Vinyle Cut Outs Without An Electronic Cutting Machine

I've always loved vinyle cut out lettering and especially monograms. It's incredibly versatile and since craft vinyle comes in an endless amount of colors, it can really take any project to the next level.

I have pined for a Cricut or Silhouette craft cutter for sometime now and have always wanted to be able to cut my own letters or shapes out for various project. However, on a whim I bought some of the vinyle used in the machine and thought, "who needs a machine when I have two hands and a pair of scissors?"

A friend of mine has a Lily Pulitzer tumbler that she was gifted with her monogram on it. My first project was replicating the monogram on my Lilly for TriDelta tumbler. 

I printed out my monogram using Printable Monogram and then traced it on a sheet of tracing paper. I then retraced the monogram onto the paper backing of the vinyle and then went about cutting it out. While cutting the monogram out proved to be painstakingly tedious, the final product came out pretty nicely. I then cleaned my tumbler's surface and pressed on the monogram, now basically a large sticker,  in sections. I used a credit card to rub out any bubbles. I have used the tumbler for about a month now and have not had a single problem with the vinyle peeling or coming off when wet.

Since my tumbler came out so great, I also printed out a silhouette of the TriDelta hand-sign and, again using tracing paper, cut it out in the vinyle. I think it looks pretty cute framing the apple on my laptop and I have received a number of compliments on it.   

Happy Crafting!