I remember stumbling across a YouTube video of this woman making shirts and stained glasses at home and I was like OMG I want to do that! I looked up this specific vinyl cutter for a month and proposed the question on social media if it was worth the buy and after a month and a ton of great feedback I made the purchase and fell in love.
I remember always wanting custom things back in high school and how we would go to this spot in San Leandro because there were really reasonable but senior year they closed down and you couldn't find anything for a decent price, because you already knew the mall was going to charge crazy steep prices. I thought to myself that this buy would be great for myself and my friends who wanted things but maybe, just maybe if I got good at it I could offer decent priced customs to other people that I knew.
I remember when I got my machine the first thing I made was 5 decals in the first night. One being a prayer that I put around the peep hole on the door because my mom fell in love. The others being my name and cute things that I adhered to my laptop and my machine. I was making tons of decals and paper cut outs just to get the hang of the software and the process of weeding and transferring. It came to me like second nature.
Making this purchase has allowed me to express my creativity and craft, which are two things that I love. In high school my favorite class had to be multi media and I wanted to go to college for graphic arts, until I realized how expensive it was. This venture has brought back my passion and making a design from start to finish is just very relaxing to me.
The best part of making my own custom vinyl cutouts is that I can look at images online and see things that I like, get ideas and make them my own. Of course its easy to see a design and just make it but you take it to another level of creativity and artistry when you make it your own and tweak it.
I love when I get orders because it allows me to take their idea and bring it to my reality. Working with people is something that I really like and I love their reactions when they see the final outcome. When you pass up the expectations that they had set its even more rewarding!
Key things that I've learned from doing this for the past 3 years, it important to not over buy supplies but also not to under buy. I always have white and black vinyl on hand and Amazon Prime is my best friend with fast shipping.
My favorite thing that I created thus far has to be a Christmas gift that I made for my son Ronnie P. He is a little artist and is always drawing, one day he drew this drippy Bart Simpson photo and I really liked it so he tore it out of his sketch book and gave it to me to put on the bulletin board by my desk. A few weeks later I was compiling a list of gift ideas for him and I glanced up and the drawing he drew and it clicked. Along side his store bought gifts I wanted to make him an original of his art. So I took his art piece and turned it into a design that I put on a black hoodie so he could wear his art. Of course he was excited for his new sketch book, his Nerf gun, the clothes that were in the bag but when he saw the hoodie he couldn't believe that was the drawing that he drew and all the kids in the classroom were so excited. Making customs like that are why I like to do what I do.
One of the things that this venture has taught me is that everyone wants a discount even though the services that your offering are low. So my recommendations to you are to not sale yourself short! Make sure that you are charging people for the supplies (because things aren't free), to account for your time (the process is sometimes long), and f they aren't here for it let them go somewhere else because other people will overcharge them and that's what they get for being cheap! I totally get wanting a bargain or a deal but customs take time and time is money!
Things that I've made:
-Car clings -Shot glasses
-Tee shirts -Hats
-Hoodies -Coffee Mugs
-Mason jars -Invitations
-Wall clings -Baby items
-Face masks -ETC
I make sure that all of my items are at the lowest cost possible because I know some customs are too expensive, please reach out if you have an idea that I can help bring to reality in the comment section or via e-mail at Bnatashap@gmail.com
Have Instagram? Follow my crafting journey at:: Msbrandicustomdesigns
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