Do-It-Yourself Doormats

My niece Sienna has a brand new cubby house, so of course, aunty Liz had to personalise a doormat to make her cubby house a home.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links and I may be compensated by the vendor (at NO ADDITIONAL COST to you) if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I have provided you with links to Amazon, Amazon Australia, eBay and Cricut.com.

To match the doormat to her cubby house, I used the left over weatherproof paint that her dad used to paint the cubby. Here’s how I created a stencil and personalised a doormat for my niece.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Liz Tu | Letter Me! (@letterme_au)

What I used:

Apple iPad Pro and Apple Pencil (Amazon, Amazon Australia, eBay)
Procreate App
Custom Letter Me Brushes!
Cricut Maker cutting machine (Cricut.com, Amazon, Amazon Australia, Spotlight eBay)
Cricut Design Space software (https://design.cricut.com)
24” Standard Grip cutting mat (Cricut.com, Amazon, Amazon Australia, Spotlight eBay)
A4 Laminate pouch (Amazon, Amazon Australia)
Heat proof tape (Amazon, Amazon Australia)
Scissors (Cricut.com, Amazon, Amazon Australia, Spotlight eBay)
Door Mat (Amazon, Amazon Australia)
Cricut EasyPress 2 (Cricut.com, Amazon, Amazon Australia, Spotlight eBay)
EasyPress Mini (Amazon, Amazon Australia)
Paint Brush (Amazon, Amazon Australia)
Paint (Amazon, Amazon Australia)
Ruler (Amazon, Amazon Australia, eBay)
Weeding tool/Tweezers (Cricut.com, Amazon, Amazon Australia, Spotlight eBay)

Step One: DESIGN

As a calligrapher, I love to design everything from scratch. I used the custom Letter Me! Brush with the Procreate App on my Apple iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil. After I have finished my design, I exported it to Cricut Design Space. For more information on how to do this, check out my earlier blog by clicking here.

If you are more comfortable using fonts, you can create a design directly from Cricut Design Space using fonts available, or download a font of your choice.

Step Two: PREPARING A STENCIL

The doormat that I used is roughly larger than two sheets of A4 paper (A5 size). As A5 laminate pouches are harder to come by and I do not have A5 sized laminate pouches, I created a stencil based on two A4 pouches. With an A4 laminate pouch, I used a guilotine (scissors will also work) to cut off the sealed edge so I am left with two single sheets of laminate. I faced the inside (sticky) side of the now-separated laminate pouch down on the table, lined them up side by side and used heat-proof tape to stick them together.

Step Three: CREATING THE STENCIL

I placed the sticky side (what used to be the inside of the pouch) facing upwards (shiny side down) on to a 24” Standard Grip Cutting Mat. In Cricut Design Space, I mirrored the image, set the cut to Vinyl and cut my stencil using Cricut Design Space.

Step Four: PREPARING THE STENCIL

As the stencil is made of laminate, it will be quite flimsy and fragile. To remove the stencil from the cutting mat carefully, I turn the mat over (sticky side down) and peel the mat off the stencil, keeping the stencil as flat as possible. I removed the words carefully, keeping the negative spaces but discarding the actual letters as we only need the outside and centre of the letters.

Step Five: STENCIL PLACEMENT

I positioned the stencil on the doormat carefully in the centre of the doormat using a ruler. The stencil is sticky side down (on the doormat), so the words should read the right way up. I left the negative spaces off at this step as I was more concerned about positioning the stencil perfectly.

Step Six: SECURING THE STENCIL

Using the EasyPress 2, I ironed the stencil down on to the mat. The EasyPress2 was set to 165 degrees celsius for 20 seconds. After it is heated on, it should feel secure and shouldn’t move around, but it is not permanent and can be removed later.

Step Seven: ADDING THE NEGATIVE SPACES

I now repositioned the negative spaces back into the stencil on the mat. As the negative spaces are small, I used the EasyPress Mini. I also used the Mini to secure the stencil in turning points and edges where the stencil is vulnerable. If you feel that those areas are not secure enough, you may use pins to hold it down further.

