I love sunburst mirrors. Whether it is a mid-century modern style, floral inspired, flames, or an easy DIY style. I also like to make projects with things I can recycle as much as possible. After our new bath vanity was built I had several cardboard boxes to recycle so I came up with this cardboard sunburst mirror project.
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There is just something timeless about a sunburst mirror.
I have never purchased one because for the most part the price tag on them is usually more than I’m willing to pay. For some time now though I have wanted to make my own DIY sunburst mirror but didn’t know which one I wanted to make. If you look on Pinterest, and some other blog sites, you will see many different styles and easy DIY tutorials. With our new bedroom repairs and updates, I finally decided to just go ahead and make one. Or two or three – I figured I can find somewhere to put them all in my house.
My version of a sunburst mirror for the master bedroom all started with some leftover cardboard boxes from Christmas shipments.
Cardboard Sunburst Mirror Tutorial
For this project you will need:
- Cardboard boxes
- Acrylic Paints
- 5 or 6 inch round mirror
- Small decorative tiles or stones
- Hot Glue Gun and Hot Glue Sticks
- Command Strips for hanging mirror
- 7 inch plywood craft circle
- Scissors or utility knife
The project cost me less than $5 and is made from these recycled cardboard boxes. After some thought and Pinterest searches of course, I decided on a floral petal design for my first attempt at making a sunburst mirror.
At Walmart, I found a plywood circle to use as the mirror base and the center template for the sunburst flower petal design. I used the plywood circle to create a cardboard circle template for the back of the design.
To create the flower petals, I drew a free form petal template on regular plain paper and cut it out. I then traced the design about 20 times on the card board and cut each one of them out. This step took a while. I also cut out small rounded half circles to make the first layer around the wood circle in the center similar to the center of a flower.
Cardboard is an any to find and a easy to work with material.
After I cut out each petal, I painted each petal twice with acrylic chalk paint in Pool blue from Waverly. I also applied two coats of paint to the plywood circle to match.
After the paint was dry I starting attaching the cardboard cutouts to the back of the plywood circle with a glue gun.
Once all of the petals had been glued on, I glued the cardboard circle to the back to hold them in place and to have something to attach the Command strips to the wall for hanging.
To add some interest and bling to the mirror, I used some of the small 1 inch tile pieces from my craft supply stash. I found the 5 inch mirror at Michaels for only $2.99 and also attached it to the front of the design using the glue gun.
This is how the sunburst mirror turned out.
“Commit your activities to the Lord, and your plans will be achieved.” Proverbs 16:3
What a fun project! It looks great up on the wall – thanks for sharing with Party in Your PJs!
Thanks for visiting Lynda.
Your DIY turned out super cute. Love the color you picked too. Found you via a party. Stop by anytime.
This is a great project and I love how it turned out. Thank you for sharing with us this week at Celebrate Your Story, and I hope your week is going great.
Thanks for visiting Sandra.
love it reminds me of the old sunburst clocks of the 7os. Thanks for sharing this great idea
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Thanks for visiting Angie.
This looks like a super neat project. It looks like you made it some time ago – can you update on how well it has held up? I’m a cardboard-aholic myself, so I’m always looking for another project to use up my boxes.
Hey Susan and thanks for visiting. This project is still in one piece on the wall in the bedroom – just a different wall than originally shown. The only problem I have had with it was that the command strip lost it’s stickiness and it fell off the wall. Even then it was still in good shape and didn’t have any damage.
I love Sunburst mirrors, too – and the prices to buy one are pretty expensive, so i have not ever bought one. I love your inexpensive version! This DIY Sunburst mirror is so pretty like a flower! #HomeMattersParty
Thanks Nicole. I like it too.
I will make one with various shades of yellow and orange, and using an old clock instead of a mirror.
I really like this project! Love recycling for beautiful things. Very elegant. Can you tell me how long your petals are?
Thanks Val. I’m glad you liked it. I made the template for the petals on regular white printer paper so my petals are only about 9-10″ long. Once I traced them on the cardboard and cut them out, if one was longer at the end than another one I didn’t worry about it much since a flower doesn’t always have the same length in petals anyway. I really wanted the mirror to look free form and natural. Thanks again for commenting and good luck on your own version of the mirror.
I love this. I am older now and do not want to spend money buying expensive things my son will not like or keep. I will make this and then when I am gone if he throws it away I shall not have to come back and haunt him. ha ha.
Seriously I have been a do it your selfer all my life. If I see something I like I think about it til the my way hits me. In the beginning he told me my front porch looked like a hillbilly house. Excuse ME! A work in progress. Now he waits to hear and see my next idea. No more hb house. Looks at it with admiration.
Thanks Jody. I completely understand about finding ways to do things yourself. Some people may not appreciate it but decor styles come and go and I don’t like spending a fortune on something that may not be in style later or you just end up hating it but it cost too much to throw out. Except for furniture pieces I always try to find a way to create the decor items on a small budget. Keep up the good work on your house.