Inspiring Crafty DIY Window Clings with Transparent Glitter Vinyl

Learn how to make DIY window clings with pretty transparent glitter vinyl! Customized clings would also be great for holidays, birthdays, & more!

If you’ve been following along, you know that we just moved, and I’m a lucky gal because our new home has enough space for me to have my very own craft room!!  Ahhhh, I’ve been waiting for this my entire life.  I’m still figuring out paint colors and our next IKEA trip for shelving and storage and peg board possibilities, but I went ahead and decided to jazz up one area of my craft room: the window!

Yep, my big, beautiful window got a few custom, colorful, glittery, and inspiring window clings that just make my crafty heart sing.  Curtains will come later.Check out the full tutorial below, and don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a $50 Expressions Vinyl gift card!

[Many thanks to Expressions Vinyl for sponsoring today’s fun and giveaway!]

 

Inspiring Crafty DIY Window Clings with Transparent Glitter Vinyl + GIVEAWAY!

Expressions Vinyl is my go-to source for all things vinyl, and they recently challenged me and a handful of other crafty bloggers to put their new transparent glitter vinyl to the test….here’s what I came up with!

 

Supplies

• Clear window cling sheets
• Transparent glitter vinyl
• Silhouette Cameo & 12″ x 24″ cutting mat
• Washi tape to help transfer some of the vinyl words to the window cling cutouts

 

My Designs

So here are the designs I created in Silhouette Studio so I could cut them out with my Silhouette Cameo.  The colored words will be cut out in transparent glitter vinyl (perfect for glass!), and the gray outlines represent the clear window cling material.

{And no, these aren’t the final sizes….as you’ll see below, my window is HUGE so I made these puppies BIG!}

 

Cutting the Window Cling Material

The package of window cling material I used calls it vinyl, but it’s not like the vinyl I’m used to using with my Silhouette creations.  It has a white paper backing, but there’s no adhesive.  It’s more like a static cling.

Ya know, similar to what the oil change guy sticks to the top inside of your windshield to remind you to stop in again within six months or 1,000 miles (or something like that)…..and I always blow waaaay past it until my husband is like “Babe, WTF??” and I’m all “Uhhhh, sorry…?  Car stuff is your job.”

Yeah, that stuff.

I used three sheets of the clear variety for this project, but as you can see by the squares on the front of the package, it also comes in lots of pretty colors.

 

Silhouette Cut Settings for Window Cling Material

Here’s the cut settings I used with my Silhouette Cameo:

• Blade: 4
• Speed: 5
• Thickness: 23

 

Once my settings were finalized, I loaded a sheet onto my cutting mat and into my Silhouette, then got to cutting!

 

And this stuff cut like butter….or buttah.  It was super easy to weed (or remove) too.

As I peeled them off the paper backing, I stuck them onto the window for safe keeping until all my vinyl words were cut after the next step.

 

Cutting the Transparent Glitter Vinyl

Now it was time to cut the vinyl!  One of the best parts of having a Silhouette is being able to make lots of pretty things, and the pretty things I like to make often involve vinyl of some type.  I’ve used all kinds over the past two years of crafting, as my Project Gallery shows: outdoor, indoor, heat transfer, glitter heat transfer, fuzzy heat transfer, glow-in-the-dark, printable, printable heat transfer, etched glass, yada yada yada….

This project was going to be extra fun because I would be testing out a new kind of vinyl I hadn’t yet gotten my hands on: transparent glitter!!  It’s still brightly colored, but thanks to the transparency, it’s awesome for use with glass because it lets just the right amount of light through.  Plus it’s glittery!  What’s not to love?

Just look at all the fun colors Expressions Vinyl sent over my way….thanks guys!  I used seven of these colors for this particular project: yellow, orange, light blue, purple, hot pink, black, and green.

 

In Silhouette Studio, I first ungrouped my designs then moved all the similarly colored elements to my virtual cutting mat.  Next, I loaded the matching sheet of transparent glitter vinyl to my real cutting mat and into my Silhouette….

 

Silhouette Cut Settings for Transparent Glitter Vinyl

….then after a test cut, finalized my cut settings for this material:

• Blade: 2
• Speed: 5
• Thickness: 10

 

This process was repeated until all of the colors were cut, and I then got to trimming the pieces and weeding away all the excess.

 

Applying the Vinyl to the Window Clings

I first made sure all the clear window cling cutouts were completely flush against the window (bubbles are bad), then started adding the individual colored vinyl letters one at a time.

I just eyeballed their placements so they’re far from perfect, but I was too lazy to deal with transfer tape and hinge method and all that jazz I normally do thanks to my OCD tendencies and strong desire for perfection.  I’m learning to let go….slowly….

 

For the actual words, a strip of washi tape worked perfectly for an easy transfer.

 

Here’s a picture to give you some perspective on the size of these suckers.  Like I said, BIG.  Hey, when you got a big window, you gotta have big clings.  It’s a law.

 

The Final Inspiring Crafty Window Clings with Transparent Glitter Vinyl!

And here are my final crafty window clings in all their glittery, transparent, colorful, inspirational glory!  And let me tell ya: I LOVE them.  Like LOOOOOVE them.  They’re the perfect first step to my dream craft room.  Color speaks to me.

 

And since I have a slight fear of commitment where vinyl decals are concerned (and I didn’t want my husband to have a stroke when he got home), I love that these clings are removable and repositionable!  I could have just stuck the vinyl directly on the glass, but, yikes.  Not that brave.

You can also use these clings on mirrors, car windows, or any other smooth, flat surface.  Fun galore!

 

Here’s a pic showing just how big my craft room’s window is.  Very gigantor indeed.  I sure do love all that natural light though!  I made seven of these window clings and I’ll probably end up making some more just to fill up the space.  We’ll see.

Plus at some point the blinds will be installed again (the window was actually replaced just two days ago…not even kidding) and curtains will be hung and the walls will be painted gray instead of boring beige and maybe I’ll actually get a desk and crafting table and shelves and a peg board and unpack my dozen of tubs stuffed with supplies and stop Silhouetting on the floor….  Sorry for the rambling but we just moved in two months ago, so I’m still planning my dream craft room.  It’ll happen….some day.

And also sorry about the non-photogenic garbage cans in the background.  It was trash day….what’ya gonna do?  And our lawn is in rough shape, but like I said, just moved in!  We’re working on it.

 

Expressions Vinyl Giveaway!

The awesome folks over at Expressions Vinyl want to give YOU a chance to test out this super cool transparent glitter vinyl too (or something else if you’d prefer), and they’re offering up a chance to win a $50 gift card!  Enter in the widget below for your chance to win….you’ve got 11 potential entries, so good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Stay crafty, my friends!