Friday, December 22, 2017

Art Elements Ornament Blog Hop!


This is my second ornament blog hop of the month... I participated in on hosted by the Art Bead Scene blog earlier in the month and you can see all the entries HERE.  Now with the Art Elements challenge, I'm continuing with variations on a theme from what I made for the ABS hop and sharing more of my adventures in needle felting and bead embroidering Christmas Ornaments!

This year I decided to try my hand at making some needle felted Christmas ornaments.  I got inspired last year when I saw a blog post by my friend Diana Ptaszynski over on the Art Elements blog.  (You can see her tutorial HERE.)  I was intrigued by the idea and already had some wool roving that I had bought to felt some beads and focals...  now I just needed to collect some cookie cutters and better needles.  I gathered my supplies this fall and got busy once everything had arrived!

Here are a couple of process pictures... 

Me getting all stabby on a Christmas tree.

Some shapes felted but not embellished.

I did a little more bead embroidery on this second batch of ornaments than on the first round.  (You can see my first three attempts HERE if you missed them.)  I think my favorite might be the star!  I lucked out when I went to buy sequins that Michael's had a great multi pack of different colors and sizes as well as a package of little gold stars.  Initially I had thought that I would just needle felt the white stripes onto the candy cane, but I was worried that I wouldn't be able to achieve consistent, straight lines that way.  I decided to do sequin and seed bead stripes instead which adds more sparkle to the mix for sure!  



The only one that I'm not totally thrilled with is my little gingerbread man.  The brown that I was able to find makes him look a bit burnt and I think his expression is sort of demented.  Part of the problem is that the way I did his smile makes it look like a really toothy grin... Maybe I should have tried needle felting a little bit of white to make his eyes and smile.  Thoughts?  Suggestions? 


Thanks for stopping by to check out my second round of needle felted ornaments.  I got a big ol' tub of fun cookie cutters and I hope to make more of these guys in the future... maybe in time for next Christmas!!    This is a blog hop... you can see what everyone else created by using the links below.  

Guest Designers


Art Elements Team


Wishing you all a very happy holiday season!  May it bring you peace and joy!  It will be quiet around here for a bit as I celebrate Christmas with family and friends over the long weekend.  I hope to sneak in some creative time to make new jewelry to share with you before the year is over.



15 comments:

  1. More felted ornaments YAY! I do love how you've embellished these. The candy cane is pretty sweet (no pun intended), but yeah, that star is fab! As for the gingerbread man, I would never have noticed his "flaws" if you hadn't pointed them out. I like him, but he does need a little something extra, though I can't put my finger on what that might be. I can't wait to see what comes out of that tub of cookie cutter, even if I have to wait until next year. Have fun!

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  2. Sarajo, they are awesome! The star is great, but love the holly leaf and the gingerbread man is so cute! Happy Holidays!

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  3. Great felted ornaments! I really have to try this. They are all adorable but the gingerbread man is my favorite!

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  4. Your ornament really make me smile... I love the bright colours and fun shapes - I could see a whole tree full of those. Thank you for taking part in our challenge and happy holidays.

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  5. Hi Sarajo, just to let you know, the first comment from Caroline was actually from Lesley, our accounts have got mixed up somehow. This one is from the real me! Your ornaments look fabulous, and I like your gingerbread man, he looks full of character!

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  6. I love holly leaves especially at Christmas so your holly leaf would be my favorite of course. They are all cute. I find felting difficult so I am impressed with your work.

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  7. Love the gingerbread man :D what a brilliant idea :D

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  8. Your ornaments are all cute and Using a cookie cutter to felt is genius.

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  9. I love the holly leaf so much! Those little sequined berries are perfect.
    Great job!

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  10. WoW! I love the ornaments. The gingerbread man is my fav too. But first that beautiful star caught my eye. What a great was to felt. Have a wonderful Christmas!

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  11. Adorable ornaments. I especially like the beaded sequin details. The gingerbread man's expression is a tad mischievous. I like it. ;)

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  12. Great ornaments. I always like sparkly things, so I think the sequins add such a nice touch to them. Really like the holly one.

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  13. These are so pretty and winter-y! The additional sparkle is a must for Christmas :) It's been a couple of years since I haven't felted... anything and this post of yours just reminded me how I enjoyed it once!

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  14. Supercute Sarajo, and I love the sparkle from the sequins! Must try needle felting one of these days ..

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