DIY Inexpensive Floral Embellishments

How to make inexpensive floral embellishments from Dollar Tree materials.

I have had so much fun making these colorful flowers. Would you believe me if I told you I spent a total of two dollars and I haven’t even made a dent in my supplies? OK, the colors came from a variety of products I already had on hand so I guess you could argue it costs more. I share with you a variety of different techniques so hopefully, it will cover some products you already own and will not need to purchase. Plus, you can make these flowers into the colors you need specifically for your craft project. 

Links may be affiliates. Please consider using them to help support this site. It will cost you nothing additional to do so. ~ Thank you in advance.

variety of materials used for color

Materials:

Options:

Video Demonstration:

detail of colored flowers

I found that placing the leaves on the back of the flowers left some glue dot uncovered, which could be used to adhere the flowers to my projects. I decided to place a glue dot on the back of all of the flowers and place them on a coated surface for storage. 

How to Make an Alternative Halloween Pumpkin with Cricut

Make an alternative bucket pumpkin with Cricut.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

I was intrigued when I first saw the bucket camping lights people were making. We don’t camp so I thought they might be a great alternative to a carved pumpkin as a DIY Halloween Craft. So I pursued how to make the bucket lights and changed it a bit for an alternative Halloween Pumpkin with the assistance of my Cricut Maker. I used the Cricut to cut out the bats from vinyl and felt. The Cricut Maker has exchangeable blades that were used. The Rotary Blade™, with its gliding, rolling action, cuts through virtually any fabric and I used it for the felt. I used the Fine Point blade to cut the permanent vinyl. Both of these blades come with the Maker, there are additional blades available.

________________________________________________________________________

I want to personally thank Cricut for providing materials for this post.
I am a design team member at Cricut.


The following links may contain affiliate links. They help support this site and cost you nothing to use them.
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Materials:

Directions:

cutting vinyl for alternative pumpkin with Cricut
Begin by using the bat template from Cricut for cutting vinyl. Using an entire sheet of 12 x 12 black vinyl, cut out this design.

bats - alternative pumpkin with Cricut
Bats after being weeded.

cover bucket - alternative pumpkin with Cricut
Using the bats like a sticker, apply them to the bucket in a random design.

cut felt - alternative pumpkin with Cricut
Cut out the felt.
Using the same design as the vinyl. Edit the file to only have the medium sized bats.
Then cut the felt with the Rotary Blade.

glueing felt - alternative pumpkin with Cricut
Glue two felt bats together.
Follow the next step before gluing together.

using wire - alternative pumpkin with Cricut
Place a rolled wire between the two felt bats.
Allow them to dry overnight.

join wires after glue dries - alternative pumpkin with Cricut
Bundle the wires together.

ribbon rolls - alternative pumpkin with Cricut
Decorative ribbon from Dollar Tree.

making bow - alternative pumpkin with Cricut
Using both entire rolls of ribbon, make a bow.
Wrap the wire from the felt bats around the bow.

bow to lid - alternative pumpkin with Cricut

This is where it gets a little tricky.
I tried hot glue and super glue to attach the bow to the lid.
Neither worked.
I then drilled a little hole in the center of the lid, wrapped another wire around the bow,
and fed it through the lid to hold the bow in place.

finished bat bucket - alternative pumpkin with Cricut
Here is the Alternative Halloween Pumpkin or “Bat Bucket” done.

bucket with light - alternative pumpkin with Cricut
Here is the bucket with the light inside turned on.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Valentine Candy Boxes

Do your kids give valentines to their friends? I haven’t heard what our school is planning this year but I love making something special with my daughters for them to give to their friends. This year we made these cute paper candy boxes to hold Lindt Chocolate Truffles. What a special little treat, I don’t think anyone will turn it down!

Materials:

Special thanks to Cricut for providing the Maker making this project possible. 
This post may contain affiliate links. Using them will cost you nothing but allow Try it – Like it – Create it to earn a small amount to continue this site.

Directions:


Download the free SVG file linked below. I was able to get four on one page.
The black lines cut and the red lines need to be changed to score.
 


This is an example of the cut file. Turn the design away from yourself, place the two pieces with the hearts together, take one of the other side flaps and place it over the heart shapes to hold the box together. Insert the Lindt chocolate and finish closing the box.


Yum!


Yeap, we made a lot of them. 


While the boxes were complete, for my youngest daughter, we made a heart tag to place on top.
The Maker wrote the words and then cut the shape.

If you would like the SVG for the heart you can download it here. [heart tag]

Love and Kisses

Modern Art

Decorating for Valentine’s Day or just showing someone you love them? You can create this piece of modern art with just a few steps. I’ve placed mine on our fireplace mantle. 

This project is a part of Tape Technologies Design Team for the month of February 2018. We were asked to design using their brushed metal vinyl. This project used Red and Silver. The graphic is one I created and will offer in this post as a free svg.

vinyl

Materials:

Special thanks to Cricut and Tape Technologies for providing items to make this project possible. 
This post may contain affiliate links. Using them will cost you nothing but allow Try it – Like it – Create it to earn a small amount to continue this site.

