Easy Felt Birds

Felt birds

These easy felt birds are perfect for spring! You can make them in bright colors and use them in a garland or in a child’s room. 

They are so easy to make and you can practice your embroidery skills with small designs on them. But that is completely optional! 

I actually cut out the shape from the felt without a guide, but I recommend using a template. 

If you have a Cricut, it makes your life easier by cutting out the shape for you. I’ve heard it is a really useful gadget if you are into DIYs. 

Anyway, I am all about using what you have, so you do not need any fancy gadgets to make these cute little birds!

Felt bird

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE THESE FELT BIRDS? 

Felt birds supplies

Felt sheets 

Scissors 

Stuffing or cotton

Sewing needle 

Embroidery thread 

Cardboard ( if you are making a template) 

(Disclaimer: These are affiliate links, which means if you buy any of these recommended products, I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you. Please know that I only recommend products that I know to be of great quality. Thank you so much for your support!

HOW DO YOU MAKE THESE FELT BIRDS? 

Felt birdsCut out 2 bird shapes from each piece of felt. I found a free template here if you are interested. Or if you are good at drawing, you could just draw the bird shape on the felt!

The number of bird shapes will depend on how many birds you are making.  If you making a garland I think you need at least 8 birds, hence you will need 16 shapes. ( 2 of each color)

On one bird shape, using embroidery thread and needle, stitch an eye. If you like you can embroider some flowers or anything you like.  ( I am still working on my embroidery skills, so mine are not perfect!)

Next, start stitching the 2 bird shapes together using a blanket stitch or running stitch. If you need help with these stitches, the website The Sprucecrafts has very good tutorials. Click here to visit.

Add the beak ( a triangular piece of felt) in between the 2 bird shapes and stitch over it connecting it to the main body of the bird. 

Just before you finish, Stuff the bird with some polyfill or cotton. Do not overstuff. Continue stitching and you are done!

NOTES:

If you are making a garland, make the others and string them on a piece of jute twine ( yarn/string/ribbon are other options) using a yarn needle.

You can even hand the birds vertically for a nice wall hanging. Here is a picture I found on Pinterest.

You can use safety eyes instead of stitching the eyes if you prefer.

These little birds can even be used as a little pretend play toy for kids. 

For the green bird pictured above, I did stitch all around the beak, but that is not necessary. I learned from trial and error!

If you are interested in embroidery, please take a look at my post – Small Embroidery Projects.

Felt birds

I love working with felt as a medium as it is so easy to create! With the beautiful colors that you get, it is easy to make anything you want using felt. I will be posting some more fun felt projects soon! Stay tuned and please visit again!

Hope you liked reading about making these felt birds. If you do try them out, please share a picture with me on Instagram @lovetostayhomeblog or leave me a comment below. 

Felt bird

Do check out my other felt projects: 

Easiest felt flower tutorial

DIY Paper Boxes and Felt Baskets for Organizing!

DIY Felt Christmas Ornaments

Fall Felt Leaf Garland

Easy DIY Felt Pumpkins

Felt Christmas Tree Garland

Lovetostayhomeblog is on PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, and FACEBOOK, do follow me to know when I have a new post on my blog.

Thank you for being here and supporting my blog! I appreciate you!

Photo by Bryce Koch on Unsplash

 

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5 DIY Jute Home Decor Ideas

Here are 5 DIY Jute Home Decor Ideas that you can make with jute string.

Jute string is a natural material and can be used in many ways, the most common way of using jute string is probably to tie up packages. But you can use it in many more ways than just that, as you can see below.

It is always better to reuse something than to just throw it away. Especially in today’s world where there is so much plastic, making something out of natural material is always better for the environment and it looks so much better in my opinion.

5 DIY Jute home decor ideas

5 DIY JUTE HOME DECOR IDEAS:

MINI JUTE BASKETS:

Mini jute string basket

These little baskets are perfect for holding your earrings or anything small. They are very easy to make and only need two things, jute string, and glue! 

All you have to do is use hot glue and wrap the string in a spiral around itself. When you have a circle big enough for a basket, wrap the jute string on top of itself in a circular motion so you get the sides of the basket. Wrap it as much as you want the height of the basket to be.

When done just finish off with a dab of glue.

Mini jute string basket

JUTE PENCIL HOLDER

Jute string pencil holder

This pencil holder is a tin can covered with jute string. There are many ways to make it your own, use paint, beads, markers, ribbon., etc to design your pencil holder. 

