These easy, no sew DIY dog bandanas are so quick to make and can be totally customized using your Cricut machine and iron-on vinyl. Add your pet’s name, seasonal designs, birthday greetings, and more! 

DIY Dog Bandanas

I always have fun dressing up our dogs and these easy DIY dog bandanas are the perfect accessory! You can easily customize them with your Cricut machine and iron-on vinyl for a fun seasonal bandana or cute attire for a special occasion like a wedding or your pet’s birthday. There’s no sewing required and you can make one in less than 30 minutes!

This post is sponsored by Cricut and does contain affiliate links. This means that I may make a small commission (at no charge to you} off purchases made directly through the links provided. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. Thank-you so much for your support.

Pet Collar Slide-On Bandana

These pet bandanas slide right on your dog’s collar so you don’t have to worry about it falling off or being too tight around your pet’s neck.

There are two sizes of the bandana pattern available. You can always make slight alterations {either bigger or smaller} from these to best suit the size of your dog. For reference, our smaller dogs are just under 20 lbs. and 30 lbs. and our big dog is around 60-65 lbs.

The small size accommodates collars up to about 3/4 inches while the large size fits collars up to a little over an inch. If you have a wider collar, don’t worry though. You can easily adjust the pattern to fit your collar size. Just add a little height to the top edge of the pattern.

I think these turned out so cute and they’re super addictive to make. They’re so quick and easy to create that you can make a new one for each holiday or special event. Switch them up with new fabrics, different colored iron-on vinyl {or glitter iron-on!}, and any design that you can think of!

No Sew DIY Dog Bandana Tutorial

These no sew DIY dog bandanas are so fun and easy to make. They’re a great way to use up scrap fabrics and the design possibilities are endless. I’m sure you won’t be able to just make one!

Materials

• printable dog bandana pattern {download the SMALL HERE and the LARGE HERE}
• fabric of your choice {I made 4 of the small bandanas from 1 fat quarter}
• fabric scissors
• straight pins
• Heat ‘n Bond permanent hem tape
• iron
• Cricut Maker, Cricut Air2 or Cricut Joy
• Cricut in a coordinating color {or Cricut if you’re using Maker or Air2}
• weeding tool
• Cricut EasyPress

Step 1: Prepare your fabric.

Pre-wash your fabric without fabric softener. Iron out any wrinkles.

Step 2: Download and Print the Pattern

There are two sizes of bandana patterns that you can choose from.  You can download the patterns here:

SMALL BANDANA
LARGE BANDANA

Once you’ve downloaded the pattern, print it and make any size adjustments that you would like. Once you’re happy with it, cut it out.

Step 3: Cut your fabric.

For the small pattern, you can just lay it out over your fabric, pin lightly in place, and cut it out. Alternatively, you can fold the pattern in half and cut it out the same way as the large pattern listed below. It’s quicker that way, but I liked using the full pattern for some reason.

Once it’s cut, fold it in half and trim any excess material showing through so the sides match.

For the large pattern, fold your fabric in half and pin the pattern so the long side is against the folded {closed} edge of your fabric. Cut along the 3 sides and NOT the long edge.

Step 4: “Hem” the edges.

Using the Heat’n Bond, “hem” the edges. Starting at the pointed part of the bandana, cut a piece of Heat’n Bond the length of one side and position in place along the edge.

Heat your iron to a medium temperature setting. Fold the edge of the fabric over the Heat’n Bond and press in place for 3-5 seconds. You can use a straight pin or two to hold in place if you need but I found I could do it without bothering with pinning. When you have completed one edge, flip it over and iron for 4-5 seconds on the backside. Press corners in place.

Repeat this for the pointed edges and two sides {don’t hem the top edge}. Once the 4 sides have been done, fold down the top edge of the bandana to the start of the triangle. This will form the pocket for the collar. Use the Heat ‘n Bond to secure this down.

The bandana should look like this when it’s completed…

Step 5: Create your design.

Open Cricut Design Space and design what you would like to add to your bandana. You can use your pet’s name, a seasonal design, birthday greetings, or whatever you would like. The possibilities are endless! I did our dog’s names and a few different birthday bandanas. If you’d like to use my designs, you can find them here…

Birthday Pup
It’s My Birthday and I’ll Bark If I Want To
Birthday Girl
Birthday Boy

For the names, I used the Tahoma font and just adjusted the size to what I wanted on the bandana. You can run the name horizontally on the bandana or on more of a diagonal along the edge like I did.

