DIY Wooden Christmas Ornaments With Cricut Maker
Make gorgeous DIY wooden Christmas ornaments by cutting basswood on the Cricut Maker. Plus, ideas to decorate them using the Cricut.
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What better way to get in the Christmas spirit than make some DIY ornaments!
Recently, I tried the Cricut Maker and talked all about setting it up in this post.
The feature I was the most excited about is the ability to cut thin wood on the Cricut Maker.
I have been dying to try it out and decided to start with a quick DIY project to make simple but pretty wooden ornaments.
The Christmas tree turned out pretty neat, so I went ahead and also made a snowflake ornament.
Aren’t they pretty?
And they were so easy to make too!
Materials for Wood Ornament DIY on Cricut
- Cricut Maker
- Knife Blade
- StrongGrip cutting mat
- 1/16″ Basswood
- Vinyl in color/pattern of choice. I used this one.
- Masking tape
- Stain/ paint of choice
- Cord to hang the ornaments
How to Make Wooden Ornaments With the Cricut Maker
Step 1: Set up the Knife Blade
When you first set up the knife blade, design space walks you through a calibration using printer paper.
Step 2: Attach Basswood to Mat
- Attach 1/16″ basswood to the StrongGrip mat. Use a brayer to make sure it is completely attached.
- Apply masking tape all around the edges to ensure the wood piece doesn’t move during the cut.
Step 3: Load the Design
- Load design in design space and click “make it”.
- I made the Christmas tree design using a bunch of shapes in design space – triangles, squares and circles.
- The snowflake was a pattern from design space and I added a slit to it.
- You can get the SVG file for this here
- Make the appropriate selections for the materials – 1/16″ basswood.
- Proceed with the cut as usual.
Cutting time for basswood on cricut maker
Basswood needs multiple passes of the knife blade to completely cut through the design – 14 passes to be exact.
The actual cut time is calculated based on the intricacy of the design.
For a fairly simple design – the Christmas tree ornament it took a total of about 20 minutes.
For the Snowflake design – it took a bit longer – about an hour – since it is more intricate.
But while I was waiting for the design to cut, I was able to work on other projects in parallel.
Step 4: Remove Ornament From Mat
- Once the cut is done, unload the mat and remove the masking tape.
- Slowly remove the basswood from the mat.
Important tip – Turn the mat upside down and slowly peel the mat off of the basswood. If you do it the other way, the think wood is very likely to crack.
- Just put the two pieces together!
Step 5: Decorate the Ornaments
Decorate the ornaments as you like.
The options are endless. Here are a few ideas –
- Leave them natural
- Stain it and add a few “snow” sprinkles
- Use colored dye or stain to add a splash of color
- Applying decorative vinyl to add pattern and sparkle – I am in love with the holographic Premium vinyl by Cricut.
- To do this, I just cut out 2 copies of the Christmas tree ornament in vinyl and applied to the wooden cutouts.
Which style is your favorite?
How will you decorate your wooden Christmas trees?
I hung them up with some monofilament wire.
Pretty DIY wooden Christmas ornaments that you can make for any decor style!
If you make these ornaments, I would love to see! Feel free to email photos to me at anika@anikasdiylife.com or tag me on Instagram @anikasdiylife for a chance to be featured on social media! I can’t wait to see them!
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DIY Wooden Christmas Ornaments with Cricut Maker
How to make gorgeous DIY wooden Christmas ornaments by cutting basswood on the Cricut Maker
Materials
- 1/16" Basswood
- Vinyl in color/pattern of choice
- Masking tape
- Stain/ paint of choice
- Cord to hang the ornaments
Instructions
- Set up the knife blade. When you first set up the knife blade, design space walks you through a calibration using printer paper.
- Attach 1/16" basswood to the StrongGrip mat. Use a brayer to make sure it is completely attached.
- Apply masking tape all around the edges to ensure the wood piece doesn't move during the cut.
- Load design in design space and click "make it"
- I made the Christmas tree design using a bunch of shapes in design space - triangles, squares and circles.
The snowflake was a pattern from design space and I added a slit to it. - Make the appropriate selections for the materials - 1/16" basswood.
- Proceed with the cut as usual.
- Once the cut is done, unload the mat and remove the masking tape.
- Slowly remove the basswood from the mat.
- Just put the two pieces together!
- Decorate the ornaments as you like. Leave them natural, stain it and add a few "snow" sprinkles, use colored dye or stain to add a splash of color.
- Applying decorative vinyl to add pattern and sparkle - I am in love with the holographic Premium vinyl by Cricut. To do this, I just cut out 2 copies of the Christmas tree ornament in vinyl and applied to the wooden cutouts.
- And it's ready to hang!
Anika's goal is to inspire and empower beginners with woodworking, DIY, home improvement, and home decor ideas.
She wants everyone to unlock their creative potential and experience the feeling that comes with making something. Nothing feels better better than seeing something and saying "I can make that!"
Anika, I love them all because they’re so adorable and “antique” looking. They remind me of some of the ornaments on my grandparents trees from when I was young. My favorite is the one you stained and added the “snow” onto it. Again, it brings back that old world charm. Something so simple and yet so lovely. Thanks for another wonderful project! Now I have to go buy a Cricut machine! You know I’m going broke just by getting your emails. That’s only because I HAVE to do just about every single project you send out. Well, either myself or I make my husband do the complicated ones. I get to do all the fun ones! Thanks so much for sharing all of your knowledge, tips and tricks with us. It keeps us retirees quite busy!