DIY Fall Banner with Cricut

Instructions

Step 1: Measure your banner to determine the design size

The first thing we are going to do is measure our banner to see how big our design should be.  For this banner, I think 8" tall will be about perfect for the wreath design.

Step 2: Prepare the design for cutting in Cricut Design Space

Now we can open a new project in Cricut Design Space and upload our SVG file.  If you need help with this step, just click here for a tutorial.

Next, we can resize the image to fit our banner.

We also need to attach parts of the design before we cut them so they stay together when we cut them. Go ahead and select the entire image and click ungroup. 

Now we can select the brown layer and click attach.

Do the same for the remaining layers except for the orange layer. 

I decided not to attach the orange layer since there are just a few leaves. I will place them manually on the banner when we go to heat.

Next, click make it.

You should have 4 mats.  One for each color of vinyl being used. 

I cut each color on its own mat for this project because most of the layers are too large to fit on one mat together. 

If you want you could move over the orange leaves to be cut with one of the other colors to save a bit of time. 

Since we are using iron-on vinyl, we will also need to turn on the mirror option for each mat.

Click continue and select your material type.

For all of the mats except the glitter, I used a non-Cricut heat transfer vinyl so I will browse materials.

Then search for heat transfer and then select "Heat Transfer (non-Cricut)".

Step 3: Place the iron-on vinyl on the mat and start cutting

Now we can place the heat transfer vinyl with the shiny side down on a standard grip mat. 

I like to use a brayer tool to make sure the material is really stuck to the mat well. 

Then we can load the mat and start cutting.

Once the mat is done cutting we can unload it and remove the vinyl from the mat. 

Repeat the process until you get to the mat that will have the glitter vinyl on it.

When you get to the mat with the glitter vinyl, you will need to change the material type for that mat to glitter iron-on.

Again we will place the glitter vinyl shiny side down on the mat, load it, and start cutting.

Then unload the mat and remove the glitter vinyl.

Step 4: Weed the vinyl

Now we are ready to start weeding.  If you have any excess vinyl with no cuts on it, you can cut that away from the design and save the scraps for a smaller future project.

I also used a rotary cutting tool on the glitter vinyl so I could cut out the center to use for future projects. 

To weed the design, use a weeding tool to pull up the corner and then remove the bulk of the excess vinyl. 

Next, you will use the weeding tool to remove the smaller parts of the design that you don't want on the banner.

Repeat this process for all of the different colors of vinyl.

I ended up just scrapping the tiny gold circles that go in the center of the three smaller flowers.  They were just too tiny to distinguish between the other gold flecks on the plastic backing sheet. 

I did leave the larger circles in the center of the biggest flower and really like how it turned out.  You can do whatever you prefer here.

Step 5: Set the temperature and time on your heat-press

Now we are going to set the temperature and time for our heat press.  I started out using my larger EasyPress for this project but moved to the EasyPress Mini for the smaller details because it did a better job of heating the vinyl on the textured surface of the banner material. 

Cricut's heat press guide recommends setting the temperature to 330 degrees and the time to 30 seconds for the larger heat press.  For the EasyPress Mini, the medium temperature was recommended.

Step 6: Apply the vinyl to the banner

Before you start placing the vinyl, use a lint roller all over the banner.

Then preheat the banner for 5 seconds.

To get the design in the right place, I first laid down the brown layer. 

Then I placed the glitter layer on top of it to make sure it was positioned correctly. 

Then you can gently lift up the glitter vinyl and start heating the brown layer of vinyl.

It's important to do the layers in the order that I show here.  The glitter layer has to be last because you cannot apply iron-on vinyl on top of the glitter iron-on vinyl.

Now we can heat the first layer.  Since we have multiple layers to heat, we want to just heat the first layer for about 10 seconds or so to get it stuck down. 

The regular iron-on vinyl I am using is a warm peel so I am going to peel the plastic backing sheet off while it is still warm.  The type of iron-on vinyl you have should specify if it is a warm peel or cool peel vinyl.

Next, we can place the red vinyl.  I was having a hard time getting each section of the red vinyl lined up perfectly while it was all attached so I ended up cutting the plastic backing sheet so I could place each section by itself. 

That way I was able to get everything lined up just how I wanted it. 

Use the gold layer again as a reference to make sure the red vinyl is placed in the correct spot.

Once everything is lined up, place the plastic backing sheet from the brown layer back on top of the design and then start heating.  You never want to apply heat directly to uncovered vinyl.

Now you can peel up the plastic backing sheet for each layer and start placing the orange vinyl. 

I also decided to just manually place each orange leaf to get them in the right spot. 

When you have the orange leaves lined up correctly, place the plastic backing sheet back over the entire design and start heating the orange vinyl. 

Remove the plastic sheets again and we will place the gold layer down.

Again, I cut apart each section of the gold layer to get it placed perfectly. 

Then place the plastic sheet over the entire design and start heating the gold vinyl.

Once all of the layers had been applied, I decided to use my larger heat press one last time for the full 30 seconds on the front of the design and then 15 seconds on the back.

Step 7: Remove the plastic backing to reveal your new banner

The glitter iron-on is a cool peel so I waited until it is cool to the touch before I peeled up the plastic backing sheet on it. 

If any part of the design lifts up when you peel back the plastic sheet, just place the plastic backing sheet for the entire design back down and heat it for a bit longer until it sticks. 

This Fall banner turned out SO pretty! It is the perfect addition to my Fall decorations this year! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and get a chance to make your own Fall banner this season!

Don't forget to grab this free design at the bottom of the page.