Step Eight: PAINT!

Once the stencil is secure, it’s time to paint! To match the doormat to her cubby house, I used the left over weatherproof paint that was used to paint the cubby. I dabbed the paint on the letters, using a paintbrush. It is highly important to dab instead of brushing the paint on, so that paint does not seep under the stencil. Dabbing also pushes the paint into the fibres of the the mat so that the colour is deep within the mat even after it has been used. I applied two coats of paint to ensure that the colour is bright and vibrant.

Step Nine: REMOVE THE STENCIL

Once the paint has dried, I carefully removed the stencil by peeling it off the mat. If the paint is not completely dry, the paint on the stencil may run onto the mat, so it’s important to wait for the mat and stencil to dry before removing. Don’t forget to remove the negative spaces from the letters. I used a tweezer to do this.

Step Ten: FINISHING TOUCHES

Once the stencil was completely removed, it was pretty much ready to go to its new home! If you want to go the extra step (like I did!), I used a fine paintbrush and went over some of the sides of the letters to make the letters cleaner and sharper.

And there you have it, this is how I personalised my niece’s doormat for her cubby house. Hope you found this step by step blog useful. I’d love to see your creations, please leave me a comment or tag me in your socials!

Happy crafting!

Hello Cricut Maker!

Disclaimer: The content, thoughts and opinions in this blog are purely my own. I was not paid by Cricut however I was provided with a Cricut Maker, EasyPress2 and other accessories. This post contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links at NO additional cost to you. I have provided links to the official Cricut store, International and Australian resellers.

Cricut Explore Air 2 (left) and Cricut Maker (right)

Choosing Cricut

Although I was a late adopter, I’ve now been a part of the Cricut family for a few years, and my Introduction to Cricut blog has been read by tens of thousands of people. Believe me when I say that I am one to do thorough research before committing to a system. As I know that I will be investing in accessories and products for many years to come, I didn’t want to purchase a system and then realise that it doesn’t suit my needs. As I am primarily a Calligrapher, I needed to be sure that the system I chose ticks all the boxes:

Accepts artwork from design softwares (like Procreate) I already use.
There were no additional costs involved with uplaoding my own artwork and projects.
Software (Cricut Design Space) to be able to vectorise my work as accurately as possible.
As most of my work is intricate, machine needs to be able to cut the finest of details (and hairline strokes!).
Accessories and products to be easily accessible and readily available to me (products are available at Spotlight, CraftOnline and Amazon, Amazon Australia, Cricut.com, etc.).
I was able to use my laptop and iPad with the machine wirelessly (via bluetooth) so I didn’t physically need to be next to the machine.

Although not mandatory (but definitely a bonus selling point for me), I wanted the machine to be attractive as it would be sitting in prime position in my studio. Cricut ticked all those boxes, including the aesthetically pleasing part, so I went ahead and purchased an Explore Air 2 with zero hesitation.

Cricut Explore Air 2 VS Cricut Maker - First Impressions

Even though I was 100% content with my Explore Air 2, when Cricut Australia approached me and asked if I would like to try the Cricut Maker, I thought, why not? It could only get better. And it most definitely is. Before now, I’ve mostly only cut vinyl and paper, I hadn’t had the urge to cut fabric or anything thicker than cardstock, but now that I can cut hundreds of different materials, maybe I will! Watch this space!!

From the get go, the build quality of the Maker looks even more robust. The champagne finish on the lid is gorgeous and the storage compartments are very well thought out. When I first inserted the cutting mat, I could already feel the difference in power of the wheels, stronger pull, greater control and precision than that of the Explore Air 2.

One noticeable physical difference between the Explore Air 2 and the Maker is that the Maker does not come with a dial with different settings. All the settings are controlled online, allowing you to select from over a hundred different materials and thicknesses to cut from. The Maker came with two blades; the premium fine point blade, and the rotary blade. I’ve since ordered the engraving tip (it has yet to arrive) and I’m sooooo excited to start engraving on materials like acrylic.

