Things I Love Thursdays: Felt Projects

Many of you are my Facebook friends, which means many of you know all about my little crafting hobby, mainly involving cheap ol' felt, the kind you find at Michael's for a dollar a sheet. It all started when I was on complete bed rest from weeks 32-36 of my pregnancy, with nothing whatsoever to keep me busy besides a lot of bad day-time television (I'd just finished my last novel and was waiting for my readers, and my thirty-hour-a-week job only took up about five). I'd been looking for a mobile for Jack's room, but the only ones I liked cost about $75 on Etsy. So, I decided to make one of my own. Fortunately, I had a bunch of felt leftover from my onesie-making baby shower.

The mobile that started it all...

 After that, I still had about three weeks to kill, so I started making little ornaments.

Jack's original Jack A. Lope ornament

Marley, John's cousin's dog

Minky, Sarah's dog (bearded dogs appear to be a theme...)

A random squirrel for Sarah

Then I started beading things...

Ring pillow for Shauna

And then I moved on to Kindle cases.

Then there were my matryoshka keychains...

And finally, this week, simple gift card covers that many of you seemed to like. Since they are the easiest thing ever to make, I wanted to share them with you, so you can make your own!

Starbucks' gift card holders for Jack's teachers

All you need are a few pieces of craft felt, some embroidery floss, and anything you want to decorate with (in this case, some old sequins I have from who-knows-where). The secret to most of these crafts is the blanket stitch used on the seams. I learned how to do it from Alice Merlino, aka futuregirl. This post shows you how to do the blanket stitch so clearly that there's no point in me trying to reinvent the wheel. It just takes practice and a steady hand (I seem to have a bizarrely keen eye for spacing the stitching; awesome hidden talent, I know). Even if you don't cut your felt particularly neatly, this stitch will clean up your edges beautifully. Embroidery floss is really cheap and comes in tons of great colors. I love working with it. I glued the sequins on with fabric glue and voila! Simple, fun to make, and definitely jazzes up the presentation of a boring gift card. You could even make yourself a credit card holder this way.

If anyone has any requests, now's the time! Although I suppose I'll have LOTS of crafting time in Russia... Enjoy!