It’s the second week of Handmade Holidays on The Craft Nest. Today I have a free pattern for you! You can create this lovely hand-sewn bird ornament to give as a gift or to keep for your own tree. This is also a very easy craft for a beginning sewer or child sewer to sew by themselves.  A free pattern is included in this tutorial.

There is quite a variety of colors and decorations you can use to create and decorate this lovely bird and make it your own. I am picturing Baltimore Orioles, Cardinals and Finches. All would be so pretty dangling from a Christmas or Spring tree! Let’s get started.

Supplies:

• Craft Felt or Felted Wool
• Thread
• Needle
• Stuffing
• Bit and Baubles
• Glue
• Scissors
• Pattern – Felt Bird Ornament Pattern Download

How To:

1. Use pattern to cut out pieces from felt. You need two bird bodies and one belly. Download FREE pattern here: Felt Bird Ornament Pattern Download

2. 

   Thread needle with matching thread. Using a whip stitch, start sewing right under the birds tail. Sew all the way around the bird until you reach just under the chin.

3. 

   Lay the belly piece on the outside top of the bird body. Use a whip stitch to continue sewing one edge of the belly to the bottom edge of the bird body.

4. 

   After one side of the belly piece is sewn to the body piece, FLIP the belly piece over and sew the remaining belly edge to the remaining body edge. If there are any gaps where all three pieces come together use a whip stitch and close them up. Leave a small opening to add stuffing.

5. 

   Add stuffing into your bird ornament. I often use a chopstick or pencil to help me push stuffing into all the small areas. Sew closed using whip stitch.

6. Decorate your bird by gluing on bits and baubles. On the dove pictured at top I used false eyelashes and trimmed them to glue on for the eyes. I ordered tiny crown charms that already had a loop and stitched them onto the bird’s head.
7. Sew on an ornament hanger on the back of the neck so your bird can beautifully decorate your tree.

The post Handmade Holidays | Felt Bird Ornament Pattern appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Look at these cute animals made from such simple supplies! What started as making a bunny using a toilet paper tube, sparked creativity in all the kids and they came up with their own animals to create.On the left we have a bunny, then a polar bear, a monster and a penguin. I was so excited to see each child put their own spin on their creation.

Supplies:

• Pony Beads for Eyes and Noses
• Yarn in Assorted Colors
• Felt for Belly, Ears, Beaks and Teeth
• Cotton Ball for Tails
• Stapler
• Scissors
• Glue (optional)

How To:

1. Staple the starting end of your yarn to the bottom edge of the toilet paper tube. Start to wrap string around toilet paper tube and continue wrapping so tube is completely covered.
2. As you get toward the middle of the tube slide a pony bead on the yarn for a nose if wanted. As you near the top, slide pony beads on the yarn for the eyes.
3. Staple the end of the yarn when you are finished wrapping.
4. Cut felt pieces for ears, feet, teeth etc. Staple or glue these pieces to your yarn wrapped toilet paper tube.

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Christmas seems to be just around the corner! My kids are so excited to make Christmas related crafts. I came up with these easy to make Holy Family figures for my daughter to create and display in her room.

The creation of this Holy Family incorporates a few natural items found outside. We used a dried milkweed pod for Jesus’ bed and acorn tops for their halos. Here in Michigan the milkweed pods are still hanging on the stalks and are all dried out, just waiting to be picked and used in a craft.

Supplies:

• Red and blue and light blue felt
• 4×4 piece of cream fabric or muslin
• Brown ribbon
• Milkweed pod
• 3 acorn tops
• 3 sizes of peg people/game pieces (I found mine at Michaels in the wood section)
• Acrylic paint for faces and hair
• Gold paint for halo
• Paintbrush
• Scissors
• Craft glue

How To:

1. Paint the faces and hair on each peg person, let dry.
2. Paint the acorn tops gold, let dry.
3. To create baby Jesus’ clothes, lay him on the piece of fabric. Trim the fabric to be slightly taller than the height of the peg body. Fold over all raw edges. Put a small line of glue on the peg body and roll the fabric around Jesus to create his clothes (all raw edges are tucked under). Glue the remaining edge down. Let dry.
4. Glue the gold acorn top to Jesus’ head, let dry.

5. 

   To create Mary’s clothes, cut out a blue square of felt. To get the correct size, when folded the felt should be the same height as the peg body. With the felt square folded in half trim off the corners to form a circle. Cut a small X in the center of the circle. Slide the felt circle over the peg head.

6. 

   To finish off her dress, pinch each side of the dress together. Place glue in between the layers. Use a clothespin to hold it in place while it dries.

7. Cut Mary’s veil out of lighter blue felt. Glue the veil onto her head, let dry. Glue gold acorn top over veil, let dry.

8. 

   To create Joseph’s clothing, cut out a red rectangle of felt. To get the correct size, when folded the felt should be the same height as the peg body. Cut a small X in the center of the felt. Slide the felt rectangle over the peg head.

