Home - 30 Minute Crafts

Locked Heart Valentine’s Day Card

January 9, 2018 by Carolina 1 Comment

As I was walking through Michael’s Crafts Store, I saw these adorable lock and key brads. I knew they would make the perfect card! I love lock and key symbols for Valentine’s Day, so I looked up Valentine’s Card designs in Cricut Design Space. I simplified and adjusted the “Dear to my Heart” card that is free in Design Space if you have Cricut Access. I’ll link to my revised versions of the card below so that you don’t have to make any adjustments, you can just cut them out yourself to make both versions of the Locked Heart Valentine’s Day Card.

This project is part of a fun week of Cricut Valentine’s projects that my friends Angie from The Country Chic Cottage, Jen from 100 Directions, and other friends from around the internet are joining together on. If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you can check out lots of Valentine’s projects that you can make using a Cricut Machine!

To make the Locked Heart Valentine’s Day Card, you’ll need:

Double-sided 12×12 cardstock
Cricut Machine
Scoring Stylus
Lock and Key Brads (for one version)
Hot Glue Gun

Cut out either the locked heart card using brads or the locked heart card without brads.

If you’re using paper with a directional print, be sure to place the paper right-side-up on the mat. Otherwise you’ll end up with something that looks like this:

To keep the cardstock from curling, peel the mat from the cardstock instead of the cardstock from the mat.

Fold the envelope on the score lines.

For the version with the brads, put the prongs of the brad through the heart and then through the envelope.

Then glue the envelope flaps closed.

The top flap of the envelope rests under the heart to hold the envelope shut.

For the version without the brads, slip the toungues into the grooves to secure the heart in place before gluing the envelope together.

For the card, fold the creases to put together the gate-fold card.

Place the heart on top. If you’re using the non-brad version, the tounges and grooves will line up. For the version with the brads, place the lock brad through the heart and through the back of the card before securing.

Before closing up the card, write whatever sentiment you want to offer your loved one.

I love the way the double-sided cardstock really makes the heart pop!

All done! Gift your Locked Heart Valentine’s Day Card to someone special!

Be sure to scroll all the way down and check out all these other great Valentine’s Day projects you can make with your Cricut machine!

Filed Under: 15 minute crafts, cricut, easy, fast and cheap, paper, simple, valentine Tagged With: brad, Card, envelope, lock, paper, Valentine's

Mini Chocolate Boxes

January 8, 2018 by Carolina 3 Comments

I’m a big fan of Chocolate. Luckily for me, I married into a family that loves chocolate almost as much as I do. My in-laws generously gift us See’s Candies for holidays and special occasions. They know what our favorite chocolates are, and get custom 1-lb boxes made. Did you know that you can customize a box with just one type of candy? Or pick out just your favorites? I didn’t know that before I met my inlaws! But a 1-lb box is… well… huge. That is a LOT of chocolate. I like splitting it up into smaller pieces. Each candy can be put in its own mini chocolate box. Use the mini chocolate boxes at each place setting for your Valentine’s meal, put mini chocolate boxes into your child’s lunchbox, or use the mini chocolate boxes as decor in whatever way you like!

I’ve created this project as part of a special Valentine’s Event that I’m doing with my friends Angie from the Country Chic Cottage, and Jen from 100 Directions. We’re all creating Valentine’s Day projects all week long that we’re making with our Cricut Machines! And we’ve invited our crafty friends to join in! Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this page to check out all of their awesome Valentine’s Creations!

To make your mini chocolate boxes, you’ll need:

12×12 Valentine’s paper – double-sided papers are best for this project, but any will do.
Cricut Machine and Cricut Design Space
Cricut mat (I used the blue low-tack mat)
Scoring Stylus
Hot Glue
Chocolate wrappers
Chocolates

Use my free Mini Chocolate Box Cut File to cut out your boxes. Each file also makes 4 boxes and some bonus heart-shaped confetti.

Next, you’ll need to fold the box on the score lines.

Glue flaps, and be careful not to burn yourself with the hot glue. Another option is to use Hot Glue finger protectors. Finger protectors make hot glue easier to handle and protect you from burns.

Your chocolate box is all put together! Put a chocolate in a chocolate wrapper in your box and you’re all set!

You can cut several sheets to make different colors and designs of chocolate boxes. Because more chocolate is always better!

Be sure to scroll all the way down and check out all these other great Valentine’s Day projects you can make with your Cricut machine!

