I hope it feels like Spring in your hometown! We are still waiting for temps to warm up and it feels like winter will never leave! But it will be warming up next week and I can’t wait to get started on my outdoor spring decorating! I love every season and in spring my decor is simple with lots of blooming cherry and forsythia branches, rustic bird nests and colorful wreaths! While I’m waiting for warmer weather I’m staying busy crafting! What is better than simple and budget friendly DIY decor!

Today I will share 2 carrot themed DIY projects with you and show how to make them right in time for Easter!
Let’s get started!

Rustic wooden carrots

I have so many ideas on what to make with wooden shims so decided to make this Easter craft. I’m loving pastel colors this season and so many of my new home decorating items and crafts are in spring themed pretty pastels.

this project supply list :

1. Wood shims, they’re usually sold in home improvement stores, I used 3 packs

2. Wood glue and hot glue ( or just hot glue)
3. Rubber bands or wood clamps(mine are from the Dollar Tree).

4. Craft paint in pastel colors and of course I painted two carrots classic orange !
5. Assorted and even mismatched greenery.
6. Hot glue gun and glue sticks.

I separated wooden shims into piles of 5 then glued each pile separately stacking up shims to make sure thinner ends are pointing in the same direction. Because shims have one thicker end and one thinner end stacking them creates that carrot triangle shape. After I glued them I tied rubber bands around each end and let glue dry. I already had wood glue so used it. After glue dries take the rubber bands off. Finished carrots are 7.5 inches long, 1 inch thick on side where greenery attached and 0.5 inch thick at the tail end. I used 5 shim pieces for each carrot. If wood is splintery smooth the edges with sandpaper. Now they’re ready for paint.

Paint your wooden carrots and let them dry. Draw little lines with pencil or marker on each carrot to resemble root “eyes”.

Select greenery and hot glue it to the top of each carrot. I simply glued leftover moss and it turned out so pretty!

DIY Spring carrot banner

Another Easter project I made is a DIY cardboard carrot banner. Cut longer string if you want banner to be long. Mine is little over 4 feet.

supplies you need for this project

A piece of cardboard
Any craft paper, fabric or old book pages
Rope or ribbon
Tacky glue
Greenery
Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Cut cardboard onto 18 by 9 inch rectangle. Cut 2 pieces of craft paper into same size of 18×9 inches and glue craft paper to both sides of cardboard.

Mark every 3 inches on top long side and bottom side. Draw lines as pictured below. Cut along the lines.

Measure and mark vertical lines first

all marked for cutting

You end up with imperfect sharp cornered triangles. Go ahead and trim bottoms (they’re the sharpest and longest corners).

After trimming bottoms, trim top (widest part) of the carrots with scissors shaping them in a rounded fashion to create soft rounded carrot top so they don’t resemble a pie slice anymore.

all trimmed and starting to look like carrots!

Next step is optional because it is time consuming but I craft while watching tv so went ahead and did this step because I enjoy crafting plus I had the cutest helper (our cat Ginger). Glue jute cord to outer edges of every carrot by putting a thin layer of hot glue on the raw side edge and press jute cord into glue right away before glue cools and becomes solid. I worked in small sections to avoid glue cooling and remain workable. Wearing thin gloves may be a good idea when working with hot glue.

you can see bead of hot glue on top edge here

this is the type of cord I used

For a banner string measure and cut jute cord to desired length. Lay out carrots along the banner string at desired intervals( my banner is 4.5 ft long and carrots are 3-4 inches apart). Then attach jute string to top of each carrot on one side with hot glue. After I was finished I had few carrots left unused. I made my garland shorter in order to fit the space on our narrow laundry room wall.

lots of hot glue to secure greenery

Attach some greenery and raffia or moss to the tops of carrots with hot glue just like here. I usually try to cover up unsightly glue blobs with some pretty material I have on hand. In this project leftover raffia did the trick. I simply glued it on tops.