The rotary blade allows the machine to turn the blade rather than “drag” the blade, so cuts are more precise and intricate. Having up to ten times more cutting force means that I’ll be able to cut things like bass wood and balsa wood without cracking or tearing up the surface.

I’ll keep posting more about the Maker as I get more hands on with my new Cricut. Looking forward to sharing so much more with you here.

Shop

Cricut Explore Air 2 : Cricut.com, Spotlight eBay, Amazon Australia, Amazon
Cricut Maker : Cricut.com, Spotlight eBay, Amazon Australia, Amazon

Christmas Baubles, three ways!

It’s truly the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. The tree is up, lights are sparkling, baubles are decorated and carols are playing from the moment the kids are up, right until bedtime.

To help you get into the festive spirit, here is my tutorial on how to create your own personalised Christmas baubles, done three ways (vinyl, embossing and chrome). To top it off, I’ve partnered with Sony Music Australia to share with you my favourite Christmas playlist, a perfect accompaniment to Christmas crafting!! The best thing about this playlist is that all the classics are there, as well as the new songs that the kids will know and love, so everyone can sing along!

This blog will be quite lengthy as I am basically covering three techniques; Vinyl, Embossing and Chrome. Feel free to skip to the sections that are relevant to you. Obviously, if you’ve only got one bauble to decorate, take your pick. Alternatively, why not use all three? However, don’t feel that you need to do all three methods, but as I love to experiment with different techniques, I thought you might be interested in seeing what works best for you!

If you find glass baubles difficult to see, you may wish to stuff them with hobby fill, cotton balls, pom poms, glitter, cellophane, whatever tickles your fancy. Gently take off the cap, use a stick (or a chopstick!) to push the stuffing in, and replace the cap. I personally like mine clear, but for the purpose of this blog (so you can see what I’m doing) I will stuff a couple of the baubles.

The (not-so-secret) secret to lettering and crafting on a spherical surface like a Christmas bauble is having something to rest it in for support. These can just be regular household items like a sauce dish, an egg-cup, a bowl, or in my case here, a gigantic paperclip. But what’s even better (if you haven’t already binned it), is the original plastic packaging that the bauble came in.

So here’s what you’ll need for all methods:

Glass Christmas baubles
Object to rest your bauble on (see paragraph above)
Hobby fill (optional)
Stick (optional)

What you need for the Vinyl method:

Vinyl cut-out of your personalised word (alternatively, use a pre-cut sticker)
Transfer tape
Flexible scraper (credit card can work too)
Scissors

What you need for the Embossing method:

Embossing Pen (glue-based pen)
Embossing Heat gun/tool
Embossing powdersing Powder — Letter Me!
Synthetic paint brush
A piece of paper/cardboard, folded in half to collect excess powder

What you need for the Chrome method:

Chrome marker (I used a 2mm bullet tip)

Let’s start with the Vinyl Method.

Firstly, if you haven’t already got a vinyl cut-out of your personalised word, you can learn how to do it here. Alternatively if you have a pre-cut sticker you can use that also.

STEP 1: Position your bauble in your holder so that it is easier to work with.

STEP 2: Peel off a piece of transfer tape, big enough to cover your vinyl cut-out.

STEP 3: Stick the transfer tape over the vinyl-cut out.

STEP 4: Use a flexible scraper or a credit card, scrape over the transfer tape to ensure that the transfer tape is firmly stuck down and there are no bubbles.

STEP 5: Peel the transfer tape (and vinyl) off your table/work surface and then gently peel off the backing paper from the vinyl cut-out. Be very careful as to not touch the sticky side of the vinyl, as oils from your skin will effect the adhesiveness of the vinyl.