Step 6: Cut your iron-on design.

Once you’re happy with your design, click “Make It” and choose the no mat Smart materials setting. Check the image layout on the preview mat to ensure that everything is the way you would like. The most important thing to remember when cutting iron-on is to click the button to mirror the images.

Place your Smart iron-on material into the Cricut Joy shiny side down and follow the prompts to cut your images. Select Smart Iron-On from the list of materials.

Step 7: Weed your iron-on design.

Trim any excess iron-on vinyl from around the design and use a weeding tool to remove any remaining elements of the design that you don’t want to transfer. You can hold the piece of vinyl up to a bright light to reveal the cut lines if they aren’t clear. When you’re done, you shoulder be left with the desired image on the clear protective liner.

Step 8: Apply your iron-on.

Set your EasyPress 2 to 315F and 30 seconds. {NOTE: I always check the EasyPress temperature guide HERE as the temperature and time will vary with different fabrics.} Place your bandana over the EasyPress mat {or use a thick towel} and pre-heat the surface for 5 seconds where you will be applying the design.  Next, place the design on the bandana with the clear protective liner facing up. Apply the heat with your Easy Press for 30 seconds with light pressure. Turn over the fabric and apply heat for an additional 15 seconds. Allow to cool  and then carefully peel away the liner.

Cricut Smart Iron-On Vinyl Tips and Tricks

Here are a few things to remember when you’re using Cricut Smart Iron-On Vinyl:

• make sure you mirror your image before cutting your image
• be sure to insert your iron-on vinyl shiny side down
• if you’re using a regular iron instead of the EasyPress, turn the steam setting OFF so you’re just using a dry heat.

How to Care for Your Pet Bandana

These DIY dog bandanas hold up well for light to medium use. They can be washed in the washing machine on cold once the Heat’n Bond and iron-on vinyl has been given at least 24 hours to cure. Hang to dry and iron on medium heat if needed.

If you have any fun pet birthdays coming up, give these a try!

I hope you have as much fun creating these as I did! I’d love to see photos of your pups wearing your designs!

More Cricut Crafts and DIY Projects

For more Cricut projects, check out these posts…

Custom Beach Towels

Customized Yoga Mat,Towel, and Candle for Self-Care

DIY Cord Organizers

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Crab Cupcakes

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I know that Christmas is still almost two months away but we all know how quickly it sneaks up on us!  This year I am determined to get things done early so I can just focus on all of the fun holiday festivities once December rolls around.  Today, I am here to help you out with some awesome Christmas gift ideas and have teamed up with some of my favorite blogging friends to bring you the ultimate holiday gift guide!

Gift for the Baker /Stocking Stuffers /Gifts for Jewelry/Bling Lovers
Gifts for the Cook /Gifts for Little Girls (Ages 0-6) /Gifts for the Little Artist
Gifts for Ladies / Gifts for Little Boys (Ages 0-6) /Gifts for Big Boys (Ages 7-12)
Gifts for Big Girls (Ages 7-12) /Gifts for Teen Girls /Gifts for The Home
Gifts for the DIYer /Gifts for the Foodie /Gifts for Men
Gifts for the Host/Hostess /Makeup/Beauty Gifts /Gifts for the Entertainer
Gifts for the Aspiring Photographer /Gifts for the Crafter /Non-Clutter Gifts
Gifts for the Blogger /Health/Wellness Gifts

 We will also each be offering some amazing giveaways {mine is worth over $200!} so you definitely want to check things out!

Before you get to the giveaways though, here are some of my favorite gift ideas for ladies…

Every woman loves a good purse and this Matt and Nat Mitsuko Tote  is one of my favorites.

For the music lover, splurge on these gorgeous leather wrapped headphones.

Now who doesn’t love a pretty cell phone case?  This linen print iphone case is available for a number of iphone models in 3 different materials.

Jewelry is always a hit but take it up a notch with a personalized hand stamped necklace.

There is nothing better than cuddling up with a cozy throw blanket and this faux fur throw is just as pretty to display.

I can’t live without my planner and I always look forward to picking out a new one each year.  This cute chalkboard dreams planner from Minted is sure to please!

A scarf is always the perfect fashion accessory and you don’t have to worry about choosing the wrong size!

