
I will happily bake and cook my little heart out but I find it next to impossible to get into traditional crafts. I’m a failed knitter, embroiderer, and decoupager. But when I stumbled upon these adorable Felt Christmas Ornaments the DIY bug somehow thoroughly infected me yet again.

After consulting the craftiest person I know on where to buy felt I took a little trip to Play Time Crafts in Arlington. The store itself was on the same mess level as Old Navy gets during a Black Friday sale but they had absolutely everything you could possibly want from stamps, to beads, oodles of ribbon, party supplies, and a rainbow array of felt. Instead of traditional Christmas colors I chose turquoise, magenta, lavender, and pink for my ornaments and then found several spools of matching ribbon.

This evening I attempted to sew my first ornament. It took me a little over an hour. I ended up having to use a martini glass to trace circles onto the felt. The finished product is a bit lopsided and you can unfortunately see all of my stitches but all-in-all I’m pretty proud of myself. However, I think it looks fairly good since I’ve been known to send shirts to the dry cleaner if I need a button sewed on.
Tomorrow my friend Kristen is going to give me some pointers on how to polish the craft project. Hopefully the next one will be a tad more attractive. At this rate though it will probably take me until Christmas to finish the 12 ornaments I’m hoping to make, but I’m determined to finish every single shabby one.

Erin they’re super cute! You should be proud!
Hi Erin
I think you did a nice job especially for your first try. Could you use glue instead of stitching? They make this special glue for material and it holds fabric very well I just can not remember the name of it. You could also sew it with a thicker ribbon and tie little bows as you tie your knot.
I am the totally opposite of you, very crafty but I could not bake to save my life. Keep at it!
I think you did a great job! Is that your own design? Very cool. I like it as is, and I think the color selection is great. Right up until my daughter got married, we did a different theme/color with our Christmas tree every year. We started running out of colors and had to go to plaid one year.
They do have decorative thread or really thin ribbon (and a needle with a big hole) that both work well in felt. Since it’s thicker and sturdier than most fabrics you have lots of options. Or just squirt some white glue where the thread shows and sprinkle with glitter. (Sorry, I love glitter.) Isn’t it fun to make things for the holidays? Thanks for the inspiration, Erin. Have a good time making them.
I love it!!! things that are home made are great.. but even better when I know the person making them, or the story behind their making.
to ease the process of the future ornaments, might I suggest using TWO glasses next time.. one for tracing and one filled with ‘crafter’s medicine’… (beverage of your choice!)
xxoo great job, Erin!
Erin – You’re too kind! I’m making a pink one tonight. Perhaps I’ll have to write a final wrap-up post on the progression of my ornament making abilities?
Tabby – The ribbon sounds like a very pretty idea! I think for now though I better just stick to the basics.
Dani – You give me much too much credit. I can barely thread a needle
The design is from this website: http://zakkalife.blogspot.com/2009/11/craft-project-felt-christmas-ornament.html
Glitter also sounds like a nice touch! I do love sparkly things.
Carrie – Now that I think about it I believe that vodka probably had a hand in giving me the courage to even bookmark that craft site
Those are ADORABLE! I love them and I may just have to give them a try! I’m starting my holiday baking and HOW CUTE would those be on packages of cookies and brownies? LOVE IT!
(And thank you for the Watson appearance. Still makes me giddy every time I see how he is all healed. I love that little guy.)
I saw that tutorial and thought, “I could NEVER make that work.” Looks like you did a decent job. And your nails look FANTASTIC. Please don’t tell me you did them at home on your free time.
Hänni – Oh wow…my nails looked super bad in that photo. You’re too sweet. I actually just went on my lunch break and had them re-done in a pretty red for the holidays
PS: If I made one of these you so could do it.
PaintingChef – Using these as gift toppers is a great idea! I need to get them a little more polished looking first though.
I’m glad you enjoyed the sneak peek of Watson. He’s doing wonderfully. The nice thing is that as he’s aging he’s becoming more cuddly. Yay!
Yay! It looks great! I bet the last one you make is going to look just like the inspiration
Pam – I’m definitely hoping that’s the eventual outcome