DIY Wall Decals Using Cricut: Learn How to Make Your Own Wall Stickers!

Looking for an easy way to add some personality to a room? My tutorial for DIY wall decals will show you how I transformed one side of my daughter’s room into a gorgeous modern accent wall. This post was sponsored by Cricut and appeared first on bybrittanygoldwyn.com.

DIY Wall Decals Using Cricut

Hey all, today I’m talking all about how to transform a room in the easiest way possible: by making DIY wall decals! Whether you call them wall decals or wall stickers, these things are such a nifty way to give your room a facelift.

I thought it would be the perfect way to finish upgrading R’s space from baby nursery to toddler room! Here’s what R’s nursery looked like as a baby. The owl art (also a DIY) was perfect for the nursery.

When we moved her from a crib to her big girl bed (see how we made the DIY house-shaped toddler bed frame), we did some rearranging. But we kept the same paint colors and owl art.

modern toddler room with a house-shaped bed

When Cricut asked me to be part of the DIY summer home improvement series, I jumped at the chance to tackle her room! I saw that “a room to remember” was one of the themes, and it clicked. I’d seem some cute, modern, Scandi-inspired decals in kids rooms all over Etsy, so that was exactly what I wanted to do.

Cricut Explore Air 2: My favorite machine!

I knew my Cricut Explore Air 2 would be the perfect fit for this. I have to be honest—I have a Cricut Maker as well, and I love it for specialty blades and projects that just require a bit more power.

However, for cutting vinyl, you can’t beat the Cricut Explore Air 2. It’s the machine I use primarily for my vinyl and iron-on projects, which make up the bulk of my Cricut crafting.

It doesn’t just cut vinyl, though. This versatile machine can meet all of life’s crafty needs by quickly and accurately cutting 100 different types of material. The Explore Air 2 can cut iron-on, paper, adhesive foil, craft foam, genuine leather, light chipboard, bonded fabric, sticker paper, wood veneer, party foil, tattoo paper…shall I continue?

No, you want the tutorial? Well, you can see the full list of materials you can cut on the Explore Air 2 on Cricut’s website 🙂 The Explore Air 2 also has the perk of being at a bit lower of a price point.

This, combined with the variety of materials the machine can cut, make it a really great bang for your buck. From personal gifting and custom decals to home decor, the Explore Air 2 is an incredible investment for any craft room.

Here are a few projects I’ve done that you can make with an Explore Air 2:

Instead of hand-cutting 25+ decals for R’s wall, I just popped my Explore Air 2 up on a table and used a 12″ x 24″ mat to cut 6 decals at once. First time I’ve ever used my 12″ x 24″ mat, and it was a game changer in terms of time saved cutting so many of the same thing!

And I love how easy it is to get up and running on the Explore Air 2. Although I prefer designing projects in Design Space on my desktop computer, I love initiating pre-made or already-designed projects from the Design Space app on my phone. That way I don’t have to be tied to a desk and can spread my crafting mess out a bit more.

So let’s jump into the tutorial! Here’s what I used:

Cricut Explore Air 2
Premium Vinyl, Removable in White
12″ x 24″ StandardGrip Mat
Transfer Tape (Tip: the Cricut Joy tape minimizes waste!)
Weeding tool and scissors
TrueControl Knife and self-healing mat
Image #M144644A4 in Design Space (with the heart removed)
Measuring tape and painter’s tape

And here’s how I made my DIY wall decals using Cricut!

Step 1: Measure wall and decide on decal spacing

The first step is to measure and decide on spacing. This will tell you how large you should cut your rainbows, as well as how many you’ll need to cut. (I recommend cutting one or two extra rainbows to account for any mistakes or accidents during application!)

If it helps you decide, I used 23 rainbows, each sized at 5.5 inches wide, on a wall that was 9 feet tall. I found it was helpful to cut a few smaller rainbows and tape them up—I’m a very visual person.

That’s what I did below with two 4.5-inch rainbows and decided they were too small. (Don’t worry, these didn’t go to waste. I added them on R’s bookcase.)

Step 2: Cut and weed rainbow decals

Using the 12″ x 24″ mat meant I could cut 6 rainbows at a time. That meant I could get 12 rainbows out of each 48-inch roll of vinyl! That makes this a really affordable project in terms of the amount you’ll need to spend on vinyl and transfer tape.

I used my tool set to press out any air bubbles before cutting. After cutting the rainbows, peeled the mat off of the vinyl by pulling the mat away from the vinyl. If you pull the vinyl away from the mat, it will crinkle the vinyl. I then started to cut 6 more rainbows while I used my weeding tool to weed the negative space out.

While using a TrueControl knife isn’t totally necessary, I love this little tool and think it speeds up cutting. I used it and my self-healing mat to cut out all of the rainbows to prepare for application.

using a scraper to push out air bubbles after adhering vinyl to a standard mat

removing negative space after cutting vinyl on a Cricut machine to make DIY wall decals

decals lined up on the floor ready to adhere

Step 3: Apply the DIY wall decals!

This is the fun part! I did a bit more tinkering with space, using painter’s tape and a measuring tape to note where I wanted to line my rainbows up. Then I taped the rainbows up to make sure I was totally happy with the layout.

It looked great, so I stared applying transfer tape one by one and adhering them to the wall. Yay! Once I peeled the transfer tape off of the first rainbow, I was so excited with how it looked!

Here is the finished room with all of the DIY wall decals applied!

I absolutely love it! It looks so freaking good! I’d originally thought maybe I’d put some art back up on the walls, but I think it would be too busy. The rainbows look gorgeous as they are!

One note: Consider using permanent vinyl if you’d like the wall decals to stay up for a while. The eggshell finish of the paint on drywall doesn’t help the premium removable vinyl get the best “stick.”

I could see summer humidity messing with it. But if you’re renting or are very paranoid about the vinyl affecting your paint finish, premium removable is the way to go. Just a thought to consider for your space!

You can also see a little peek of her dollhouse bookcase (also a DIY!). I put the rainbow decals I didn’t end up using on the black parts of the backing. It’s a great way to tie both sides of the room together!