Filed Under: 15 minute crafts, cricut, easy, fast and cheap, paper, simple, valentine Tagged With: box, candy, Chocolate, craftyanthology, Gift Box, Valentine

Ferdinand the Bull Flower

December 15, 2017 by Carolina Leave a Comment

Love Ferdinand’s sweet nature? Are you as flower-crazy as he is? Make this simple Ferdinand the Bull Flower that you can enjoy year-round!

Earlier this week, my family and I were guests at an advance screening of Ferdinand. A sweet story about a bull with a loving nature. He doesn’t want to fight, he wants to enjoy life and smell the flowers. Which is great for a small calf. But becomes more difficult as Ferdinand grows to his full size. I won’t spoil the story for you, but I will tell you that my entire family enjoyed the movie – filled with sweet moments and comic jabs. I think your family will enjoy it too!

Ferdinand the Bull Flower

You’ll need:
Tissue paper
Scissors
Floral Wire
Floral Tape

Using 8-10 layers, cut a square and a rectangle.

cut pieces

Fold the square in half, and then into thirds.

fold into thirds

Cut into an arc.

cut arc

Cut notches into the arc.

notch edge

Fold the rectangle in half. Cut into a wedge. Fringe the edge.

cut fringe

Fold wire in half, slip onto curve of fringed rectangle.

slip on wire

slip on flower pieces one at a time. Crinkle them a little as you do.

flower pieces

Wrap stem with floral wire.

wrap stem

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Cricut Tool Roll

November 30, 2017 by Carolina Leave a Comment

If you love your Cricut, chances are you have a growing collection of Cricut tools. From pens to the scoring stylus, and multiple pointed weeding tools, there are lots of fun bonus toys to collect when creating with the Cricut. They each have a special purpose – but you need to know where the tools are to use them! Keep all your Cricut tools close at hand with this easy to make and pretty Cricut Tool Roll!

This past summer I was invited by Cricut to see the unveiling of their new Cricut Maker machine. I was incredibly excited when I learned about the new features of the Cricut Maker, because it has a rotary blade! This new blade completely revolutionizes the machine. In the past, the Cricut has been great for cutting paper and vinyl – but the option to also cut fabrics (hundreds of different types of fabric) is completely game-changing! Quilting cottons are my favorite to work with (in fact I’ve created an entire quilt series that uses the Cricut Maker and quilting cotton). I thought I’d show you how beautifully the Cricut Maker cuts fabric by showing you how to make this simple to make Cricut Tool Roll.

This post contains affiliate links which help support this site at no extra cost to you.

To make the Cricut Tool Roll, you’ll need:

3 different fabrics – I used a Fat Quarter of each, but Cricut has great coordinated fabric packs that would work great as well.
12″ of fusible fleece
Iron and Ironing Board
Sewing Machine and Thread
Pins
24″ of ribbon
Cricut Maker
Fabric Pen for Cricut Maker
12×14″ Fabric Mat for Cricut
Cricut Brayer and remover set

Cricut Tool Roll Pattern in Cricut Design Space (open file on a laptop or desktop computer)

All seam allowances are 1/4″. All edge stitching is 1/8″.

The Cricut fabric bundles are pre-cut to 12″ wide, making them perfect and ready to put on the mat. If you’re using your own fabric, cut it down to 12″ wide.

Put the fabric on the mat right side up. Use the brayer to secure.

Normally, we would put fabric right side down. This is so that we can mark our seam allowances on the back of the fabric. For this project, we’re not marking seam allowances. We’re marking top-stitching lines. Those need to be marked on the right side of the fabric, so we will be cutting all fabrics right side up.

Note: the two large pieces are the outside and inside. The two small pieces are the pocket. The two white pieces are fusible fleece. When you cut the inside and outside, one has a line drawn on it. It doesn’t matter if this is the inside or the outside piece – just choose the fabric that the blue line will show up well on.

Cut the fusible fleece and cut and mark the fabric on the Cricut Maker.

This was the first time I’d cut fusible fleece on the Cricut Maker. I thought I’d have to play around with the settings to see what would work best. Should I put the fusible side up or down? (Turns out that it works equally well both ways.) Should I use the felt setting when cutting? (I forgot to change the setting from cotton, and it worked perfect – so no need to play with settings!) The fusible fleece was so simple to cut, and cut beautifully.

