Christmas is nearly upon us. As you can probably tell from my previous posts, I’m not one for traditional décor, and that extends to my Christmas decorations. At Darling Lovely Life HQ, there’s not a splash of red or green in sight. Tinsel? Nah. We’ve been crafting our Christmas, first with this sparkly bunting and drink stirrer tutorial, then by making our own floral Christmas crackers and now we’re putting the finishing touches on the tree with these adorably creepy felt decorations!

You will need

♥ Assorted sheets of felt in your chosen colour scheme. Black and white felt with adhesive backs are both handy for things like eyes and outlines.
♥ A pen (preferably close to the colour of your felt, but I’ve marked mine in ballpoint so you can clearly see what I’ve done)
♥ A small pair of scissors
♥ A needle and white thread
♥ Thin ribbon (for the hangers)
♥ Decorations like buttons, ribbons, pipe cleaners, bows etc.
♥ Cardboard to make your own templates
♥ Soft toy stuffing
♥ Your imagination

Step one

Draw and cut out a template for the main body of your decoration. This could take a few goes but try to make it as symmetrical as possible. Put the template against the felt and draw around it twice.

Step two

Cut out the two templates for the main body of the decoration.

Step three

Measure out your soft toy stuffing and put it aside. You will almost always need more than you think you do.

Step four

Cut out any smaller felt decorations and add ons.

Step five

Choose one of the two duplicate main pieces to be the front (if you have lots of time, you can make both sides of the decoration identical) and sew your decorations onto the side without the pen markings. The beauty of this is that you don’t have to be the best at sewing, rough stitching (as you can see) adds to the charm of the home-made decorations.

Step six

Sew together the front and back of the ornament, filling with soft stuffing as you go to keep its shape. Sew until a small hole is left and then insert as much stuffing as you would like. The more you put in, the longer the decoration will keep its shape, although be careful not to put too much pressure on the stitches.

Step seven

Sit back and enjoy your work for a moment

Step eight

Cut a small length of ribbon and sew it firmly to the top of your decoration in a loop.

Step nine

Hang on the Christmas tree or around the house. Any non Christmas-specific decorations can be reused later in a child’s room or just as decorations around your home.

And here are some more we made…