DIY How to make a RUSTIC UNICORN sign + FREE SVG

Unicorns…my third daughter is OBSESSED with these magical creators and has been for years. She was the inspiration behind these rustic looking glittery unicorn themed mason jars that we found on Pinterest and HAD to make our own. Everything is unicorn theme from her bedroom décor to her birthday party themes to her clothing. So, this year for her birthday of course she asked for…you guessed it UNICORN themed presents!

With all the craziness going on the world in the year of 2020 she couldn’t have a traditional birthday party. BOO! Instead she had a small but SUPER FUN day at home filled with a unicorn shaped cake made by her older sisters and LOTS of fun outdoor activities.

While she did get a few store bought gifts I thought it would be so fun to make her a rustic looking unicorn sign to hang in her unicorn themed side of the bedroom. She already has this gorgeous unicorn themed bedspread and SO many other purple glittery unicorn knick knacks I thought this sign would tie in perfectly with all of it.

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And she LOVED it! I was so happy because sometimes you make or buy something for your kid and you don’t always get the reaction you were hoping for. You know the one where they give you a huge smile and a thank you but you can tell deep down that it really wasn’t what they were expecting. Thank goodness my sweet girl BEAMED with unicorn excitement when she got her handmade rustic always believe in magical things sign from her momma! YAY a mom WIN!!

If you want to make this exact unicorn SVG you can get it for FREE here in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY. If you’re new to the blog my resource library is where I share all of my freebies. It’s all in one place so you can access it super easy. Just click here to get my password. If you already have the password click here and it will take you to my secure page.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own rustic unicorn sign

• always believe in magical things FREE SVG

• Cricut cutting machine, the MAKER or EXPLORE

• Cricut Design Space

• Cricut cutting mat

• Oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• xacto knife

• premade pallet sign - DIY tutorial to build a pallet sign

• acrylic paints

• assorted flowers

• paint brushes

• stenciling sponge

• cone form

• floral wire

• hot glue gun

• gorilla hot glue sticks

• nail polish I used a glittery gold

• tulle

HOW TO MAKE A RUSTIC PALLET STYLE UNICORN SIGN

For this tutorial I’m starting with a pre built, stained, and painted pallet style sign. If you’ve never built a pallet style sign before not worries they are actually really easy to make. You can read my post on how to built your own pallet style sign here. I also used a weathered gray stain on this wood unicorn sign along with white paint for the background colors.

1. CUT OUT YOUR UNICORN STENCIL

The first thing I did was cut out my stencil on ORAMASK STENCIL FILM. If you plan to cut out a ton of stencils and want to buy stencil film even cheaper you must read my oramask stencil film post on how I dramatically my out of pocket on this material for my small business. I used my Cricut to cut out my stencil and weeded my unicorn themed stencil with a super sharp exacto knife.

If you’re new to the Cricut world here are 10 must have to get you started on you Cricut journey.

2. APPLY YOUR UNICORN STENCIL

Using transfer tape apply your unicorn stencil to your wood base. When removing the transfer tape it’s easiest to roll the transfer tape off your of stencil film. Use your vinyl squeegee to get your stencil good and adhered to the base of your unicorn sign.

3. PAINT YOUR STENCIL

To prevent tons of paint bleed you can seal your unicorn stencil first with the same color paint that you used for your background color. In my case I used white paint because my background is white. The wood I used to make my daughter’s rustic unicorn sign was EXTRA RUSTIC. Meaning it had lots of imperfections. The wood was very uneven, rounded on the edges, and had small and large gouges all over. I knew even with sealing my stencil I would still have paint bleed unless I took extra time to paint the sign very slowing. I’m a momma of 4, I don’t have time to be that perfect lol so my sign had more than usual paint bleed. When painting your stencil you can use a cosmetic sponge or a paint brush. If using a cosmetic sponge you want to make an up and down dabbing motion to paint the stencil. Do very THIN even coats and layer up to 3 THIN layers but no more than that. I promise the coverage will be darker once the stencil is removed.

4. REMOVE YOUR STENCIL

An xacto knife works great for removing stencils. Just be sure is super sharp. If you don’t have an xacto knife you can also use a sewing pin. You want to gently lift the stencil film up and off your wood base without causing damage.

5. DISTRESS YOUR UNICORN SIGN

I used a sanding sponge to lightly sand over my lettering on my unicorn pallet sign once my paint was dry. Just to give it a little more rustic look. I didn’t want my sign to be all gorgeously distressed and the lettering be crisp.