Fuse the fusible fleece to the back of the large front piece, and the small pocket piece with the lines on them.

Place the two pocket pieces right sides together.

Stitch along top (one of the long sides).

Flip it wrong sides together, and press the top.

Edge-stitch the top edge.

Layer the outside, pocket, and inside. The outside and inside should be right sides together. Make sure the lines on the pocket are facing the outside.

Pin on all four sides.

Stitch all the way around. leaving a 4″ hole along the bottom.

Clip corners.

Turn the tool roll right side out. Press flat. Make sure to tuck the seam allowance into the gap you left for turning.

Edge stitch all the way around. This will close the hole you used for turning and give the edges a nice, finished look.

Find the long line on the large piece. We are going to stitch along this line to give the flap a niece crease for turning.

Start on one end. Stitch forward about 3 stitches. Then back 3 stitches. Then forward again, all the way acoss. When you reach the other end, go back and forth a couple stitches again. This helps secure the threads.

Carefully trim your thread tails.

Repeat this stitching on the lines of the pocket, making sure to stitch back and forth at the beginning and end of each line of stitching.

Start with the line in the middle, and work your way out.

Stitch ribbon to one side so that the tool roll can be tied closed.

Insert your tools into the pockets, and you’re all set!

Fold down the flap, roll up your tools, and tie off – and you are ready to travel!

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

Filed Under: 30 minute crafts, cricut, easy, fabric, sponsored Tagged With: cricut maker, fabric, tool

Ultimate Llama Holiday

November 28, 2017 by Carolina 3 Comments

Have you caught on to the Llama trend? Llamas are very big right now – especially in Holiday decorating! So grab your favorite Llama wool sweater, slip into your Llama-patterned socks, and snuggle under your Llama throw to check out this Ultimate Llama Holiday! I’ve teamed up with some of my favorite crafty friends, and we’ve all created our own Llama Holiday ornaments! I’m going to show you how easy it is to make cinnamon dough and create a cinnamon dough llama ornament. And, I created a cute little Llama gift box that you can tuck under your tree as well to create the Ultimate Llama Holiday! Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to check out all the llama goodness!

To make the cinnamon dough, you’ll need:

Single-serving Applesauce
Large container of cinnamon
Bowl & Spoon
Parchment Paper (or plastic wrap)
Rolling Pin
Llama Cookie Cutter
Straw
Ribbon

Follow the instructions in the video to make your Cinnamon Dough and cut out your ornament. It will take a couple days to dry. Then string with a ribbon and hang on your tree!

When you’re done, you can make these fun llama gift boxes. Here is the Cricut Cut File for the llama gift boxes.

Here are more Llama ornaments to complete your Ultimate Llama Holiday!

Jessica at Mad in Crafts made this fun La la la la Llama sparkly ornament.

Over at Good Knit Kisses you’ll learn how to make this fun sombrero wearing llama ornament.

Angie at The Country Chic Cottage made this cute Llama using felt.

Carissa at Creative Green Living made this Llama wearing winter clothes.

At All Crafts Channel, Yolanda shows you how to crochet a llama ornament.

I hope you enjoy your Ultimate Llama Holiday!!

Filed Under: 15 minute crafts, Christmas, cricut, simple, video Tagged With: cinnamon, llama, Ornament

Felt and Foil Holiday Ornament

November 27, 2017 by Carolina 3 Comments

When my friend Albion Gould asked if I wanted to be part of a Cricut Handmade Ornament Exchange, I said ABSOLUTELY! I love creating fun Christmas ornaments, and I LOVE getting fun mail! I designed this simple felt and foil holiday ornament that only uses two different materials to make, but still has plenty of color. It works great as an ornament, but would also be a lovely way to trim a Christmas gift. Check out all the other fun ornaments that were part of the exchange down at the bottom of this page!

This post contains affiliate links. These links help support this site at no extra cost to you.

To make this Felt and Foil Holiday Ornament you’ll need:

Cricut Maker
Cricut Felt, Carousel Sampler (you’ll need the Green, Dark blue, and Light Blue felt)
Cricut Iron-on Foil, Bejeweled Sampler (you’ll need the red and green foil)
Iron or Cricut Easy Press
Glue (I used Aleene’s Max Tacky Adhesive)

Use the Cricut Holly Ornament Cut file that I created. All the images will be free if you have Cricut Access. You’ll need to open the file on a laptop or desktop computer. You can then save it to Design Space and open it on your mobile device if you like to cut from your mobile device.

