Life Is the Bubbles Wall Decal DIY for Mermaid Room

Life Is the Bubbles Wall Decal DIY for Mermaid Room

6 going on 12. Anyone else have a strong willed and opinionated little girl in the home?

One of my biggest regrets from moving from our old house was that I never decorated my daughter’s room. At 6 going on 12, I realize how quickly time is passing by. How soon before she grows up and moves out? I made a vow to make sure that my daughter felt that her new room was truly hers.

She immediately knew what theme she wanted – mermaids. Magical, mythical and full of sparkly awe and wonder, I love how she picked a theme that matched her spirit. It would be easy theme to bridge the gap between little girl and tween. Having a much bigger room with twice the wall space, I knew that I wanted to fill her mermaid room with unique wall mural to match her mermaid personality.

But then I started looking at prices.

Can we say sticker shock? Mermaid wall decals + Disney licensing fee = out of my room decor budget. As much as I love my girl, I couldn’t “shell” out that kind of cash for a room makeover. But just as I was about to swim with the fishes over this wall mural dream, Cricut Explore Air 2 came into my life. And now? “Life is the bubbles” with this Life is the bubbles wall decal DIY. I’m sharing how this crafty mom went from ZERO clues to DIY success in just a few hours on a budget – making 2 girls’ dreams come true!

Cricut Explore Air 2 Features | A Crafter’s Dream Come True

There is nothing more coveted by a crafty guru than a Cricut. I’ll admit, for years, I’ve been wanting one. But justifying ownership of this ultimate crafty tool just wasn’t in the budget either. And as I cut many a craft by hand for hours, every time I was reminded every time that “if you just had a Cricut, it would be so much easier and faster.”

Remember my Tangled party suns? Or my Toy Story popcorn boxes? Or my Moana cupcake toppers?

When this gorgeous red Circut Explore Air 2 arrived at my doorstep (color exclusively found at Michael’s Craft Stores), it was like Christmas came early. But also, I was 1000% intimidated. I mean, a Cricut is a HUGE investment. What if I break the machine? What if I, the crafty girl, can’t figure out how to use one? What if I ruin ALL future crafts?

Ok, maybe a slight bit dramatic. But in all seriousness, I was worried if I’d ever be able to create anything blog worthy. Thankfully, I’ve learned so much in my short time with my Cricut Explore Air 2. The results? If I can use one, so can you. The Cricut Explore Air 2 is so much more than just a “cut out” machine. With easy tutorials in the Cricut Design Space and lots of great features to get those projects done precisely and quickly, I honestly don’t know what I did before Cricut. Features include 2 clamps that hold:

• Precision cutting tool – paper to vinyl to cardstock to poster board, even cotton and foil!
• Precision writing tool – insert pens into the tool on the left to 
• Precision scoring tool – insert scoring blades to cut and score designs

Even easier, the button and dials are easy to use and adjust for your project.

There’s even storage in the holder on the left of the machine,

and in the bottom tray. Needless to say, it’s the perfect addition to my new office, and my crafty life. Love at first sight? Absolutely. Now, while I absolutely LOVE my new Cricut machine, there is a learning curve. I had to Google a few tricks, YouTube a few things, and spend hours exploring the Cricut Design Space (app where you create and connect to your Cricut machine for printing). While there’s lots of potential costs associated with buying intricate fonts and designs – there’s also enough free things to make with a little extra creativity.

Life Is the Bubbles Wall Decal DIY

Hence, this DIY. I was determined to make something pretty, fun and FREE. Of course being the overachiever that I am, I couldn’t just throw a decal on a cup and call it a day. I had to attack an entire WALL for my first project. Seriously setting the bar too high there, Christie.

And though I doubted my crafty super powers, I underestimated my Cricut’s abilities. Because in just a few hours and about $10 in contact paper, I had the perfect DIY Little Mermaid wall decal for my daughter’s room. Are you as scared as I was? Let’s tackle this first Cricut project together with the ultimate Life Is the Bubbles Wall Decal DIY.

What You Will Need:

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• 12″ x 12″ Cutting Mat (included with machine)
• Removable Gold Contact Paper
• Measuring tape
• Level
• Pencil
• Tennis Ball (trust me on this one!)

Directions:

1. Grab my Life Is the Bubbles Wall Decal DIY Cricut templates: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Hang with me. I didn’t realize that I should have created these in one template! Rookie mistake!)
2. Attach the contact paper (gold side up with contact paper backing still attached) to your included 12′ x 12′ cutting mat. Make sure to remove any air pockets. You want a smooth surface for your Cricut to accurately cut.
3. Set your Cricut Explore Air 2 to the “Vinyl” setting.
4. Load and print each of my Cricut templates on the contact paper. Carefully remove and replace with new contact paper for each template. This will print the words “Life is the bubbles” along with bubbles in large, medium and small sizes.
5. Measure, level and mark with your pencil where you want your Life is the bubbles wall decal DIY to be placed on your wall.
6. Remove the contact paper backing and adhere your wall decal to the wall.
7. Use a tennis ball to smooth out your decal and remove any potential air pockets.

VOILA! Using the sparkly gold contact paper really elevates The Little Mermaid inspiration, making this wall decal transition from little girl room to tween room in a cinch. And when the teen years set in (gasp – let’s not even go there yet!), I love that the contact paper easily is removable. Stay tuned! I’ve got some more mermaid inspired decor coming to the blog soon, thanks to the Cricut Explore Air 2! You can pick up the same gorgeous red colored machine at your local Michael’s Stores.

Do you love this Life is the bubbles wall decal DIY? What would you make with your Cricut Explore Air 2?

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