project // ernie & bert felt ornament

It's Christmas on Sesame Street, and Ernie and Bert are here in felt to celebrate. Specifically, they are here to go ice skating, because it's that scene that always stands out in my memories of that classic holiday special. Something about seeing your favorite muppets in a very different scale that just throws one off, but also make them pretty cool.

Last year I made this ornament for a friend of mine, and it was one of those projects that I worked on without taking step-by-step photos. You know...because I was just making it. And sometimes I don't share these kinds of things on my blog as a result of not having the images. BUT, in the event that you're a Sesame Street kid like me (and my friend!), I'm sharing the pattern.




The instructions are essentially the same as for my Gonzo and Rizzo ornament and my Emmet Otter ornament. You may even notice that this is a bit of a series of felt Muppet ornaments. I'm working on another one right now, but it will be gifted this year and shared as a pattern next year. So I can't tell you who will be on the new one!



You will need:

Felt (I highly recommend 100% wool for this)
Matching Embroidery Floss, Plus Black
Freezer Paper and Pencil
Iron and Ironing Mat
Scissors
Scallop Shears (these are the 3mm size)
Glue
Needle

DOWNLOAD THE ERNIE AND BERT ORNAMENT PATTERN PDF

You can see the order that I layered the pieces above. Use that as your guide, but be sure to look at the previous Muppet ornaments for the general steps.



For Ernie, the eyes are embroidered with French knots and the stripes on his shirt are chain stitch for a nice, bold line.



Bert gets French knot eyes and a singular chain stitch eyebrow. His mouth and stripes are back stitch. And for all of the embroidery, I used three strands.



These two are quite the pair, and they would look so great hanging on your tree!

And as I make this year's ornament, I'll make sure I actually take the step-by-step photos. Ha!

project // duffy and shellymay felt ornaments

I have recently come to love Duffy the Disney Bear and all of his friends, which is why I decided that I NEEDED to make some Duffy and ShellyMay felt ornaments. And of course, I wanted to share the free pattern with you!

If you aren't familiar with Duffy, you can read a little about him on the Disney Imagineering site, but there's LOTS to know and learn from other places too. I first met Duffy when he showed up at EPCOT in the very early days. I remember that they had his face on the craft you could do at the Kidcot spots in World Showcase. I'm pretty sure there was a meet and greet too.

Well listen. I was early teen. Additionally, my parents were teddy bear collectors and I grew up helping in the teddy bear shop they owned. I was just not into this bear.

Fast forward to now, when I get very excited about kawaii cute things and when Disney has added to the lineup of Duffy's friends, and I'm here for it! I'm not a super fan, but I think these characters are so adorable.

On my most recent trip to Disneyland, I started working on stitching these felt faces.



These go together like my circular felt ornaments. In the pattern below, there are templates for the circles, but I cut mine using the Circles and Scallops deep-etch die (affiliate link) I designed with Benzie Design.




I did some of my stitching at my favorite wall at Disney California Adventure, and even found a bear mug in the wall. I'm fairly confident it was designed by Lucy Rigg, because, see previous note about growing up in a teddy bear shop. If you can ever find your way to this wall (well, two walls, technically), I highly recommend it.



When I initially stitched ShellyMay, I made her eyes with chunky French knots. This was partially to see how they looked this way, and partially so she didn't look all creepy without eyes. My real plan was three-dimensional eyes that would be like the safety eyes found on stuffed animals.



See how cute and shiny they are? I used these flatback cabochons, which you glue in place.

DOWNLOAD THE DUFFY AND SHELLYMAY FELT ORNAMENT PATTERNS

Now, Duffy and ShellyMay were both at Disneyland while I was there, but sadly, I didn't see them. It's okay. Maybe next time. Or maybe I just need to bring my ornaments to Tokyo DisneySea, where they are WILDLY popular and I'd certainly see them.

