*A big thank you to My Cinema Lightbox for providing the Vintage Lightbox featured in this post. Links in this post and others may contain affiliate links at no cost to you- See my full disclosure & policies here*

Okay. Can I just tell you how freaking excited I am for this DIY? It’s game changing for me. I LOVE my lightbox, I got a rad original My Cinema Lightbox last year and it’s been front and center in my living room since. It’s just so fun to change up cheeky phrases. Before Christmas, I decided I’d take on making my own handlettered inserts for the holidays for that baby (because, y’know handlettering has to be on everything in this house). It turned out SO great and I really love the way it looks BUT a lot of you told me you don’t have a Cricut and you’d love to find a way to do the DIY without it. I took the challenge and I’m happy to share the very simplest way to make your own with no fancy tools today!

I also have a free printable file so you can snag my handlettered words for Valentines day. You could really use ANY font that you like for this- you don’t have to start hand lettering just for this DIY. But if you wanted to, you know I’d support that decision- I’d even love to help you ;)

Okay, so do you want to know the trick to make your own light box inserts?

You send it to the printers… and have them print it on transparency. Then you cut it out. That’s seriously it! Well, almost… I do have tips for you.

First you’ll need to design your inserts.

DOWNLOAD MY HAND LETTERING PDF HERE

If you choose to use my design (rad!) keep in mind that it is for personal use only (aka. no selling) and it’s sized for my specific lightboxes. Specifically, it fits my Original My Cinema Lightbox and their new Vintage My Cinema Lightbox. It’s so handy the letters are interchangeable (now I have twice as many to play with!). Other than the shape, the big difference is the edges, the original is black and the vintage has a wood veneer look.  If you are creating your own lettering or using a font, just measure up the size of your letters and try size accordingly before printing. It would be a total pain to go back to the print shop if they were too big.

If you read my last post on DIY lightbox inserts, you’ll remember that I couldn’t find acrylic thin enough for this project. I ended up using Clear plastic covers from my Cricut cutting mats and realized that they are pretty much the same quality as transparency sheets. I’ve had transparency sheets printed at Staples in the past for DIY projects and they are really so handy. They only cost about $3 and you can fit all of the words you see there in one sheet.

When you cut your words out, use the existing letters that came with your lightbox as a size guide. If you cut them too big, they’ll bulge out and look totally not- legit. If you cut them too small, they just fall out. I used a straight edge and craft knife, but scissors would have worked perfectly as well.

That is IT. If you find this tutorial helpful and make your own lightbox inserts (or use mine!) I would LOVE love to see a photo. Tag me on social @colleenpastoor!

LIKE IT? PIN IT!