You’ll be cutting two of the ornament shape – one in light blue felt as the foreground, and one in dark blue felt as the background. Cut the holly out of green felt. From the foil, you’ll be cutting the red berries and the green leaves. You can mirror the red and green foil. But if you forget, don’t worry. Just flip over the green felt and apply the foil to the back (which now becomes the front).

After cutting all the pieces, apply the blue foil snowflake to the light blue felt ornament with an iron or the Cricut Easy Press.

Apply the red berries to the green leaves. It is important to do this FIRST. If you do the green leaves first, you won’t have a large enough piece of transfer tape to protect the leaves when you fuse the berries in place. So fuse the berries first. Then fuse the leaves.

Glue the light blue ornament on top of the dark blue ornament. This gives the ornament enough thickness to hold up. Then glue the leaves on top. Add a ribbon to hang your ornament, and you’re done!

An InLinkz Link-up

Filed Under: 30 minute crafts, Christmas, cricut, easy, quick, quick handmade holiday gifts Tagged With: Christmas, holly, Ornament, snowflake, tree

DIY Wonder Quote Clipboard

November 17, 2017 by Carolina Leave a Comment

Earlier this week, my 9 year old and I went to see a pre-screening of WONDER, which is now out in theaters. WONDER is based on the New York Times best-selling book by the same name. In both the book and the movie, August (Auggie) is a young boy with a severe facial deformities who has been homeschooled his whole life. He is now entering Middle School as a 5th grader. We all know middle school isn’t the easiest time in a child’s life. Most children fit it. But August discovers the true meaning of “Why blend in when you were born to stand out.”

I was expecting to enjoy the movie. I really loved it! Without sharing any spoilers, I can tell you that the movie helps you understand not just Auggie’s challenges, but the very real challenges of the seemingly-typical people around him. It is filled with memorable lines and quotes, including Mr. Browne’s Precepts. I loved the quotes so much that I lettered one onto a clipboard! Let me show you this fun DIY WONDER quote clipboard!

It was hard to pick a single quote from the movie – I might have more clipboards in my future!

To make this DIY Wonder Quote Clipboard, I used:

Paint Pen
Pencil with eraser
Ruler
Clipboard
Fine-tipped black pen

I close an aqua-colored paint pen as a nod to the color of the book cover, but you can choose any color you like.

Start by peeling the plastic wrapping off the clipboard.

Draw lines across the clipboard, an inch apart.

Lightly letter in the words. This will give you a chance to play with the spacing.

Trace over your penciled-in lettering with the paint pen. Then write over it a second time. This second coat will make the paint more opaque.

Use the fine-tipped pen to outline the letters. This will help them stand out.

It is that easy! Your clipboard is complete!

I absolutely love this quote from the movie!

“There should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives.” – WONDER

Filed Under: 30 minute crafts, easy, fast and cheap, paint, simple Tagged With: clipboard, paint, pen

Gingerbread Man Christmas Card made on the Cricut!

November 15, 2017 by Carolina 6 Comments

Have you ever wanted to make your own Christmas Cards? What about design your own Christmas Cards? The wonderful folks at Cricut asked me to share with you how to design your own Christmas Cards using the Cricut Design Space Software, their fancy papers, and my Cricut machine! Yassss!!! So, I’m going to show you how to make this cute Gingerbread Man Christmas Card (link to the design file below), and show you how I designed it, too! You can follow my steps to design your own Christmas Card in Cricut Design Space, then cut it out on your Cricut machine!

Gingerbread Man Christmas Card

This post contains affiliate links. These links help support this site at no additional cost to you.

To make this card I used:

Envelope – Cricut Candy Shop Cardstock – Buy it on the Cricut Website
Card – Cricut Glitter Cardstock, Brights Sampler – Buy it on the Cricut Website
Gingerbread Man – Cricut Foil Paper, Classic Sampler – Buy it on the Cricut Website
Frosting Outline – Cricut White Adhesive vinyl – Buy it on the Cricut Website

I also created this Gingerbread Man Christmas Card file in Design Space.

And here is the Bonus File – a Gingerbread Man Envelope Seal! It uses the same Gingerbread Man design we used for the card.
The Gingerbread Man Envelope Seals were printed on Cricut Clear Sticker Paper.

