DIY Wood Bead Carrots

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I'm in full swing with spring crafting and I seem to have a thing for carrots this season!  Every year I feel like I get into a particular item and this year carrots are stealing my heart over an over.  This craft was fun and unique and so simple to do!

What you will need:

Orange Paint

Wood Beads in a variety of sizes

Wood Stain

Sand Paper

Twine

Ribbon

Cut Tag if you want to add one (watch video below of a great trick)

 

Start out by laying out your wood beads in graduating order from largest to smallest.  Once you have a "carrot" shape then put the beads on dowels and paint them orange.  Once my paint was dry I used my favorite little Micro Sander from Gator and lightly buffed each bead and then went over all of them with Dark Walnut wood stain to darken them just a bit.

 

 

After everything had dried I assembled my carrots by threading the beads on two strands of twine and tying a knot at the bottom making sure it was thick enough of a knot to prevent any beads from sliding off.  Once that was done I created twine tassels which I have been making for a long time but here is a great tutorial!  I then attached the twine tassel to the top of the carrots.  Once I had my three carrots assembled I took a strip of ribbon and tied it around the top and made a cute bow. 

As a bonus I did add a cute little tag I created using my Silhouette Cameo with some heat transfer vinyl.  I made the tag from a small piece of a paint stick and rounded the corners.  Easy as pie to do homemade tags that way!

A very simple project indeed!  I think they are fun and unique without a doubt but they add a nice pop of color to my decor.  I also love that you can make them your own but what shade of orange you use and what ribbon you want and even what color twine you choose!  Hope you make a set too!

Some supplies you might need:

Assorted Wood Beads

Twine 

Orange Paint

Black and White Plaid Ribbon 

Heat Transfer Vinyl for Tag

Dark Walnut Wood Stain 

Personalized Easter Basket with HTV World

If you aren't following Paper, Paint and Pine on Instagram you should!  You can also visit the Shop for paper goods and some handmade wooden items like Key to Decor Beads?

I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.

 I don't know if you've heard but I have a new niece.  She's 4 months old and it's her first Easter!  I am looking forward to having a basket for her filled with cute girly things however I needed a cute basket first.  I searched Pottery Barn Kids and they were cute but didn't wow me so I decided to go the inexpensive route and make my own.  Two of my favorite things...budget friendly and a craft!

  Have you guys heard of HTV World?  They are a shop that specializes in all kinds of Heat Transfer Vinyl!  Here is what they say about their shop:

 "If you’re looking for some of the best heat transfer vinyl on the market you’ve come to the right place. We carry Siser heat transfer vinyl.

Heat Transfer Vinyl World let’s you shop your way. By COLOR. Choose your base color and see hand-picked accent colors that complement any color for any project. Never get stumped again and find colors that work for you.

HTV World is dedicated to making your shopping experience a breeze."

They have such an easy way to shop because every color gives you several coordinating colors and styles of heat transfer that will go with your pick.  I loved shopping with them and they have a great assortment of styles and the quality is top notch!

 I found my cute little bunny basket at Target in their dollar section for and knew I had to do something to make it just a bit cuter so I went straight to HTV World and snagged some colors that would work perfectly for her basket.  I went with pale pink, white glitter and solid white but didn't end up using the solid white for this project so I'm sure you will see another post down the line where I use it.

 I used my Silhouette machine to create the decal using just her first name and then mirrored the image and cut it out of the pale pink and then the glitter white.

  Once my HTV was cut I did the weeding (taking off excess material around the letters) and prepared my iron to get it ironed on.  I dumped the water out of my iron so there wouldn't be any steam and set it to the linen setting and let it get good and hot.  

 I then placed my decal using the glitter htv first and due to it being a curved surface I did cut the word in half to make it a little straighter. 

I placed my basket over the end of my iron so I had a surface to press the basket and decal on.

 I then placed a thin piece of fabric over the decal to protect it from melting onto my iron.  I just use a tshirt and just use one layer of it and it works great.

 Once the tshirt was covering it I placed my hot iron on it without moving it too much so it wouldn't move the htv.  Once I knew it was secured enough to the basket surface I started slowly moving my iron over it while applying pressure and then once the backing was coming off the vinyl I slowly removed it and had an adorable basket!

 After I did the glitter layer I then placed the pale pink layer over top of it but moved it just slightly over so the white glitter would just peak out.  Most people would probably put the smooth vinyl down first and then do the glitter but I wanted the glitter to just be an accent.

 How easy is that?  So simple but creates the cutest little basket for so cheap!
 

 Isn't it so cute?  I just love that little accent of glitter sticking out!

Moral of the story?  Go visit HTV World for your heat transfer projects!

Happy Easter!