Directions:

 

Use the SVG file linked above and upload it to cut on your personal cutting machine. 

transfer film
Use transfer paper to prepare the vinyl for application to the canvas. 
 

silver
silver vinyl

red vinyl
red vinyl

Aline and burnish the vinyl onto the canvas. Place the silver vinyl first and then the red. 

finished

The project is finished!


Tape Technologies Vinyl is sold through a variety of retailers as well as on Amazon with the name StyleTech.

Heart Boxes

This is an example of the sixty some odd heart boxes we made for Valentine’s Day. Who were the lucky recipients? Kids in my daughters’ classes and their basketball teammates. What was inside? Those famous lip balm balls everyone is talking about, a mustache whistle and a valentine gumball. Some boxes were filled with spritz heart cookies as well. We had so much fun making them, we worked in a production line fashion. This was from last year. This year, we need to come up with something similar to place those yummy Lindt Chocolates into. That post will be coming soon.


A few more of the boxes finished. 

Materials:

  • Valentine-themed scrapbook paper
  • personal cutting machine (I used a Cricut Explore Air 2)
  • or scissors
  • free svg file or free printable template (both are linked below)

Special thanks to  Cricut for providing the Cricut Explore Air 2 in order to produce posts similar to this one. 
This post contains affiliate links to help support this site. 

The files we used were from The Craft Chop and you can use them too. Oh, did I mention they were free? 

Tags SVG file post: http://thecraftchop.bravesites.com/entries/svg/tags

Heart box SVG file post: http://thecraftchop.bravesites.com/entries/svg/heart-box-2

How to Make 3D Snowflakes with Cricut

Learn how to turn a mirrored image into a 3D ornament just like this snowflake with Cricut.

The thing I like most about snowflakes besides no two being alike is that they are great for winter decor. They work for Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, or a general winter theme. 

Using any mirrored image, you can turn it into a 3D shape. Snowflakes work for this idea. In this post I will show how I took a simple snowflake cut in Design Space and by adding a score line then making multiple cuts, it can be turned into a 3D hanging decor. 

Make one large snowflake to hang in a doorway or from a light fixture, or you can make multiples to hang all together to cover a larger area or make smaller versions for Christmas tree ornaments.

Read to the end of the post where you can enter to win a Cricut Maker Machine. 

Materials:

  • glitter cardstock – 2 sheets
  • snowflake
  • Personal Cutting Machine – I used a Cricut Explore Air 2
  • glue
  • twine, string, or fishing line to hang the Snowflake

I wanted to thank Cricut for providing my cutting machine in order to create posts using their products.

Directions:

This is an Explore Air 2 – Easy one-Cut Holiday project. One shape that is cut multiple times to make the ornament. In the video below you will see how you set up one snowflake to cut and then you can tell your machine to cut multiples of that one image. The software knows where to place it on the mat to use the optimal amount of surface space without wasting any materials. 

The following video will show you how I set up the snowflake file in Design Space.

Embed YouTube Video

cutting
Cutting the snowflake shapes on my Cricut Explore Air 2.

cut snowflakes
The cut snowflakes, starting to fold them in half. This task needs to be done gently.

fold
A folded snowflake.

glue and string
Attach the folded snowflakes with glue and insert a string for hanging.
I intended to piece together six snowflakes, when I got to five, there was no more room for another one.

finished
The finished snowflake.

Enter for a chance to win a Cricut Maker: a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Comments submitted may be displayed on other websites owned by the sponsoring brand.
#CricutHoliday #CricutMade #ad

How to Make Origami Boxes for Ornaments and Gifts

Making origami boxes that work for ornaments and gift wrapping. Learn how to make your own.

I enjoy Origami and when I saw this box form, I thought, “this would make a great ornament.” As I was making them, I then realized they could also double as wrapping for a gift because they can be opened up. What an excellent idea to hang little gifts on the tree or make a lot of them for an Advent!

Materials:

  • scissors
  • decorative paper
  • ruler

This post is a part of the Creative Craft Bloggers Group monthly craft challenge. For the month of December, we were challenged to make ornaments. At the bottom of this post, you can see all the entries and links to their tutorials. 

Directions:

six sheets
You will need six squares of paper. I used 6″x6″.

1st fold
Using one piece, fold it in half and then open it back up.

2nd fold
Fold each side into the centerfold.

both folds
Both folded.

flip it over
Turn the paper over.

fold
Diagram 1, fold C to F

fold
Diagram 1, fold B to E

fold
Diagram 2, fold D to E.

fold
Diagram 2, fold A to F.

Make six.
See the following video for an example of the folding and then how the pieces fit together.

Life Beyond the Kitchen    

Al Things Beautiful    

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2 Dishing Divas