Wrap the tin can with jute string from top to bottom using hot glue or regular glue. Then decorate however you please!

Use it on your desk for your pens and pencils. It can be used for faux flowers, makeup brushes., etc.

Jute string pencil holder
I used a crocheted flower and a thumbtack in the middle to decorate this pencil holder.

 

FARMHOUSE WOODEN BEAD GARLANDS:

Farmhouse bead garlands

I have already posted about this wooden bead garland before. To read all about it and how to make it, click here. 

It makes a great piece of decor in any room of your house. 

JUTE-COVERED DECOR BALLS:

Jute covered decor balls

My daughter at one point was obsessed with LOL dolls, but now she cannot believe that she actually liked playing with them! 😂 

Anyway, the dolls come in these pink plastic balls. So I decided instead of throwing them out, I could recycle them. I covered them with jute string and voilà home decor accents to use in your vases! 

All you have to do is wrap the balls using the jute string. I used a hot glue gun.

Here also you can add ribbon, sequins, paint., etc to decorate them.

JUTE COASTERS:

Jute coasters

Coasters are just so useful and can be made out of pretty much anything! These jute coasters have that farmhouse feel and are easy to make. 

I used a felt circle as a base to make it more sturdy. You can also use a corkboard to make it even better.

After that wrap the jute string around itself in a circular motion using hot glue, keep wrapping until you get the size you need. Cut the string and glue it.

Jute coasters
I painted a green triangle on the coaster using acrylic paint.

I came across this idea of wrapping the jute string with thread in sections, this makes a cool coaster too, do check it out on HGTV.com

Hope you liked reading about these 5 ideas to use up any jute string you have lying around! 

(Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in my post, which means if you buy any of these recommended products, I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you. Please know that I only recommend products that I know to be of great quality. Thank you so much for your support!)

Let me know if you try any, leave me a comment or share a picture with me on Instagram or Facebook @lovetostayhomeblog

My blog is on PINTEREST TOO! Do follow me so you can save my posts to your Pinterest boards.

If you like DIYs, please check out my other easy DIY Projects:

DIY Faux Ceramic Vases

DIY Paper Boxes and Felt Baskets for Organizing!

Easiest felt flower tutorial

Small Embroidery Projects

DIY Beautiful Envelopes

DIY Tassel Earrings

Hand-Stitched Scrunchies

DIY Paper Bunny Garland

Thank you for being here! Have a wonderful day! 

Photo by Vlada Karpovich from Pexels

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Simple Macrame Feathers

Simple macrame feather

Simple Macrame Feathers are one of the easiest Macrame beginner projects. So, if you are interested in learning macrame these simple feathers are the best way to start. You just need to tie very basic knots.  These feathers can be made very quickly as compared to other macrame projects.

You can make these Macrame feathers small or big, you can use different color combinations too. The uses of these feathers are endless! You can use them in a wall hanging, in a keychain, tied on a lamp, on a jar, like a charm, you can even use it as a gift topper! Really it’s just up to your own imagination! 

I have also seen huge feathers used as wall hangings, and they are quite simple but stunning!

Simple Macrame feathers

What supplies do you need for these Simple Macrame Feathers? 

supplies for making macrame feathers

Cotton cord – 3mm, 4mm, or 5 mm ( actually any thickness is fine, your end product will just vary according to the thickness of the cord) My recycled cord is from Ganxxet.

Scissors – The scissors and brush I use are from MissKnottieMacrame

Measuring tape

Brush

(Disclaimer: These are affiliate links, which means if you buy any of these recommended products, I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you. Please know that I only recommend products that I know to be of great quality. Thank you so much for your support!)

How do you make these Simple Macrame feathers?Macrame feather

Decide how big or how small you want your feather. 

Depending on the size cut one length of cord for the middle of the feather onto which we will be tying the rest of the cords. 

I will be making a feather that is 5 inches in length.

Cut a 10-inch length of cord for the center.

Next, cut 10 equal lengths of cord each measuring 5 inches. 

Once your cords are cut, fold the center cord in half and place it on a flat surface. Put some tape on top for the loop with which we can hang the feather. Start trying the knots on either side of this cord.  

This is the same method used as the macrame feather earrings that I posted earlier, please check out that post for step-by-step pictures. 

Tie all the cords on the center cord. Brush out the cords and trim them to the shape of a feather. 

Macrame Feather

Simple macrame feather

Notes: 

The size of your cord will make your feather more or less fluffy, so obviously a thicker cord will make a fluffier feather.

