How to make a garden flag for Spring-free Svg included
The birds are singing, flowers are starting to bloom, and allergies are running rampant….
Ah yes! Spring is in the air. This month we’d like to share with you how to make a garden flag that is not only beautiful but thrifty and reusable too.
Materials needed for the project:
- Cutting Machine
- Cutting Mat
- Weeding Tool
- Scraper
- Plastic Placemat
- Vinyl/Transfer Paper
- Spray Paint
- Ribbon
- Stapler
- Glue gun/Hot Glue (Optional)
CLICK HERE TO GRAB THE FREE SVG
To start off, we need to spray paint the plastic placemat we are using. I took this task outside to spray paint, this is due to the fumes released when painting. I sprayed my placemat inside a cardboard box to minimize the spray and to protect my surroundings.
I used Rustoleum Gloss spray paint in the color teal, purchased at my local Lowes Home Improvement store. The finished product took 2 coats and needed 24 hours to dry completely.
(If you are unable to spray paint, you could alternatively use vinyl to cover your placemat).
Now we are going to download the free “Welcome Spring” SVG from Pen and Posh and upload it into your cutting machine. I used Cricut Design Space and will be using the Maker.
Next, we are going to create a mockup of our placemat. Change the size of your mat to 50% to be able to see the entire design at once. Add free square shape in the left-hand panel-under shapes. Change the size to 11 x 17 inches at the top of your screen. Change the color to represent your spray paint color choice. Send the rectangle to the back of your design.
Then we are going to make some holes to cut out of our placemat. (This will be where we hang our placemat from the flag holder). Add a rectangle from the left-hand panel under the shape button. Change dimensions to 2.8 x .5 inches at the top of your screen. Duplicate the rectangle with the button in the upper right-hand screen. Select both rectangles and align them vertically using the align button at the top of the screen.
To make the SVG pop a little more, I am adding a circle to the back of the design. Go to the shapes button once more and add a circle. I changed the color to match the vinyl I will be using…white. I changed the dimensions to 7 x 6.2 Inches and sent it to the back. If you accidentally send it behind the rectangle, you can click and drag it above in the layers panel on the right-hand side.
Group the circle and the Svg together. Adjust the size to your liking. I made mine 7.9 x 8 inches.
We now can see what our design will look like. But we don’t want to cut out the rectangle. (We already have our placemat cut). To prevent cutting, we need to turn off the eye symbol in the layers panel to your right. This “hides” the rectangle.
Next, we want to make sure the rectangle “holes” will be treated as one shape. We will select both and use the Weld button in the lower right-hand screen to weld them together. This tells the Cricut Maker to cut out both rectangles at one time, evenly spaced, on one cutting mat. We will be cutting this separately from the other designs. We do this so that we can cut them out with more pressure. Hide the welded rectangles in the layer panel, just like we did before. We will come back to them later.
Click ‘Make it’, to start the cutting process. Design Space will separate the colors by mats. This design gives us six mats. I am going to condense the mats down to three by moving items from other mats onto another. Be sure to select the correct colored vinyl and put it onto the correct mat when using this little trick. Add your vinyl to the cutting mats. Hit the “Continue” button in the lower right corner to start the cut.
Connect your machine. Set your material to vinyl with default pressure. Load your first cutting mat into the machine and press the flashing Cricut symbol to begin cutting. Follow your machine's prompts to change the cutting mats out. Click Finish when done.
Now we want to go back to our original canvas. Delete the SVG design we just cut out. Open the ‘eye’ on the welded rectangles in the layers panel at the right. Click the ‘Make it’ button to start the cutting process. Change the size of the mat on the left-hand side. Move the rectangles where you’d like them cut out on the mat. Add your placemat to your cutting mat. Hit the ‘Continue’ button. Connect your machine to again, and select plastic canvas as the material with more pressure. Load your cutting mat into the machine. Click the flashing Cricut button to begin cutting.
*Great tip: if the cut doesn’t look deep enough on the placemat, DO NOT UNLOAD your cutting mat at the end of the cut. Instead, press the Cricut symbol to start the cut again. You can do this as many times as you need.
We will now assemble the design onto the spray-painted placemat. Remove your cut vinyl and placemat from the cutting mats. I like to cut around my vinyl to reuse the scraps in other craft projects. Weed the vinyl from the paper backing with your weeding tool.
Cover the weeded vinyl with transfer paper. Burnish the design as needed with your scraper. Then transfer the vinyl, with the transfer paper, to the placemat. Repeat for all cut vinyl pieces.
Lastly, we are going to add some ribbon to hang the garden flag placemat. I used a 1 ½ inch wired burlap ribbon purchased from the Dollar Tree. You can use whatever ribbon you’d like, the sturdier the better. Cut the ribbon and attach the ends to make a loop. I used a stapler for time’s sake, but you can use hot glue or even sew the loop with some thread for durability!
We have finished our garden flag project! Remember the back of the placemat? You can decorate it with some more vinyl for another season too! How awesome is that?! We hope you had as much fun as we did on this project. We would love to see yours too! Tag us @penandposh on Instagram or use hashtag #CraftwithPenandPosh. We just may feature you on our social media!
CLICK HERE TO GRAB THE FREE SVG
To grab these free designs from some of my other favorite bloggers, click the links below:
Kasey
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