6. PAINT ON UNICORN EARS

I almost forgot to do this part…insert facepalm!… I freehanded the ears with a pencil then painted them in with light pink paint. I added a little detail with a little bit of gray paint while the pink paint was still wet just so they didn’t look so flat. Then I distressed them with the sponge sander.

7. MAKE THE HORN

I used a foam cone for this and cut it down to the size I needed. I used craft paint for this instead of spray painting it (check out my tips for spray painting Styrofoam here). Let dry. Once dry wrap it in tulle, I did this several times to get a good coverage.

8. ADD ACCENTS TO THE HORN

I only needed a small piece of wire for this project so I used what I had on hand. I only had silver or green floral wire so I painted a piece of the silver wire with glittery nail polish and let it dry. Then I wrapped it around the horn and secured the ends inside of the foam. This really made a big difference in how the unicorn horn looked overall. Without this piece of glittery wire I don’t think it would have turned out as cute.

9. GLUE ON FLORAL UNICORN CROWN

I picked up my floral accents from Walmart. It’s spring/summer so they had a great selection of florals that had a magical unicorn vibe. I used gorilla hot glue in my glue gun to attach them to my wood base. I highly suggest doing a dry run with the floral crown before you actually glue them down. You want to make sure you are going to like the placement before you commit to the glue. Don’t be afraid to cut down your florals. Sometimes you just need a small piece of baby’s breath instead of a whole piece of it.

Some of the florals I used on this unicorn crown were leftover from these DIY corsages I made from my youngest three daughters for the daddy daughter dance. I love that I could also incorporate them into this piece. They were such beautiful florals and my store was completely out of them so I couldn’t get any more for this sign.

Now you’re ready to give this gorgeously rustic unicorn sign to your sweetest unicorn obsessed little girl to hang in her room. I hope you enjoyed this crafty tutorial. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

DIY Unicorn birthday party centerpiece

Our third daughter had her 8th birthday party recently and had her big heart set on a unicorn theme. I had $50 to make it happen {decorations, cake, games, and invites} and I wasn’t about to disappoint her so I set out on Pinterest to find all the things I could for a DIY unicorn party. Here’s the pin that inspired this centerpiece. Super adorable right?! But I wanted hers to look a little different, a little more whimsical and I wanted to spend the least amount possible. Which meant I needed to shop my craft stash before getting started.

Here’s what you’ll need to create you own at unicorn centerpiece

• small bucket

• dowel rod

• rocks

• felt

• glitter

• white balloon

• black vinyl cut outs of eyes

• white spray paint

• cardstock

• LOW TEMP GLUE GUN

First spay paint your buckets and dowel rods with white spray paint. Let dry completely.

Fill the bottom third of your bucket with crumpled up paper, leaving space in the very center to place the dowel rod. Place the dowel rod inside and fill the rest in with your rocks. I just used what we had on hand that was left over from previous crafts.

Next, blow your balloon up but not all the way. You want to try to get as round of a shape for it as possible. Then tie it around your dowel rod.

I free hand cut the ears, flowers, and horn. Not pictured, I cut the horn out of cardstock, glued glitter to the entire thing, and let it dry prior to this next step. Using your LOW TEMP glue gun glue them to your balloon. Place the glue on the felt first, wait a couple seconds, then place on your balloon. It’s important you use a low temp glue gun as a hot temp will likely pop your balloon.

If you’d rather use paper flowers this DIY PAPER FLOWER TUTORIAL might help you. They aren’t the exact same style of flower as the ones pictured in this tutorial but they are super adorable and you just might like them better.

I cut out the vinyl eyes using my Cricut but you can free hand these with a sharpie.

And that’s it! Our birthday girl was completely happy and loved all her unicorn decorations but these were her favorite! She so wished she could have kept them forever but sadly they deflated {and honestly I’m totally ok with that because the birthday girl would never toss anything if we didn’t make her}.

I hope this inspires you to make your own perfect unicorn decorations.

Check out the UNICORN TASSLE GARLAND I made to go along with her theme.

DIY Glittered Unicorn Jar

DIY UNICORN MASON JAR

Looking for a fun UNICORN themed craft to do with your unicorn obsessed little one {or by yourself ;)}? These jars are such perfect little project! You can use them as a money bank, colored pencil holder, stick a battery operated candle inside to make a fun and unique night light or be like our girls and keep little trinkets you find inside your jar. Whatever you use it for it will be oh so cute!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Here’s what you’ll need

• CRICUT cutting machine

• Pre painted mason jar, any size

• White & Pink acrylic paint

• White & pink cardstock

• Round sponge brush

• Black vinyl for eyes

• Glitter

• Rhinestones

• Mod podge

• Either tacky glue or low temp glue gun

• Sponge brush

Need a no stress craft kit for this project? You can purchase a UNICORN JAR CRAFT KIT in my shop. Everything you need to complete this project at home. It’s always an option to send this packaged as a gift. If you’re planning a birthday party here is my no stress UNICORN CRAFT PARTY IN A BOX.

