25 crafts of christmas // elastic

Around the holidays, some may think that they best use of elastic is in the waistband of their pants. While that may be true, I thought we might make something fun with some of this stretchy supply!

The colorful fold-over elastic that you see above gets used most often these days for making those super popular hair ties...a great stocking stuffer! And that red elastic? It's the same kind I used to make this gift topper last year! But that super skinny stuff is what I grabbed to make today's project.



When we entertain, or even sometimes when it's just the family, we tend to pull out the matching coffee/hot chocolate/hot cider/tea mugs. And then we can't remember which person belongs to which mug. So I made some stretchy little charms to add charm and identification!

You will need:

Felt in a variety of colors
Skinny Elastic
Embroidery floss in a variety of colors
Scissors
Pinking shears
Needle



Cut some pieces of felt that are about 3/4 x 2-1/2 inches. If you don't want to you different colors of felt, you can use the embroidery floss as your identifier.



Fold a piece of felt in half and use a large needle to make two holes in the fold. You could also use a Crop-A-Dile to make these holes, but wiggling the needle a bit will work just as well.




Cut a piece of elastic that is about 4-1/2 inches long. Thread the ends through the holes in the felt, then tie the ends with a tight overhand knot.



Fold the felt in half (with the knot on the inside) and cut the end with pinking shears. This is optional, but it's kinda cute, right?



Use embroidery floss to stitch around the edges and hold it all closed.




To use these, simply loop them around the handles of your mugs! Just be sure to remove them before washing. They'd make it through a washing, I'm sure, but they won't stay as pretty.

And here's another idea to enhance these! If you want, you could add a little embroidery to the tab before you stitch it closed. Consider adding initials of your guests, numbers, or simple shapes like hearts, stars, etc.