You can use a felt backing for your feather if using it in a wall hanging, as this makes it hold its shape well.

Using spray starch, glue mixed with water or Modge-podge will help to stiffen the feather and make it easier to trim. If using glue or Mogde-podge brush it on with a thick paintbrush or foam brush. Once it is dry you can trim it.

If you are using spray starch, spray it onto the feather, brush it out, and cut out the feather shape. Next, let it dry.

Please note: I have not used any starch or glue in the feathers that are pictured here.

To get a perfectly shaped feather, use a template cut out of thick cardboard.

It does take a lot of trimming to get the perfect shape of a feather. So, enjoy the process!!

Macrame feather keychain
Macrame feather keychains

Thanks for reading. If you happen to make these feathers, share a picture with me on Instagram and tag me @lovetostayhomeblog, so I can see your creations!

Do check out my other easy macrame projects:

Macrame Feather Earrings

Macrame Tassel Earrings

Easy Macrame Coasters

Macrame Spiral Wristlets

Macrame Bookmarks

Lovetostayhome is on PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, and FACEBOOK. Please follow me on these platforms @lovetostayhomeblog to see the latest!

Thank you as always for your support! Do share my blog with your family and friends, I would be very grateful.

Have a wonderful day!

 

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Paper Christmas Trees

Paper Christmas Trees

These Paper Christmas Trees are so easy to make and all you need is paper and scissors!! 

They look so cute, and they make easy and cheap Christmas decor. I suggest making a whole lot and grouping them together like a Christmas Tree farm kind of display. But I cannot guarantee they will stay in place if you have young kids! My son loves to play with them and keeps them all over the house, he is totally fascinated by them!!

I came across this on Instagram and knew I had to try them out! But the tutorial was too fast and I just couldn’t figure it out. So I searched for a video on YouTube and found this tutorial from Handimania which was very helpful. So after about 3 tries, I managed to get the hang of making these trees! After that, I couldn’t stop and made about 10!! 

I just knew I had to share this on my blog! So here goes! Hope you like it and will try them out! It definitely is a fun project to do with your kids. 

Paper Christmas Trees

What do you need to make these Paper Christmas Trees? 

Paper Christmas trees supplies

Paper – Preferably origami paper, construction paper should work too. 

Scissors 

That’s it!

(Disclaimer: These are affiliate links, which means if you buy any of these recommended products, I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you. Please know that I only recommend products that I know to be of great quality. Thank you so much for your support!)

How do you make these Paper Christmas Trees?

Paper Christmas Trees

Your paper has to be a square. The size I used is 8 inches by 8 inches. 

There is a series of folds to make before we make the cuts. 

  • First, fold the paper in half diagonally both ways. Open up the paper so you have 2 diagonal lines. 
  • Next, fold the paper in half from top to bottom and side to side. When you open up the paper, you have 2 lines one across and one top to bottom. 
  • Turn the paper so it looks like a diamond shape. Take the 2 sides and fold them together to make the ends come together and make a smaller diamond shape. 
  • Fold both the edges to the center, to make a triangle in the center. Turn around and do the same on the back.
  • Cut off the excess paper at the bottom. 
  • Open up the flaps of the triangle and flatten them out, next fold it in half. 
  • Do this with all the flaps until you get 4 flaps on both sides. 
  • Now you have to cut 3 lines on either side. 
  • Fold the paper along the lines diagonally. Do this for all the flaps. 
  • Once that’s done, you will see your tree take shape! It’s that easy once you get the hang of it! 

Paper Christmas Trees

 

PHOTO TUTORIAL:

Do watch this video from Handimania if you cannot understand any of the instructions. 

NOTES:

Origami paper is perfect for this, but if you do not have any, you can use construction paper.

You can make them bigger or smaller by just making your square bigger or smaller.

Group these trees together for a cute display.

 

Paper Christmas Trees

Here are my other Christmas DIYs in case you are interested:

Felt Christmas Tree Garland

Easy Wooden Bead Christmas Ornaments

Snowman Wooden Bead Ornaments

DIY Felt Christmas Ornaments

Hand Stitched Paper Gift Tags

DIY Beautiful Envelopes

Let me know if you plan on making some trees! Share your creations with me on Instagram @lovetostayhomeblog

Thank you for reading!

Have a wonderful Day! 

