How to cut contact paper (to look like vinyl) with your Cricut

 Do you ever do a craft and you are not 100% happy with it. It look good at the time but not great. That is how I felt about the monogramming I put on our mailbox a while ago. At the time when I did the project, I was borrowing my mom's Cricut and had a limited selection of fonts. Well now that I have my own Cricut (insert an image of me smiling from ear to ear here) and the Sure Cuts A Lot software I have no limitations.
 I was on the My Vinyl Designer website and saw some absolutely beautiful monograms. You get 15 different images for under $5! Here is the monogram set that I loved and got:

If you have not been to the My Vinyl Designer website before, please venture over they have some truly amazing images. I am not being compensated to promote them, I just really do love their products.

For this project, I love the first monogram on the top left and decided that was what I wanted to do. I downloaded the image onto my computer, resized the monogram (with the a separate program) to be approximately 3inches square and set up my Cricut. I have white vinyl but have been curious whether or not contact paper/shelf liner would work the same. So I thought this was my opportunity to test it out. Not surprisingly, it worked great!

Here is how I substituted Cricut vinyl with Dollar store contact paper / shelf liner! 

The contact paper I purchased from the Dollar Store is called "Adhesive shelf and drawer liner" and comes in a roll that is approximately 40 inches by 18 inches. The Cricut vinyl is 12 inches by 48 inches. The contact paper is not nearly as thick as the Cricut vinyl but for $1 vs $10, I was willing to try.

I am sorry I don't have a picture of contact paper, I was so excited to try it out I ripped off the label before taking a photo. I am just like my kids...I can't wait to open things.

I trimmed the contact paper to be 12 x 12inches so it would fit into my Cricut. I placed the piece of contact paper onto the cutting mat, making sure it was secured and there were no bubbles between the paper and the mat.

Isn't the apple green pretty :)

I set the pressure to low/medium and the cutting blade to 3. My blade is new, so I am not sure if this will need to be changed if you blade is older. But for $1 you can play around without worrying about messing up.

 The contact paper cut great!There was no pulling or spots where it didn't cut.

 

When transferring the image, the only problem I had was the design I picked was a little too delicate. I don't have the transfer paper (I am too cheap but I do have a cheap trick for this too...stay tuned it will come soon) so I had to fiddle a little bit with the design when I was adhering it to the mailbox. One little piece of a loop tore off but and I didn't get it perfectly centered (just slightly off) but I am happy with it.

 

Here is the before if you didn't see it:

Isn't is so much nicer?

I am extremely excited to be able to cut contact paper as a substitute for the pricey vinyl with the Cricut. For those of you who have Silhouettes, I would assume this would work the same for you too...it is worth a try for $1.

I love that you can get contact paper in so many different colors and the price is fantastic too!

Has anyone else done this? Does anyone have any tips?

Stephanie