Oversized Acrylic Baby Shower Welcome Sign

My baby shower was simply a dream. While we are now a couple weeks past it, I still look back at the photos and videos so fondly. Since I didn’t have access (or experience) with so many amazing tools and resources for my wedding, I was so excited to make decor and activities for the shower. It was like my Super Bowl. Baby showers are so special to me because I love being able to celebrate a new precious life with friends and loved ones. When it was my time for a baby shower, I knew I wanted to create a beautiful acrylic sign to welcome my guests in.

In this blog, I will go over my materials, design process and suppliers I used for this sign. Don’t feel like reading? No problem! The full video is linked at the end.

BEFORE WE GET STARTED, FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN SAVE UP TO $500 ON A NEW GLOWFORGE HERE!

Items Used

Glowforge (Don’t forget you can save up to $500 on a new machine!).
Vinyl cutter – I use and recommend the Siser Juliet.
Design software – I recommend Silhouette Studio. You will need the Business Edition upgrade to export as SVG.
Acrylic arch blank from Houston Acrylic.
White acrylic – I got mine from Cerulean Tides.
- Use code POTTSACRYLIC to save 10% on white acrylic from Cerulean Tides until 8/1/23!
Oracal 651 in white.
3M adhesive.
Arch sign bundle.
Gatkins font.

Preparing the design

To make things easier, I purchased an arch sign bundle from Design Bundles. This was especially useful because it had different ratios and sizes that made the entire suite of signs super easy to make! However, if you want to make your own arch, it’s simple to do!

Create a circle and a tall rectangle within your workspace. To make a perfectly symmetrical circle, hold down shift while drawing your circle. Once both are made, you can use the resize option in the quick access toolbar at the top and manually type the same width for both the circle and rectangle.

Once both are resized, you can now align both shapes. Select both shapes, then choose center align from the align tools in the top toolbar. The icon will have shapes with a vertical line going through the middle of them.

Once you have them aligned, you will need to adjust the placement of the circle to finish off the arch. I find it easiest to fill both shapes to get a better look at how the shape will turn out.

Use your down arrow to slowly bring the circle down to align with the top of the rectangle. If you have the center of rotation point still turned on, the center of rotation for the circle will be in line with the top of the rectangle.

Adjust the bottom of the rectangle to create a longer or shorter arch shape.

Once your arch is ready, weld both the circle and rectangle together. (Or start from here with a pre-purchased arch. Resize the arch to the desired size of the sign.

Choose fonts and set Alignment

Begin by choosing the fonts you would like for the sign. I chose to use Gatkins for my script font. To help with alignment and editing, I do each line it its own text box.

I chose to make my sign say “Let’s Celebrate” before Baby Potts and her due date at the bottom. For this font, I used Century Gothic.

Once you have your fonts placed in the approximate area, it’s now time to fine-tune your design. If you have Baby Potts (or script text you’re using) set up, make sure to group those lines together. After they are grouped, select all lines of text and center align the text.

Now we need to adjust the script font to optimize it for cutting. Select your script font and go to the offset panel. Choose offset and create a small offset around the text. I did an offset of .1 for this design. You may need to adjust based on your sign size.

Once the offset is made, group it together and fill it in a color to see the shape better. I choose white for mine. You can then click on your original text and move it over to the side. NOTE – Many times this offset will make the text look too “bubbly” but don’t forget there is loss of material when cutting with a laser. This keeps your text legible!

Export your design for production. To use both the Glowforge and Siser Juliet, you will need to export the script font and other text in two files.

Select your script font, go to file, save selection, save to hard drive. In this screen, name your file and choose SVG in the file type dropdown. You need Silhouette Studio Business Edition to export as SVG. You can purchase it for a one-time fee here. Repeat the same steps to export the file for cutting with the Siser machines.

Cut your files

Glowforge
Place your material into your machine. For this project, I used white acrylic with 3M on the back. When I cut with 3M, I always place the material with 3M on top.

Import your design into the Glowforge software. While the file is processing, click the three dots in the top right and choose set focus. Click on your material to set the camera focus on the material. Set up your design to be flipped horizontally in your workspace. You can either flip it in Glowforge Premium, or flip it before exporting it from Silhouette Studio.

My cut settings for acrylic with 3M:

Speed: 120
Power: Full

Vinyl
Follow your typical steps to cutting vinyl with your machine. See video below to see my steps with the Siser Juliet.

Assemble your design

Place your acrylic script (without peeling the 3M) on your base and align your vinyl cutouts to the place you would like them. I use a ruler to measure the spacing between the text and the edge and then tape the middle of the vinyl to apply it using the hinge method.

Once the placement is set, peel the vinyl transfer tape off one side of the backing. Keeping the painter’s tape still in the middle of the decal, cut the backing off the area you peeled off. Apply the exposed side to the sign, then peel the backing off the other side and apply the rest of the decal.

Set the placement of your acrylic letters.
I set the placement, then took a pencil to trace the outside of the edges. I will use these to place my acrylic letters onto the sign.

Peel off the 3M backing and apply the acrylic letters using the pencil marks you made as a guide.