Photo by Mathilde Langevin on Unsplash

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Macrame Feather Earrings

Macrame Feather Earrings

These Macrame Feather Earrings are very quick and easy to make. You need just a little cord to make one pair. They are trendy and look cute with any casual outfit. 

They make lovely gifts for any occasion. Just make them and slip them in one of these DIY beautiful envelopes!! Everything is handmade from the gift to the packaging! I am sure that is really something special that anyone can appreciate!

Macrame Feather Earrings

WHAT ARE THE SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR THESE MACRAME FEATHER EARRINGS?

Supplies for macrame feather earrings

Cotton cord 2mm or 3mm ( I used 3mm soft cotton cord from Ganxxet.com)

Scissors 

Brush 

Jump rings 

Earring hooks 

Pliers

(Disclaimer: These are affiliate links, which means if you buy any of these recommended products, I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you. Please know that I only recommend products that I know to be of great quality. Thank you so much for your support!)

HOW DO YOU MAKE THESE MACRAME FEATHER EARRINGS?

Macrame Feather Earrings

First, measure and cut your cord. You need 2 lengths of around 4.5inches each. 

Then, you need 8 lengths of 3.5inches. ( this is for one pair of earrings) 

To make one earring, take one of the 4.5inch cords and put it through the jump ring, and make sure the two ends are together. 

Now use 2 cords of 3.5-inch length to make the next knot. Place one cord folded in half underneath the cord attached to the jump ring. 

After that, using the other folded cord, put the loop into the two ends of the other cord, and vice versa. 

Please refer to the pictures, it can be a little hard to explain this in words! 

Pull both ends out and the two cords should form a knot on the middle cord. Pull tight. 

Do the same with 2 more cords. 

Take a brush and brush out the cords. Trim the cords with scissors in the shape of a feather.

Open the jump ring slightly, put the earring hook in and close it. That’s it! One earring is ready!

Make one more earring and your first pair of feather earrings are ready!! 

That was easy, wasn’t it?? Now make a whole lot for yourself or for your friends and family!!

NOTES:

3 mm cord is quite thick, I think 2 mm would be perfect for these. 

Trimming the fringes does take a while. My recommendation would be to have a template in the shape of a feather or leaf. Use the template to cut out the feather shape. Especially if you are making a whole lot, a template would make it much easier and consistent. 

Be careful while brushing out the fringes, if the brush catches one of the threads of the knot, it could untangle the cord and you might have to redo it.  

You could make them longer by adding more cords.

Another way of making these earrings would be to add different colored cords or shades of one color cord. That would look  pretty.

Macrame Feather Earrings

 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to make these Macrame Feather Earrings. If you try them out, please do share pictures with me on Instagram @lovetostayhomeblog, I would be thrilled to see your creations!

These earrings make great gifts for Christmas, Birthdays, or just for fun!

If you are interested in other easy Macrame projects, do check these out:

Macrame Spiral Wristlets

Macrame Bookmarks

Easy Macrame Coasters

Macrame Keychains

Thank you as always for reading and I am truly grateful for each and every one of you!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

Photo by James Healy on Unsplash

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Easy Wooden Bead Christmas Ornaments

easy Wooden bead Christmas ornaments

These wooden bead Christmas ornaments are quick and so easy to make. This is something you can do with your kids. There is honestly nothing to it! They are simple to make, cute, and totally customizable. You can add bells or small baubles to make them even more colorful.

Buying Christmas ornaments can get expensive, so why not DIY your own and save some money. Also, this can be a nice activity to do with your kids.

easy Wooden bead Christmas ornaments

WHAT SUPPLIES DO YOU NEED FOR THESE EASY WOODEN BEAD CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS?

easy Wooden bead Christmas ornaments supplies

Wooden beads

Pipe cleaners or thin jewelry wire

Scissors

That’s it!

Here are my Amazon picks for this project:

(Disclaimer: These are affiliate links, which means if you buy any of these recommended products, I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you. Please know that I only recommend products that I love and know to be of great quality. Thank you so much for your support!)

HOW DO YOU MAKE THESE EASY WOODEN BEAD CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS?

easy Wooden bead Christmas ornaments

String beads onto the pipe cleaner, as many as you want. (It depends on the size of the beads you use). For mine, I used 8 medium beads and 8 small beads.
To prevent the beads from falling out the other side, you could just make a spiral on the other side of the pipe cleaner.

Once all the beads are on the pipe cleaner, shape your ornament like a circle. Twist the two ends of the pipe cleaner together and shape the rest to make a loop to hang your ornament.

