Three Dimensional Felt and Bead Ornament

As with many ideas I found this craft on Pinterest, but couldn't locate any directions in English. I deconstructed the project in my head and deliberated how to best instruct my coworkers on how to make these felt and bead ornaments. As with any craft, there are many ways to get to the finished product.

Here are the materials you will need for this week's craft:

felt (cut in 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch wide strips)
beads
pins
needle and thread
scissors
string to hang your craft
1/2 inch grid paper
pen or pencil
*optional towel or bowl for your beads

I bought all of my felt at my local Jo-Ann Store. There is different types of felt; some is made out of polyester and comes in a wide variety of colors and comes in widths of 72 inches (less expensive), and felt made of wool and rayon (different percentages of each) which is available in 36 inch widths. The polyester felt is thinner and more flexible and also comes in more colors while the wool felt is available in mostly natural colors, is thicker and more rigid. Our example is made from wool felt.

I used my rotary cutter and mat to cut the strips. It was challenging to cut through many layers of felt at the same time. It seemed easier to cut the wider strips-but aesthetically the thinner strips seemed to look better.

Once the strips were cut I measured 1/2 inch in from one end and placed a pin. Then you need to decide how big you would like to make your ornament. Our example was made by measuring 4 inches, place a pin and then 4 inches again. Continue to pin the felt with the following measurements:
1/2 inch, 4 inches, 4 inches, 3 1/2 inches, 3 1/2 inches, 3 inches, 3 inches, 2 1/2 inches, 2 1/2 inches, 2 inches, 2 inches, 1 1/2 inches, 1 1/2 inches, 1 inch, 1 inch.  Your felt will look like the example below.

For this size ornament you will need ten beads-larger ornaments will require more beads. Also-depending upon the method you use to secure the bottom bead you might need an additional smaller bead.

Next you will need to take a length of thread and double up the thread and make the knot at the end really big (3-4 knots on top of each other).  Begin sewing by going through the felt at the 1/2 in pin at the one end of your piece of felt. Pick up one bead with your needle and here is where you can choose one of two methods to anchor the bead. 1-if you have an extra bead that is as large as the hole at the bottom of your first bead you can string it on next and go back up through the hole you came down and the bead will be anchored at the bottom.

2-if you do not have a bead to anchor the bottom-you can go back to the same hole you came down around the outside of the hole. If you stop here and proceed-your bottom bead will be on a 90 degree angle compared to the rest of the beads. One solution to fix this is to go back down the middle of the bead  and again up to the original hole on the opposite side. This will straighten out the bottom bead.

As added precaution, I always go through the knot before I move onto the next step.

Once you have anchored the bottom bead go to the next pin and sew the felt (making sure not to twist it) for the 4 inch mark, and again for the second 4 inch mark. Then place your next bead. Repeat this pattern (two loops then a bead) until you get to the end of your pins.

Once you get to the top of your tree-cut a piece of twine and tie a loop in the twine. Run your needle and thread through the loop in the twine and back down through two or three beads. Putt your needle through the ornament and cut your thread at least 4-5 inches long. Split the thread so that it will go around either side of the existing threads and two two knows with the cut threads. Trim the threads and you should be ready to hang your ornament on the tree.

Enjoy!

Three Dimensional Ornaments

This week's craft is creating three dimensional ornaments using recycled paper. As a former librarian, I especially love books, but have found that I can obtain books that have been weeded from libraries, are samples from publishers (cannot be sold), or books that have been damaged. Also, I pick up inexpensive books from thrift stores and tag sales. Sometimes the books are selected for the paper type: old and weathered, thin paper like a dictionary, shiny, thick and other characteristics. Other times books are selected based on content: maps and atlases, language, location, sentimentality, color...

Materials:
Books/paper
pattern
pen or pencil
ruler
stapler
glue stick
twine or string

We started with selecting books that could be used for our holiday tree at work and some that could be used for home. Our samples are made from a student dictionary that had water damage.

Next we searched online for Christmas ornament pattern templates and looked for symmetrical patterns. We copied the patterns onto oak tag and cut out a bunch of each for our craft time. We drew a line in ink down the center of each pattern to help with placement.

