How to make this cute Castle Mini pinata with your Cricut

Create this cute Castle mini pinata with the help of your Cricut cutting machine out of cardstock.

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Learn how to create this adorable Castle Mini pinata for a Princess theme birthday party with your Cricut.

Hello Magical Crafters, we are going to be crafting up this simple and easy Castle style mini pinata today. My daughter wanted a princess theme party, and since we couldn’t make a big pinata to smash and whack apart, she requested to have mini pinatas instead. And since she decided with two days left before her party, I created this file to be a very simple design, having the details pieces to bring out the castle vibe. So if you need to create 12 of these bad boys in two days, let me say, it can be done.

As always, you can find the detail pieces in our Magical Crafting Library, or you can make your own. I’d love to see your version of it. To get the SVG file you’ll need to visit our Etsy Shop and download it from there.

Supplies needed for this Castle Mini Pinata are…

• Cricut Explore Air 2 (it’s what I use)
• Cutting mat (light grip mat)
• Scoring tool (to have the machine add your creases)
• Cardstock ( 65lb )
• Crepe paper
• Scissors
• Double sided foam tape
• Quick drying glue ( Beacon 3 in 1)
• Ribbon or string
• Castle SVG file
• Castle details

To download the detail pieces, click on the button below. You can use another type of electronic cutting machine that uses SVG files, but for this tutorial, it will be demonstrated using the Cricut Explore Air 2 machine. Once you have the files downloaded, let’s head over to Cricut Design Space.

If you are wanting to craft along with us, we also have a video tutorial, where I walk you through every step, over on our YouTube Channel. Just click the button below to be taken to the video.

Uploading into Cricut Design Space

Open up Design Space and click on “new project”. Head down the left side of your screen and click on “upload”. Click on the “insert image” option and you can either drag and drop or browse for the Castle Mini pinata file.

You will be taken to the save option screen. Rename the file if you wish and add a few tags to help you find it in the future. Click on save as a “cut file”. Click on the file you just uploaded and click on “insert to canvas” down at the right side of your screen.

Adding Details to your Mini Pinata

Before you do anything, go ahead and download/ upload the detail pieces. When I design the details, they are the same size as the Castle pinata file, so uploading it now will save some time trying to resize everything together later on. You can get the Castle details in the Magical Crafting Library. Once it’s uploaded just move it over to the side and out the way for now. Or press the eye to hide it from view, for now.

Changing cut lines into score lines

Let’s head on over to the right side of the screen and click on “ungroup”. This will give you multiple groups that I kept together to make it easier for you.

Next, go over to the side panels and click on the inner “rectangle”, then head up to the top of the screen and click on the drop down menu, then select the “score line” option. It should now change all the inside lines on the panels into score lines. (Will appear as dash lines.) You can rename each one as score lines if you wish, then click on “ungroup”.

Now let’s select the outside part of the panels to select all of them, rename if you want, then select on “ungroup”. We need to attach each score line to it’s corresponding panel. Select both the score lines and the panel together, then head down the right side menu and click on the “attach” button. (Looks like a paperclip.) This will tell the machine that the score line goes with that panel. Repeat this until all the panels and score lines are attached to each other.

Resizing your Mini Pinata

Once everything is attached together, click on “select all” at the top of the menu screen. Make sure the little lock icon is in the locked position. (Located by the project measurements up top.) Click on the bottom square corner and drag it over to resize it to the size you’d like it to be. For reference, these Castle Mini pinatas were about 10 inches wide. Save your Project.

And now, it’s time to finally hit that “make it” button at the top.

Cutting our Castle Mini Pinata out

Double check your settings in the cut preview screen. Arrange your cardstock colors in the order it gives you and make sure you have the right size paper selected. you can choose white as the pinata base color or you can match the cardstock color with the crepe paper color.

The cardstock weight I use is the 65lb, after adding the Crepe paper, it’s definitely sturdy enough to hold the goods. You can use the 80lb if you wish. Once everything is good to go, click on “continue”.

Align your cardstock on the mat and smooth it over, making sure it’s adhere to the mat. Insert the mat into the machine by pressing the blinking “arrow” button. Make sure you insert the score pen and check your cut settings. It should be set to cardstock. Then press the blinking “C” button on the machine to start the process.

Once it’s finish, unload the mat by pressing the “arrow” button again, flip the mat over, and peel it away from the cardstock. This helps the cardstock to not curl up on you. Repeat this process until everything is scored and cut.

Assemble Time

Now that we have everything cut out, its time to assemble the parts together. But first, we need to fold along all the creases of the side panels and door. Once you have done this step, we take the base layer and place it on the table. Then having the side panels arranged around the base, take one and add a few drops of glue on the side tab.

Align the edges up and hold it in place on the base layer for a few seconds to dry. Then repeat this process, until all the side panels are glued in place. When you get to the door, you will only glue the small tab area to the base, not the actual door tabs.

After all panels are done, add glue to the top tabs, that are facing you, then starting with one side, add the top panel and focus on alignment with each tab. Take some time making sure it’s all lined up, just like you did the first time around. If you need to have a tool inside like a pen to help secure it in place, do so.

Adding Crepe Paper

Time for the fun part. We need to add some Crepe paper to transform this box, into a fiesta pinata. Now for this time around, and because I was definitely on a time crunch, I didn’t do my usual way of applying the Crepe paper. This time around I just added my glue to the castle, then wrapped my crepe paper around it. Always starting from the bottom and working our way up to the top.

After everything was glued down, I then went back with my scissors, and made some slits to add the fringe look to it. And since we were adding detail pieces to the front, I skipped the front fringing and only did the sides, top, bottom, and back. Also saved myself time in doing it this way, so I hope you would give this a try.

Once our wonderful castle was covered with fringe, it was time to add the details. If you are using our design, its located in the magical crafting Library, you’ll just need to download it like you did the castle file and repeat the cutting process from there.

Adding our details to our pinata transform it from looking like a weird fringe covered box, to a Magical Castle. For all the tiny pieces, I just glued them into place. For the main castle shape, I added my double-sided foam tape to the back and attached them together.

We are almost done with this Castle Mini Pinata, but we need to do one last thing. And that is, to add the string or ribbon to the door panel hole, so the kiddos can open it to get the goodies inside. It’s a simple step of tying it through the holes and securing it in place.

Congratulations, you just completed your first Castle Mini Pinata, from start to finish. Yay!

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What do you put inside your Mini Pinata?

Now that you have a cute mini pinata staring back at you, you might be wondering what to fill it with. Of course, you can always fill it with candy but if you want some non-candy options, I have a few ideas for you.

Some non-candy items to fill your mini pinata with are…

• Pencils, crayons, and markers
• Mini coloring pages
• Pencil sharpeners and pencil top erasers
• Jumping frogs or bouncing balls
• Finger puppets
• Stickers or temporary tattoos
• Jewelry
• Gift Cards
• Nail polish or Nail strips
• Makeup items like lip gloss and eye shadow
• Mini lotions or bubble bath soap

Would you like to make more Mini Pinatas? Let us know below in the comments if you would like to make a specific one.

Here are a few more Mini Pinata projects.

• Heart Mini Pinata
• T Rex Mini Pinata
• Horse Mini Pinata