How to Make a Wall Hanging of Your Favorite Holiday Song Lyrics with Cricut

A big part of the Christmas season is the music we listen to. Each of us has our own favorites. Last year, I decided to use my favorite Christmas songs in my Christmas decorating both at home and at church. I loved how they turned out. These Christmas song wall hangings are super easy to make and make a huge impact. AND although a little time-consuming, it was a lot of fun to sit down and create SVG files from them. You don’t have to take the time though, I have a free SVG for Angels We Have Heard on High in my Creative Resource Library for you! And if you’d like one of the others pictured, I have them in my Well Crafted Studio Shop. AND as a Merry Maker-mas Bonus. I’m also giving away the Go Tell It On the Mountian SVG from my shop! You can find it in the Free Library. So get your Christmas spirit on, and let’s make this Christmas song wall hanging!

Check Out the Bonus Mini Tutorial

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a large (no-sew) fabric banner with Iron-On Vinyl and how to DIY hang it very simply. This makes a great blank canvas for almost any Cricut HTV project.

But I’ll also show you how to fix small mistakes without having to re-do an entire section in a bonus mini-tutorial at the end of this post.

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A Simple and Inexpensive Christmas Project that Makes a Big Impact

After the somewhat time-consuming part of weeding the HTV, everything else is pretty simple to do.

And the materials for creating the hanger are easy to find at your local hardware store. And odds are you already have the simple tools it takes to construct this wall hanger. Plus, they don’t take much skill or experience- and I walk you through all of it step-by-step below!

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How to Make a Christmas Song Wall Hanging Banner

Supplies and Tools

• Angels We Have Heard Lyrics SVG from my Creative Resource Library OR the Merry Maker-mas SVG Bonus of Go Tell it On the Mountain
• Canvas or Heavy Muslin Fabric- cut to 20″h x 15 1/2 “for medium and 28″ h x 23” w for the large
• Wood 1″ x 2″ Pine Boards- cut to 17″ for medium and 25″ for large wall hanging
• Stain w/ Paper Towel or Rag- I use gel stain in walnut
• Black Iron-On Vinyl– the size of the piece will be the same for both medium and large wall hangings. One looks bigger because it’s on a larger piece of fabric.
• Cricut Maker or Explore Air 2
• Cutting Mat 12″ x 24″ or tape two mats together- use a light blue or green mat. I used purple in the tutorial. Don’t do that.
• Cricut Weeding Tools
• Cricut Easy Press
• Cricut Easy Press Mini (optional but fun)
• Yardstick and Sharpie
• Staple Gun w/ Staples
• Tape (optional)
• Screw Eyes, 2
• Jute Twine, Thin Wire, or a Thin Rope

Pro-Tip: If you do not have an easy way to cut down the 1″ x 2″ lengths, you can ask them to cut it down at your hardware store. They don’t mind making a couple of cuts for their customers if they’re not busy.

These are affiliate links, which means that if you purchase through one of these links I may get a small commission. Thank you for your support- it makes tutorials like this possible!

Directions

Step One: Sand and Stain the Wood Lengths

I like to take a sander to the ends and the edges. But you can use medium grit sandpaper and sand the wood by hand too. Then, using a paper towel, wipe the gel stain onto the cut piece of wood. Let dry.

Step Two: Download the SVG design from the Creative Resource Library

In the Creative Resource Library, go to the section marked SVG files and click on the link to the Angels We Have Heard On High SVG. Then download it to your computer.

FOR MERRY MAKER-MAS I’ll be giving away the SVG for Go Tell it On the Mountain as well! This is an item from my shop that will be a limited-time freebie only during Merry Maker-mas.

Step Three: Upload the design to Cricut Design Space

In Cricut Design Space, open up a new canvas and select “Upload” from the side toolbar. Next, select “Browse” and grab your .svg file from your downloads. In your upload images screen in Design Space, select the new file and click “Insert Image.”

Step Four: Size and Attach (if necessary)

Select the image. Then, in the width box at the top toolbar type in 11.5″ and the height will be automagically be adjusted in proportion. This is the widest that Cricut will allow you to make any design. If you have a 12″ x 24,” and your design will fit on the mat, then awesome!

