Ornaments

So this year I'm focusing more on needle-felted ornaments, rather than stitched ones. I still think stitched ornaments are probably the prettiest kind (I would love to someday have a Christmas tree decorated with nothing but hand-embroidered ornaments; wouldn't that be gorgeous?), but they are awfully time-consuming, and as usual I find myself racing against the clock as Christmas approaches.

I put a few felted ornaments up in my Etsy shop and have been encouraged by the response, so I'm going to make some more over the next couple of days. If I find time, I also want to write up a quick tutorial on making simple felt ball ornaments. They're so quick and easy to make that they're a fantastic last-minute gift idea for crafty folks.

Anyway, here are a couple of the ornaments I've made so far:

SNOWMAN ORNAMENT



PURPLE BALL ORNAMENT WITH STARS (this one sold almost as soon as I put it in my shop!:


MUSHROOM BALL ORNAMENT (this one is probably my favorite; I think mushrooms are so cute...):

Another polar bear!

Finally found time to get back to needle felting, which I've been missing. I found some really nifty tutorials on making felted soaps - here's the one I think is most helpful - so I've tried my hand at that, but I don't have any photos yet because I apparently don't have the hang of it yet (I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to have a big wad of wool hanging off one end, sigh).

I'm also working on some Christmas ornaments, but the first order of business was to make a new polar bear, since they always do well in my Etsy shop. So here he is! He's only two inches high. Awww...



He's up for sale here.