Neon colors have been so popular this year, and while I don’t miss many of the trends that were popular in the ’80s (zigzag crimping irons, anyone?), I am embracing neon like a long-lost, very brightly-colored friend.

Needless to say, my new neon glitters are some of my current favorite craft supplies, and I had much fun creating these festive holiday gift tags. You can check out the original feature (video tutorial included) over at k.becca, and you can find the Holiday Wishes gift tag die cuts in the k.becca shop.

Warning : If regular glitter is addictive (and it is), then neon glitter is doubly so. I find myself wanting to give everything a glittery, neon glow.

Is it really almost Halloween? I haven’t even had my yearly viewing of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” yet.

I also recently realized that I haven’t yet told you about my new site, k.becca, which launched back in September. The new site is part portfolio, part paper crafts blog, and part shop. Yep, I finally opened my own shop!

I’m working hard on finishing up my Christmas and winter holiday collections, but in the meantime, if you’re looking for some fun Halloween goodies, head on over and check out the printable Halloween paper designs and die-cutting templates that are in the shop right now. And have a gander at the blog, where you’ll find some very quick and easy Halloween treat bag video tutorials. I never thought I’d ever voluntarily do a video tutorial, but I stepped outside my comfort zone and went for it, and I’m actually really enjoying making them. Look for some Christmas and winter paper craft tutorials very soon.

]]> http://www.domestifluff.com/2011/10/halloween-treat-bag-craft-ideas/feed/ 0 http://www.domestifluff.com/2010/12/felt-holiday-ornaments-free-ornament-templates/ http://www.domestifluff.com/2010/12/felt-holiday-ornaments-free-ornament-templates/#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 20:16:41 +0000 Kristen http://www.domestifluff.com/?p=604

I’ve been working on a pretty ambitious felt tree skirt project this year, and it’s left me with a bunch of leftover ivory felt, so I’ve been trying to come up with some small projects that make use of the felt leftovers. These little ornaments aren’t at all difficult to make, even for beginners at embroidery, and even though they make extensive use of the fancy (and intimidating, so I’ve read) French knot. Trust me, the French knot isn’t difficult at all once you get a few practice knots in, and here’s a a video that takes you through it in real time, so if you’re a visual learner like me you’ll be a French knot pro in no time and will want to use this stitch anywhere that you possibly can.

The only other stitches used in this project are the running stitch and whip stitch. As for the aforementioned tree skirt, I’d love to show you now, but at the rate I’m going it’s probably not going to be done until sometime in 2011, if I’m lucky! Thankfully, these ornaments are much quicker to make. I made each ornament in about 30 to 45 minutes.

Download the templates for this project right here (97Kb PDF file).

You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to download and use the template file. Download the reader for free here. These templates are for personal, non-commercial use only.

1. Print and cut out the ornament templates. Cut a piece of felt that’s twice as long as the ornament template that you’re working with, and position the template on the felt so there’s enough room for you to fold the felt in two when you’re finished tracing the template. Trace around the edge of the template using a water soluble marking pen. To mark where the French knots will go, hold the template and felt against a window so you can see the markings through the felt, and use the water soluble pen to mark where the knots will go.

2. Fold the felt in half and pin together using straight pins. Cut around the edges using pinking shears.

3. Use a damp paper towel to remove any ink that’s left along the edges of the felt. Be sure not to remove the dots that mark where the French knots will go. Unpin the two pieces of felt.

4-5. Make the French knots on the piece of felt with the dot markings, using the dotted side of the felt as the reverse. These images illustrate how to make a French knot, but this video does a much better job of showing you how to create the stitch. I tie off each knot when I’m finished since the felt is ivory and I don’t want the zig zags of embroidery thread to show through.

6. When you’re finished making the knots, match up the two pieces of felt as closely as you can, with the French knots facing outward, and pin together the pieces. Stitch along the edge of the ornament using a running stitch.

7. You have a few options for attaching the ornament hanger. Tie a 9-10 inch length of red embroidery thread together at the bottom to create the hanger and either 1) sew the hanger in when you come to the top center of the ornament as you’re stitching around (as shown), 2) attach the hanger to the back piece of the ornament before you start stitching the pieces together, or 3) attach the hanger after you’ve finished the ornament.