Watch the step-by-step video of how I designed the card. I teach you some of my special tricks when using Cricut Design Space, and I’ll show you how to put the card together as well.

In the video, you’ll see that the card file and the envelope file didn’t cost me anything – thanks to my subscription to Cricut Access. And there are tons of designs within access that I could have used to make a similar card without paying extra to use images. In fact, here is a similar card I made using only images from Cricut Access!

Cricut Access is more than a giant library of free images. Whenever I use an image or font not in the Cricut Access library, I get 10% off! And I get 10% off all my orders from Cricut.com! So before ordering any of the supplies I mentioned above – make sure to get yourself signed up for Access. A Cricut Access subscription is a gift that will keep on giving, long after the holidays are over!

Create your Christmas Cards on the Cricut this year!

I love how this finished card came out!

Gingerbread Man Christmas Card designed and cut with the Cricut

Enter below for a chance to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Filed Under: 30 minute crafts, Christmas, cricut, sponsored, video

No Mess Glitter Ornament

November 10, 2017 by Carolina 1 Comment

I don’t do a lot of crafting with glitter during the rest of the year. But during the Holidays, I like to add some sparkle. But I don’t want that sparkle to hang around year-long. So I’ve a method for working with glitter that will keep the glitter from getting on every surface of my home from now until forever. You’ll love this No Mess Glitter Ornament technique!

This craft is the last of Craft Lightning Week. All week long I’ve been sharing fast, 15 minute Holiday crafts along with my co-hosts Jessica from Mad in Crafts and Angie from The Country Chic Cottage. And we’ve invited our crafty friends to join in! Check out all their great projects at the bottom of the page.

To make this No Mess Glitter Ornament, you’ll need:

Glitter
Mod Podge
Cup & Popsicle stick
Paintbrush
Paper Plate

I picked an ornament that had two parts, so I started by putting it together.

Mix the glitter and Mod Podge together in the cup. Paint the mixture onto the ornament.

Make sure to add a nice coat that gets full coverage.

Allow the ornament to dry overnight before you hang it on the tree.

Now check out these great Holiday craft ideas!

Learn how to make these monogrammed Christmas ornaments over at It Happens in a Blink.

Happy Go Lucky made these great Snow Globe Mason Jars.

Frog Prince Paperie has a printable to make this cute sparkly light bulb garland.

You’ll learn how to make these cute holiday tea towels over on Lydi Out Loud.

Make Life Lovely whipped up this fun custom Christmas Sack.

How fun are these wreath pacecards from Creativities Galore?

Over at Becoming Martha, you can learn how to make these necklaces – such a great gift idea!

Katie shows you how easy it is to make your own Christmas Countdown Calendar.

My Co host Jessica made these great hot-glue-and-sequin ornaments.

She also made these sparkle-filled ornaments.

Angie from the Country Chic Cottage, my Long-time co-host whipped up these plastic snow globe ornaments.

and this great gift idea – a Lego travel case!

Filed Under: 15 minute crafts, Christmas, craft lightning, easy, quick, simple Tagged With: Glitter, Ornament, tree

Super Simple Holiday Earring Craft

November 10, 2017 by Carolina 5 Comments

I love making simple earrings. Such a great way to add personality to an outfit – and so many earring crafts are so incredibly easy to make. Like this Super Simple Holiday Earring Craft. So crazy easy that when you tell people you made them… you’re going to feel a little big guilty! But you totally DIYed these fun earrings!

This project is part of Craft Lightning Week. All week long my friends Angie from The Country Chic Cottage and Jessica from Mad in Crafts and I have been sharing a 15-minute or less craft project every single day. And we’ve asked a bunch of our crafty friends to join in with us. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this page for a healthy dose of Holiday Crafting inspiration!

This post contains affiliate links which help support this site at no extra cost to you.

To make your Super Simple Holiday Earring Craft, you’ll need:

Holiday buttons like these or these
E6000
Post-style Earrings
Wire Cutters

Make sure you have two of each design you’d like to use as a pair of earrings. Use the wire cutters to cut off the button-back of the earring.

Use the E6000 to glue the earring posts to the back of the (formerly) buttons.

Allow the glue to set. Overnight is usually enough.

It is that easy to make some of the cutest holiday earrings, and at a fraction of what they would cost if you bought them at a retail store!

I don’t know about you, but I am going to be on the lookout for ALL the cute buttons from here on out! This Super Simple Holiday Earring Craft is an all-time favorite!