Autumn Wood Banner

I wanted to start decorating my house in softer, more neutral tones for Fall, and this Autumn Wood Banner was the perfect addition to add some texture and warmth. 

I have to tell you, as much as I absolutely love fall, I’m definitely over having all of that orange, red, and yellow take over my house when I decorate. I started a couple of years ago, slowly replacing or making over those pieces I wanted to keep.  This Autumn Wood Banner was a great beginning for this trend and I  continued with this color scheme but also added in some soft pinks, gold and cream . I know, that doesn’t seem very autumn-like but just wait and see. It’s definitely Fall, just a softer version of it.

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Autumn Wood Banner Materials

• Cricut Explore or Newer
• Cricut Design Space and Cricut Access
• Light Grip Mat
• Cricut Washi Sheets, Woodland
• Transfer Tape
• Scissors
• Weeder Tool
• Wood Banner Pieces

Autumn Wood Banner Steps

1: Open a Project in Cricut Design Space and create an individual text box for the first letter of the word you’ll be using. I chose AUTUMN. Change the font to Cricut’s “Cindy Loo” (Free with Cricut Access) or another font of your choosing. Delete the extra font background and resize it to fit your wood piece.

2: Then just duplicate that letter a few more times and change the letters to make your word as shown. Since these will all be cut on the same sheet of Washi, it doesn’t matter what color the letters display as in Design Space.

3: Click through to cut the letters out on your washi sheet (I used the brown polka dot sheet.) If Design Space tries to spread your letters over two mats and you know they should fit, try scooting them around and attaching them together first. Make sure to select the Custom Settings on your Cricut machine dial or is the program and select Washi Sheet in Design Space. Also, make sure you use a Light Grip Mat.

4: Cut the letters out into individual chunks with your scissors so they’ll be easier to weed. 

5: No weed out the unwanted areas around the letters or the negative space. Make sure to get the centers of any loops.

6: Apply your transfer tape to your first washi letter, making sure to smooth it down well. You won’t need a very strong transfer tape and something like clear contact paper or masking tape would work just fine. You just don’t want your transfer medium to tear the Washi material, so I’d test it first on a scrap piece of the Washi sheet. You could also try sticking the transfer tape to your shirt or arm or the table first to decrease the stickiness some.

7: Carefully place your letter onto your wood banner piece and rub the areas with the washi material to make sure it’s sticking to the wood well.

8: Slowly peel back the transfer tape, smoothing the letter down as you go. I recommend reusing the same piece of transfer tape for all of the letters. It will save you some material and will decrease your chance of tearing the Washi with each use.

9: You’ll repeat Steps 7 and 8 for all of your letters.

10: Pull your string or ribbon through all of the wood banner pieces, leaving approximately the same amount extra on each end.

That’s it! As far as Cricut projects go, making this Autumn Wood Banner with Cricut’s Washi Sheets was pretty quick and stress-free. The washi sheets are actually easier to work with than vinyl in my opinion. This banner has been hanging for over 12 hours now and the letters haven’t tried to peel off and it’s super humid here. I especially like that I could very easily remove these washi letters if I decided to use these wood banner pieces again for something else and who doesn’t love that versatility with holiday decorations?

Update: I hung this on my China cabinet this Fall, two years after making the banner, and the Washi letters are all still stuck on there with zero letter peeling as you can see in the photos. I’m super impressed with the Washi sheets and now I really want to find another project for me to use them.

Using Cricut’s Washi Sheets to make this Autumn Wood Banner was a great decision and print adds a fun pop of pattern to neutral Fall décor.

If you are looking for more neutral Fall decor projects you can easily make yourself, you make also enjoy my Wood Fall Leaf Ornaments tutorial,

Wood Fall Leaf Ornaments

As well as my Welcome Fall Wood Pumpkin Sign. Either project would look great in your home!

Welcome Fall Wood Pumpkin Sign

Would you like to see some more gorgeous Cricut projects? I’ve teamed up with 7 other crafty bloggers for our monthly Craft & Create Cricut Challenge to show you how you can make your own lovely goodies with your Cricut!

Fall Embroidery Hoop Wreath from Weekend Craft • DIY Fall Porch Sign from Cookies Coffee and Crafts • Easy DIY Fall Sign Upright and Caffeinated • Felt Flower Fall Wreath from Create & Babble • Easy Fall Decor from Daily DIY Life • Autumn Wood Banner from the Inspiration Vault • Pumpkin Stuffie from The How-To Home