Felt Holiday Wreath

Every pine wreath we've had on our door has dried to a brittle crisp needle losing mess within days of getting it - it gets too hot between our front door and the outside glass door so this year I decided to make a felt wreath that we can use for years to come.

This is an extremely easy craft but it is not for the faint of heart. It takes a bit of time to make it so-- sit down with the pot of tea or bottle of wine and binge watch Stranger Things for an evening to make this incredibly easy felt wreath.

Materials
White felt sheets or 1/2 yard of felt
12" Wreath box frame
Felt balls or pom-poms* Thread & needle

Optional: Rotary cutter

You can buy half yard of premium white felt on the bolt or just use sheets...it’s less expensive to buy the bolt felt.

I tried a lot of different ways to cut  felt ribbons. I even tried to make a ball of ribbon by cutting in a fancy one strip.

At the end of the day, I found that cutting strips with scissors or a rotary cutter is the easiest way to get what I needed for this project.

Just sit down and cut a lot of .5" wide strips.
 

You can cut long strips and then make them shorter or if you’re using felt sheets -just cut them into 9” strips (the width of the sheet).

Fold the strip in half.

Loop it around the wire on the wreath form and then thread the ends back through the loop to connect it to the wire.
 

Give it a GENTLE pull.

That’s it! Just do it over and over and over.

You could add pom-poms or wool balls*- I attached mine with white thread but glue would work too.

Add a red felt bow and you’re done!

*I bought this felt pom-pom necklace from the Paper Source a couple years ago and it was SO itchy—I never wore it. I set it aside thinking I’d do a craft with it someday. I couldn’t find it anywhere when I went to make this wreath. Luckily I found some felt pom-poms at Michael’s.

Turkey Candle Votives with Washi Tape Feathers

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

I've always wanted to make washi tape feathers and this project is the perfect use for them. I have too much washi tape; someday I will show you my collection and how I store it (not on an embroidery hoop anymore).
 
Materials:
Velum (ours is gold from Michaels)
Washsi tape
Floral stems
Googly eyes
Felt – orange and red
Small glue dots OR double sided tape
Pompoms- 1” to 1.5’
Small glasses (we used our juice glasses from IKEA)
Battery operated tea lights

Optional: Parchment paper

I want to start by giving you this tip again:

Don't peel the glue dots off the paper! Touch the glue dot to the item you want to glue to and peel the base paper away.

Alternatively, you can tear a piece off (with a glue dot) from the paper roll that the dots are stuck on and use it to press the dot to the thing you want to adhere. It will peel away from the paper backing.




BUT- double sided tape works just as well (or perhaps better).
The glue dots work very well to attach the eyes, beak and snood.

Wrap a piece of scrap paper around the glass and trim it to size to make a template.

Cut as many vellum covers as you will need.

Secure the vellum on the glasses with clear tape.
 

Make the washi tape feathers using 32 gauge stem wire.

There are lots of ways to make washi tape feathers.

I suggest you make as many as you can, as quickly as possible, if you're making a lot of turkey votives.

 
Here's how I made these:

Cut the floral wires in half.

Double up the washi tape widths, as most rolls are too thin to make the feathers.

You can use the parchment paper to lay  the tape strips next to each and cut them into 4" sections.

Sandwich the floral stem between the two sticky sides.

Cut angled slits with scissors (or if you have the Martha Stewart fringe scissors --this is about the only opportunity you'll ever have to use them). 

Then cut the stems off (you don't need them).

Use glue dots or double sided tape to stick each feather to the back of the covered glass. Attach about five feathers per votive.
Curve them to look pretty.

Add two small eyes, an orange felt triangle beak and a red snood--all attached with glue dots to make the turkey head.

Then add the head to the front of the votive with glue dots.
Be enthusiastic sticking the head on so it doesn't droop.

You could use wax tea lights as nothing comes in contact with the flame but if this is for the children's table, I would definitely use battery operated tea lights.