Now that I've made these two characters, I plan on making others. Are you a fan of Duffy and Friends? Who's your favorite?

pattern // disney gingerbread cookies

At my house, everyone's favorite treat for the holidays, but also any day, is a Mickey Gingerbread Cookie. And I HAD to make an embroidery pattern of not just Mickey, but some of his pals. But as gingerbread.

The first time my mom had a gingerbread cookie at Walt Disney World, she was hooked. I also had a gingerbread piece from one of the resorts where they have gingerbread displays and it was just so yummy! So I found a copycat recipe and we started making them at home. Simply because we don't want to wait until a trip to the parks to enjoy them!

Along with loving the cookies themselves, we've become big fans of a game called Cookie Swap. It's a simple card game that requires a good memory and a bit of luck, and it's filled with favorite Disney characters all in the form of gingerbread cookies!

With all this love of Disney gingerbread, and with all the Disney Eats patterns I've made this year, I couldn't wait to bake up some new patterns.

You can download the pattern below, which is really four embroidery patterns: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy. You can stitch them on anything you like! I made mine into felt ornaments, so I'll show you how to do that too.

DOWNLOAD THE DISNEY GINGERBREAD EMBROIDERY PATTERN PDF



For my ornaments, I used Benzie Design's cinnamon wool blend felt. (affiliate link)

I'll share most of this as a regular tutorial, but first, let me tell you about how this started. I tested out using an iron-transfer pen on felt and my test went great! So I ironed the full pattern and the transfer was uneven and hard to see. So I sort of went over it with pencil.I can't recommend this method, but it is what I did.

I'd probably suggest pre-soaking your felt and then letting it dry, ironing it, and then use Sulky Stick n' Stitch for the pattern. Or you could use tracing paper, but that's a bit harder.

Now for more traditional instructions!



Use three strands for everything. Embroider the outline with chain stitch. Stitch the eyes with scallop stitch (and straight stitches on Minnie and Daisy!). Embroider the mouths and other details with back stitch. Embroider the solid noses, rosy cheeks, and Mickey's large buttons with satin stitch.

Use French knots for small buttons. Stitch the zig zags on the arms and legs with zig zag chain stitch.



Trim around the outside of the embroidery, leaving about 1/4" of felt showing. This makes it look more like a decorated cookie!



Apply a thin layer of craft glue on the back of the embroidered cut out.



Cut a 6-inch piece of string or embroidery thread and tie the ends together with a knot. Glue the knot at the top center of the ornament.



Press the glue side down onto matching gingerbread felt and let it dry. Be sure it's drying flat!



Cut around the cookie, holding the ornament hanger out of the way.



Now Mickey is ready to hang on your tree!

You can, of course stitch the layers of felt together instead of gluing them. But what I like about the glue is that it also gives the felt some stiffness and that's nice for a cookie like this.



Now I just need to stitch up more of the characters...and then design even more cookie patterns!

project // disney churro felt ornament

Who doesn't love a good churro? And it's even better when it comes from Disneyland! So I'm honoring this classic snack in a felt ornament.

Now, I started this by saying that churros at Disneyland. And I stand behind that. Normally when I talk about Disney snacks, I include Walt Disney World in the mix, but this is a time where the Disneyland (and Disney's California Adventure) churros are superior. So many options! So many flavors!

Here are two amazing ones I've had:




The first was peach cobbler and the second was almond cookie flavor. So good!

The only sad thing is that these flavors don't stay around for long so you won't find these at the parks right now. Maybe the almond cookie one will come back for the Lunar New Year's celebrations though!

Of course, the good part is that there are always new flavors to try. It makes me wish I lived closer and could try them all on rotation.



For the felt ornament version, I went for the orginal churro. They are just as tasty as the fancy ones!

The stitching is tiny, but those lines really make the shape stand out.



Like my other Disney snack felt ornaments, I don't have a full tutorial. Just a little overview of the process. They go together pretty much like my other felt ornaments.

The felt is wool blend from Benzie Design (affiliate link). I cut the all the circles with my Circles and Scallops die, also from them, but you can use the circle templates in the PDF with plain or decorative scissors if you'd like.

