diy felt christmas ornaments

i had a bunch of felt that was left over from another project a while back and i wanted to find a use for it. naturally, since it was close to christmas, i searched christmas and felt and so many amazing things came up that i could make. then i came across a cute little owl and knew that i wanted to make that first. 

i really didn't follow any directions, i just eyeballed it and started cutting the felt. however, here are some super simple instructions for the christmas tree ornament i made. the fox was definitely the most challenging, but once you have mastered the basic steps i am sure it won't be so intimidating.

here are the materials you will need for these projects:

• felt in a variety of colors
• scissors
• dmc floss in the colors of your choice
• sewing thread in the color of your choice
• needles (one large enough to thread dmc floss and one for regular sewing thread)
• cotton filler
• fabric glue (optional) 
• ribbon (optional)

you will also need to know how to do a basic hand stitch, a back stitch, and a button hole stitch. 

felt christmas tree ornament

felt colors you will need: dark green, light green, any variety of colors for the small "ornaments" on the tree

 

1. cut the dark green felt into the shape of a christmas tree (be sure to keep in mind the size that you want). cut 2 of the same pieces of the dark green tree shape. cut a triangle out of the light green fabric just a bit smaller than the dark green tree shape. cut 6 small circle shapes out of the fabric colors for the "ornaments". 

2. cut the light green triangle into three pieces (see below). using the fabric glue, place the three pieces on top of the dark green tree shape. you can stop here and move on to the next step, or you can use the dmc floss in a contrasting color to sew around the edges of each light green piece using a basic hand stitch. 

3. using white dmc floss and a back stitch, sew on the "string" for the ornament garland. do this on all three pieces of the light green felt. 

4. using the white dmc floss or some basic white thread. sew the ornaments onto the "string". 3 on the lower one, 2 in the middle, and one on the top. 

5. take the other dark green tree shape and place it on the back of the decorated side of the tree. using a button hole stitch. sew around the edge of the tree, leaving a one inch opening at the bottom. 

6. fill the tree to your liking and then finish off your button hole stitch to the end. 

7. slip a piece of ribbon or dmc floss through one of the loops in the button hole stitch at the top of the tree and tie it off to give it a way to hang it.  that's it!

now go hang it on your tree or attach it to a gift to add a extra something special. 

if you were paying attention, you would have seen in the pictures that i actually jumped the gun and sewed the tree together before adding the "ornaments". i actually forgot to put them on but it can be done this way. however, it is a bit more of a pain in the neck.

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home tour tuesday | trim the tree

i already showed some of my favorite ornaments, so i thought it would be fun to show you the ornaments we picked out this year.  we purchased all of this year's ornaments while on vacation this summer.

1. from our day at the world of coke in atlanta, georgia
2. jason's ornament - he LOVES sushi and we have eaten it so much in the last year because we didn't eat it while i was pregnant with elijah. he missed it!
3. ryan's ornament - he loves fishing!
4. mama cherry's ornament - i joked frequently this past year that i was the old lady who lived in a shoe because i have so many children and i never know what to do.
5. from our vacation in williamsburg, virginia.  this is from the jamestown settlement.
6. mackenzie's ornament - one of her favorite movies this year was toy story 3.
7. tyler's ornament - my little pony. one of her newest obsessions this year.
8. phoenix's ornament - phoenix chose this ornament because she loves her hello kitty shirt and she recognized her and wouldn't trade it for anything else.
9. jacob's ornament - he has always wanted a nutcracker and he was over the moon when he saw this one with his favorite baseball team, the atlanta braves.
10. from our day at the georgia aquarium in atlanta. 
11. elijah's ornament - it would only be natural to get our little monster his very own cookie monster ornament.

every year we each choose an ornament that best represents us as a person from that year. this year we had a big collection of ornaments because we traveled quite a bit this summer too. since i don't like those silly little knick knacks people bring back from vacation, we always bring back an ornament for our tree.  year after year, we can remember the vacation when we see the ornament. plus, it's not a silly piece of junk that will end up in the trash in six months.

swing by and share your favorite ornaments also!

CHECK THIS OUT TOO!

shannon over at webbisodes also has a great giveaway going on right now for a $20 gift certificate to the cute little etsy shop, LOL designs. there are several ways that you can enter to win, so be sure to stop by and enter!

my christmas tree, ornaments, and some practice with bokeh

so here is my christmas tree. it is our new christmas tree that sits in the corner of our dining room. yes the star is crooked. it wasn't, but then i moved the tree a little bit and it somehow shifted. of course, i am too lazy to fix it.  in fact, i have been taking photos of this tree all day and still decided against getting up on a chair and fixing it.

but there it is and i love it!

we don't really have a theme to our tree. some people only use certain colors and what not, but not us. we do have a tradition of picking our own ornaments out every year. and one day when my kiddos all move away and have their own trees, they will have a collection of ornaments for their tree and can continue to build on that collection.

i enjoy seeing how their interests change each year. mackenzie loved hannah montana a few years ago, but isn't really all that into her now.  she has a hannah montana ornament from that year and this year she made the comment that she hated that ornament.  what she doesn't see like i see is that looking at that tree with all those ornaments tells a little story of our lives.

here are some of my favorite ornaments on the tree.

