Halloween Door Hanger Tutorial with Cricut Explore Air 2

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I think I have a new favorite DIY craft! This Halloween season I wanted to really decorate all the spaces I could. I really wanted to decorate our front porch and door so I took it upon myself to make a Halloween door hanger to really tie my decor together.

My Halloween decor style is more of a cute Halloween with traditional Halloween colors. We don’t do the super scary because my kids would freak and we don’t do Fall because they L-O-V-E Halloween.

Between the design of my Halloween door hanger and the colors of the ribbon I think I nailed it! It is one of Lia’s favorite pieces of decor and mine too!

Halloween Door Hanger Supplies

• Wooden Circle: I went with an 18 inch so it could be seen from afar
• Black Acrylic Paint
• Jute Rope: You can choose the thickness to fit your style
• Drill
• Polyurethane Spray
• Cricut Explore Air 2
• White Permanent Vinyl
• Standard Grip Mat (The Green One)
• Weeder
• Scraper
• Transfer Tape
• Wired Ribbon in Halloween colors
• Hot glue gun

Directions

Let’s get this party started! The first thing will be to prep our Halloween door hanger base!

Halloween Door Hanger Base

1. Clean off any dust from your wooden circle. Remember you can choose any size for this project.
2. Paint your wooden circle. Let one side fully dry and flip over to do the back side.
3. Repeat until you are satisfied with the color. I did two coats on each side.

Vinyl Decal Time

Creating the image on Cricut Design Space

1. Creating the design for my Halloween door hanger was fairly simple and I used an image from Design Space! All I did was type “boo” in the search bar for images and found one I liked.
2. Resize to what will fit your circle.

Cutting the design

1. Once you find the right size- click Create.
2. Put your permanent vinyl on your standard grip mat, shiny part up.
3. Load your mat on to your machine and follow the prompted steps to cut.
4. To remove your design without rolling, turn your mat face down and pull the mat away from your design.

Applying the Design

1. Weed your design. Weeding is the process in which you remove the excess material with your weeder to expose your design only.
2. Cut out enough transfer tape to cover your design
3. Pull the backing off your transfer tape and place over your weeded design
4. With your scraper, go over the transfer tape and design a few times to ensure it adheres.
5. Flip it over and slowly pull the backing of the vinyl design
6. Once you have removed the backing position your design on your desired location. Use your scraper to adhere to the surface of your wooden circle.
7. Slowly remove the transfer tape in a zig-zag pattern. *If you notice any parts not sticking, put it back down and go over it again with your scraper until it sticks.

The Final Touches

1. Once your design has adhered, it is time to add your Polyurethane coat. I picked a spray poly to make it easier to apply and quick to dry. Place a tarp or cardboard behind. Spray the first side and let fully dry. Flip over and spray the backing, let dry.
2. Once your poly is dried, it is time to drill holes to run your rope through. Get your drill ready and measure where you would want your holes. I positioned mine 2 inches from the top and evenly from the sides. The size of your drill bit will depend on the thickness of your rope. Remember, it is better to start small and have to drill a larger hole than to drill too large.
3. Pull your rope through the hole from the back. Tie two knots in the front to hold the rope in place. Don’t worry your bow will cover this.
4. Grab your ribbon- it’s bow making time! Total disclaimer, I am not the best bow maker. I went with an easy loop bow design to make it full and the style bow I wanted. I found a great tutorial HERE.
5. Glue your bow with hot glue to the top of your Halloween door hanger
6. Display

This is by far one of the most complex crafts I have made in my crafting career. I did learn a few things along the way.

First, it is hard to drill straight. I had my husband help me with this part seeing as I am new to power tools.

Second, bows are hard to make. It took a few tries before I was happy with my bow and that was okay.

Third, I am totally making more of these!