Make a Patriotic Mandala “Wreath” (Using Skittles!)

This red, white and blue craft idea is part of a #SkittlesAmericaMix #tastetherainbow #shop hosted by the social shopper media company #CollectiveBias and sponsored by Skittles. All opinions, ideas and hot glue gun burns are my own. 

Make this DIY patriotic mandala for the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day or just any old day you feel proud to be an American (and you want your house to smell like yumberry!)

If you don’t usually think of candy as a craft supply, we’re going to change that today. When I first laid eyes on the limited edition Skittles America Mix, I thought, “Fire up my glue gun, imagonna make something outta those!”

I mean, the colors are bright and poppy, the texture they produce when arranged together looks almost mosaic and they double as a snack while you’re working. Sounds like an ideal craft supply to me!

(And if you’re into unconventional “craft” supplies like I am, look no further than my coffee stirrer wall art, my DIY wall decor from your junk drawer or my mini banana siblings for more ideas.)

With Memorial Day around the corner, I decided to whip up a red, white and blue decoration to hang on our front door. I don’t really know what you call a large mosaic of Skittles hanging on your front door? It’s kind of a wreath. It’s sort of a mandala. It makes our front porch smell like a smoothie. Let’s just call it awesome and move on.

This piece of sugary patriotic bling is actually quite easy, it just takes a bit of patience to glue the Skittles onto the foam core (and self-control not to eat them all in the process). And while I made this as a Memorial Day decoration, I love that I can bring it back out for the 4th of July, Labor Day or any bbq or summer party we have that I want to feel a little more festive.

At first I considered drawing the star freehand, then I thought about doing a bunch of geometry to draw it perfectly and finally I decided to just create a printable template to trace and save us all a lot of trouble.

Simply enter your email address in the pink and green box at the bottom of the post and you’ll get immediate access to the downloadable star template (plus all the other past and future templates and patterns I create).

Patriotic Skittles Mandala Supplies

So you can spend more time crafting and less time shopping, this post contains affiliate links at no extra cost to you.

• about 4 lbs of Skittles America Mix (Grab them using Amazon Prime like I did and you can have them in a jiffy!)
• star template (Subscribe at the bottom of the post for immediate access.)
• hot glue and glue gun (I tried tacky glue and hot glue and hot glue is def the winner for this candy craft.)
• pencil
• about 12” of yarn or string
• 11 straight pins
• utility knife and cutting mat (or scissors)
• 12” of 1”+ thick ribbon to hang your mandala
• foam core (Get it at Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, $1 or use cardboard.)

How to Make a Patriotic Flag Mandala

1. Skittles sorting time! You don’t HAVE to do this in advance, but your crafting will be much more efficient if you do. Enlist the nearest detail-oriented three-year-old helper like I did and it won’t take too long. There are five flavors in this mix and you’re going to be using them all.

How many did you eat while you were sorting?

A lot?

That’s a relief. Me too.

2. Tie the yarn around the pencil to make a homemade compass of sorts. (Oh yeah, we’re getting all math-y here for a second.) Draw a small dot in the middle of your foam core and hold the yarn at the dot as pictured. Keeping the yarn secured, move the pencil around the board to draw a circle. HINT: I tied a knot in my yarn 9.5” from my pencil so that I had something to press my finger on. This resulted in about a 19″ circle.

3. Cut out the circle using a utility knife and cutting mat. If you don’t have these supplies, use your biggest, sharpest scissors.

4. Pin the star template to your board using straight pins.

5. Use another straight pin to poke small holes along the edge of the star. This outline will guide your gluing.

**Please note, I tried both tacky glue and a glue gun for gluing my Skittles down and the glue gun worked significantly better. So, although you see tacky glue in some of my photos, you can learn from my experimentation and just skip to hot glue.

6. Fold your ribbon in half and glue it to the back of the foam core at the top to form a hanger.

7. Begin with the rasberry Skittles (dark red) and glue them down to outline the entire star. Fill in 2-3 rows of dark red until you gradually start to add in the strawberry (brighter red) as well.

8. When the star is complete, outline the edge of the circle with the blackberry (dark blue) Skittles. Again, do a couple of rows before transitioning to wild berry (lighter blue). Avoid taking the blue all the way to the star points.

9. Mingle bright blue and white until you transition to yumberry (white) and reach the edge of the star.

Now proudly hang your new red, white and blue mandala and think about how “sweet” it is to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave!

If you’re ready to flex your patriotic crafting muscles and make this 4th of July party decoration idea, grab some Skittles America Mix with Amazon Prime. I bet you can get them ordered before your glue gun even warms up. 😉