DIY: Welcome (Mat) to Jurassic Park

Another week, another summer movie release! Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom hits theaters this weekend, and to celebrate, I’m sharing a new DIY.

Let’s honor one of the most memorable Jurassic Park quotes and create a Welcome to Jurassic Park, well, welcome mat.

Decorate Your Own Jurassic Park Welcome Mat

This is a great, quick DIY that anyone can do in an hour or so. Recently I made a Chewie, We’re Home welcome mat for the debut of Solo: A Star Wars Story with Cricut Stencil Vinyl. But this time around, I decided to try another approach which I think worked just as well. Instead of using stencil vinyl for the design, I cut a stencil out of heavy cardstock paper and used masking tape and straight pins to hold it in place. Below I’ll share instructions for how to use heavy cardstock paper, but you can also find instructions on using stencil vinyl here.

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What You Need:

• Plain coir rug
• Outdoor acrylic black paint
• Foam paint brush
• Cricut Explore Air II and cutting accessories (mat, weeder)
• Heavy cardstock paper
• Straight pins
• Masking tape
• Jurassic Park logo png file (DOWNLOAD)
• Jurassic Park ‘Welcome’ png file (DOWNLOAD)

First, cut out this Jurassic Park logo and welcome letters using your Cricut Explore Air (or by hand).

Arrange your cutouts on the rug. Once you find the spacing that you like, tape the outside edges with masking tape to keep them in place. Use straight pins to keep the middle logo and letter pieces in place.

Once you’re ready to paint, pour your outdoor acrylic paint into a painting dish and get your sponge paint brush ready. Note- You may want to wear gloves while painting, as it is helpful to hold down the pieces of paper and pins while you are painting to keep them in place.

Let me also add that as I was painting, I thought I might have to throw away my mat and start over! I felt like my stencils were moving and that there was no way I was going to have clean lines, but alas! Once I removed my stencils (post painting), I was pleasantly surprised to find that my design had clean, sharp edges!

Now, to paint your items, dip your sponge paint brush in the paint (you’ll want to have a good coating of paint on your sponge) and dab the sponge in the area you are trying to cover. Be careful to only dab up and down so that you do not accidentally move the pieces of paper or accidentally push paint under the edges of the stencil.

Take your time painting. If needed, add a second coat of paint to get your desired color on your mat.

After painting over your entire stencil, let your mat dry. Once the paint is no longer wet (or earlier if you’re impatient like I am), slowly and carefully lift off your stencils. If needed, feel free to go back and clean up any edges or light spots with extra paint.

What have they got in there, King Kong?

Nope, just two cute puppies!

Special thanks to my mom for not throwing away my brother’s amazing Jurassic Park toys from his younger years. They totally made for the perfect picture props! And also, happy belated Mother’s Day! This rug was a gift for my lovely, Jurassic-Park-loving momma. 🙂