DIY: Make Bows into Pom Poms

Here is another fantastic DIY from Martha Stewart's website.  If you still haven't been on her webpage - what are you waiting for??  It is full of wonderful craft ideas for any time of year.  We are so close to the holiday, but there is definitely still time to whip up a few easy DIYs for decorations and gift wrapping!!

DIY: Santa Belt Napkin Rings

Kaboose's blog has these adorable (and crazy easy to make) Santa belt napkin rings that would be ideal for your holiday table!  Wouldn't you just love to sit down to these cuties at your table?  We think that they are very whimsical and fun!  

 

What you'll need:

• Cardboard tube
• 1 sheet each of red, white, and black felt 
• Gold chenille stem
• Scissors
• White craft glue

How to make it:

1. Cut cardboard tube into 1-1/2-inch segments.
2. Place one piece of the tube onto the red felt and cut the felt just slightly wider than the tube. Wrap the felt around the tube and trim off the excess, leaving enough for a small overlap. Glue the red felt around the cardboard tube. (See photo.)
3. Cut a strip of black felt, about 1/2-inch wide, and glue it around the red tube, lining up the seams. (See photo.)
4. Cut two strips of white felt, about 1/4-inch wide and glue them around the outside of the red felt, overlapping the edge a little.
5. Cut a 3-inch piece of gold chenille and bend it into a square for the buckle. Glue the buckle to the black felt, be sure that the seam is on the opposite side. Let everything dry completely. (See photo.)

Tips:

1. These can also be made with construction paper or craft foam.
2. Instead of gold chenille, you can use gold glitter glue, but you will need to take into account the drying time needed.
3. These will look just as good on fancy napkins as they will on rolled up paper towels!

DIY: Reusable Felt Christmas Gift Bags!

Blueberry Junkie has a great idea for keeping down the amount of wrapping paper thrown away this holiday season.  We love that these bags are so cute and completely reusable!  It's like putting a gift inside of a gift.  Check out their blog for more DIY.

It’s that gift giving time of year again, which means a lot of wrapping. Last year, tired of all the waste in packaging during the Holidays, I decided to stop using wrapping paper, boxes, and other materials that get discarded. Instead, I decided to sew several simple felt bags to present my gifts in. Yes, this requires some work, but these gift bags are extremely easy and quick to make, you will have several in no time. The best part, once you make them, you can keep reusing them year after year.  They make a great environmentally friendly alternative to paper wrapping.

Felt is a great material to work with, as it doesn’t fray, therefore, it requires minimal sewing. This tutorial is for a bag that measures 8.5 x 11in (you can use a regular printer paper as a template) but you can make it as bit or as small as you need to.

Materials and Tools

- red felt 2 (8×11.5 in), scrap of off white felt and pink felt
- embroidery floss in black and pink
- embroidery thread
- scissors, pins, ruler, chalk pencil
- sewing machine
- ribbon

Gather all your supplies and materials. The sewing machine is optional, as you can easily do this entire project by hand. I like to use it to save time.

How-To

1. measure carefully and cut two pieces measuring 8.5 x 11in out of the red felt. If you want to skip the measuring, just grab a sheet of paper (printer paper will do the trick), pin it onto the red felt and cut around it.  Put the red felt aside for now.
2. Take your cookie cutter shape (I chose a star for this project) and trace it onto the off-white felt.  Cut it.
3. Pin the star felt shape into place on the lower part one of your 8.5 x 11 piece of red felt. I chose to use my sewing machine to stitch on the star, but this can easily be done by hand using a running stitch.
4. Once the star has been stitched on, it is time to add some details. With embroidery thread and an embroidery needle I added eyes and a mouth.
5. Cut 2 small circles out of pink felt and using a running stitch them, secure them onto the star.  Almost done.
6. Take your 2 pieces of red felt, align them carefully and pin the edges. Using your sewing machine (you can also do this by hand), stitch around the sides and the bottom edges. Leave the bottom edge open.  Voila! your reusable felt gift back is ready.

All that is left to do now is insert your present, add a pretty ribbon to close the bag and you are done.  Customization options are only limited by your imagination. Instead of a star, try monogramming it with the recipient’s initial.  You can also make bags in other colors to match you Christmas color scheme.