As we have stated before, you have to wait about 30 days for freshly painted latex paint to cure completely before applying your CFK Wall Sticker. The reason for this is pretty simple, latex paints are water based. Over the 30 days the water is evaporating out of the paint. If you put up your wall sticker over a newly painted wall, chances are very high that it will peel at the edges because of the water evaporation.

Solution: wallpaper paste. The simple trick to put your stickers up fairly quickly is to use wallpaper paste over the sticker adhesive and apply the wall sticker to the wall. You will want to wait about 24 hours after painting to apply the wall sticker. I have used this technique with no problems. Just follow the instructions on the paste container as you would for applying wallpaper.
 

IMPORTANT! CFK wall stickers must be applied to a smooth surface.

 Solution: A wood cutout shape to apply the wall sticker. For a long time I have been using this technique for all my on site projects. It’s a little more work, but you will have the ability to put wall stickers onto a rough surface. First you need to purchase some masonite sheets of plywood. These sheets come 4’x8’ and are typically 1/8” to ¼” thick. They can be found at your local home improvement store. Either thickness will work for our application. You will also need a black chalk pencil, ebony pencil, or a charcoal pencil. You can get these from Wal-Mart, Michaels, Hobby Lobby or your local art supply store. You will also need flat black spray paint and a jigsaw.

Take your CFK wall sticker and turn it upside down. You will be able to see the shape of the wall sticker through the backing paper.
Using your charcoal pencil begin to outline the shape you see by pressing firmly on the pencil as you outline. Make sure you get inside any openings that the shape may have.
Turn the wall sticker over and place it onto the smooth side of the masonite sheet. With the decal facing up, use your finger only to press firmly along the outline of the wall sticker shape. This process will transfer the charcoal pencil outline to the masonite just like carbon paper would. Remove the wall sticker from the top of the masonite and you will have a black outline of your sticker.
Using a #2 pencil, trace over the outline that you see for a more permanent mark. Use your jigsaw to begin cutting about ¼” outside your pencil outline. You now have a silhouette cutout of your wall sticker.
Using a can of flat black spray paint, spray the edges around your cutout about 1” from the edge. Once the paint has dried you are ready to wallpaper the wall sticker onto the cutout.
Apply your wall sticker to the board

• Wipe off your cutout to remove all debris
• On a suitable work surface, apply wallpaper paste to the wood cutout making sure you go all the way to the edges to prevent peeling of the wall sticker
• Peel your wall sticker from its backing and place it face down on a clean flat surface so that the sticky part is facing up. 
• Pick up your pasted wood cutout and turn it over so the paste is facing down. Position it directly over the wall sticker that is face down on the work surface. 
• Lower the cutout until you are really close to the wall sticker. This will ensure accurate alignment of the cutout to the wall sticker as you place it against the sticker. Gently rub the back of the cutout to adhere the wall sticker to the wallpaper paste. 
• Pick up the cutout, turn it over and place it back down on your work surface. The wall sticker will be face up. Smooth out any wrinkles and adjust your wall sticker so that it is positioned centrally on the cutout. Using a wet sponge, wipe off any excess wallpaper paste and brush down the wall sticker to smooth it out completely.  Leave your finished mounted sticker on the work surface to dry. 
• As an option, for extra protection,  apply a coat or two of Minwax latex based polyurethane. I don’t recommend any other. Once this is dry you are ready to hang.

To hang the wall sticker/cutout, apply Liquid Nails to the back of the cutout. Place the cutout onto the wall in the location you desire. Use blue painters tape only to hold the wall sticker in place for about 12 hours to allow the Liquid Nails to dry. Remove the tape and your wall sticker is now applied to a rough surface for years to come. To see a visual step by step process of creating 3D wood cut-outs click here!