$5 DIY ZINNIA MIRROR

ZINNIA MIRROR

$5 DIY

This mirror would make a great homemade gift for someone special!

Supplies available from the Dollar Tree:

1 foam core board

1-5" round mirror

3 bags of plastic spoons (each bag contains 48)

Other supplies:

hot glue gun and glue sticks

craft scissors

craft or box knife

2 pencils

Cut a slice off of the foam core about an inch wide.

Using a pencil punch holes about an inch apart (the last measuring 6" from the first)

(as shown above)
Using a pencil in the last hole, punch it into the foam core (this will be the center)
Hold this pencil still,
using a second pencil, insert into a hole and draw a line, pivoting around the center,
creating a circle. Do this is all the holes.

The outer circle will measure 6" radius, or 12" diameter.

Cut out the circle, using a craft or box knife.

I drew in lines from the center point out, for guidelines.

Cut out a small triangle about 1/2" away from the edge, for hanging.

Now comes the tedious part of breaking the spoon heads off of the handles.

I tried several ways to do this.

The best, for me, is to place the spoon on a table, with the spoon head hanging off the edge,

holding your hand on top of the handle, bend the spoon head down with the other palm,

this will snap it off.

Some spoons broke off crooked, but if it's not too bad, you can still use them.

If any of the handle is still attached, you can use craft scissors to trim them.

Now we will begin by gluing the first layer of spoons onto the back of the mirror.

Draw a line around the back of the mirror, about 1/4 " from the edge,

it doesn't need to be perfect. We will use this as a guide to glue the spoons.

Prop the mirror (wrong side up) on an upturned glass or plastic bowl.

Squirt a generous line of hot glue along the pencil line on the mirror, about 3" around.

Now place the cut edge of a spoon (facing down) on the hot glue line

holding in place for about 5 seconds.

Now continue with the next spoon, adding more of the hot glue line as needed.

You should get 14 to 15 spoon heads around the mirror, depending on how

close to the edge you glue them.

(As you are getting ready to glue on the last 3-4 spoons,

if it looks like you will be leaving a large gap, just leave slightly more room

between these spoons)

After the first row is finished, place a generous line of hot glue around the highest point

of the spoons on the back of the mirror....

turn over, and carefully "center" it on the foam core circle.

Now we will begin gluing each spoon onto the foam core, one row at a time.

Place a nice dot of hot glue on the back of a spoon head (as shown above)

...and place it "in between" two spoons from the first row, holding in place about 5 seconds.

The spoon will be at a slight angle.

Repeat with each spoon and each row.

After you are finished - it should look like the picture above.

It looks beautiful white, but if you would like to spray paint it another color:

Cover the mirror with foil, conforming to the mirror,

or you can use painter's tape.

Spray several light coats (following the manufacture's directions)

with a paint that is made for plastic.

This one is painted an aqua blue

but lavender, red, orange, yellow, pink, silver or gold
would be beautiful too.

FROM START TO FINISH,

THE ZINNIA MIRROR TOOK ABOUT 90 MINUTES TO COMPLETE.

VERY  FAST, EASY AND ONLY $5 TO MAKE!

Hope you enjoy this fun, decorative craft.

Keep Calm and Kerri On!