9. Use glue to hold the felt clothes in place, let dry. Tie a ribbon around the middle of his body to make a belt. Glue gold acorn top onto his head, let dry.
10. To create a stable my daughter used construction paper, toilet paper tubes and tape (lots and lots of tape!). Have your child use their creativity to create their own stable for the Holy Family.

The post Advent Activity | Holy Family Figures appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

I had to share a picture of what my daughter made for me for Mother’s Day. You might already know that I really like Bluebirds. She sewed me a stuffed Bluebird softie for me to keep. Isn’t that so sweet. I love it!

How To | Sew a Softie

Supplies:

• Muslin
• Felt
• Pencil
• Sewing Straight Pins
• Fabric Markers
• Fabric Scissors
• Needle
• Embroidery Thread
• Poly-fil Stuffing

How To:

1. Carefully draw your design in pencil on your piece of muslin.
2. Use fabric markers to color in your design.
3. Pin your piece of muslin to a coordinating piece of felt.
4. Cut out around your drawing, cutting through the muslin and felt at the same time.
5. Keep your pieces pinned together.
6. Thread your needle with embroidery floss and sew a whip stitch around your softie. Leave an opening so you can fill it with stuffing. Remove pins as you go.
7. When you are almost done sewing, stuff it with stuffing. Continue sewing the rest of the softie closed. Trim thread.
8. Wrap in pretty paper and give to a friend or your mom!

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You can recycle old scraps of felted sweaters and fleece to create your own unique felt heart pin for Valentine’s Day. (Do you recognize the Lava Girl hot pink felt on the back?) Over the weekend I started sewing the pin on the left, once my daughter saw what I was making she wanted to make one too. I tried to insist that she had to sew her heart using a different stitch because the blanket stitch would be too hard for her. She begged until I gave in and taught her the stitch, then she stitched her heart on pretty much perfect all by herself. Guess mom isn’t so smart. Tomorrow we will be wearing these all day to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Make one of these for your daughter, teacher or babysitter. They will look lovely on your shirt tomorrow!

How To | Felt Heart Pin

Supplies:

• Felt Scraps
• Fleece Scraps
• Embroidery Thread
• Sewing Needle
• Straight Pin
• Poly-fil or Wool Stuffing
• Bar Pin
• Fabric Scissors
• Stick-on Gems

How To:

1. Cut out a square shape from your felt.  (I have some Fiskars scalloped edge fabric scissors I used to cut the edges of my squares.)
2. Cut out a heart shape from felt or fleece. Pin in place onto the felt square.
3. Using a blanket stitch (click here for a how to) sew almost all the way around the heart. Leave a small opening for stuffing.
4. Stuff the heart with a small amount of stuffing, then continue sewing the heart onto the felt square.
5. Stitch words or a design in the center of your heart or add gemstones.
6. Sew the pin bar to the back of the felt square.

Back side of felt pin.

The post How To | Valentine Felt Heart Pin appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

I know a porcupine really has nothing to do with Christmas, but my boys love to make things out of pine cones, so this is perfect. They had so much fun creating these little critters to hang on the Christmas tree. (Yes, the little one has a tiny pebble glued on its head…) We are still laughing at them!

How To | Porcupine Pine Cone Ornament

Supplies:

• Pine Cone
• Googly Eyes
• Black Pom-pom ball
• Small Piece of Brown or Black Felt
• Embroidery Floss or Ribbon
• Craft Glue
• Scissors

How To:

1. Cut a 6 inch or so piece of ribbon or floss. This will be use to create the ornament hanger. Tie it up around the pine cone and then tie it in an open loop so it can hang from a tree branch.
2. If your pine cone has a stem on one end carefully break it off. This side will be the face.
3. Cut out a face size circle from the felt. Glue on googly eyes and a pom-pom ball nose.
4. Glue entire face to the end of the pine cone.
5. Cut out 4 small feet from felt. Glue those in the appropriate spot to make feet.
6. Hang on your tree and laugh at your funny new friend and ornament!

The post Advent Activity | Porcupine Pinecone Ornament appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

My daughter always wants to make presents for everyone come holiday time. She came up with this Felt Heart Ornament project all on her own. I think she did an excellent job. I’m still waiting to receive mine! She gave everyone else their ornament yesterday. She had tucked them in their stockings for St. Nicholas day, so sweet that she is always thinking about others.

Handmade Holidays | How To | Felt Heart Ornament

Supplies:

• Pink Craft Felt
• Embroidery Floss
• Needle
• Scissors
• Poly-fil Stuffing
• Black Stamping Ink (We used Staz-on)
• Letter Stamps
• Assorted Picture Stamps
• Ribbon or Beads

How To:

1. Cut two identical heart shapes from felt.
2. Use your stamps and ink to personalize each side of the heart with an image.
3. Sew your hearts together using a needle and embroidery floss.
4. Add any embellishments such as beads and ribbon as you sew.
5. Before sewing the entire heart closed add some stuffing, then finish sewing the heart closed.
6. Use the embroidery floss to sew a loop at the top of the heart so it can hang.
7. Tuck in a stocking for a Christmas morning surprise!