STEP 6: Carefully place the transfer tape and vinyl over your bauble. Gently using your fingertips, secure the centre part of your work first, and work outwards. As the bauble is spherical, it may be fiddly getting the vinyl to stick flat on the spherical surface. Your priority is getting the vinyl to stick flat, it is okay if the negative space of the transfer tape creases as long as the vinyl itself does not crease. The trickiest sections would be the loops or larger flourishes (if any).

STEP 7: Very gently peel off the transfer tape. If you struggled to stick the vinyl flat from certain areas, it will lift off with the transfer tape. Do not worry about that as long as the majority of the word is stuck down.

STEP 8: Using your fingers, gentle smooth down the vinyl onto the surface of your bauble, working from the middle of the word again, pushing outwards. If there is a section that refuses to stick down without creasing, do not hesitate to use a pair of scissors and make a small incision in an unnoticeable area. After cutting the word, make sure you stick it down firmly.

STEP 9: Voila, admire your amazing creation!

Now on to embossing!

STEP 1: Position your bauble in your holder so that it is easier to work with.

STEP 2: Using an embossing pen write your word on your bauble. You may wish to write in monoline (the lines in your letters are consistent in width), or you may wish to do faux calligraphy (your letters will look like you used a brush pen with thick downstrokes and thin upstrokes). If you are doing faux calligraphy, it is best to write one letter at a time (working from left to right), back-fill the thick strokes, before moving on to your next letter. This will reduce the chance of smudging.

STEP 3: Remove your bauble from you holder carefully, making sure that you don’t accidentally touch the glue/ink from the embossing pen.

STEP 4: Fold a piece of paper in half and use it under your work as a “spill mat”.

STEP 5: Generously pour the embossing powder over your lettered bauble, ensuring that the whole word is covered.

STEP 6: Dust off the excess powder, and using a dry synthetic brush, firmly remove the excess powder from the bauble on to the piece of paper. Remember a single speck of powder will melt into a blob, so be patient with this step and brush carefully. Siphon the clean, excess powder back into the jar of embossing powder.

STEP 7: Turn on your embossing heat tool, hold your bauble by the cap, and gently melt the powder on the bauble. Be careful not to touch the tool to your bauble. I prefer to keep my heat gun approximately 2cm away from my object as to not overheat it.

STEP 8: Voila, admire the sparkle!

Final and simplest method; chrome!

STEP 1: Position your bauble in your holder so that it is easier to work with.

STEP 2: If it’s your first time using a chrome marker, make sure you take off the cap, holding the marker down on scrap paper, press down on the tip until the chrome travels to the tip. Once your marker is ready, you can start!

STEP 3: This step is similar to using an embossing pen, but with a chrome marker. You may wish to write in monoline (your letters are a consistent width), or you may wish to do faux calligraphy (your letters will look like you used a brush pen with thick downstrokes and thin upstrokes). If you are doing faux calligraphy, it is best to write one letter at a time (working from left to right), back-fill the thick strokes, before moving on to your next letter. This will reduce the chance of smudging.

STEP 4: And… Voila, you are done! Admire the shine!

I appreciate the merits of all three techniques. The vinyl is shiny, refined and perfect. The embossed bauble gives a homemade, rustic feel, if you use a metallic powder, it will sparkle. The chrome technique would be the most simple by far and the results are stunning and shiny, maybe less refined than the vinyl, but something I would be happy to compromise.

Now it’s your turn. Turn up your Christmas Songs, and let the likes of Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Wham! and Bruce Springsteen get you in the mood. Which Christmas bauble method will you try first?

xx Liz

Introduction to Cricut

Please note that this post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links at NO additional cost to you (I have provided international links for everyone, but for Australian specific stockists, please click on the alternative links in the list below).

EDIT: This post was first created in 2018. Although the instructions and techniques are still relevant, I have since also posted about the Cricut Maker, Cricut Easy Press, as well as Cricut Infusible Ink.

Those who follow me on Instagram and Facebook will know how much I love my new Cricut Explore Air 2 machine and how much I love personalising things with it. I've received literally hundreds of requests to blog about how I do what I do with the Cricut, so here we go.

