I’m going to go out on a limb and make a bold statement. A Harry Potter Christmas tree is not complete without a reference to Platform 9 3/4. I’m sure there’s an amazing tree somewhere out there that proves me wrong, but there’s noway that I was willing to take that risk with our Harry Potter Christmas tree! Plus, I love the impact of the bold graphics of the Platform 9 3/4 ornaments that I created. Even from a distance, there’s no doubt about our tree’s theme, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past twenty years. But what I love even more is that these of the Platform 9 3/4 ornaments were super simple to make with a few inexpensive materials!

Materials

• 3″ wooden discs
• black Cricut vinyl
• Cricut
• weeding tool
• transparent transfer tape
• cream acrylic paint
• 3/8″ black grosgrain ribbon
• scissors
• sandpaper
• small screw eye pins

The Discs

Start by covering the discs with two coats of paint, allowing them to dry completely in between coats. For a polished look, lightly sand the discs in between coasts.

The Platform 9 3/4 Decal

While the discs are drying, download the Platform 9 3/4 decal and upload it to the Cricut Design Space. Make sure that you select “save as a Cut image instead of “save as a Print Then Cut image”. Insert your new image into a blank canvas. Both the width and height should be set to 3 inches. Next, hold the shift key while selecting all of the layers and click the attach button, which is located at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. This step is important because otherwise, the program will arrange the elements on the cutting mat in a different configuration than the one that you see on the canvas. If you would like to cut more than one decal, copy and paste the image until you have the desired number of decals. Once you are satisfied with the layout, click the “Make It “button in the upper righthand corner of the page to begin cutting the file.

Cutting the Vinyl

Place the vinyl on the standard grip cutting mat, right side up. Turn the dial to the vinyl setting and load the mat by pressing the double-sided arrow. When the file is complete, unload the mat and remove the vinyl. Use the weeding tool to carefully remove the unwanted vinyl.

Now the fun begins. Cut a piece of transfer tape that is slightly larger than the vinyl. Peel the backing off of the transfer tape and lay the vinyl face down on the sticky side of the tape. In order to adhere the vinyl to the tape, run a burnishing tool or a credit card over the vinyl several times. Once the vinyl has been transferred to the tape, slowly peel the backing off of the vinyl. Center the transfer tape over one of the discs and use your burnishing tool to transfer the vinyl from the tape to the disc. Lift up a corner of the transfer tape to confirm that the vinyl is adhering to the disc. If so, slowly remove the transfer tape and set it aside (tip: you can use the transfer tape multiple times as long as it remains sticky).

Finishing Touches

Carefully screw one of the small eye pins into the top of the ornament, being careful to keep the screw vertical so that it does not poke through the front or back surfaces of the ornament. Cut a 10″ length of ribbon and taper one of the ends so that you can thread it through the eye of the pin easily. Loop the ribbon around the pin and knot it. Your Platform 9 3/4 ornament is now complete! I recommend patting yourself on the back, but this step is completely optional.