Monogrammed Outdoor Candles: Summer Party Hostess Gift
How to use a Silhouette vinyl cutting machine to make a monogram to make hostess gifts.
Look what I made!
If you don’t know what a Silhouette or Cricut is – it is one very cool crafting and vinyl cutting machine! It came on the creative scene a few years ago to cut vinyl for décor and embellishing items as well as paper for scrapbooks, but it can do so much more.
It can cut ANY image and every font on your computer on vinyl, paper, and fabric! There are no cartridges involved. You can also use the Silhouette software to trace your own designs, or purchase individual designs from the extensive Silhouette Online Store to create and decorate with.
I cannot believe I did not have one sooner. It is an incredible addition to the creative tools in my DIY arsenal.
Recently when shopping at Walmart, I saw these colorful citronella candle buckets for $5.00. I like to sit outside every night in my backyard and always light a citronella candle so the bugs don’t chase me back inside. I liked that the candles had a lid to keep out rain water. I put a white one in my cart.
Then I got the idea to buy one in each color so I could personalize them with names, initials, and monograms that I could easily make on my new Silhouette Cameo.
I used these fonts: From left to right: White bucket – Modern No. 20, Green bucket – Pottery Barn, Red bucket – EcuyerDAX, Blue bucket – Centeria Script, Yellow bucket – SNF Ambroisa bold and Trajan Pro (Ambrosia bold gets more flourishes for some reason when you use the Silhouette. I can’t get the “d” that way when I am using Photoshop. )
If you would like to know how to to get the free fonts I used. You can find out where to get them and how to download them to your computer in these posts.
Personalizing the candles makes them a perfect summer party hostess gift for friends and family when I am invited to BBQ’s, picnics, and parties at their homes this summer.
Creating the initials and monograms is super easy with the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software.
It is very similar to working in a word processing program but geared to images instead of words.
You do all the designing on your computer, and then hook up the Silhouette via a USB port as you would a printer, and then watch the magic happen. I used white, black, pink, and navy vinyl to make the initials and monograms for the candle buckets.
Once the vinyl is cut (it only takes a few minutes) you pull off the excess vinyl around the cut image. You then transfer it using a low tack tape to your project.
When I worked in display I worked with vinyl every day – but words, logos, and images on a very large scale. The machine was about 4 feet long, not tabletop size.
One very easy and stylish way to personalize mass merchandised items. Now the candles look like I bought them at a chic boutique.
So many possibilities…