One of my most popular items in my shop last Christmas were my personalised mugs. So I decided to break it down for you, step-by-step. Although they can be fiddly and the steps may seem overwhelming, these are easily achieved using the Cricut.

Here's what I used (below are links to where you can find these items):

Apple iPad Pro 12.9" (click here for Amazon Australia)
Procreate App
Procreate Brushes
Apple Pencil (click here for Amazon Australia)
Cricut Explore Air 2 ( click here for Amazon Australia and Spotlight eBay)
Cricut Gold Adhesive Foil (click here for Amazon Australia and Spotlight eBay)
Scissors (click here for Spotlight eBay)
Kassa Clear Transfer Tape
Cricut Weeding Tool (click here for Spotlight eBay)
Cricut Standard Grip Mat (click here for Spotlight eBay and Amazon Australia)
Cricut Scraper (click here for Spotlight eBay and Amazon Australia)
Cricut Design Space
Mug

To make this blog easier to follow, I have broken it up into three sections: DESIGN, CUT and ADHERE.

DESIGN

So before we can cut out our design, we need a design. In this tutorial I will be personalising a mug for "Danny".

IMPORTANT NOTE: For the Cricut to cut out my lettering, it will need to be in a .PNG format. I personally LOVE lettering on the Apple iPad Pro, using the Apple Pencil with the Procreate app. The Apple Pencil is only compatible with the Apple iPad Pro, so it won't work with any other iPad. My custom Procreate Brushes are available here. Procreate is also only available for iOS, so unfortunately for those using other platforms, the first few steps won't be applicable to you. (*Note: I was an avid Windows and Android user until I "needed" Procreate and the Apple Pencil, and now I am an Apple convert).

Step one: Open the Procreate App on your iPad pro and create a new canvas.

Step two: Select your favourite brush/es and create or letter the design you would like on your mug. My custom Procreate Brushes are available here. Try not to make your design too thin or intricate as it may be difficult to cut and adhere later.

Step three: Go into the layers panel and uncheck the background layer, making it transparent.

Step four: Select Share, and save Image as a .PNG file to your iPad.

CUT

Step one: Turn on your Cricut Explore Air 2 or other Cricut device. Turn the dial on your machine to Custom.

Step two: Open the Cricut Design App on your iPad and Open New Project.

Step three: In your Cricut Design App, Upload your .PNG Image and Select from Camera Roll.

Step four: Insert your image to your new canvas (the checkered background means that it is transparent) and resize the image to your desired size. When you are ready, click on Make It.

Step five: Cut a piece of adhesive foil to the size of your project. Stick it on your mat, coloured side upwards.

Step six: On the Cricut Design App, follow the prompts to set material to Adhesive Foil. I use the original Cricut Adhesive Foil as I find that it sticks well to smooth surfaces. If it's stuck down properly, you can wash the mug forever without the adhesive ever peeling off, and that's what you want.

Step seven: Next, follow the prompts to load the mat. And finally, CUT!

ADHERE

Step one: After the Cricut Design App tells you that cutting is complete, unload your mat.

Step two: Carefully peel your adhesive off the mat, and then peel off the excess foil and negative space (the transparent part of the design).

Step three: Using a Cricut weeding tool, carefully lift off the negative space in between the letters and in the centre parts of the letters such as a, g, d, e and o. Once you're done, your adhesive should look exactly how you'd like it to look on your mug.

Step four: Next, cut a piece of transfer paper/tape, the size of your adhesive foil design. I use Kassa Clear Transfer paper/tape (Use coupon code "LETTERME" to get 20% off your Kassa products) as I find that it works best with foil adhesive. To make alignment even easier for you later, the Kassa Clear Transfer Paper comes with blue gridlines. You can use the guidelines to cut your transfer paper to size (the lines are exactly 1 inch apart) and I love lining my work up to the gridlines to help keep my work straight.