You want to start with a PRE PAINTED mason jar. I always use chalk paint to paint my jars. It goes on nice and even and has great coverage. You can use regular acrylic paint but you will not get the same coverage as the jar above. Your jar will need to cure for at least 24 hours prior. If it does not get proper curing time the paint can peel from the glass jar. I used both pint and quart sized mason jars for this project and they both turned out super cute! This is also a great way to use up an empty sauce or salsa jar from the kitchen.

I used my CRICUT CUTTING MACHINE to cut out all the facial features. I used cardstock for the ears and horn and black vinyl for the eyes. If you don’t have a cutting machine you can cut these by hand and draw/paint on the eyes.

Paint a thick layer of mod podge on the bottom of your jar. A wide 3” sponge brush works great for this. You can use the width as a guide for how high up to go on the jar.

Place a piece of paper under your jar and sprinkle it with glitter. The paper will catch a good amount of the glitter that doesn’t make it on the jar so you can reuse it. You’ll want to work quickly so your mod podge doesn’t dry before you get done glittering.

Once that is dry you will paint on the cheeks. Dip half of your round sponge brush into the pink paint and the other half into the white paint. When you apply the paint you will make a slight twist motion to get the swirly effect.

After you paint is COMPLETELY DRY you can add the eye decals. It is important you wait for these to dry as the vinyl will NOT  stick to wet paint. Remove the white paper backing first, the clear transfer tape and the eyes are attached. Then place it on your jar. Give it a good rub with your thumb or a plastic card then slowly remove the clear transfer tape off. This works great if you peel it at a very sharp angle like pictured.

Glue the pink ear piece onto the middle of the white earpiece with your detail brush. Apply glitter to or paint the horn. Then attach the ears, horn and rhinestones above the eyes. You can apply these anywhere you see fit, have fun with it:)! A glue gun works best for this but you can use the tacky glue to attach these pieces to your jar

I hope you love creating this craft as much as my girls and I did! Don’t be afraid to veer off this tutorial and really make it your own.

Check out more craft kid posts below

DIY Tassel Garland, make your own for just pennies each

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

Raising kids is so hard sometimes. Nothing prepares you for having to console your child on days when they are feeling down about themselves. I think this is especially true for raising daughters. We have four little girls and life is a roller coaster of emotions with them some days. Recently we celebrated our third daughter’s birthday. We always celebrate before school lets out because she has a summer birthday.

We sent invites out two weeks in advance and this girl was SO excited to have all her school friends over for her unicorn themed birthday party. I’ll admit I’m a frugal person thru and thru. When I plan our girl’s parties my husband and I don’t spend an arm and a leg on the party. I try to keep it under $50 for the cake and decorations that way we still have room in our budget to gift them a decent gift that they’ve been wanting.

But this year I had to get super creative on my spending because I needed to throw her a fancy {as fancy as we get around here ;) } unicorn birthday party! It was just days before her party and she had only had one, yes ONE friend RSVP to her big day. Talk about tears falling and hearts breaking. I HAD to make up for the possibility that there be no one besides family at her party.

So I scoured all the pretty things on Pinterest and put together a few ideas of things to decorate her party with to make her feel extra special. Keeping it under $50 was a bit of a challenge but I was determined to make it work! Tassel Garland, among a few other DIY decorations, made the cut. These ended up costing than $4 to make two full strands of tassels PLUS extras to put around the unicorn centerpieces.

Thankfully two days before her party she had a couple more friends RSVP and she had a great party! They played some fun unicorn games, made tasty treats and loaded them down with EXTRA sprinkles, got to decorate their own cupcakes, and most of all the birthday girl felt so loved and special on her day!

After her party she got to hang the pretty garland in her room which made these tassel even better!

To make your own DIY tassel garland for your own special occasion…

Here’s what you’ll need

• RECTANGLE TABLE CLOTH

• SCISSORS

• ROTARY CUTTER

• LOW TEMP GLUE GUN

• SELF HEALING MAT WITH 1” SQUARES {mine measured up to 23”}

I was so surprised at how EASY these were to make! I was able to knock these out in no time. And our sweet girl LOVED them!

I’d love to hear your feedback below!