DIY Christmas Tablescape with Cricut

Instructions

To create your Rae Dunn inspired Christmas tablescape start with a black and white buffalo plaid table runner.

The next item is a red charger. Place a white dinner plate on the red charger.

The salad/dessert plates I used were found a few years ago in the Target dollar spot. Just about any Christmas colored plates would look good. There are a lot of cute options on Amazon.

The final step is where the crafting comes in. You'll need red/white bakers twine, boxwood wreaths, and small white ball ornaments.

Around the holidays you can find small boxwood wreaths in a lot of places. I found wired garlands that I used to make mine. I've seen these garlands in craft stores and even in the Target dollar spot.

To make the garland I decided on the size I wanted and loosely twisted two strands together to get a nice full looking garland in the correct size.

To create the personalized Rae Dunn inspired ornaments that are the center of each place setting I broke out my Cricut Explore Air 2 (this project could also be done with just about any Cricut machine).

You will need white ball ornaments, mine are small because I didn’t want them to overpower the place settings.

Once you have your ornaments you will want to clean them well with rubbing alcohol, this step seems like an easy one to skip but I highly recommend not skipping it, the vinyl seems to adhere so much better when you don’t skip this step.

Once all your ornaments are clean and dry cut your vinyl. I used my Explore Air 2 and Cricut Premium Permanent Vinyl for a permanent result.

I used a font from Cricut Access in Design Space called Avenida Com and sized them based on the ornament size and the length of the name.

I love Cricut Access, there have been very few fonts/images I have had to look elsewhere for very few items because it has pretty much everything I need.

Place your vinyl on your mat and set your dial to the correct material. Since I used the Premium Vinyl I set my Air 2 to Vinyl + and it cut perfectly.

Once your names are cut unload your mat and remove the vinyl from the mat. Using your weeding tool weed all excess vinyl so you only have the name left behind.

Pay extra attention to the inside of each letter making sure you get all those small pieces out, this is a great time to break out your BrightPad if you have one, it makes weeding vinyl so much easier.

To apply the vinyl to the ornament you will need a piece of transfer tape slightly larger than the name itself.

Place the transfer tape over the vinyl name, then using a scraping tool (or the back of a spoon or a credit card) press the vinyl onto the transfer tape.

You’ll remove the vinyl from the backing and have it on the transfer tape. I love that the transfer tape is clear, it makes seeing exactly where you’re putting your vinyl so easy.

Try to handle the area of the ornament you’re putting the vinyl on as little as possible. Starting in the middle of your name (or word) put the vinyl on the ornament.

Pressing outward from the middle make sure each letter is fully pushed down onto the ornament.

Slowly lift the transfer tape up making sure the letters are stuck to the ornament not the transfer tape.

Pulling from the corner at a 45 degree angle is the best/easiest way to remove the transfer tape.

Now for the really hard part - Premium Vinyl - Permanent needs to sit for 24 hours without being handled for the adhesive to adhere. Tie your ornament onto the boxwood wreath with bakers twine and place on Christmas plate.

You now have a personalized, beautiful, Rae Dunn inspired Christmas tablescape.