Step five: Stick your Kassa Clear Transfer Paper over your foil design. Using the Cricut Scraper tool, go over the design to make sure that the transfer paper is properly adhered to the foil.

Step six: Slowly and carefully, remove the backing paper of the foil adhesive off the transfer paper. Be careful as to not touch the adhesive surface of the foil as the oils from your hands will effect the adhesiveness and longevity of your adhesives.

Step seven: Making sure your mug is clean, carefully line up the transfer tape with your foil design on to your mug. Using the Cricut scraper again, scrape down every part of the foil adhesive on to the mug, ensuring that all bubbles are removed.

Step eight: Carefully remove the Kassa transfer tape off your mug. Voila, your mug is complete!!

*Please note that Adhesive Foil is not recommended for dishwashers, and of course, do not ever put foil in the microwave!

Hope you've enjoyed reading this blog! Please "like" the blog and leave me a message!!

CHECK OUT MY NEW BLOGS: Hello Cricut Maker!, Cricut Easy Press 2 and Cricut Infusible Ink.

Cakes, parties and broken promises.. Confessions of a cake artist.

When I was twelve weeks pregnant and hormonal with my second baby, I almost cried when the sonographer announced that my estimated due date was one day before my daughter's second birthday. Feelings of guilt that my first born would not only have to share mummy and daddy was now overtaken by even more guilt that they might now even share a birthday. I swore to myself that day that I would never make them share a party and they would always have their own day to celebrate.

As my EDD drew nearer and my daughter's second birthday approaching, I grew more anxious. "Come out soon baby boy, so that you're not born on the same day as your sister, " I pleaded with my growing bump. My obedient son did as he was asked and arrived four days earlier than expected. Also enough time for me to come back home from the hospital to celebrate his big sister's birthday.

The next year flew by, and just as I had promised, we had two separate birthday parties, a very special first birthday party for our little man, and two weeks later, a third birthday party for our little princess. She even got to decorate the rainbow cake she had requested and sugar sculpt the matching cupcakes. So picture this: Put up decorations, take down decorations, put up different decorations. Cook up a storm, clean up after the storm, cook up another storm. Same guests, different menus, different theme. Two cakes. Yes, we needed the two weeks.

I would have really really wanted to tell you that I kept the promise I had made to myself, that I would never make them share a birthday party. But to be honest with you and true to myself, I was only able to keep that promise for one year. Although minutes and hours may tick by slowly, the year flew past and before we knew it, we were planning my daughter's fourth birthday and my son's second. Do we hold two separate parties again or let them share one amazing party? We didn't have to deliberate for too long.

Fast forward yet another year and we come to present day. My daughter is already half a decade old and my son is now three. Being a daughter of cake people, our five year old only wants the latest cakes that are "on trend" and requested a drippy cake with ganache, macarons and meringue. My son gave us two options, Octonauts or superheroes.

Even though I couldn't keep my promise to give them two separate parties, I will keep my new promise to give them two separate birthday cakes... for this year at least 😜.

Please subscribe to our blog to join us on our cake adventures!

Fist pump of a cake!

We were commissioned by six year old Elijah to create his Marvel birthday cake. He requested that his four favourite superheroes, Ironman, Spiderman, Hulk and Captain America to be featured on his two tiered cake.

As we prefer our cakes to be uncluttered with clean lines and high tiers, our challenge was to fit all four characters without cramping up the two-tier cake.

The birthday boy advised his mum to tell us that his favourite of the four characters were Captain America and Ironman, whilst Spiderman was his least favourite of the four.

We decided that hulk was easiest and most striking on the top of the cake, Captain America on the largest tier and Ironman on the top tier. But where to put Spiderman?

To keep options open, we made the cake board and Ironman tier red, to allow us to play around and decide where to put Spidey.

Playing around with positioning... our three sample layout mock-ups

The end result?

What do you think? Where would you have put Spidey? Which design do you prefer?

To read more about our cake-adventures, please subscribe to our blog by clicking here.