In this instructables,

Jen creates some vinyl letters with her Cricut machine and uses them to create a custom sign for our homestead hen house. HomesteadHow.com is about a family of six who left the city to live and grow on 20 acres. We are rookies sharing our journey with you. To all the preppers, homesteaders, or survivalists who wants to live a more simple live, come learn with us!

1.) Cricut Explore Air 2 Mint

2.) Orical 651 Vinyl

3.) Vinyl Transfer Paper Tape Roll

4.) Cricut Scraper

Step 1: Find a Design You Like

The first step you want to do is to research what kind of design you want your sign to have. I had a design in mind, but searched pinterest for some extra ideas. I found one I liked, but saw it was almost $30 dollars on Etsy. I knew I could make one similar to it and for much cheaper. So first find a design you want to start with.

Step 2: Pick Text and a Font to Use

Once you have an idea of what you want to make or the design you want, you will want to bring out your cricut machine and have fun. When I say fun, I mean it, type in what text you want it to say, for instance I wrote "Farm Fresh Eggs" for my hen house. Then the fun part is fining a text you want, I searched and tried many and found the one I loved and worked best. The font I picked is called ZOO DAY if you'd like to know.

Step 3: Gather Your Supplies and Prepare Your Wood Surface

After you decided what you want your sign to say and have chosen your font, you will next want to prepare your wood surface and gather your supplies. To save some money I reused some wood from a previous project and went cheap and bought drawer liner and contact paper from the dollar store ;) instead of using vinyl which can get really expensive and wasteful.

Step 4: Measure and Cut

Next, measure your wood to get the dimensions for the words and images if you want to add any. Then you will put those dimensions into the cricut design space and make any changes you want to make them bigger or smaller. Then cut your vinyl or in this case drawer liner to size and stick to your mat. To make this stick better I used spray adhesive. Then use a Cricut Machine to cut/print out your vinyl letters.

Step 5: Attach the Letters to the Board

After your letters are cut out and backing was carefully taken off, you will then cut the contact paper to the size of your letters and press down so the letters securely attach to the contact paper. This will make it easier to keep the letters in a straight line when putting it onto the wood board.

Once you get the letters all attached to the paper you can figure out where you want to put the words and attach to the board. Once again want to press down hard on the contact paper to release the letters onto the board.

Step 6: Start Painting & Let Dry & Seal

After all the letters are firmly "stuck" into place and your contact paper is removed, you can start painting...BUT be sure your letters are really in place well. Any gaps or looseness could result in paint seeping under the vinyl letters and ruining the desired outcome. You will NOT want to rush this part. We used spray paint- which works well with smooth, even strokes. We tried painting a dark stain on another project and it seeped under the lettering-- spray paint seems to work best.

Now comes the fun part, there is just something about peeling the words off and revealing the nearly finished product, which makes this all worthwhile! After the letters are peeled and the paint is thoroughly dried, apply several coats of sealer (poly urethane).