8. Leave a small opening in one area of the ornament so you can stuff it. You can use cotton balls that have been pulled apart, poly-fill, or leftover trimmings from making pom poms for the stuffing. Push the stuffing into the ornament using a small paintbrush or the end of a pen. After you’ve finished stuffing the ornament, sew it completely closed.

For the Bell Ornament

1. The center star on the bell ornament is made using a long running stitch for each set of points. In order to keep the star in place, make a short running stitch in the center to tack the star in place.

2. To finish the ornament, attach a jingle bell to the center bottom using ivory embroidery thread.

For the Wreath Ornament

1. To cut out the center of the wreath ornament, I like to use an Xacto knife (on a cutting mat) to cut across the diameter of the circle and then use scissors to cut out the center, but you can use scissors to make a hole and cut out from there.

2. Use a whip stitch and ivory embroidery thread to sew together the center edges of the ornament.

3. Stitch together the outer edges of the ornament using a running stitch and ivory embroidery thread. After you’ve stitched about 1 1/2 inches along the edge, stuff the portion that you just stitched using fill and the end of a paintbrush. Stuffing the circle as you go helps prevent gaps in the stuffing.

4. Trace the leaf templates onto green felt, cut out, dab off any remaining ink using a damp paper towel, and sew around the edges of each leaf using a running stitch and green embroidery thread. Attach the leaves to the top center of the wreath ornament.

This project started off as an advent calendar and kind of took on a life of its own. I was going to make fluted circle ornaments with the calendar numbers cut out of the middle, but then I realized that numbers like “6” and “8” were going to look a little odd because their entire interiors would be cut out. D’oh! So, I morphed the project into a riff on the polymer clay wreath ornaments that I made earlier this year.

The possibilities are endless with this project – tie the ornaments onto gifts as embellishments (I really like how the monogram ornaments came out), hang them on the tree, or string many together on twine or embroidery thread to create a garland. You can also use polymer clay (Sculpey has a color called “Hazelnut” that’s a pretty good match for gingerbread cookie dough) to create something very similar. I like using the cinnamon dough, though, because it smells so good and because it has a texture like that of real gingerbread cookies.

I left the ornaments/embellishments undecorated, but you can use dimensional paint and/or glue and glitter to decorate them. After I finished the project, I also had the idea to do a color wash over them (i.e., white paint mixed with water to thin it out), so I’ll have to try that out with the leftovers. See, endless possibilities!

Cinnamon Dough Ornaments + Gift Embellishments
dough recipe from Martha Stewart Living

Supplies Needed

for the dough

1 cup ground cinnamon
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup school glue
a mixing bowl
a spatula
measuring cups
plastic wrap
oven parchment
a cookie sheet

for the ornaments

a variety of small cutters (I used Wilton Mini Alphabet Cutters, Sculpey Mini Metal Cutters – found at Jo-Ann, and Ateco Fluted Circle Cutters)

a toothpick, wooden skewer, or drinking straw

a polymer clay roller or rolling pin

twine, embroidery thread, or string

Instructions

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cinnamon and applesauce using a rubber spatula. Add the school glue and stir until the consistency is smooth. The dough should not be sticky. Let stand for 1 hour.

2. Break off 1/4 of the dough, covering the rest with plastic wrap so it won’t dry out. On a flat surface that has been covered with oven parchment, start to flatten the dough with your hands and continue flattening with a clay roller or rolling pin until the dough is 1/4 inch thick. Note: I didn’t have any problems with dryness or stickiness, but Martha says to have a spritzer bottle on hand to use if the dough starts to dry while you’re working with it, and extra cinnamon if the dough starts sticking to the roller.

3. Use various cutters to create the ornaments, and use a toothpick or skewer to create a hole that you can thread twine or string through to hang the ornaments or tie them onto gifts. If you’d like to thread ribbon or something thicker, use a drinking straw to create a larger hole. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the remaining dough.