You can even play around with it and make different shapes!

That’s it!

You can make these farmhouse bead garlands with all your leftover beads to decorate your home!

easy Wooden bead Christmas ornaments

Notes:

I used red pipe cleaners but you get glitter pipe cleaners too which would be cute and sparkly!

If making other shapes, you can shape the ends differently and use string to hang up the ornament. Different shapes could be candy canes, bells, hearts, etc.

I did not realize Christmas beads were available until I saw them on Amazon! I think they would look really cute on a tree.

The wooden beads come in different sizes, so you can make any pattern. I went with a simple medium and small bead pattern.

Kids would love this activity of putting the beads on the pipe cleaners, my son enjoyed helping me with it, just make sure they are careful as the ends of the pipe cleaners can be sharp.

I do hope you will give this fun DIY a try with your kids! They will certainly love it! Do leave me a comment down below if you make them or share your creations with me on Instagram @lovetostayhomeblog. I would be really happy to see them!

Here are some more Christmas DIY’s you might like:

Felt Christmas Tree Garland

DIY Felt Christmas Ornaments

Want some ideas for DIY Christmas gifts, here are some easy DIY’s:

Most of them are Macrame and Crochet, both are really easy to learn especially Macrame. Tassel earrings are very easy to make and you do not need any special skills!

Macrame Bookmarks

Crochet Keychains & Wristlets

Easy Macrame Coasters

Macrame Keychains

Easy Crochet Hair Accessories

DIY Tassel Earrings

5 Useful Crochet Projects

10 Easy Crochet Earrings (All Free Patterns!)

Thank you for visiting my blog, it does mean so much to me. I appreciate each and every one of you!

Lovetostayhome is on PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK, please follow me to get the latest posts! Every follow and like is greatly appreciated, it helps get my blog in front of other people. Thank you again!!

Have a wonderful day!

Photo by Prophsee Journals on Unsplash

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Small Embroidery Projects

Small embroidery projects

Small Embroidery Projects are really easy to do and can be done by anyone. No experience required! It is a great hobby to have, very relaxing and stress relieving!

Being a beginner, the projects I am trying are very simple. Nothing fancy here!   I am just sharing the things that I love to do,  Hoping to inspire you to start a new hobby that you will love! I have a post on 10 fun hobbies to try, Embroidery is one of them. Do check it out.

You can embroider anything like t-shirts, jackets, pencil cases, pillowcases, towels, etc. Moreover, you can embroider on any fabric and hang it up on your wall as a decor piece. The design and colors are your choices, hence the possibilities are endless! 

There is just something about handmade projects that makes them so much more special than something mass-produced or done by a machine. So go ahead and embroider something in your home that could use a little uplift and I guarantee, you will be proud of your work and want to do more!

A great starting project to practice all the stitches is an embroidery sampler. You can find some fantastic options here. 

If you need some inspiration, you can check out these websites: 

The Spruce Crafts( My absolute favorite website!) – Embroidery

Cutesy Crafts – How to embroider for beginners

Instructables – Embroidery – 101

Craftsy – Hand embroidery stitches

A Pretty Fix – Basic embroidery stitches for beginners

I also follow some awesome embroidery artists ( I call them artists because all their work are truly pieces of art!)  on Instagram, do look at their awesome work if you get a chance. They also sell embroidery kits, patterns, and other helpful things if you are more inclined to get something ready to do!

Instagram Embroidery Artists: 

Flynn and Mabel – @flynn_and_mabel

Matryoshka Doll Shop – @matryoshkadollshop

Which Stitch Studio – @whichstitchstudio

Cup of needles – @cupof needles

Momentoell – @momentoell

If you are more of a visual person, here are some YouTube channels that are helpful:

Craftsy 

Chloe Wen

Handi Works

DIY Stitching

WHAT SUPPLIES DO YOU NEED TO GET STARTED WITH THESE SMALL EMBROIDERY PROJECTS?

Supplies for embroidery

Embroidery thread 

Needle and needle threader( optional but helpful) 

Embroidery bases like a t-shirt, towel, cotton, or linen cloth material

Embroidery Hoop ( optional but helpful!) 

These are Amazon affiliate links, if you use these links to shop on Amazon, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog.

HOW DO YOU DO THESE  SMALL EMBROIDERY PROJECTS?

Small embroidery projects

All it takes is deciding on your design and colors. 

Next, you trace/draw the design on your base. ( I used a pen to draw my design on the T-shirt, for the pencil case I used a pencil.)

