What can you make with a Cricut machine? This awesome peel and stick wallpaper, that’s what.

The first question was really for me, when my mom gave me a Cricut Explore One for Christmas over a year ago.  She has one that she uses mainly for monogramming and custom designing clothing and accessories, and she has a thriving side business with it.  But the first question that came in my mind was, “What can you make with a Cricut machine that will make my house look amazing?”  I got my answer with the peel and stick wallpaper pink pineapples in our new laundry/half bath!

 

I’m very new to Cricut- it took me a long time to get over my intimidation with it to really get started- but when I saw this wallpaper in my inspiration pic for the bathroom I knew that I had a great project for the Cricut Explore One:

 

I had a total budget of less than $100 for this entire room to work with, so this wallpaper was out of the question.  I knew I could make vinyl decals using the Cricut very inexpensively and probably do a convincing fake for that wallpaper.

Peel and stick wallpaper-Supplies:

*affiliate links included- see my disclosure policy here

• Vinyl- I used Oracle 631 which is removable (but not reusable) and great for indoor projects! I used Ante Up Graphic Supply and loved their prices, customer service, and fast shipping! (not sponsored, just wanted to pass along a great service) 🙂
• A vinyl cutting machine (I have the Cricut Explore One)
• Something with a flat surface, like a credit card

Tips to make peel and stick wallpaper using your Cricut

The first step is to find an image that you love.

Some tips when searching for an image to use for your peel and stick wallpaper:

• Make sure that the image that you want to use is a realistic design for the size that you want it.  If you have a super intricate design but want it to be very small, the Cricut is going to have a hard time making those cuts.  Plus you have to weed it.  However, a very intricate design would look amazing in a larger image, repeated across a span of wall!
• I found a free image of a pineapple that I liked on Craftables. They have a whole page of free images here.  I also found a lot of free downloads on Pinterest just by searching “free SVG download”.  I was looking for free because of the tight budget, but often SVG files are super cheap anyway- around $1-$3.  And of course, there are free images in the Cricut library, and Cricut access (a monthly subscription plan) gives you unlimited access to tons of files and fonts.

Next, consider how you want to use your image.

I knew I didn’t want to just have the same pineapple running across the walls, but was kind of stuck on the design.  Michael was the one who suggested the smaller pineapples, and it ended up being perfect.  Adding in the smaller pineapples around the bigger ones gave it tons of interest, and made it look more like real wallpaper.

So whether you are going by an inspiration picture exactly, or winging it, think about what you can do with your image to add even more interest to your walls- then test it out in Design Space.

A tip on printing designs with more than one image

So there were five “parts” to each pineapple: the big pineapple in the middle, then the four on the sides.  Cricut automatically places the images together when cutting to save vinyl. But I knew it would be a lot easier and less time consuming if I kept the spacing together when printing so I wouldn’t have to manually figure it out every time.

I knew it would waste vinyl, but I opted to keep the spacing anyway. To do that, you just group the images together, then attach.  This will tell the Cricut to keep the spacing when printing your images.

 

 

Depending on your design, you’ll waste some vinyl doing this for sure,  but it will save you a lot of time too.

Test it out.

Print out a test to see how you like it.  I printed out a couple and just tacked them to the wall while they were still on their backing so I could be sure that I was happy with their size and placement.

Put it on the wall

Okay, I’m an eye-baller for this.  I probably should have measured my wall, then my design, and have done some maths or something.  But I just looked at the main wall that people see when they come in and centered my first peel and stick wallpaper decal grouping (the big pineapple with the four around it) there.  Then, I went out from there with the entire design, lining up the smaller pineapples from each grouping with each other.  That made it super easy for me to eye-ball the design.

However, I’d advise that if you’re going to eye-ball instead of mark and measure, you step back several feet each time and look to make sure that it is even.

Sew What Alicia has a great tutorial with a lot more specifics on measuring and placing your designs using measurements.

The great thing about peel and stick wallpaper using vinyl is that it is totally removable and respositionable.  If you don’t get the position right the right time, you can absolutely remove it, reposition, and try again!

Use something with a flat edge (I used a credit card) to smooth the vinyl on the wall.  Focusing on getting the edges flat will help the vinyl look even more like wallpaper.

That’s it!

If you don’t have a vinyl cutter

There are tons of folks on Etsy who sell vinyl and can make custom images for you.

Total cost of this peel and stick wallpaper project: $26

Not bad, right?  It packs a punch, looks super cute, and costs waaaaaaay less than the wallpaper from my inspiration photo would have!

Let me know if there are some brand-spankin’ new Cricut users out there that want a tutorial on how to actually make the decal in Design Space.  I can make a video tutorial or step-by-step directions for that if you guys want it! Making decals was the very first project that I tackled, and are probably the most user friendly for those who are new to Cricut.

I love how this project turned out and can’t wait to tackle my next Cricut project!