Cut out the pieces with freezer paper, and embroider the face and lines through the paper before carefully tearing it away.

The pieces are stitched down to the front circle with a tiny whip stitch and two strands of embroidery floss. If you want to add extra toppings for your churro, you could stitch those on too!

To assemble the ornament I used running stitch around the edges, then I filled in with a second round of running stitch so it looks the same on the front and back.

DOWNLOAD THE CHURRO ORNAMENT PATTERN

project // crystal ball felt ornament (with benzie deep-etch dies)

This post contains affiliate links. 

The future looks bright thanks to this adorable felt crystal ball! You might not have known that you needed a kawaii crystal ball ornament, but I'm telling you, you do. It's sparkly and cute, and we all need more of that in our lives.

I created this with deep-etch dies I designed for Benzie Design, but I'm using them in different ways. This uses two sets: first, my Circles and Scallops set, which I made to go along with the felt ornament pattern sets I make, and then a new Snow Globe Base, designed to go along with the first set and make snow globes.

Find all the deep-etch Benzie dies here.

As I was making some snow globes (scroll down to see them!), I noticed that they kind of looked a bit like a crystal ball too. And just like that, I could see into the future.



My fortune was that I got to make this super cute ornament that just makes me smile every time I look at it. Plus, I love adding sparkles and this was just a whole new way to do that.

So get your manual die cutter out, grab these dies from Benzie, and let's get stitching!



You will need:

Clear Vinyl
Wool Blend Felt (I used white and pink)
Embroidery floss
Circles and Scallops Deep-Etch Die
Snow Globe Base Deep-Etch Die
Manual Cutting Machine
Sequins and/or Themed Confetti
Iridescent Shred
Scissors
Needle

You will need to cut out one white plain circle and one vinyl scalloped circle. You also need to cut out two pink snow globe base pieces. For mine, I used the largest set of circles and the largest base, but you can also do this with the next size down for each set.

In fact, the smallest base also works with one of the smaller circles in the set, but you probably want to only use the plain circle for that.



Embroider a little face on one of the base pieces. You can use a pencil to mark the placement, but it's fine to just stitch this freehand. Here's my quick video tutorial on these faces!



Layer to felt and vinyl circles and stitch around them with running stitch. Use three strands of embroidery floss and follow the stitch markings on the vinyl piece.

Stop about two-thirds of the way around.



Add some sparkly filling to your crystal ball. Depending on what you're adding to yours, you may need to layer the filling or arrange it a bit before you close up the opening.



Finish stitching the circle and then go back opposite direction and fill in the gaps with running stitch.



Sandwich the circle between the two base pieces so it looks like the ball is resting on the base. Stitch around the base with running stitch, then go back in the opposite direction just as you did to sew around the circle.



To make the hanger, slide your threaded needle under two stitches at the top center of the crystal ball.



Tie the ends of the embroidery floss together with an overhand knot and trim the thread.



Now, let's look into the crystal ball and see what your future holds...I see...cute crafting ahead!



This crystal ball is a fun way to use the dies that I designed, but if you want to put them to work more in their intended way, head over to the Benzie blog where you'll find my tutorial for making Spooky Snow Globes! There's even a ghost pattern for you to work with, but you can make snow globes like this with almost all of my round felt ornament patterns.

There will be more of these snow globes popping up in my crafting for the foreseeable future...I know because it was in the crystal ball!

project // mickey caramel apple ornament

It's the autumn season, and that means caramel apples! But of course, this isn't just any caramel apple. This is the kind you get on a trip to Disneyland or Walt Disney World. The kind that looks like Mickey Mouse.

In fact, you can get lots of styles of caramel apples, including the Grogu/Baby Yoda version. I've watched them make those and it's so amazing!

But Mickey is a classic and I specifically remember my aunt buying several on a trip to Disney Springs. One for eating right away and a few to take home. It might be the only time I've eaten one of these!



