I am excited to share with you a few projects that are going live on
HSN (Home Shopping Network) in a few hours! I was lucky to be asked to create a couple of things for
Chibitronics, a fun newer company that is bridging the gap between crafting and electronics. I will admit, I am not an engineer, but these little circuit stickers are really fun to create with. I am going to share with you how I created the circuit for this fun wreath.
I started with my wreath form. In this case, it's just a ring that I cut from some chipboard. This provided enough stability for my project, and a nice flat surface for my circuit to stick to.
I started by drawing out my circuit onto the chipboard, then laying down the copper tape. I created a
parallel circuit so that I could use multiple circuit stickers. Make sure to mark which side is your negative, and which is your positive. The stickers must be facing the correct way to work.
Since my circuit curved, I couldn't get a straight fold to work. To minimize any short circuits, I burnished the copper foil tape with a plastic pen. This way, the tape was really flat and wouldn't move.
I created a housing for the battery using some paper that matched the leaves that I was going to decorate the wreath with. The tape was also in a similar color. By taping the edge, it created a flap that I could position the battery in, and clamp on when I wanted the project to light.
See my cute little circuit! I even marked the positive and negative sections!
So when the housing was complete, and the circuits all complete, then I was ready to start stickering the project!
For this project, I chose to use the red LED circuit stickers. I thought that when finished, the red pops of light would mimic berries.
Since the battery is a wily little thing, I decided to use some double-sided tape to stick one side of the battery to the battery housing that I had created. This way, I wouldn't have any loose batteries if I moved the wreath.
Once I stuck the double-sided tape to the negative side of the battery, it fit nicely into the battery housing I had created, and allowed for the housing to open when I wanted to turn the wreath off.
It's ALIVE!! Seriously, isn't this just the coolest thing ever?!?!?
Once the project worked, then I was able to decorate. I chose a couple of colors of green cardstock from my stash, and used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out
evergreen boughs and
holly leaves.
Isn't this amazing? Seriously, grab some of the
Chibitronics Circuits and try your own projects!
I also created a great Hanukkah menorah display using the yellow lights, and a fun monogram using the white lights!