4. To dry the ornaments, you can either lay them on a cooling rack covered with paper towels for 24 hours, turning them over every 6 hours or so to prevent warping, or you can bake them on a parchment lined cookie sheet in a 200 degree F oven for about 2 hours, or until they’re completely dry. I used the oven method and baked for about 2 1/2 hours, but some of my larger ornaments still warped over the next several days. I’d recommend using smaller cutters because I had no warping problems with the smaller ornaments. For larger ornaments, I’d suggest using polymer clay.

This craft is part of the 13 Days of Halloween project. Download number templates for the project, as well as the bug template for Day 3, in the tips and supplies post. Links to all of the crafts from this project can be found in the main 13 Days of Halloween post.

This is it, Day 13! This little owl may look menacing, but he’ll be holding Halloween treats for you when you get to the big day. Happy Halloween!

Quick Tip: If you’re pressed for time and want to speed up the process, you can cut 2″ wide x 3/4″ tall pieces of black cardstock and use decorative edging scissors (Fiskars Clouds and Scallop work very well for this) to make the feather ruffles, instead of cutting out the feather ruffle templates.

Supplies Needed

mini owl treat box template (277Kb PDF)

black and orange cardstock

a stylus, ruler, and small cutting mat for scoring the box template (optional)

craft scissors

glue dots and double-sided tape

school glue

a small paintbrush

a paper plate or piece of paper

glitter (I used Martha Stewart Fire Opal)

Instructions

1. Print the templates onto cardstock. Page one of the template contains everything that will need to be printed on black; page two contains the beak and eye center pieces, which are printed on orange. Cut out all of the template pieces and, as shown in the picture, assemble the eyes and attach the beak to the horns using glue dots. Assemble the box according to the instructions found in the template file.

2. As shown in the picture, attach the feather ruffles to the box using glue dots or double-sided tape.

3. Using a small paintbrush and school glue, cover the beak in glue. Immediately sprinkle the glitter over the beak until it’s completely covered, and allow excess glitter to fall onto a paper plate or piece of paper below. Tap off any remaining excess glitter, and set aside to allow the glue to dry completely.

4. Paint the eye center with glue, and use the technique in step 3 to complete the glittering process. Repeat for the second eye.

5. After the glue on the beak and eyes has dried completely, attach the eyes to the beak/horn piece using glue dots or double-sided-tape.

6. Attach the completed face piece to the front flap of the box using glue dots or double-sided tape. Fill with treats, and seal the box shut using glue dots, double-sided tape, or even a small piece of velcro.

This craft is part of the 13 Days of Halloween project. Download number templates for the project, as well as the bug template for Day 3, in the tips and supplies post. Links to all of the crafts from this project can be found in the main 13 Days of Halloween post.

This craft started as a tissue paper dahlia (you can find the original craft and template at Martha Stewart Weddings), but turn it upside down and you have a ghost! I scaled the original template to 65% to make the ghost, and though I can’t include that template here for copyright reasons (don’t want Martha and her people coming after me!), I have included a quarter circle template at the same size that you can download below. If you have pinking shears or decorative edging scissors, you can use those to create an interesting edge on the circle for your own ghost.

Supplies Needed

tissue paper ghost template (154Kb PDF)

a printer and printer paper

silver or white tissue paper

a pencil

craft scissors

1/8″ black grosgrain or satin ribbon

a pom pom, cotton ball, lollipop, or candy for the head

1/8″ hole punch

Instructions

1. Download the tissue paper ghost template and print onto a sheet of regular printer paper. Cut out the template, and lay it on top of tissue paper (two sheets) that’s been folded into quarters. Line up the straight edges of the template with the corner of the paper, trace with a pencil, and cut the shape from the tissue paper.

2. Unfold the tissue paper, and insert a pom pom or cotton ball into the center. You can also use a piece of candy or a lollipop if you’d like the ghost to double as a Halloween treat.

3. Wrap the tissue paper around the pom pom (or whatever you’re using for the head), and tie with a piece of 1/8″ ribbon.

4. Punch two holes into the top of the calendar number, and secure the number to the ghost with the ribbon.

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