How to Create Paint Color Sample Sticks Using a Silhouette Machine

5 Materials
$2
20 Minutes
Easy

Freebie Alert! I share a free Silhouette Studio 3 template file I created in this tutorial.


We own a franchise for a brand of chalk-style paint and currently consign it in 6 area locations. We also custom paint and are always needing color samples to show clients. We have a large variety of colors and have tried various ways to create color samples with no success as it is so time consuming.


Until today.

I happened to see an advertisement from a big name paint company show up on my Facebook feed. Imagine that! They were advertising a 12 by 12 inch piece of peel and stick vinyl featuring their paint colors. You could peel and stick it in various places to see how you’d like that color on your wall. Ingenious idea! And I had one of those infamous “Aha” moments!


Peel and stick vinyl??? Ha! I have been using this for years. In my world it is called contact paper. I use it all the time for stencils. I have noticed that our paint shows up well and adheres very well to the vinyl when I stencil.

Today, I realized I could create paint sample sticks in bulk with a piece of contact paper, my Silhouette Portrait machine, jumbo craft sticks, our paint, and our label maker to neatly label the colors.


So, first I created a template that would fit well on the craft stick. I wanted to leave an area at the end of the stick to drill a hole so I could string all the colors together.


My original Silhouette Portrait Studio file I created held 12 cut outs, but I have since updated it to 24. I used a 9×12 sheet of contact paper. I figure it doesn’t hurt to have as many as I could fit as you never know when you’d need another paint color stick. My gift to you is sharing this file, saving you the time it took me to make the template. It is available to download as a Silhouette Studio file. And for those of you who have a Cricut or other type of machine, here is the file in SVG format, too.


Paint Color Sample Stick Template – Studio 3 file


Paint Color Sample Stick Template – SVG file


You are welcome.


These fit the jumbo craft sticks I purchased from Walmart.


To cut the file, I used the Silhouette cutting mat. My settings were: Silhouette Vinyl for the Material used (even though I was using Contact Paper), #2 for the ratchet blade, #5 for the speed and #3 for thickness. In the photo below, you can barely see, but it is there, the outline of my cuts.

Next, I painted the whole sheet with two coats of paint (to get good coverage).

Then, I just started peeling the cut strips off the backing. I didn’t need to use any transfer medium of any kind as they were small enough to just peel and stick on my jumbo craft stick. These came from Walmart. I just lined each one up on a stick and pressed it down. It adheres well. You could peel it back off, but for this purpose there is no need. I want it to stay put.

For the last step, I used our label maker to create labels for the color.

And there you have it! I have enough to start creating color sample sticks for all our colors for the 6 locations, one for a new wholesale client, a couple for us, and extra ones to have in reserve just in case.

This was such a quick and easy way to create paint color sample sticks in bulk. Now, onto making them for our other 40 plus colors. 

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 2 comments
  • Abigail Ellis Abigail Ellis on Jan 15, 2019

    Love how efficient this is!! I'll just add it to the list of (many) reasons I want to buy a cutting machine

    • Sharon Strothcamp Sumner Sharon Strothcamp Sumner on Jan 15, 2019

      Thanks! I have had my machine for about four years now. I have cut tons of stencils and other things on it. And I am still on the original cutting blade.

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