by Julie McGuffee
Did you know that Kunin felt is made from recycled, post-consumer plastic bottles! With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to complete the cycle and use empty plastic bottles for a fun Easter project.
Decorations are quick’n easy when you have a Cricut® Maker. You can make an unlimited supply of shapes for lots of creative and crafty ideas. Easter egg shapes for example, can be used to decorate garlands, wreaths, gift bags, tags, cards, napkin rings and so much more…..
Skill Level for this project: Beginner +
Time to complete: 3 hours
You will need:
- Kunin® Dot/Star Coordinates or Classic Felt, 9” x 12” – 2 each Candy Pink, Yellow & Lagoon
- Kunin® Friendly Glitter, or Premium Felt, 9” x 12” – White
- Cricut® Maker™ with Rotary blade
- Joy® Iron-on Embroidered letters – 2 each A, E, P and H Y S T R
- 12 plastic water bottles
- 2 small black buttons
- Tacky glue & lo-temp glue gun
- Iron
Instructions:
1. Cut 4 each, 3” x 9” strips of yellow and pink felt and 3 strips of lagoon felt. Wrap each piece around the bottom of a plastic bottle, overlap the ends then glue to secure.
2. Cut 11, 3 ¼” white glitter egg shapes using the “felt acrylic” setting and rotary blade on your Cricut® Maker. Re-size the egg shape to 3” then cut 4 yellow, 4 pink and 3 lagoon shapes. Center, then glue a colored egg shape onto a white glitter shape. You can use with either the dot pattern facing upward, or the plain side.
You can download the egg pattern here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vvBmdzw-SXLu3C0dTHkj32Bk6YL3F03m/view?usp=sharing
3. Peel the waxy white backing from each letter to expose the adhesive then press in place on the front of the egg. Note: Arrange the eggs in color order first before adding the letters. Glue the egg onto the band on the bottle.
4. Carefully cut away the top of the bottle even with the top of the felt band to use as a small container for jelly eggs, or a large Easter Egg filled with goodies. You can also leave the bottle as is and use as a small vase to create a row of single flower stems for a table top decoration – it’s waterproof!
5. Rabbit “Vase” Centerpiece – Easter decorations wouldn’t be complete without an Easter Rabbit. Cut a 4” x 9” piece of white glitter felt then glue around the base of a plastic bottle. Cut a 5” x 3” oval for the head and 2 elongated ovals for the ears. You can cut these using the “shapes” feature in Cricut Design Space, or draw your own simple patterns on the back of the felt, then cut out with scissors.
6. Cut 2 smaller ear shapes from pink felt then glue to the front of each ear. Cut then glue a 1” heart shape to the center of the “head” for a nose then glue the buttons on either side of the nose for eyes. Use a little powder blush for the cheeks if desired. Glue the ears to the back of the head then glue the head to the bottle. Fill the bottle with Spring flower picks to finish.
Hoppy Easter ev’ry bunny!
You can now find an expanded color line of Kunin® Classic felt and Kunin® Premium felt non-wovens fabrics in cut by the yard at your local Walmart; please inquire as to what is available in your area.