The post Handmade Holidays | Felt Heart Ornaments appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

My daughter is having her friends over in a couple weeks to make crafts. We decided we wanted to make finger puppets as one of the projects. We wanted them to come in a little gift box so everyone would have their own Finger Puppet Kit. We made enough kits for her friends and a few extras to give to cousins. I am really excited to make these with the girls when they come over, my daughter is really excited too. If you want to make some Finger Puppet Kits to give as gifts, you can download my FREE patterned gift box by clicking on the link below. (Don’t forget to LIKE us on Facebook so you don’t miss out on any great craft ideas!)

Handmade Holidays | How To | Finger Puppet Kit

Supplies:

• Stretch Gloves or Recycle Old Gloves (Target has 2 for $2 or Jo-Anns has them in their dollar bins at the checkout)
• 5mm Googly Eyes
• Tiny Pom-Pom Balls
• Assorted buttons, trims, wire and paper flowers
• Colored Paper
• Felt
• Glue
• Scissors
• Small Baggie
• Finger Puppet Gift Box Template Download

How To:

1. Download and print the Free Finger Puppet Gift Box Template. (It will work best if you print the template on a thicker paper.) Cut along the solid lines and score lightly using a craft knife on the dotted lines. Fold on dotted/scored lines. Adhere side of gift box together using double-sided tape or glue.
2. Cut fingers off of gloves.
3. Count out googly eyes. Add assorted pom-pom balls and trims.
4. Cut out paper and felt in 1″ squares.
5. Place all the googly eyes, trims, paper, felt and other small items into a small baggie.
6. Place glove fingers and baggie of items into box and fold sides closed.
7. Give as a gift!

FREE DOWNLOAD:

Click here – Finger Puppet Gift Box Template Download

Linked to: Where Women Create

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I had an idea to use cheap craft felt to create this Halloween monster mash-up felt face activity for the kids. The activity is played on a 9×12 piece of felt, which is actually one side of the felt pocket where all the pieces are stored. This activity has inspired lots of giggles at our house in the past week as they made Dracula have hair bows, Frankenstein have a pumpkin mouth and the Witch girl have a mustache. (Below you can download the template for all the felt shapes.)

How To | Monster Mash-up Felt Face Activity

Supplies:

• 9×12 sheet of green felt
• 9×12 sheet of bright green felt
• 9×12 sheet of orange felt
• 9×12 sheet of black felt
• 9×12 sheet of yellow felt
• 9×12 sheet of purple felt
• 9×12 sheet of white felt
• 9×12 sheet of red felt
• Googly eyes
• Scissors
• Sewing machine or needle and thread

How To:

1. Place whole sheet of green felt back-to-back with orange felt, wrong sides together. Use a sewing machine and sew around three sides to create a large pocket. (If you don’t have a sewing machine use embroidery floss and sew a blanket stitch (how to here) around three sides.)
2. Download monster face templates and cut out felt pieces in matching colors.
3. Add a couple googly eyes into the mix of felt pieces.
4. Play activity and store pieces inside pocket when finished.

FREE MONSTER FELT FACE TEMPLATES: Click Here – Monster Face Templates

 

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My daughter (age 6) is just learning to sew. Together we made this felt baby dinosaur and egg for her brother for his birthday. We worked together to draw the egg and then the baby dinosaur, we had to be careful to make sure he would fit nicely inside. She was able to do the sewing pretty much herself, I just started and ended it for her. She was thrilled with the result and loved being able to give a gift that she had made herself!

Learn To Sew | How To | Felt Baby Dinosaur and Egg

Supplies:

• Green 9×12 Felt Sheet
• Cream 9×12 Felt Sheet
• Cream Embroidery Floss
• Green Embroidery Floss
• Black Bead for Eye
• Sewing Needle
• Sewing Pins
• Scissors
• Polyfil Stuffing

How To:

1. Work with child to draw egg and baby dinosaur shape on paper to create a template. Trace shapes onto felt using fabric pencil.
2. Double felt over and cut out shapes. You should have two identical pieces for each shape.
3. To create your egg, pin identical egg pieces together. Next, thread your needle and tie a knot at the end of the thread. Start sewing on the top corner of the egg. Remember to keep the top (cracked) part of the egg open so your baby dinosaur can fit inside. Tie a knot to finish. Repeat this step for other half of the egg.
4. To create your baby dinosaur, pin pieces together. Next, thread your needle and tie a knot at the end of the thread. Start sewing at the dinosaur’s nose and sew along the bottom of the dinosaur. When you get up to the top of the tail add stuffing to the legs and tip of the tail. Continue sewing and adding stuffing as you go. Tie a knot to finish.
5. Play with your new baby dinosaur and egg or give it as a gift to your brother!

The post How To | Felt Dinosaur and Egg appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.