Wednesday 21 December 2011

A Heartfelt Bumpkin Christmas!

Recently in a shop I saw some needle felted decorations that costed so much I decided I could try my hand at creating some myself for far less and getting the extra pleasure of making them!  To share a little love at this time of year I thought you'd all enjoy this little christmas craft project, so have fun :)



For this Heartfelt Christmas Decoration you will need:
Polystyrene (styrofoam) Balls
Small amount of wool roving in red (or your colour choice)
Wool felting needles (be careful they are sharp)
Piece of foam to needle felt onto (stops you holding the base in case you poke the needle too hard!)
Scrap pieces of felt to cut into hearts
Red Embroidery Thread
Long Needle

♥ Wrap wool roving around the ball bit by bit and gradually using your felting needles poke the wool so it catches into the ball.



♥ Keep going until your ball is covered and the wool feels nice and secure to the ball.



♥ Cut out little hearts or your own shapes from felt and using fabric glue stick them around the centre of the ball.  I did alternating sizes of hearts, so one large, one small..



♥ If you would like to embroider using a very long needle (often called doll needles) carefully sew on little motifs to the felt (this part was very tricky and be careful you do not split the ball by coming out too close to where the needle has gone in).  If you did not want to do this you could always cut out smaller red hearts and stick into centre of white felt.



♥ To secure a hanging loop make a large knot (leaving some thread) on one end and using the long needle go up through centre of ball, leave a loop at top and then insert needle back to the base and tie off with the knotted end.

I hope you'll have fun creating these, I'd love to hear how you get on.
 Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas, Catherine & the Bumpkin Friends
x

7 comments:

sarah-jane down the lane said...

This is a lovely wooly decoration! I would expect nothing less of course! I have a felty surprise for Mr. Lane, shhhhhhh. I'll tell you afterwards!
Have a brilliant Christmas, you must have so many stockings for all those Bumpkin bears!

with love, Sarah x

Georgianna said...

These are darling, Catherine! You've been so busy this year!! I won't get to making any this year but I'm very happy to know how.

xo

Lyn said...

What a great idea and so very nicely done too:o)) Oh I know all about the sharp needles as when I've tried needle felting I think I must have stabbed myself more times than I did the wool OUCH! LOL!
Take care and have a good day.
Hugs Lyn x

Tatkis said...

Adorable Christmas decoration! Great idea!

Merry Christmas!
Hugs,
Tatyana

Sarah Medina said...

Hi Cath! What a great idea! I'm going to try doing this :) Thank you!! Have a Merry Christmas!! Big hugs, xxx Sarah

Monica said...

So lovely, Catherine! Thanks for sharing the how- to. I'm sure you had fun making these.
Have a wonderful, merry Christmas!
Hugs,
Monica xo

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

How sweet! Merry Christmas to you and your sweet family! ♥♥♥