Aug 17, 20192 min read

HCBC - Unicorn Birthday Party

This project was inspired by a friend in my neighborhood; thank you Punam! I love being challenged to create something I haven't created before. Crafting with a personal die cut machine (Cricut Maker, Silhouette Cameo, etc.) has endless possibilities. Just about any non-watermarked vector image online can be traced in the software and then cut in your desired material!

There is a lot of inspiration for unicorn-themed parties on Etsy and Pinterest right now, so my friend found the unicorn horn, ear, eyelash and leaf styles that she loved and shared them with me. She gravitated towards an image/unicorn from the WishUponAFlowerShop on Etsy. Together we collaborated to make her wall decor unicorn and a 12-month photo banner. The double-unicorn party theme was for her two daughters 1yr and 4yrs.

A couple months prior, I designed my giant flowers (10” & 12”) in Cricut Design Space for another project. One tip I live by to minimize cardstock waste/scraps is to arrange and "attach" several petals into 8.25x10.75" rectangle groups so that they automatically are arranged on the Cricut mats perfectly for a piece of 8.5x11 Recollections cardstock. For example, for my largest flower in the screenshot, if I didn't do this "attach" step, when I go to cut my project, the software would arrange the petals onto 7 or 8 mats, instead of the 6 mats that I prepared.

My fingers are crossed that eventually Cricut will finally decide to enhance their software to have an option to minimize waste or optimize mat space in a future release.

Based on my template I cut enough petals for 3 flowers. However, she was looking for an oversized unicorn/backdrop, so instead of making only 3 flowers; I distributed out the same number of petals to create 6 flowers of varying sizes. The final width was almost 4ft wide!

I also helped her with a couple additional small items, like horns/ears for a table decor of the girls’ names, centerpieces, and food labels. AND she and I brainstormed ways to make a DIY balloon garland and she did a great job making it herself, and I helped with some final touches once they hooked it to the wall.