Thread the needle with the color of your choice. ( you can choose to use all 6 threads, or just 2,3 or 4, for most of the projects I use 3)

Tie a knot on the opposite side of the thread so it does not come through. And begin stitching!!  

The stitches you use can be all the same or they can be different. For a list of all common stitches and how to do them, you can visit the Spruce Crafts website. (In most of my projects I used running stitch, satin stitch & lazy daisy stitch)

If you like to cover up the back of your project, all you need to do is cut a piece of cloth the same size and stitch it at the back using a whip stitch or a running stitch. 

Small embroidery projects

Do you like working with embroidery thread? 

Then take a look at these beautiful tassel earrings! (No stitching required!)They make great gifts!

Do check out my other posts of things you can make to give as gifts this upcoming holiday season.

Macrame Keychains

Hand-Stitched Scrunchies

3 Easy Crochet Potholders

Beginner Velvet Crochet Scarf

Easy Crochet Hair Accessories

10 Easy Crochet Earrings (All Free Patterns!)

Take a look at this beautiful embroidered hoop, Isn’t it great? You could do something like this! I hope to one day!

Photo by Gio Gix on Unsplash

Thank you for reading and if you try out any embroidery projects do share them with me on Instagram @lovetostayhomeblog. I’d love to see your amazing creations! 

Have a wonderful day! 

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Easy DIY Felt Pumpkins

diy easy felt pumpkins

These Easy DIY Felt Pumpkins are simple and quick to make. Use them around your home to decorate for fall and brighten up your space!

This is my 3rd post featuring pumpkins, I think I’m not going bananas but I am definitely going pumpkins! 🤣

easy diy felt pumpkins

If you would like to see my other pumpkin posts, here they are:

Thumbtack Pumpkins 

Mini Crochet Pumpkins 

Now onto these Felt Pumpkins. I had some pumpkins from the dollar store which needed a make-over.

Of course, the first place I look is Pinterest for ideas, this one really caught my eye: yarn pumpkins.  Aren’t they gorgeous?    ( Have a look at them by clicking the link) However, I didn’t have any nice colors of yarn for the pumpkins and was not about to go out to buy yarn.

Felt Pumpkins was an option as I had lots of felt. Most of the ideas out there used whole sheets of felt and others used cut-out leaves or shapes. 

So I had to think of my own idea, eventually, I came up with these Felt Pumpkins. They are really easy to do and can be made in lots of colors. 

diy felt pumpkins

WHAT SUPPLIES DO YOU NEED FOR THESE EASY DIY FELT PUMPKINS?

supplies needed for diy felt pumpkins

Foam pumpkins 

Paint, paintbrush 

Felt sheets 

Scissors 

Hot glue gun & glue sticks 

Wooden Sticks ( I just gathered these from my garden)

(Disclaimer: These are affiliate links, which means if you buy any of these recommended products, I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you. Please know that I only recommend products that I love and know to be of great quality. Thank you so much for your support!)

 

HOW DO YOU MAKE THESE EASY DIY FELT PUMPKINS?

  • First, take off all the flowers or leaves from the foam pumpkin. 
  • Next, make a little hole on the top for the stem.
  • After that paint the pumpkins the same color, I chose white but you can choose whatever color you want. 
  • Cut strips of felt less than an inch wide, with a length of about 7 to 8 inches. I ended up needing about 30 strips to cover each pumpkin. 
  • Using your hot glue gun, stick the strips of felt onto the pumpkin, overlapping them whenever necessary. 
  • When the pumpkin is fully covered with strips, add the stem. Glue a stick onto the top. ( I made a hole right through the pumpkin, as I had planned something else which didn’t work, in the end, the stick was wrapped with felt to make sure it fit in the hole) 
  • Cut a small circle, make a small hole in the center, and glue it around the stick.
  • Cut out a pumpkin leaf from green felt and a thin strip for the tendril. You can find a pumpkin leaf template here.
  • Hot glue both of them around the stem. 
  • Optional – Cut another circle and glue at the bottom to cover up any gaps. 
  • Your felt Pumpkins are ready! 

 

diy felt pumpkins

NOTES:

You can use regular glue instead of a hot glue gun. 

For the stem, use rolled-up brown felt instead of a stick. Another option is a cinnamon stick.

Roll a thin strip of felt around a pencil to get it to make that twirly shape needed for the tendril.