If you've never had one of these, it's caramel apple like most. Apple on a stick and dipped in caramel. But then we get to the fun part. The ears are made of marshmallow, stuck to the caramel, and then the whole thing gets dipped in milk chocolate. To finish it off, they dip the bottom in melting chocolate, add candy buttons (or polka dots for Minnie!) and then cover the melting chocolate with colored sugar. And that sugar sparkles!



I didn't manage a photo of an actual Mickey caramel apple with my felt ornament version, but I did find a sipper from the Disney Eats line of merch! I think I captured the look quite well. And this way my ornament didn't get sticky either. Ha!

But now let's talk about how to make this. For all of these Disney snack felt ornaments, I don't have a full tutorial, but rather, a little overview of the process. They go together pretty much like my other felt ornaments.

The felt is wool blend from Benzie Design (affiliate link). I cut the all the circles with my Circles and Scallops die, also from them, but you can use the circle templates in the PDF with plain or decorative scissors if you'd like.

I cut out all the pieces with freezer paper, and embroidered the face and sugar sparkles through the paper before carefully tearing it away. And yes, those buttons are tiny, but you can absolutely cut them out. This is where the freezer paper really makes the difference.

The pieces are layered and stitched down to the front circle with a tiny whip stitch and two strands of embroidery floss.

To assemble the ornament I used running stitch around the edges, then I filled in with a second round of running stitch so it looks the same on the front and back.

DOWNLOAD THE MICKEY CARAMEL APPLE ORNAMENT PATTERN

Tell me your favorite Disney Parks snack that you'd like to see come to life in felt!

project // mickey balloon felt ornament

Get ready to unlock a memory with this new felt pattern! We're stitching Mickey Mouse balloons!

This year I've been sharing patterns for making felt ornaments that have Disney snacks and treats, and while this one isn't a snack, it could be a treat, right? Not all treats are edible!

Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of balloons in general, but there's something special about Mickey balloons. Well, I think probably any balloon at a Disney park because they just seem iconic for the happiest and most magical places on earth.



On a recent trip to Disneyland, my sister was especially enamored with the balloons and kept pausing to take photos and videos. So I also snapped a photo with my felt version!

If you notice, the Mickey balloons they have now are not traditional latex balloons. Instead, they are plastic/mylar, with the Mickey shaped part inside an outer clear balloon. AND THEY LIGHT UP!!! Even more magical!

I feel like I should get one of these for myself at some point. But do I really want to carry it around all day? Do I want to try and bring it home with me? Maybe I should stick to felt.



So now, let me tell you how to make this. For these designs, I don't have a full tutorial, but rather, a little overview of the process. They basically go together like my other felt ornaments.

First, this is wool blend felt from Benzie Design (affiliate link). I cut the circles with my Circles and Scallops die, also from them, but you can use the circle templates in the PDF with plain or decorative scissors if you'd like. Or add the balloon to another project entirely!

I cut the pieces with freezer paper, and I embroidered the face through the paper before carefully tearing it away.

The pieces are layered and stitched down to the front circle with a tiny whip stitch and two strands of embroidery floss. The knot of the balloon is tiny, but you can get it stitched there!

Next, I embroidered the string. For this, I used tracing paper for the pattern and stitched through it, then tore it away.

To assemble the ornament I used running stitch around the edges, then I filled in with a second round of running stitch so it looks the same on the front and back.

DOWNLOAD THE MICKEY BALLOON ORNAMENT PATTERN

More snacks and cute Disney patterns to come! I'm working on them even now!

project // felt ornaments with my benzie deep-etch dies

I wanted to do some Christmas in July projects, and it wouldn't be complete without felt ornaments, right? I make a lot of this kind of thing and I'm not stopping any time soon. The ornaments I'm sharing today use some of the deep-etch dies that I designed with Benzie, plus the Cozy Quilt Blocks pattern I have in my shop.