Depending upon the thickness of the paper, determine how full you would like your finished ornament. This might take a bit of experimenting until you obtain the desired fullness. Our ornaments are made with 20 sheets of paper each (four sets of five sheets each).
Tear out the pages from the book (it might be painful-but for a good cause & good for the book to have a second life). What we found to be helpful was to fold the sheets of paper and staple one fourth of the total number of sheets on the fold line. Next, trace your pattern onto the set of prepared paper. Use the guide line on the pattern to align with the fold line on the recycled paper/book pages.

Cut out the stapled sheets together and then punch a hole in the top to be able to hang later. If you cut just inside the pen or pencil line your ornament will have a cleaner look once complete-or you can trace your pattern on what I consider the back (the bottom of the staple) and it will not show at all once glued together.

Burnish or rub with your nail, the edge of a coin or with any other object the "back" side of your cut set of paper. This will assist you with "fluffing" later.

Using a glue stick, glue two back "mirror" sides together of two sets of the pattern. Repeat with the second two sets of the pattern.

Next you need to glue the two "halves" together with the glue stick.

Fluffing comes next. And depending upon the consistency of the paper it might take a while. This can become frustrating-but I suggest folding, burnishing and going all around the ornament. Once you have obtained your desired "fluffiness"-add a string or wire to prepare your ornament for hanging.

Enjoy-until next week!

Sheet Music Snowman

Snowman made with sheet music

In the historical school building where I work we have a holiday tree with home made ornaments. It has been many years since new ornaments have been added to the tree. In an effort to build community, freshen up the tree and learn new crafts we are holding a weekly make one take one holiday craft during lunches.
Our first week will feature the sheet music snowman.

Materials:

Snowman template(s)

Sheet music (or an old book, newsprint, scrapbook paper, or other decorative paper)

Coordinating oak tag or scrapbook paper (thick weight to add strength)

Piece of orange oak tag

Scissors

Pen or pencil

Standard size hole punch

Small hole punch (1/16 of an inch)

Twine or string

Fabric (cut in ¾ inch strips for the large snowmen and cut in ½ inch strips for the small snowmen)

Small black buttons

Glue stick

White glue

Black marker

Directions:

1. Using a snowman pattern cut one out of oaktag of the size you prefer (or-if you're like me-cut many of each size).  Snowman templates

2. Choose the back side of your paper (music) and trace the snowman template onto the paper. 

 Cut out two of the patterns at the same time.  Write a word or letter on back of each cut out snowman which will assist you in the next step. 

 Using a glue stick, put glue on the back side of one of the cut snowmen. Glue to the coordinating oak tag allowing about ¼ of an inch around the edge of the snowman.  I was able to fit two large snowmen and one small snowman out of one 8 ½ X 11 inch piece of paper (and was also able to cut out eye balls with a standard size the hole punch).

 Cut out the snowman about ¼ inch around the glued on snowman in the thick paper. 

Turn the snowman over and glue on the second pre-cut snowman to the back-centered within the ¼ inch edge with the glue stick. The template is not perfectly symmetrical so labeling the back will help to keep 1/4 inch border around the snowman.

Select three small black buttons for the large snowman or two small buttons for the small snowman. Using white glue-glue the buttons down the front of the snowman evenly spaced.

After cutting the strips of fabric (I used a rotary cutter), select a ¾ inch strip of fabric for the larger snowman and ½ inch strip of fabric for the smaller snowman. Tie on a piece of fabric in a double knot and cut to a visually appealing length. I frayed the ends by pulling off some threads to look like fringe. You can use a needle or pin to help pull the threads. 

Punch out two eyes with a standard size hole punch. Glue onto the face.

I cut out an entire sheet of orange oak tag 3/8 of an inch wide for the snowmen noses. I free formed the shapes with scissors to cut out paper carrots for the noses. Once the carrot was drawn, I added lines to make the carrot look more realistic and outlined the carrots. 

I then glued onto the face.

Next using a small hole punch 1/16 inch, punch a hole at the top center of the snowman.

Cut a length of string and tie on using an overhand knot.

Give yourself credit by signing and dating the back of your snowman. 

Enjoy!