DIY Chalkboard Party Sign: Flavormaker Academy

Instructions

Preparation:

1. Measure the width and height of your sign. This way you know exactly how many ice cream scoops you need and how wide your lettering needs to be.
2. If you’re using a chalk board, you may want to wash it first, so the vinyl adheres better.

Creating the Stacked Ice Cream Cones:

1. Start a new project in Cricut design space. Click on upload, and then upload image, browse, and then find the file in the folder where you’re keeping the project. Then select the stacked ice-cream cone SVG. Save and insert the image onto your canvas.
2. When the design loads, go ahead and ungroup all the pieces of the file.
   
3. Next, you're going to need to take all the little squiggly lines in the ice cream scoops and change them to “Draw”.
4. Cricut Design space will automatically change the color to black. Don’t forget to change the color at this point if you’d like.
5. Once you've changed it to draw, then select the ice cream scoop that goes with the line and then select “Attach.
6. Repeat with all the other ice cream scoops.
   
7. Finally, select the hash marks on the cone and change those to “Draw” as well. Then attach the lines to the base of the cone.
   
8. Now it’s time to duplicate the ice cream scoops until you have enough for your sign. Since our sign is 24 inches tall, I know I’ll need 3 sets of ice cream scoops (9 total) to reach the top of the sign.
9. Once you have all those duplicated, you’re ready to click “Make it”. Increase the copies of the project to 2 if you’re planning to make an ice cream scoop for both sides of your sign.
   
10. Follow the directions in Cricut Design space to load your pen and your fine point blade. Load the mat and cut your pieces. (I’m using a Maker, so I'm going to load the pen in clamp A and the fine point blade in clamp B).
11. After the pieces are cut out, you should give the ink a few minutes to dry before unloading the paper from the mat.
12. Using measuring tape, a ruler, or a craft mat with measurements, arrange your pieces to fit the height of your frame.
    
13. When you're happy with the position of all the ice cream scoops, apply a small bead of hot glue to the very top of the ice cream cone. Attach the first ice cream scoop to the cone.
14. From there use a little bit of hot glue to attach the rest of the ice cream scoops, creating one giant ice cream cone.
15. Repeat with the second ice cream cone and set of ice cream scoops, then set aside until time for final assembly.

Cutting Out the Vinyl Lettering

1. Upload the Flavormaker Academy lettering to Cricut Design Space. (Use the same procedure as steps 1-3 from the ice cream scoops above.)
   
2. Ungroup all the lettering and then select all the blue letters. Click “Attach” to make them cut out exactly as you see them.
3. Select all the pink letters and click “Attach” again.
4. At this point you can resize the project to fit your sign if you like. Remember, the widest a 12 inch mat can cut is 11.5 inches. If you want your lettering wider than 11.5 inches, you may need a 12x24 inch mat and longer pieces of vinyl.
   
   For this bistro sign, we’ll be using 12-inch mats, so our lettering will stay within 11.5 inches.
5. Click “Make It” and double check on the following screens that everything looks the way it should.
6. Select the type of vinyl you’re using before you start cutting. In this case I was using holographic vinyl.
7. Carefully load your vinyl onto a standard grip mat. and follow the directions in Cricut Design Space to cut out the design.
   
8. After the design is finished cutting, you’ll need to weed the design. In other words, you’re going to remove any part of the vinyl that you don't want to be on your final project. 
9. Be careful around things like the script fonts and the small bits. The weeded lettering should look something like this: [weeded lettering]
10. Next you'll need to cut a piece of transfer paper to fit your lettering.  I used Duck brand contact paper, but you can use whatever works best for you.
    
11. Remove the paper backing and place the sticky side of the transfer tape on top of your vinyl. Make sure you press the transfer paper to the vinyl so it adheres well. Set the vinyl lettering aside.

Adding extra elements

1. Upload the PNG file(s) of your choice as a print then cut file. (I recommend using the “complex” setting. This helps ensure that it catches all the small parts, including the corner marks. (see notes)
   
2. Lock the proportions of the design. Then change the width to 6.75 inches. The design should resize to fit within the largest print and cut size limit.
3. Click on Make it, and continue. When you send the file to the printer, make sure you have the bleed selected. This will reduce any likelihood of white outlines where it should be black.
   
4. Important: When loading your printed image onto your mat, make sure the printed image is facing the same direction as the mat preview in Cricut Design Space. If you don’t, your cuts will be all wrong.
5. After the design is cut, carefully unload the design from the mat. If you’re unloading a design with a cherry stem, be extra careful, because the thin stem is very delicate.

Assembling The Sign

1. Remove the paper backing from the “Flavormaker Academy” vinyl lettering. Make sure all the vinyl is on the transfer tape. Take your time doing this, especially with the script letters.
   
2. Place the lettering in the upper center area of your sign and press the vinyl against your sign. You’ll need to press in all the corners and curves to make sure the vinyl is attached. Sometimes it helps to use your fingernail or a scraper tool to get in the small areas.
   
3. Now, very slowly peel back the transfer tape off the vinyl. If the lettering wants to stick you the transfer tape, you can use a fingernail to hold the top of a letter to the frame while you peel back the rest of the tape.
4. Repeat with the other set of vinyl wording.[tape loop]Now that we have all the lettering.
   
5. Take a piece of masking tape or painters tape and double the tape over on itself to create a loop.
6. Next, stick several tape loops to the back of your ice cream scoops. Then press it to the sides of your sign to attach.
7. Repeat with any other accents you have to add to your sign, and you’re done!