One of the things I love about the dies that I've made with Benzie, but also with their others, is that you can use them in lots of ways. I started with ornaments in mind, then have made felt food, a frame, a needlebook and pincushion, and more. But today I'm coming back to ornaments, but combining elements in different ways. And that's what you can do too!



I made two kawaii quilty ornaments, and two that are much simpler, with a tiny bit of sparkle. Each version has an ornament cut with the Squares and Scallops die (affiliate link) and the Hexagons and Scallops die (affiliate link).

If you want to make the quilty ones (and plenty of other blocks too), grab my Cozy Quilt Blocks pattern. All of the square blocks will fit on the square ornament I'm showing today, and the hexagon/diamond blocks will fit on the hexagon ornament.



The deep-etch dies work with a manual cutting machine. I use a Sizzix Big Shot, but any that use wafer-thin dies will work. I didn't think I needed one, but I make so many things with this now!

In addition to the dies and die cutter, you will need:

Wool Blend Felt
Embroidery Floss
Freezer Paper and Iron (for quilt ornaments)
Sequins (for simple shape ornaments)
Scissors
Craft Glue
Stuffing (for simple shape ornaments)



We're going to start with the quilty ornaments.

Cut out a front and back piece with the two largest hexagon dies. On freezer paper, trace six diamond shapes from the Cozy Quilt Block pattern (remember you can use other designs too). Iron the freezer paper to your felt.



For the square version, cut a front and back piece using the smaller set of square dies that have the stitch markings. Trace the pattern pieces you want for the quilt block onto freezer paper and iron that onto your felt.



Cut out all the quilt block pieces and peel off the paper.



Arrange the quilt pieces on the front ornament piece and use a tiny dot of glue to hold each piece in place. It's much easier to stitch them down if you do this.



Use two strands of matching embroidery floss to stitch the edges of the felt. Come up between the pieces or around the edge and go down through the felt piece you're attaching. Keep your stitches tiny and evenly spaced!



Embroider the face with three strands of black embroidery floss. I just freehanded mine, but the Cozy Quilt Blocks pattern has tips for this.



Stitch the front and back of the ornament together with running stitch, using the tiny holes as a guide. I usually use three strands of embroidery floss for this.



To add a hanger, anchor a length of embroidery floss with a knot hidden between the front and back layers of felt. Make a loop that's as long as you like, then anchor it at the other side. This creates a wider hanging loop.




And there you have two quilty ornaments! My pattern has these on circles, which I also like, but I think they look so cute on different shapes too. It's a fun way to mix it up.



Now let's make some simple shape ornaments. These are inspired by vintage geometric designs.

For the square, which is actually going to be a diamond here, use the smaller set of square dies that have the stitch markings, then all the rest of the smaller scalloped squares. Cut them out in alternating colors.



For the hexagon, which I'm calling a geometric rose, use the largest hexagon scallop die, and all the rest of the plain hexagons. Cut the scallop piece from green and the rest from whatever color you want for your rose.



I also grabbed some sequins for this because to me, vintage felt ornaments always have some sparkle.



Stack up all the scalloped squares. Thread a needle with three strands of coordinating embroidery floss and come up through the center. Thread a sequin on the thread and make a french knot through the middle. Don't pull the knot too tight or it will pull through.

The traditional way of attaching sequins is with a seed bead in the center, and you can certainly do that if you'd prefer.



Stack up the plain hexagons, rotating each one a little bit. Stitch a sequin through the center, then add more sequins around the open spaces.



Layer the front and back of the simple shapes ornaments and stitch around the edges with three strands and running stitch. Leave a gap to add a tiny bit of stuffing. This shows off the loose edges of felt and makes them more dimensional, but the stuffing is optional. Sew the opening closed.




Add a hanger at the corner of each and they are ready to display!






Which ornament will you be making?

Yes, it's a little early, but this is a great time to get a start on Christmas crafting. Plus, you can enjoy this sort of decoration any time of the year. I especially love hanging a single ornament on the wall near other framed art or embroidery. It's a perfect little accent!