1. our favorite sports teams - carolina panthers, georgia bulldogs, and duke blue devils.
2. handmade ornament from one of my favorite parents when i worked in childcare.
3. handmade ornament made by my mom. it is made from an old lightbulb.
4. pickle ornament given to me by my dad and (step) mom. i saw it in a magazine and thought it was unusual but loved it and especially loved the story of the pickle ornament.
5. little mouse with his camera on a roll of film. i don't know where i got this but it is one of the first ones i always look for when i open the ornaments box.
6. another one of the ones i look for first when i open up the ornaments. the flash bulb on the camera is actually a bulb from the lights that are strung on the tree.
7. an old santa i found at a thrift store. he is missing one of his boots. this ornament reminds me of a vintage christmas tree and i just love it.
8. spinning teddy bear. he is plugged up to the string of lights and he spins around and around on his little top.

our tree is full of ornaments including all of those novelty ornaments from various cartoons, tv shows, and movies that we have enjoyed throughout the years. 

i am linking my ornaments up over at hi, baby, where melissa started this great idea to show and tell about her favorite ornaments.

i wanted to work on some bokeh shots of my christmas tree because to me they are the easiest way to practice. 

check out the christmas tree we have in our kitchen.  it has colored lights and  i tried to focus on the one branch in the front to get this affect.

last year, i was reading kevin & amanda and i came across her tutorial on how to make your own custom bokeh. last year, i also had a different camera, so i wasn't able to recreate my custom bokeh quite like hers. so, today i decided to follow her tutorial again and give it a go. 

i don't know what i am doing wrong, but mine just aren't as beautiful as hers. perhaps it has something to do with the fact that i didn't have the cute punches she has. i had to do it the old fashioned way and use scissors to cut out a star and a heart.

i kept using this miniture ceramic stocking as my foreground focus because my models were not wanting to cooperate today.

here are two of my best shots from today.

STARS

HEARTS

 

tell me what you think. if you decide to try this out, i would love to see your photos. just leave me a comment.

welcome new friends! how about a giveaway?

thanks for stopping by six cherries on top. i hope you love it here.

if this is not your first time here, welcome back!

just a little about us...

we are a family of eight. jason and i and our six children. 3 boys, 3 girls. the oldest 12, the youngest 1, and everyone else in between.

we live in a small town in a little bity house that is way too small for our big family, but we make do until the time is right for us to move. i recently quit my job in early childhood education to stay at home with the kids and jason works for directv.

we are so excited about halloween because it is our favorite holiday other than christmas. every year the children dress in theme for halloween and this year they are going to be scooby doo characters.

link ♥ love

i got the idea for link love from this friend who does it on her blog sometimes. if you have never checked out her blog, be sure to do so. she is such an amazing person and her blog is just so refreshing to read.

all week i have had a tab opened to these shoes. my feet want them to be the shoes i wear way too much this winter.

i am totally not a fashionista, but i have been reading this adorable woman's blog all week long.

i have also been watching the videos at this beautiful woman's youtube channel.

although i don't go anywhere very often, i am still currently figuring this new app that i added to my phone. i like it but can someone please explain the point of it just a little better?

and while everyone is here, how about a new giveaway?

the other day, during my sweet stuff sunday, i talked about the cute frankenstein doll i found at the etsy shop sassy pack rat studios. jennifer, the owner of that shop agreed to do a giveaway for one of her oh-so-cute halloween owls.

they are currently on sale in her shop, but she is going to let one of my awesome readers win one.  there are two to choose from, but they both are ridiculously cute.

and just within the last couple of days, she has added new items, like these little guys.

i just love little ornaments like this. don't you?

what you will win:

mini halloween plush witch owl from sassy pack rat studios
your choice of corny or spook

how to enter:

there are several chances for you to win. please take the following steps to enter the giveaway and to increase your chances of winning.  you must complete the mandatory entry first for all other entries to count. please be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry and leave a valid email address for me to contact you if you win.

mandatory entry (worth 1 entry each):

visit sassy pack rat studios and look around.  come back to six cherries on top and tell me one thing that you love from this etsy shop.

extra entries (worth 1 entry each):

• vote for my pumpkin franken frog prince at better homes and gardens
• link to six cherries on top. grab my button (left sidebar!) and add it to your blog
• follow six cherries on top via google friend connect (right sidebar!)
• follow the sassy pack rat blog via google friend connect
• like six cherries on top on facebook
• like sassy pack rat studios on facebook
• follow @sixcherries on twitter
• follow @sassypackrat on twitter
• tweet about this giveaway (once a day!) and come back and leave the link
• subscribe to email (right sidebar!)

this giveaway will end at 11:59 pm (est) on october 31, 2010 and is open to u.s. residents only. a winner will be chosen at random via random.org and will be announced here and notified by email. you have 48 hrs. to respond or a new winner will be chosen.
 

thanks to jennifer at sassypackratstudios for offering this giveaway. this is an unpaid giveaway. all opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way or by anyone. by entering this giveaway, you agree to six cherries on top disclaimer/terms of use.




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