2020 Family Ornaments

Long-time readers of my blog will recall that every year I make Christmas ornaments for my family. Over the years I've used sewing, counted cross-stitch, pipe cleaners, beads, pompoms, and many other craft techniques.

This year I returned to feltcraft. I was inspired by an ornament on Pinterest. Originally I was going to embroider, sew, and use beads like the inspiration piece. But when the time came and I found myself up against a mailing deadline, I decided to simplify the ornament by using glue, Sharpie, and a paint pen.

Here's my process:

First I used my inspiration photo to create a pattern for a three-inch ornament. I made the pieces on paper, then transferred them to cardstock to make a sturdier pattern. Next, I traced the pattern pieces upside down onto felt. That way any tracing lines would not show on the finished ornament. I cut out the pieces, and made a sample ornament to see how the pieces would come together.

I decided to try Aileen's Fast Grab Tacky Glue. It's very thick and holds the pieces together quickly. Plus, it dries clear. I'd tried a few other glues before I settled on this one. The others didn't work as well. When I ran out of the Fast Grab glue, I used plain ol' Elmer's white glue. If you leave it in the open air for a while, it will thicken up a bit.

My first step was to tape a loop of baker's twine to the top of the heart. Taping helped to hold the twine in place as I was manipulating the felt in the gluing stage. I tucked the knot inside the ornament for a nice clean loop finish.

I find it easier to use glue if I put it in a puddle on a plastic lid from peanut can. This way I can use a wooden applicator to dip into the glue and spread it on the craft felt pieces.

The blue heart was glued to the white heart, sandwiching the twine loop. Then the snowman was glued to the blue. I didn't have any light blue felt on hand, so I couldn't exactly mimic my inspiration piece. The dark blue works as a night sky.

Then I added the two pieces of the scarf and the snowman's orange nose. The ornament is rather thick when all those layers are in place. I used some sharp scissors to trim up the pieces that overlapped on the sides and give the ornaments a clean finish.

I used an ultra fine tip black Sharpie to draw the mouth. After some experimentation, I found that making a series of small dots to create the mouth worked better than simply drawing the mouth in a single stroke. This kept the felt from bunching up around the tip of the marker.

To make the snow, I used a paint pen. I got this Forever in Time white metallic marker at Dollar Tree. The ornament was complete.

As a side note, I also used this pen to trace the pattern onto the dark pieces of felt. I tried pen (couldn't see the line well) and chalk (line was too thick) before landing on this method. It worked well.

For a final touch, I got out my label maker and added each person's name and the year to the back of the ornament.

With that, the ornaments were done! I'll be able to include them in the box of gifts for Julie's family. Jeanne, Jodie, and Ken will receive theirs in person when we drop off Christmas presents.

These snowmen are a happy little bunch!

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Inspired by cathspenniesdesigns.com, found on Pinterest