FUN WITH DECALS PART 1: In the Kitchen Free PDF Images and Giveaway

This post has been quite a while in the making. It all started with my decal penny pendant project that uses vintage decals. I had received a lot of emails asking where to find such decals. They aren’t so much as rare, but do take some searching and patience to find. So I went out on the hunt for alternatives to vintage decals and found DecalPaper.com an online company that sells inkjet printable water-slide decal sheets. My wheels haven’t stopped spinning since.

I have so many ideas of ways to use decals that can be custom designed, that I’ll be sharing more than one post over the next few weeks on using the material. Today’s post is for the kitchen- vintage-style kitchen canister decals of which I’ve designed four different sets.You can click on any of the free images to download the PDF files for using on paper stock, label stock or, like I did, inkjet decal paper. My only request is that they are not taken for use as graphics or decals for sale. You can alter the colors with image editing software to fit your own kitchen decor. It’s great to customize your own decals for things like COCOA (which is Ovaltine in our kitchen) or BROWN RICE and WHITE RICE vs. just plain ol’ rice. I realize there are many more canister contents out there that you probably use than I’ve shown, but just you stand by for the details of my giveaway!

The first set was designed using the vintage organizing frame art I posted a while back HERE and HERE. I included some lettering for customizing your own on your computer.I printed out the image to the decal paper and coated it several times as directed with Krylon clear acrylic.I trimmed out the labels I wanted to use and one by one went about applying them to my canisters.As per the instructions that come with the decal paper, I first soaked the piece.
After a minute or so, I removed it from the water, positioned it on the canister and removed the backing paper by sliding it out from under.I dabbed it with a towel to press it down and remove the water from the surface.The decal remains positionable for a little while so it is easy to straighten or remove air bubbles for several minutes.
I continued applying the decals to my cute little canister set that I purchased on Etsy. Here they are all in a row.I also made a few decals for my spool jars.I love the look of breadbox and canister labels of the 20s and 30s. You know, that sort of baseball team lettering. So I went searching for exactly the right font, added tails and shadows to create another set of decal designs.Last week I found this grungy bread box at the thrift store, an oldie and a goodie. With the lettering I designed, I knew it would be the perfect container to hold the KitchenAid mixer accessories.Together with my vintage metal bread box that has seen so many different colors of paint over the years, I spray painted them both white and added decals. I also added coordinating decals to my Splenda and Coffeemate tins purchased at Michael’s Crafts. I thought a little twist on Dutch stenciling would be cute, so I designed another set as such, including little lid topper decals.You’ll see that the lettering is white on the image, but as with other light colors, applying decals to colored objects will not have the same effect as applying them to white. Any white areas of the decal become clear. So to apply the decals to my crusty red flea market tins, I needed to create a white area to show through under the decal. Using the same shape as the decal, I cut out a stencil and masked it to the tin. Spray painted the area white,and added the decals.These, cleaned well, will hold my husband’s roasted almonds and Costco trail mix.The last set is designed from the ornate labels I shared with you last week.I made a few size variations and ornaments for the top of the canisters.I found this set of ceramic canisters at T J Maxx, cheap.When making your own decals, be sure to print to paper first, cut out and confirm they will fit to the area you want to decal. And adding additional coats of clear acrylic spray is good to further protect your decals from scuffing. Be certain you are in a well ventilated area (outdoors is best) when spraying the acrylic coating. Note that decal’d items are not dishwasher safe. For more information on the inkjet decal sheets and for a great little how-to video, click HERE.

THE GIVEAWAY:
Two randomly chosen winners will each receive one set of decal sheets of their choice, customized with content names and colors for their own kitchen, to apply to canisters to give as a gift or to pass on to a friend. To enter, leave a comment and tell me which set you would want if you won and, if you’d like, any canister content labels that you want that aren’t already listed. It is very important that you leave a way for me to contact you if you win, either cipher your email address at the end of your comment or be sure that your name will lead me to your blog where I can find your email link. If I can’t find you, you can’t win.
DEADLINE TO ENTER IS MIDNIGHT AUGUST 13.

UPDATE: The Winners are:
Melony of Whimsy Daisy and Erin of Erin Cooks
Congratulations ladies!

Next decal post, we’ll be getting out of the kitchen and into more fun.