 

Tag me on Instagram @lovetostayhomeblog if you try out these felt pumpkins, I would love to see your creations! Also, leave me a comment below, I would love to hear from you!

You might also be interested in my other felt DIYs:

Fall Felt Leaf Garland

DIY Felt Christmas Ornaments

DIY Paper Boxes and Felt Baskets for Organizing!

Easiest felt flower tutorial

Thank you for being here. Do come back to check out my latest posts. 

Have a wonderful day! 

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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Macrame Keychains

Macrame keychains

Macrame keychains have been on my to-do list for a long time! I recently wrote about 10 fun hobbies to do at home, you can read about them here. 

One of the hobbies mentioned was macrame. Ever since then I have been researching and trying to find the best resources to learn and the best places to buy macrame cord. I want to try all things macrame, I just love how beautiful they look. 

Macrame Keychains

Macrame is very easy to do and once you learn just a handful of knots you can make numerous beautiful things. 

After all my research I have finally come across a few YouTube channels that are very helpful. 

If you are interested in learning, here is my list of recommendations:

Soulful Notions

Rox Shana

MissKnottieMacrame 

Macrame School

Gray Wonders

Thank you to these lovely ladies for sharing their talent with us!

WHAT ARE THE SUPPLIES NEEDED TO MAKE MACRAME KEYCHAINS?

Macrame cord – after a lot of research, I bought my 3mm macrame cord from Ganxxet on Etsy. Their cord is recycled cotton and I love that it is a woman-run business. The fact that their cords are eco-friendly and very high quality appealed to me. The colors are amazing. It’s just so difficult to choose! I wanted all of them! 

Scissors – you need sharp scissors because you will be cutting and trimming a lot of cords! 

My beautiful scissors are from MissKnottiemacrame.com, I bought her macrame beginners tool kit which included the scissors, brush, and 2 S hooks. 

Brush – you could use a pet- brush or comb as well. As mentioned above I bought my brush from MissKnottiemacrame. 

Keychain hardware – I got mine on Amazon. 

Macrame board or just a tabletop to tape your key ring on. 

(Disclaimer: The links are affiliate links, which means if you buy any of these recommended products, I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you. Please know that I only recommend products that I love and know to be of great quality. Thank you so much for your support!)

HOW DO YOU MAKE THESE MACRAME KEYCHAINS?

Macrame keychains

I followed the tutorial by Soulful Notions to makes these keychains. She has many tutorials for different kinds of keychains, the one I followed is the seashell pattern. Please watch her tutorial to see how it’s done. Thank you to Soulful Notions for sharing her wonderful talent with all of us! 

  • Cut 4 lengths of 3mm cords, each 30inches or 76cms.
  • Cut 1 cord 10 inches long for the gathering knot.
  • Using a reverse larks head knot attach the 4 cords to the keychain clasp.
  • Starting from the 4th cord, tie double diagonal clove hitch knots across till the 1st cord.
  • On the other side, using the 5th cord, tie diagonal clove hitch knots across till the 8th cord. 
  • Repeat the same step on both sides for 4 rows.
  • Gather the cords together and tie a gathering knot. 
  • Brush out your cords and cut them to the length you like, or leave the cords as is. 

Your keychain is ready to be attached to your keys, to a backpack, a handbag, etc.

Macrame Keychains

NOTES:

  • I used a macrame board and pinned the keychain down before tying the knots. You could just use tape to hold the top part of the keychain down on a table so it is easier to tie the knots.
  • You have to use Macrame cord or rope, it does not work with yarn. (Yes I tried! lol:)
  • To get a nice fringe, cotton cord works best.
  • To cut your fringe straight, you could use a piece of tape on the cord and cut below it. A rotary cutter works too and is quicker as well.

Macrame Keychains

Sometimes I wish there were more than 24 hours in a day!! I want to try all things macrame! For now, I plan to make plant hangers, wristlets, mini wall hangings, earrings, and rainbows! Of course, I will share my journey here on my blog.

Hope you enjoyed this Macrame Keychain inspiration. Let me know if you will be trying it out or even if you like it, I would love to hear from you! Please do leave me a comment down below.

Update: I am so happy to let you all know that these Macrame Keychains are now available in my Etsy shop! Do take a look, and please share my shop with your family and friends! Thank you so much!