If you do not have a large size mat– then I saw this cool hack in a Facebook group where a gal just taped two 12″ x 12″ mats together end to end and it totally worked as a large mat. Genius! If you don’t have two mats then you can treat it as a “larger than mat project.” I know Jennifer Maker has a really good post and YouTube tutorial on how to do this as well.

Step Five: SAVE YOUR IMAGE and Make it (SUPER IMPORTANT)

Before you move on to cut your image, save it. For real- I know I say this every tutorial, but I really mean it this time.

This will help tons if you have to come back and cut replacement letters after the fact. In a project with this many words, the odds of losing a letter to the process is pretty good. Saving your project now will potentially save you loads of time later.

Step Six: Mirror your Image!

It can’t be said enough times. Make sure you toggle on the mirror image option on the left side of your screen.

Step Seven: Prep your Mat

So in the photo, I’m using a purple mat. Don’t do that! Use a light blue or green cutting mat. My purple one is older and less sticky, and I don’t have a 12″ x 24″ size other than the purple, strong grip mat.

The absolutely most important thing about this step is to make sure that the shiny side of your Iron-On material (the transfer sheet) is the side you put onto the mat. Cut your vinyl pieces to correspond with the size of your image on the screen. When you’ve got your mat ready, double-check your positioning and then choose “continue.”

Step Seven: Cut the Lyrics from the Iron-On Vinyl

Design Space takes you to the Settings page next. Choose Everyday Iron-on and then follow the prompts on the screen to make the cut!

Step Eight: Weed the Cut Design

Once the Cricut is done cutting, it’s time to weed the image (i.e., remove the vinyl you don’t need for the design). This is easiest if you have tools made for weeding. When I weed large pieces, I usually start with the little tiny pieces than do the larger bits. This makes it easier because the small pieces won’t get stuck to the sticky backing that’s under the vinyl.

Pro-Tip: With a piece this large, you may want to cut shallow lines (just through the vinyl- not the transfer sheet) across the width of your vinyl, between the stanzas. I have a photo below this to show you what I mean. It breaks the piece up, so when you pull off extra vinyl, it’s in smaller portions.

Step Nine: Center and Iron-on Your Image to the Canvas

Preheat your Easy Press or your household iron. To find the correct heat setting for your fabric choice, you can check out Cricut’s handy dandy settings tool. It will also recommend a warm or cold peel.

Then, with the yardstick, find the center of the canvas at its top. Make a small mark with the Sharpie. Alternatively, you can just fold it in half and mark the fold line. The top 1.5″ of the canvas will be covered with the wood piece. Keep this in mind when you place your piece.

Design Note: So I thought I would try cutting off the title and moving it up a bit. And I think I left too big of a gap between the title and the lyrics. You can decide for yourself but the SVG has them placed like they are in the Go Tell It on the Mountain example.

Step Ten: Remove the Transfer Sheet!

I did a warm peel, which means waiting a tiny bit of time after you do the iron-on part so that the transfer sheet is warm (but not hot or cold) and then peeling it off. I usually start with a corner and pull across and towards me at an angle. IF you notice that the vinyl is pulling up with the transfer sheet, stop and reapply heat to that area. Then try again.

Quick Fix Tip: If the weeding or the Iron-On process wasn’t completely successful (i.e., you lost a letter or two), then I have a mini-tutorial at the bottom of this one on how to fix those mistakes. And it features the Cricut Easy Press Mini– FUN!

Step Eleven: Staple on the Canvas

Use the yardstick or a ruler to find the center of the board (on its wide side). Then, use the staple gun to staple the center of the canvas to the center of the board.

Make sure the top of the canvas is parallel to the top edge of the wood. Hold out one side so that it’s taut, and staple once at the edge. Repeat with the other side.

Then work from either side and add more staples about every couple of inches.

At this point, it’s probably secure, but I like to add a strip of tape along the top edge to keep it from fraying if it’s pulled. This is a good idea if you plan to keep your banner from year to year.

Storage Tip: If you do store it then you can roll it up. Just make sure that when you unroll it and iron it that you iron the backside of the canvas so you don’t melt the HTV lettering with your iron.

Step Twelve: Add the Screw Eyes to Hang the Wall Hanging

On the top edge of the board (the 1″ side) measure in an inch or two from each end. Then, use a Sharpie or a pencil mark the wood. Then screw in one screw eye at each end.

