I love the buffalo plaid trend and I have loads of designs ahead for Christmas! But I realised I could create a classic black and white themed pumpkin plate and can keep it throughout the Autumn season until Christmas decorations come out in December! I have fun decorating the house for the holidays.
I created this plate in mind for Halloween treats and cookies this year but I will keep it out for longer it in the porch to put keys and loose change as we come in from the dark and cold!
I layered this using Ritrama vinyl on what was an old Candle plate I picked up cheap from TK Maxx. I normally use it for chocolates or fudge at the end of a dinner party! It will be super simple to remove the design at the end of November. Please see my other blog post for a full run down on what you need to do vinyl crafting and where to buy it!
So, for this DIY craft we’re going to need:
1. A plate
2. Black adhesive vinyl and white adhesive vinyl
3. Transfer tape
4. A Vinyl cutting machine – eg Silhouette Cameo or Cricut.
5. Tweezers and a “burnisher” or credit card.
6. A digital cut File – You can click on the below pic to check out mine from Etsy.
So, I’ll level with you, as an experienced vinyl crafter I did not use layering registration marks for this project and it worked out. BUT when I layered the same design on a large 3 wick glass candle for the table it went badly! So I have included optional registration marks in the SVG file. There is a great instructional tutorial on using them over at the Silhouette School blog.
Weeding this plaid design wasn’t simple, but I love the activity and concentration in weeding and find it so soothing. For ease, try not to cut this cut file smaller than 20cm.
After cutting and weeding your vinyl, layer the transfer tape on top of your white pumpkin base. Then prep your plate by making sure it is clean and dust free.
Using gridded transfer tape means it is easy to line up on the square plate and keep the design straight. You could always measure and mark your surface using a light pencil or Sharpie to find the centre lines.
Don’t worry about the bubbles. I did squeegee them out! And besides, the busy pattern on top hides a multitude of sins.
I don’t know about you but I’m cheap and always reuse transfer tape if I’m layering designs! It was very tricky to layer the top on top as you can’t reposition it if you get it wrong, I found it easier to layer using the pumpkin stalk as a guideline and the rest of it flowed well.
I’ll be honest and say I was a couple of millimetres out! A quick touch up with black Sharpie and shhh no one would know! I’ll use registration marks next time.
What do you think? Can I get away with buffalo plaid/check pattern outside of Christmas? What decorations do you use during the colder months that aren’t Christmas themed?
If you found these instructions useful please let me know! I am planning on a much more basic DIY on vinyl craft in the future but I hoped someone else with a little more experience would enjoy this project.
~Maggie x
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