How to make a Horse Mini Pinata with Cricut

Create this Horse mini pinata with your Cricut. You can make a horse, donkey, unicorn, and even a reindeer with this one svg file.

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Learn to make your own Horse mini Pinata with your Cricut and cardstock.

Hello Magical Crafters, today we are going to make a basic Horse mini pinata that you can turn into four different pinatas. Each style will have it’s own detail pieces that will be located in the Magical Crafting Library. From a magical unicorn to a reindeer, you can make them all today using your Cricut machine.

For this style only, I have also provided a free PDF copy of this file so you can print it and manually cut, fold, and glue it together. This is for anyone who wants to make this but doesn’t have a Cricut. All you’ll need is a printer along with the supplies below. This will also be located inside the Magical Crafting library as well.

Supplies needed to make the horse pinata are…

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• Light Grip Cutting mat
• 65lb cardstock
• Crepe paper (also called party streamers)
• Score pen
• Scissors or knife tool
• Self healing mat
• String or ribbon
• Glue (I use 3in1 Beacon Glue)
• Double sided foam tape
• Horse Mini Pinata SVG file
• Detail pieces SVG files

Click on the button above to purchase the Horse mini pinata SVG file through our shop or you can head over to our Etsy Shop to purchase and download the file.

To download the detail pieces, click on the Library button above and download all or just the one you want. 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 the file has downloaded, let’s head over to Cricut Design Space.

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 Horse 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”. Now you should have the SVG file template in Design Space.

Changing cut lines into score lines

Let’s head on 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. Unfortunately, Design Space does not keep each section labeled separately, but it does allow you to rename them, so you can rename them as you go.

Next, go over to the side panels and click on the inner rectangle. Then head 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, then click on “ungroup”.

Now let’s select the outside part of the panels to select all of them, rename each one and then click 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 the others until done.

Adding Details to your Mini Pinata

Before you resize your mini pinata, go ahead and download your detail pieces if you haven’t already. You can find the file in the Magical Crafting Library or if you are already a subscriber, it’s also waiting in your inbox. Upload the file into Design Space following the instructions above. Change any colors you wish.

Resizing your Mini Pinata

Once everything is attached together, click on “select all” at the top of the menu screen. Click on the bottom square corner and drag it over to resize it to the size you’d like it to be. For reference, I made mine about 6 inches tall. Save your project.

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

Cutting our Horse 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 some goodies. 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 to start the cut.

Once it’s finish, upload 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.

Prep and Assemble Time

For easy assembly, refer back to the canvas screen and lay out each piece accordingly. I’ve also included a picture below for the set up as well. This will help keep the guess work to a minimum when trying to figure out where each side panel belongs.

Now take each side panel and fold along the scored section. Once that is done, it’s time to glue everything together.

Start with the base of the horse on the table. Grab a side panel and add a few tiny drops of glue to each of the tabs on one side. Attach the panel to the base. Hold for a few seconds, then repeat with the other panels until all side panels are glued down.

Be careful to not add glue to the door tabs, as this will prevent you from opening it.

Add glue to the top tabs and align the top layer on to it. Making sure the sides are aligned. We now have a 3D Horse.

Completing our Horse Pinata

To finish our Horse, we need to add some Crepe paper to transfrom it into a pinata. Grab your Crepe paper and let’s start cutting some fringes. You can simply take your scissors and cut a lot of lines down the Crepe paper on both sides and then cut down the middle to create two strands of fringes. Or you can save your hands a bit of a workout and follow these easier steps below.

Grab your knife tool and self healing mat. Fold a few layers of the Crepe paper on to the mat.

Take your knife tool and begin making slices about 1/4 inch from the bottom of the paper and work to the end. Repeat on the top part as well.

Grab your scissors and cut down the middle, creating two fringe pieces.

Since this is a horse pinata, I did a few different colors. You can choose whatever your heart desires.

Starting the bottom of the legs, glue the crepe paper and wrap around the legs till you get to the body. Then use the Crepe paper to go around the horse body. Apply around the neck too.

To finish, you’ll need to add small pieces to the face, ears and top of the back with the door.

Add your choice of string or ribbon to the door holes for easy access to the goodies. Now your Horse mini pinata is done.

Apply the finishing touches to your Horse with the final details. (Located in the Magical Crafting Library) You can make the mane and tail from the Crepe paper fringes or use the cardstock details provided.

Congrats Crafter, you just made your very first Horse mini pinata using your Cricut machine.

What do you fill a Mini Pinata with?

Now that you made a mini pinata, you are prodably wondering what the heck do I put inside. Well, in sort a lot of little items can fit inside depending on who you are gifting this pinata to.

Some items to chose form can be…

• Finger puppets
• Stickers or temperory tattoos
• Candy
• Bubbles
• Jewelry
• Gift Cards
• Mini toys
• Snap bracelets
• Mini pop its
• Nail strips or nail polish
• Mini liquor bottles
• Scratch off Tickets

Follow and tag us over on the gram at Ivylillies and show off your mini pinata creations.

Wondering how to complete your party theme with your mini pinata?

Check out my friends post for making a Cowboy or Cowgirl Western Theme Party. She gives you ideas for games, activities, decorations, and western theme party food.

If you’re making unicorn instead, you can also check out this Unicorn Party Theme to get all the magical ideas to make your party special.

Here are some more Mini Pinatas to create.

• T Rex Mini Pinata
• Watermelon Pinata
• Easter Egg Mini Pinata