Foam Queen Crown with ScanNCutDx

So here’s the story: I was going to be running a princess themed 5k race and I wanted a crown to wear for fun/photos. But I needed it to be light, not require me to buy anything new, and I wanted it to be disposable IF it was really irritating me during the race. Where to begin? Well I knew my ScanNCutDX would be a key factor, and so that is where we begin.

The usual disclaimer here – I am a paid consultant for Brother, and all ideas and opinions are my own. I come up with my own creative content and wacky ideas and I share all that I enjoy and do with my machine with you happily!

me after the race at the hotel – I did it!

One not new – yet new to me in this capacity material is craft foam. Only recently as I dive into cosplay have my eyes been opened to the truly incredible uses you can put this simple material to work on! I decided to pull out the 3mm random sheets of foam I had and try to turn a headband (free- party favor) into a crown!

Step 1: I drew a crown and then traced over with thicker black pen. I wanted strong lines for my ScanNCutDX to read. Then I scanned it in. Note the size does NOT need to be exact you can resize and edit!

Step 2: I brought the area (arrows) in to just around my crown, and made sure I liked how everything looked. Once this is done, save the file to your machine (or a USB drive) and get ready to cut! I loaded a piece of 3mm foam onto a regular mat, opened my file, resized to be just wider than the ears on my headband (see below) and cut from orange foam. Then I cut a second time (same file/size) from grey foam as these were the colors I had left.

Once I had both cut out I drew a line and cut the foam that would be sticking below my headband. I realized I could and should have taken the headband angle into consideration before drawing my crown – lesson learned! But this works too!

For the attaching I used a lot of hot glue, gluing one side to the “ears/headband” and then sandwiching the other side with more hot glue. I also used a heat gun to both close the foam cells (more on this in another post – basically heat setting/sealing it) and to warm up hot glue and smooth it out as needed.

Next up, I used a small tool (the one I use to trim dog toe nails – ha!) and smoothed out some rough spots and as you can see the teeth of the headband now show through. Then I painted it black as a base, added a bit of glue and covered in gold leafing.

The next day as I wiped away excess gold leaf, I realized some of the black paint showed through and that I wanted it to have a bit different look. So I added some glossy sealant and gold paint

I also added a jewel to the top before finishing this off – and I have to tell you guys I got a lot of compliments on my flexible, light, and surprisingly comfortable homemade crown!

While I still don’t classify running as fun (ha!) – this was a really fun event and I am so glad we did it AND that I had a custom crafted “free with stuff from my house” crown to help top off my outfit!

7am mood when you’d left hotel at 3am for the race…

I am really excited to continue working with foam (so budget friendly!), my ScanNCutDX which auto-cuts said foam, and all my creative and crazy ideas! Stay tuned!

Jewelry fun & craftiness!

Rebecca is super into jewelry and accessories – so this week I took my scrapbooking time and made her some jewelry instead!

These pieces are all inspired by Disney characters and all are just simple single strand beading. I love crafting things the girls can use or wear – super fun! They’ve been on break all week and I’ve been soaking up quality time with them. Hope you have a lovely weekend!

ScanNCut: Fancy mask card

Inspired by Mardi Gras colors and by the mask design I found built in my ScanNCutDX I created a very glittery card and I love how it turned out!

Disclaimer as always – I am a paid consultant for Brother, but all ideas and opinions are my own. The ScanNCut is a machine I use and love, and enjoy tremendously!

For a card like mine you’ll need cardstock, art fibers, glitter, glue, foam adhesive, and of a charm or other embellishment if you like. I did a double glitter on this – meaning I glittered it, then sealed with glossy adhesive and added a bit more glitter to really make it shine, but also make extra sure the glitter sticks!


If you would like to watch the how to video, it is posted to my YouTube channel here.

My favorite part of this is how that glitter pops and shines! I just love this mask design too – what else could I make with it? I’m not sure, but I’d love to try something else with it!

In my Scrapbook…

This week, it’s a peek at the everyday pocket page style VERY simple pages I’m working on, since I’m about 2 years behind!


I do not worry about fancy or anything – photo + word + fill the space and go. Now I don’t always do this with my older pages nor do I skip traditional pages. But this is one way I process a LOT of photos and get those stories told quickly and between other projects.

I don’t ever expect to think of myself “caught up” on scrapbooking, but I would like 10-12 stories a year told in a timely fashion at minimum, and I’ve been playing catch up on that. No the most exciting update – but it’s keeping things real and I’m all about that!

ScanNCutDX: Toy Story top

What could be more fun than galloping off on vacation? Having a new custom shirt, of course! Finding themed shirts for the girls isn’t always easy now that they’re older and so tall – so I enlisted my ScanNCut to give my cowgirl Elizabeth a new look!

Disclaimer: I am a paid consultant for Brother, but all ideas and opinions are my own. The ScanNCut is a machine I use and enjoy, and I love coming up and sharing ideas with you!

For this project you’ll need a white Tshirt, red thread, brown glitter vinyl (iron-on), yellow binding tape or folded fabric, and an iron in addition to a sewing machine and ScanNCut. You could skip the stitching or do it by hand – it just adds a lot of fun detail that I enjoy.

The process for my project can be found on YouTube for the ScanNCutDX exact instructions. To make a project like this:

  1. Purchase the Toy Story designs (available through Brother Dealers) and activate in Canvas Workspace. Then ‘grab’ the design you want there and transfer to your machine.
  2. Place your vinyl material (transfer sheet side down!) on your mat, and fire up that ScanNCut! I am working with a DX, but any model can cut vinyl!
  3. Select your pattern, follow prompts to cut – and if using a DX make sure to take advantage of “1/2 cut” so that just the vinyl cuts. This feature is so fun!!
  4. Weed your design and iron it on.

Now is where you get into the sewing if you would like. I put red thread in my Brother SE1900 machine (here’s an amazon affiliate link to that machine) I set a zig-zag stitch and added a decorative stitch around the sleeves. Then I put down some yellow double folded bias tape along the neck and stitched that as well. These are optional steps of course, but I like what it added to my shirt.

The best part? My daughter LOVES the shirt and can’t wait to head out on vacation wearing it!