Pro-Tip: I often use a hammer and nail to tap an indent into the wood where I want the screw eye to go. They’re a little bit of pain to screw in, and this trick helps the process go faster.

Step Thirteen: Add the Rope and Hang It!

Cut a length of twine, or whatever you choose to hang it with, and feed one end through a screw eye and knot it. Repeat with the other side, leaving a bit of slack to hang it with.

And Done! You’ve Made a Hanging Wall Banner

But not quite… Because in a job this large, there are bound to be some mistakes. I accidentally weeded out a few of the letters I needed. So rather than trying to put them back onto the transfer sheet, just set them aside to add after you’ve ironed on the rest of the text.

However, even that doesn’t always go according to plan. So below, I have a mini-tutorial on how to cut out just the letters you need to replace, making sure that they are perfectly sized to match your originals.

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How to Easily Fix Iron-On Mistakes with the Cricut Easy Press Mini

Step One: Start on Your Design Space Canvas For This Project

Choose Finish and then go back to the canvas. If you’re coming back to this later and you no longer have the image on your canvas, then that’s when you’re going to be SUPER HAPPY that you saved the project in Step 5. Or you can just go back through the sizing and saving.

Step Two: Add a Square

Next, from the toolbar on the left side of the canvas, choose a square from the shapes menu. Size it to cover one of the letters you lost.

Step Three: Slice

Select all and use the slice function at the bottom of your layers panel. Note that the slice will only be an option if you have two items selected. When I tried to do it with three items the Slice function was greyed out, and the program wouldn’t let me choose it. Once done, pull out the negative image from the design and delete it. Then pull one of the extra letters to the side.

Repeat this process at least once for each letter you lost. I’ve learned over the years to be a “just in case” type of gal and will usually cut some extras as well.

Step Four: Hide the Rest and then Choose “Make it!”

We don’t want to cut the entire image all over again. So it’s essential to hide the layer with the lyrics. To do this, find the correct layer in the panel on the right side of your screen. And click on the eye symbol to the right of it. Magic! It (should) disappear. Now hit the “Make it” in the top right corner.

Step Five: MAKE SURE YOU MIRROR!!! Then Make the Cut

(Blah blah blah- I KNOW!) But it’s worth it for me to repeat this caution again. Iron-on (or htv) vinyl is kind of spendy. Nothing hurts more than doing a cut and then pulling it off the mat only to find that you didn’t mirror it.

Step Six: Iron-on the Letters

So this is the part where the Easy Press Mini really earns its keep. The biggest challenge when adding extra letters is being able to position the letter and heat it up WITHOUT melting the text around it. This is small precision work, and using tweezers really helps you place your small piece exactly where you want it. The mini is perfectly sized to do these small, more delicate jobs. You still need to use a piece of parchment (mine was cut to 4″ x 5″ approx.), and you need to be careful not to go off the parchment, but it’s a super smooth process.

When you turn on the Easy Press Mini, press the heat button to the second line. You’ll be able to tell when it’s ready to use because the light on the front of it will change from orange to green. Again, make sure you have a piece of parchment to cover and protect the rest of your iron-on vinyl. If it touches the iron it will melt off your canvas.

Cricut recommends that you keep the Easy Press Mini moving as you use it. For more recommendations on heat settings for particular fabrics check out the heat guide on Cricut’s website.

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Try This WIth Your Own Image (or Try More of Mine)

If you’re using your own image, you’ll want to keep its length in mind when you cut your canvas fabric. AND if you’d like to get one of the other Christmas Song Lyrics SVG’s that I have, you’ll find them in the Well Crafted Studio Shop! I have O Come All Ye Faithful, as well as Go Tell It On The Mountain available.

During December, Go Tell It On the Mountain is a Limited-Time Merry Maker-mas Free Bonus for my subscribers!

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For More Inspiration…

I have a lot of other Christmas project inspiration on this blog- I’d love to have you take a look! I also have a quick and easy iron-on vinyl video tutorial in this post on how to make DIY Canvas Banners.

AND for MORE Merry Maker-mas projects be sure to check out the Merry Maker-Mas Giveaway Event Page by clicking this link. Be sure to enter the daily drawing too!

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