DIY Christmas Ornaments – a Craft with Bright Pink Plaid Flannel

Each month the Intl bloggers join together to write a post based on a particular topic.  This month’s topic is glorious warm and soft flannel.   This Canadian has a stereotypical love for flannel, its very soft, cuddly and warm.  So nice for Winter and of course Christmas.  I am quite curious to see what my other blogging friends from around the globe create with flannel, I made some pink plaid DIY Christmas ornaments to add to a small Christmas tree in the girl’s bedroom.  You will find the other bloggers posts at the end of mine.

The first step is to find the perfect flannel, it took some looking and the discovery of an updated fabric store but I found the exact bright pink plaid flannel.  The pink plaid flannel is exactly what I wanted to add some soft girly goodness to my granddaughters Christmas bedroom.  If your one of the majority who isn’t into bright pink anything, any pretty flannel you like works.

These DIY Christmas ornaments took about 1/4 metre (yard) of flannel to out of the stash I bought to use in their bedroom this year.  One of the many benefits of making your own Christmas ornaments is that its often faster and cheaper to create a cohesive  look in a small space like a bedroom.  Matching the flannel in these ornaments with a couple wrapped cushions or a lined wood tray is striking.  I plan on sharing a couple of other easy Christmas crafts for their room before the holidays.

Supplies for the Pink Plaid Farmhouse Christmas Ornaments

Precut wood Christmas ornament forms ( Michael’s 50% coupon they cost $1.50 each.)

Spray on adhesive, and a garbage bag.

Your choice of flannel.

Graph paper, pencil and scissors

Black cord and hot glue (optional)

To make this Christmas craft I started with wood ornament cutouts already finished in white. You can use any wood form shape you like, stars or mittens would be really cute as well.  These prefinished ones meant no painting, and no cleanup from painting.  I got mine at Michael’s with a coupon for $1.50 each, but closer to Christmas I expect I could find something similar at the dollar store.

Making a Pattern for the DIY Christmas Ornaments

The next step is to create a pattern.   The same process works for any ornament shape you use. Place the wood ornament form onto graph paper and draw an outline.

Then draw a slightly smaller version of the outline using the graph paper as a guide.  This will become the pattern for your fabric.

To make both sides of the ornament identical start by folding the fabric. As the pattern in the plaid is very straight, I began by lining up the straight lines in the fabric.  Securing the fabric first with pins and then placing the pattern.

Cut out the pattern and place it on the wood form, make adjustments to the pattern if needed.  My first pattern was too narrow for the upper portion. the second one a bit wide.

 

I was glad I checked before cutting several.  I suggest cutting each one individually, testing it to see if it fits on the wood form. Make adjustments if needed, snip off any little bits you don’t like, just make sure to fold your flannel cutout in half before trimming anything so that the flannel is symmetrical on both sides.  Iron the flannel pieces.

Attaching the Flannel to the Wood Ornament Form

Because flannel is so soft I don’t recommend mod podging it to the wood form, as the flannel will loose that soft flannel texture.  Instead attach it to the wood form using spray on adhesive and protect your work surface with a garbage bag to save on cleanup.

Place each piece of flannel face down before spraying it and then fold over the garbage bag to get a clean glue free surface.

Place the flannel on the form and let dry for about hour.  Repeat with the other ornaments. If you like the ornaments as they are you can leave them clean and simple.

Adding the Outer Cord and Embellishments

As these are for the little one’s bedroom I added some X and O’s on the fronts.  Nothing fancy I just drew them on using a white paint pen.  To add contrast I added black cording to the outside edge

These DIY Christmas ornaments are made with black cord, because the plaid was pink and grey, other colours of flannel would look great with plain twine cord.  The black cording just made the pink plaid pop the way I wanted it to.

Start at the bottom back of the wood ornament form, attach the black cord using hot glue.   Make a thin line of hot glue around the outside edge attaching the cord as you work along.

When you get to the end fit the end of the corn against the edge of the black cording, I did not fit the two cut ends together, but left one end on the back of the ornament.

 

Finally as the cords on the ornaments were plain twine, I replace them with black twine.  I don’t think its important enough to purchase black twine for this purpose, but as I had some left over cord in my stash I glued on new black loops.

 

This is the first ornaments I made for the tiny tree in the girl’s bedroom.  The tree isn’t decorated yet,  but I did buy some coordinating softer pink flannel thats on the bottom of the photo.  I will be using it in other Christmas crafts.

The International Bloggers Blog Hop on Flannel

Here are my friend’s posts on flannel.  You can certainly see how creative all my Intl blogging friends are, but how versatile and unique flannel can be.  Its such a great medium to work with.  Grab a coffee, I sure am going to while I spend some time seeing what they made.

Be Cozy Flannel Printable| from Katrin at Northern Feeling

Flip Flop Flannel Elf Slippers| from Michelle at A Crafty Mix

Flannel DIY Christmas Ornaments| from Leanna That’s me.

How to Make a Dog Bandanna| from Anita at Unique Creations by Anita

Giant Christmas Bauble using Flannel  | from Sam at Raggedy Bits

 Santa’s Post Delivery Survival Box| from Marie at The Interior Frugalista