Give the gift of relaxation with this Philosophy Amazing Grace bath and body set.  This is one scent that I never get tired of!

Show your love with this beautiful heart photo collage from Minted and fill it with all of your favorite memories.

This cute tree trunk planter adds a little touch of whimsy to any space.

I love a good coffee mug {even though I don’t actually drink coffee!} and these designs from Ashley Brooke Designs are super fun!

These beautiful, neutral framed signs will go with any decor and provide a daily dose of inspiration!

Okay so now it is giveaway time!!!  Here’s what you can win…

1) A framed 16×16 heart photo collage from Minted.
2) A weekly 2015 planner from Minted.
3) A $50 Target giftcard OR $50 in Paypal cash to spend on whatever you would like!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To see the rest of the gift ideas and enter to win some more amazing prizes, check out all of the links below.  Good luck and happy shopping!

The post Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide: Gift Ideas for Her appeared first on Clean and Scentsible.

With the Lego Movie just being released, I thought that this would be the perfect time to share my son’s Lego birthday party that we had a couple of months ago!
I know that there are tons of amazing and beautiful Lego party ideas out there but, unfortunately, most of them seem to involve a lot of time and planning.   Now I love a good party and have done a few big ones myself, but sometimes, you just need to get things done QUICKLY!  This Lego party came together in about five hours on quite a small budget.  Other than the shopping, everything was done in one busy afternoon – the decorating, the food, the cake, and the goodie bags!  It was nothing fancy, but the kids had a great time and everyone thought that it was pretty cool.   And, really, that’s all that matters, right?

{Since I only had a few hours to get the party together and it was dark by the time I was done, there really wasn’t a whole lot of time for getting any pretty photos!  Hopefully these will give you a good idea though!}

The decorations were kept pretty simple using mostly materials that I had around the house.  The large “Lego Blocks” are made from canvases that I covered in wrapping paper.  I then cut out some circles, inked the edges in black for some definition and stuck them on with pop dots.  My little one made the number 10 sign out of some Lego blocks for me and it provided the perfect pop of color.  I then purchased some balloon in the yellow, blue, red, green color scheme that carried on through the party.

I used the same idea for creating the goodie bags {as well as the invitations} and added a Lego mini-figure bag, some Lego block candies, and a Lego flashlight that I had found at the dollar store.  The goodie bags were all placed in the middle of the table to add some color and height.

For the place settings, I cut out some black vinyl to make the faces and taped on some yellow cardstock to create the Lego head plates.  I also wrapped some yellow cardstock around mini-pop cans for another little Lego head.


For the food, we made some Lego brick pepperoni pizza with Pillsbury pizza dough.  

I think the kids’ favorite food was these Lego brick cookies made from store-bought shortbread cookies and M&Ms.  I actually ended up making up more of these!

The Lego brick cake was just a regular sheet cake with 2 Oreo cookies added for each of the “pegs”.  I was running out of time a bit by this point so it wasn’t the smoothest icing job.  Good thing 10 year old boys don’t notice!  

After dinner we took the kids down to a movie and let them fill up a candy bag to take with them.  I already had the bags and just cut out a circle and a little Lego head to dress them up a bit.  We also took the Lego juice boxes {that are pictured above with the cake} for a movie drink.

So there you have it!  A quick and easy Lego party that anyone can do!


If you have a house full of Legos like we do, you might also want to check out these posts!


Lego Mini-Figure Storage

I shared this post at Liz Marie Blog, Live Laugh Rowe, Under the Table and Dreaming, A Bowl Full of Lemons and Lil Luna.

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Under the Sea Party Ideas

My little guy turned six last month and chose an Under the Sea party.  I was so happy to get at least one more year of doing a “cute” birthday before Transformers or Ninjago takes over! I usually start thinking of party ideas at least a couple of months before the actual party – there is something about party planning that I just love!  This year, however, was much busier and Connor kept changing his mind every two seconds in regards to what theme he wanted, so this party came together with just a couple of weeks of planning and one really LONG day of pulling it all together!

Under the Sea Printables

I found the cutest under the sea party printables over at Dimple Prints. They have the most adorable party printables and an amazing selection of themes to choose from. The party package came with a HUGE selection of printables – invites, cute food packaging, decorations, favor tags … pretty much everything I could think of and more!  It definitely made the decorating a ton easier!

Decorations

Food Ideas

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