If you would like some ideas to make your own handmade gifts, check these out:

Hand-Stitched Scrunchies

3 Easy Crochet Potholders

Beginner Velvet Crochet Scarf

Easy Crochet Hair Accessories

DIY Tassel Earrings

10 Easy Crochet Earrings (All Free Patterns!)

Easy Crochet Chain Earrings

 

Follow me on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, AND PINTEREST @lovetostayhomeblog to know when I post something new.

Thanks for being here, I appreciate each and every one of you!

Until next time, Keep smiling!! 🙂

Photo by Katarzyna Grabowska on Unsplash

 

 

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Hand-Stitched Scrunchies

Hand stitched scrunchies

Scrunchies are back in fashion! I can’t believe they actually went out of fashion but I’m glad they are back! 😁 There are so many people out there making scrunchies and selling them, in fact, it is a great small business idea! With all the amazing fabrics out there, it is easy to see why these are so popular nowadays!

 I decided to try making hand-sewn scrunchies and I am very happy with the way they turned out. Not everyone has a sewing machine, so I wanted to see if hand-stitching them would be easy.

I made some with a sewing machine too and some without. Of course with the machine, it does make things faster, but not to worry without a sewing machine you can make scrunchies just as nice as the ones with a machine.

Hand stitched scrunchies

VIDEO & Pattern Credit:

There are so many tutorials for scrunchies out there, after much research, I decided to go with this tutorial on YouTube by Treasurie. You can watch it here. 

WHAT SUPPLIES DO YOU NEED TO MAKE THESE HAND-STITCHED SCRUNCHIES?

Supplies needed for Hand stitched scrunchies

Fabric – cotton, satin, velvet, etc

Elastic 1/4inch 

Scissors 

Pins – to pin the fabric together 

Needle – sewing needle 

Thread – polyester thread is really strong 

Safety pin

(Disclaimer: These are affiliate links, which means if you buy any of these recommended products, I will receive a small commission from Amazon at no extra cost to you. Please know that I only recommend products that I love and know to be of great quality. Thank you so much for your support!)

HOW DO YOU MAKE THESE HAND-STITCHED SCRUNCHIES?

1. CUT YOUR FABRIC AND ELASTIC

Cut your fabric into a rectangle 22inches by 31/2 inches. The bigger the rectangle the bigger the scrunchie. If you want to make a skinny scrunchie, you cut a smaller rectangle. 

Cut your elastic 9 inches long.

Hand stitched scrunchie
Cut your fabric and elastic.

2. FOLD, STITCH & TURN RIGHT SIDE OUT

Fold your fabric in half lengthwise with the right side facing in. Use pins to keep them in place. Fold one edge 1/2 inch inside and pin. Stitch along the long side of the rectangle. 

Stitch about 1/4 inch from the edge.

After that turn your fabric right side out using a safety pin. ( I tried without a safety pin and it took way too long! Lesson learned! So please use a safety pin!). Iron the strip of fabric after stitching it.

Turn right side out using a safety pin and iron it out.

3. PUT THE ELASTIC THROUGH THE FABRIC & STITCH UP THE OPEN ENDS

Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic and push it through the fabric bunching it up as you go. Make sure that you hold on to both ends of the elastic. 

Once all the fabric is on the elastic, it’s time to secure the elastic. 

Stitch the ends of the elastic together so it is secure or tie a knot as she does in the video. Or do both just to be safe! I tied it and then cut off the extra. Move the tied end of the elastic inside the fabric.

Put the elastic through using a safety pin and tie the ends of the elastic in a knot.

Next, turn the raw edge of the fabric on to the folded one, and stitch on top. Your scrunchie is ready! 

Put the raw edge into the folded edge and whip stitch around.

 

Hand stitched scrunchie
Your scrunchie is ready!

Make lots in different patterns, colors, etc and you can have a whole collection! These make great gifts too and with Christmas coming up, you can DIY some gifts for your family and friends! 

Hand stitched scrunchies

 

If you liked this Scrunchie DIY and want some more ideas to make gifts, here are some:

Easy Crochet Hair Accessories

DIY Tassel Earrings

10 Easy Crochet Earrings (All Free Patterns!)

Easy Crochet Chain Earrings

5 Useful Crochet Projects

Let me know if you plan to make some, do share them with me on Instagram @lovetostayhomeblog, I would love to see what amazing things you are making! Leave me a comment too, I love hearing from you!

Thanks for being here! Come back soon to see my latest, I have a new post out at least 3 times a week.

Do follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram @lovetostayhomeblog. If you are already following me THANK YOU! I appreciate your love and support!

Have a wonderful day!

 

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

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