Learn how to make a DIY personalized Letter to Santa sign from a Target One Spot find!
Then use the FREE cut file to make one for your own family or as a special gift this holiday season!
How to Make a Personalized Letter to Santa Sign + FREE Cut File!
DIY Letter to Santa Sign Supplies
Here’s what I used to make this simple DIY personalized Letter to Santa sign:
- Sign from Target One Spot
- Paints
- White sample latex paint
- Black acrylic craft paint
- Paint brush
- Painter’s tape
- Painter’s pyramids
- Silhouette Cameo
- Vinyl
- Transfer tape
- Craft tweezers
- Scissors
- Scraper
My One Spot Sign Find
So who else is totally obsessed with One Spot at Target??
Show of hands, please.
You, you, and all y’all?
Good.
I swear I buy more from that tiny glorious section of Bullseye real estate than the entire rest of the store.
Ok, maybe not, but it sure feels like it when I’m unpacking my haul.
On a recent trip, I was naturally perusing all the bins and came across a section that is bound to make every crafter’s day: FRAMED WOODEN SIGNS.
They were cute and Christmasy, but more importantly, they’d be the perfect blanks to create DIY signs of my very own!
And you can’t beat the price.
Oh One Spot, you’re my fave.
Forever and ever, I shall love you. ♥
My Letter to Santa Sign Design
The first step in creating my Letter to Santa sign was naturally coming up with my design.
Since I knew I’d be utilizing my beloved Silhouette Cameo to cut out the design elements in vinyl, I fired up Silhouette Studio and made my mockup.
I wanted something that looked like a festive envelope that was actually hand-addressed and postmarked.
It also needed to be vinyl-friendly, and here’s what I came up with:
Prepping the Sign
Like I said, this framed pie sign was cute to begin with (and it has real woodgrain texture!), but it definitely needed a makeover to complete its transformation into a personalized Letter to Santa sign from our family to the jolly old elf himself.
What can I say, I’m obsessed with personalizing goodies for my home, especially signs.
It’s an obsession. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So, I got my paint on.
First up came the sign itself, and I used three coats of some white latex paint to fully cover up the black text.
Once the white paint was fully dried, I applied some painter’s tape around the edges then painted the frame with some black craft paint.
This only took one coat (and nicely covered up the dings and blemishes from life on a Target shelf).
Cutting Out the Vinyl Design Elements
Now that the sign itself was ready to go, it was onto the vinyl design!
As mentioned, I’d be using my beloved Silhouette Cameo to cut out the vinyl pieces, and I used four different kinds of vinyl for this sign:
I flipped through my handy vinyl scraps organizer and easily found all of my color pieces.
Once all the colors were cut, I started weeding them…and boy, let me tell ya, was this a feat!
It wasn’t hard, just time-consuming thanks to the thin and/or tiny fonts.
But at the same time, I do often find weeding vinyl to be rather therapeutic and relaxing, even if it does sometimes require focus.
Luckily, my pair of trusty craft tweezers helped saved the day.
Here are the vinyl pieces all cut and weeded:
Applying the Vinyl Pieces to the Sign
All that was left was applying each of the vinyl decals to the sign.
To do this, I first applied some transfer tape over top, pulled the vinyl off the backing, and then applied each piece to the sign one at a time.
The stamp and ‘Express Delivery’ sticker utilized layered vinyl, and you can see how easy it is to make a layered vinyl decal if you’d like more details.
Our Completed Letter to Santa Sign!
And here’s how our family’s Letter to Santa sign turned out!
I think it’s just perfect on our holiday mantel with the rest of our Christmas decorations and next to our Christmas tree with crisscrossed ribbon.
What’s even more special is that my five-year-old will be writing his very first letter to Santa this year, so this is also a little commemorative keepsake in a way.
I can’t wait to see Rowan’s cute little handwriting when he writes to Kris Kringle. :)
That holographic vinyl is just SO festive, too.
I mean, Christmas and sparkles go together like Buddy the Elf and maple syrup on spaghetti.
I also DIYed the rustic ‘Our Home Believes’ sign on our holiday mantel too!
Download this FREE Letter to Santa Sign Cut File!
Feel free to download the FREE cut file version(s) of this letter to Santa sign to make one of your own!
It would also make a great holiday gift for any family!
Just click on the “DOWNLOAD’ graphic below and you’ll be taken to a Dropbox folder.
Inside the download folder you’ll find both the .studio and SVG formats.
I also have lots of other FREE cut files and printables, so check those out too!
Enjoy and happy crafting!
{THE FINE PRINT: This file is for PERSONAL NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY. Make it and use it or gift it, but don’t sell it or share the file(s) or download link. Thanks!}
Tips for Using this FREE Letter to Santa Cut File:
- If you’d like to use the same font that I did for our family’s return address, you can find it here for free!
- It’s also what I used for the “Santa Claus” too…it’s such a great script font!
- This sign is roughly 7.75″ x 9.75″, and I wouldn’t suggest using this file for a project that’s too much smaller than that.
- If you do, you’ll probably need to change some fonts or at least thicken them using either an offset or by editing the points. The squiggly lines in the postmark will probably need to be thickened too.
- Going larger should be just fine!
- The postmark is set to “Cut Edge” so the squiggly lines cut correctly.
- When cutting the vinyl out, I bumped my speed waaaay down (like to a 2) and increased my blade waaaay up (like to an 8…but then again it’s well-used). That always seems to help with teeny tiny cuts.
- Use craft tweezers or other super pointy tools like these when weeding, especially the fonts with the inner pieces that need to be used (like in the P, R, & D in “EXPRESS DELIVERY”).
- If trying to save those tiny inner pieces is driving you crazy (been there!), just cut out the words in white and apply them on top of the oval instead. That should be a little easier.
Our Halloween Mantel
Don’t miss how I decorated our mantel for Halloween!
It’s amazing how different it looks for the two holidays. :)
If You Enjoyed This….
Make sure you check out my Project Gallery for all of my other crafty creations, tutorials, and freebies, like these festive Christmas projects!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Merry Christmas!
