Make These Rae Dunn Inspired Christmas Crafts from Dollar Tree Items
These Rae Dunn Christmas Dollar Tree decorations are going to be a hit!
Love Rae Dunn inspired crafts?
Lots of us here at Hip2Save are fans of this simplistic farmhouse style font traditionally featured on ceramic mugs, plates, canisters, and bowls from designer Rae Dunn. It’s clean-looking and just makes a plain mug or canister look stylish and cute!
I still LOVE this pretty trend.
I enjoy it so much and have brought this idea into a few different vinyl crafts and DIY projects over the last few years, including these DIY Rae Dunn ornaments and my DIY Kitchen Labels. For Halloween, I even made over some inexpensive items into fun Halloween decor using Rae Dunn-inspired decals made with my Cricut vinyl cutter.
Let’s make some festive Christmas decor!
Today, I’m sharing three EASY projects you can make using items found at Dollar Tree. They look super cute but are also budget-friendly because… well, they’re a dollar (ahem…soon to be a dollar + 25¢). In fact, I bought all of these clear ornaments, dishes, and holiday ribbon for less than $10 at Dollar Tree!
The cool part about making your own Rae Dunn crafts is that you can completely customize the colors and the actual words for personalizing. And also, if this font isn’t your style, then just use one you like! This is a great beginner project if you’re new to Silhouette or Cricut vinyl crafting!
1st Step: Make vinyl decals!
The first step to all three of these crafts is to make your vinyl decals using a vinyl cutting machine. Use the colors you’d like and customize the words you’d like as well. I am using a strong Oracle 651 vinyl for these, especially for the coffee cups because it’s more likely to stay on after hand washing (don’t use the dishwasher).
I have in-depth directions HERE on how to make these decals. It’s pretty simple. The free font closest to the Rae Dunn style is called The Skinny.
Don’t have a vinyl cutter? Check out these Rae Dunn inspired decals on Etsy to save yourself the step of cutting.
Custom Vinyl Christmas Crafts
PrintSupplies Needed
Directions
1
Clear Plastic Ball Ornaments
- Fill a clear ornament with red gift basket shredded paper.
- Transfer decal to ornament using Glad Press n’ Seal, because it’s easier to use on a ball-shaped item, in my opinion. Note: The font for the ornaments is sized at 1.5 inches tall.
- Use hot glue to attach ribbon to the top of the ornament.
2
Embellished Coffee Mugs
- Transfer vinyl decal using clear transfer tape. Note: My font for these coffee mugs is sized at 2 inches tall.
- For a fun gift idea: Fill mug with Christmas candy, wrap with clear cellophane, and top with ribbon.
3
Festive Christmas Plate
- Transfer vinyl decal using clear transfer tape, since it’s a flat surface. Note: My font for this plate is sized at about 2 inches tall, but you’ll need to make sure the overall size fits the plate.
4
Hip Tip: To care for finished items, hand wash cups and plates, and avoid exposing them to extreme heat (dishwasher or the microwave).
Seriously cute results!
I love the transformation of ordinary items into something personalized and special. I think it would be fun to do a grouping of plates or maybe a solid white ceramic cookie jar to use for Christmas cookies and treats! Your Rae Dunn Christmas Dollar Tree display will blow everyone away.
These were simple and FUN little holiday projects, and I love that I saved money by shopping at Dollar Tree!
How can I bookmark this post on my app?
Yes I miss the old app too where they had a save option 😕
I’m in the app and have a “+” on every post that will save them to a “hip list” that you can go back to.
I wish I had a vinyl machine!!
can the mugs or plates go in the dishwasher?
I would hand wash for best results – great question. Thanks
I’ve been doing this for years and have found that thin fonts like the Rae Dunn look will come off in the dishwasher. Thick fonts will stay on in the dishwasher. Be sure to use the 651 permanent vinyl and wait a few days before washing your cup.
Per the hip tip posted it says to hand wash them, and not to expose to extreme heat (dishwasher or the microwave).
Will office depot or staples print on vinyls? Where can you have them made of you don’t have a cricut?
Hmm ya it’s not printing – cutting. I would search Etsy.com for “Rae Dunn Christmas Decals”. I just did and saw a bunch for sale. Hope that helps!
I can print you some and send them to you, email me and we can go from there. david_sakuta2000@yahoo.com
Target’s Bullseye had some pre-cut vinyl holiday messages recently. However, it’s not the same style (though was still cute)
If your public library has a makerspace, they likely have a cricut. Check with them.
I don’t have a cricut or any machine like that, but I actually did ornaments like this last year simply by using a paint pen & putting the letters on by hand. I just looked at the font alphabet to recreate the look. They turned out really well!
That is so awesome and creative! I love it! Thanks for sharing Lynn!
These are beautiful!! I seriously love them all! I was thinking about doing a set of plates and some serving platters! I hope mine turn out as great as yours!! Thank you for posting This!!!
Oh thanks so much! Have fun creating yours ❤️
What size letter spacing do you use with the Rae Dunn inspired font?
Oh good question – I don’t edit with spacing and leave it as is. HTH – maybe others have a preference?
Are these glass plates you are working with?
Yes 👍
Also a fun idea that I do often – use glass etching cream with vinyl stencil (personalized with the cricut making the stencil) on glasses or glass plates. They make a great, personalized gift!
If you don’t have a machine, you can use pre-cut stickers from the scrapbooking section (or I think Dollar Tree has started carrying a variety of them) and painters tape. My daughter and I gave glasses or beer mugs to her grandparents/aunts/uncles for Christmas a few years ago.
Good idea! I just like etching when able bc although you lose color options you’re able to use the dishwasher on them
Thanks for the tip on using press n seal on the ornaments. I’m making one for an ornament exchange and another for one of my nephews and I’ve been dreading the transfer (after fighting with it last year).
I actually made these ornaments last christmas for gifts. I have a silhouette machine and i downloaded the font The Skinny on dafont.com. Super cute. Love this font
Awesome! Yay I do also! Thanks for sharing 🥰
Can’t wait to try these! I got a cricut for Mother’s Day and have used it about four times… These look like something easy to do while I’m still getting the hang of it!
Thanks acarol for the tip on how to save to my list. I have been trying to figure that out forever.
The N’s alway come out so weird when I use The Skinny font. There’s a similar one on DAFont called pumpkin pie lattes which isn’t quite as close of a Rae Dunn copycat but comes out looking better IMO.
Also, there’s a dishwasher safe mod podge that you can put over the vinyl on cups and plates, but it does take 30 days to cure.
Use the weld option for the letter N and i
Lina, You should have your own HGTV show. You and your ideas are fabulous!
Aww that is a sweet compliment – thanks so much Lulu!
I just want to make sure anyone who is not familiar with vinyl is aware that it is not food safe, so the plate shown in this post is for decoration purposes only.