Valentine felt ornament tutorial

I've been pretty busy again since last week, since I started working part-time again (thank goodness I can take the kids with me :) ,and with my school books on the way, I'm about to get busier. But don't worry, I don't plan on abandoning this blog, I just might not have time to post 5 times a week. But until then, I'm trying to enjoy my last few "quiet moments" crafting as much as I can.

So when I was asked last week if I could do a tutorial on how to make my Valentine felt decorations, I thought this was a great idea! Now, let's get to it, shall we?

1. Here is my trick for when I don't feel comfortable free handing my shape. You can draw in directly on your felt with a sharpie, but since I'm using a cookie cutter I drew it on paper then secured it to the felt before cutting.

2. You will need 2 shapes for each ornament you make.

3. Then decide on your decorations for the top. You can add smaller felt shapes, buttons, embroider details, whatever you choose. Sky is the limit!

Position where you think you will like them before attaching.

4. Start with stitching or attaching your "decorations" to the top heart. You can match your thread to the heart colour, but you can also use a different one for a pop of color. It's really up to you. The possibilities are endless. I like to use regular sewing thread and only use embroidery thread for the details, but that's a question of personal preference. Once you make a few, you will see what you like and what your comfortable using.

5. Now you are ready to attach both hearts together. I start slightly off centre from the top, so that I have enough space to end with putting the ribbon in the middle, at the very end of the stitching. You can stitch the hearts whatever way you chose, but I figured out how to do this stitch and I like this one. As you can tell, I'm no sewing pro, because I don't even know what this stitch is called, and cannot explain it. But it does not matter how you chose to do it, it will look nice either way :)

6. When you are almost up to the other side of the heart, use batting to fill up your heart. I've also used left over bits and pieces of felt from other projects to fill up my hearts before, as a way to recycle and it totally did the job.

7. Then I stitch a bit more to make the hole smaller and add a bit more filling if needed.

8. When your almost at the top centre, put in your ribbon loop and I always make sure I stitch through it twice instead of just once, to be sure it's secured and won't come out. Then secure and cut your thread.

And voila, you have Valentines felt decorations to hang around your house!

Have a happy Monday!