime.” There are lots of pieces of paper in my house right now with the word “summertime” drawn on them. I finally settled on this version:

Summertime handlettering

Once I had my design, I snapped a picture with my phone, e-mailed it to myself, and uploaded it into Cricut’s Design Space to convert it to a cut file. If you’ve got a newer Cricut yourself, you should definitely play around with getting some of your own handwriting uploaded into Design Space to cut. It’s surprisingly easy!!

Convert to a Stencil

As the word is written, it cuts with “holes” detached for the s, e’s, and r. This is perfect when using vinyl, since you are using the letters themselves (the black of the photo!) When I stencil, I much prefer to have my holes attached for a more traditional stencil. I used to think this was incredibly annoying as you have to go back in later and fill in all of the little lines where the stencil was attached to the holes. But do you know what’s even more annoying than that? Keeping up with/ironing on a bunch of tiny pieces then hoping they stay put when you paint. Here’s what my cut file looked like after I added in the bars to keep the holes attached!

If you are using Cricut’s Design Space, here are links to the public Design Space files for both the original (holes not attached) and the stencil cut (holes attached)! No uploading, resizing, or anything at all needed if you’re making a door mat. If you’re on Silhouette, there is a .png for you to upload into your design software at the end of this post.

Cut It Out!

Once you’ve got your file ready to go, prepare your large cutting mat with freezer paper – shiny side down. Cut the file, weed the words (since it’s a stencil!), then remove the stencil carefully. I used to have curled up papers after cutting, then I came across the tip to pull the mat from the paper, and my life was changed. Go slow so that you don’t make any tears. I did tear one little bar on the big hole of the S in “Summertime,” but luckily there were two connectors – so no little piece to keep track of!

Place & Press

The next step is to place your stencil (& turn on your iron!). Take the time to get a ruler out! I just eyeball my placement first, then measure from the left and right edges to see if the gap from word to edge of the mat matches on each side. Once I get it centered horizontally, I work to get the design level by measuring from the bottom of the mat up to the bottom of the lower line of text in several places. If they all (pretty much) match, then I go for it.

Get the freezer paper placed, then press with a hot iron (no steam). Don’t rub the iron around, just set it down and apply pressure, pick it up, then do another spot. Continue until you get every inch of the freezer paper ironed down. If you pick at freezer paper, it WILL come up. It is not a super sticky bond, but it is stable if you don’t mess around with it. Watch the places you iron. You will be able to notice a difference in the surfaces that are adhered and those that aren’t. I repeat: Do not pick at the freezer paper!

Paint Time!

Once your freezer paper is applied, get your paint ready! I used a multi-surface acrylic paint. Anything labeled for outdoor use should work. The stiff bristled brushes are the only brushes I will ever use for stenciling ever again in my life. They hold paint well, but are great at letting it go. And on these mats, the bristles from the brush get down in the bristles for the mat, and it’s perfect!

While painting, keep the brush perpendicular to the mat. When you start getting crazy and sideways, that’s when your brush is going to get up under the stencil. (Which is a bad thing!) I had one spot where I had to put my finger onto the stencil to hold it as I painted around (I think it was around the hole of the ‘A’). If you see the stencil start to lift, just get your hand in there for extra security.

I do two coats of paint to try to get good coverage. If you have a spot that was troublesome with the stencil, hold off on the 2nd coat and do it with a small brush after you pull the stencil off!

Stencil Success!

I think that stenciling on a door mat is maybe the only stenciling I will do for a long time. Seriously, these things come off so clean! There is virtually no bleed since the excess paint can go straight down into the bristles of the mat. Pull off your stencil as soon as you get done painting, & enjoy your new DIY doormat! I think this is cute for a front porch, but would be great on a back porch too – where the livin’ really is easy! Do some yardwork, kick up your feet with a good book, then admire your handiwork as you slip back inside.

What are you going to use the cut file for? Share pictures of your creations with me! If you’re doing a complete porch makeover, check out my shop for a custom wreath to freshen things up or this post for a DIY floral wreath!!

**Please use my file for personal use only! Do not create items for sale to others using my handlettered design in any way. You also may not use the file in its original or in an altered form to sell it as an .svg or any other type of digital download.

DIY Mother’s Day Gift – From Child’s Handwriting to Cricut Cut File