Woven Heart Ornaments for the Holidays

Here we are on Day 4 of the September Countdown for Papertrey Ink and I'm just starting to get warmed up. :) To give you a little taste of what is to come, I'm showing you one of my new dies today. Woven Heart Die is a classic craft (also known as a Danish heart)  made easy and fast with a die. And, of course, there might be a few design features and surprise tricks within the die that make it the perfect holiday craft for sewers and non-sewers alike. 

Let me give you a little background on why I designed this die. I wanted a non-sew felt ornament to add to the options at Papertrey Ink. All of you non-sewers can join in the felt ornament fun now, too. And let me tell you, these are so fun and fast to make. I can't stop making them. I've made far more than I needed for this blog post! Just got on a roll. 

Speaking of rolls, let's talk about the felt rolls at Papertrey Ink. They are 5 inches by 30 inches and cost $6.00 each. Super premium, high quality felt in delicious Papertrey Ink colors. I sized this die with dimensions of the felt in mind. If you look at the above cutting diagram I created and use it to position the Woven Heart Die on a roll of felt in your die cutter, you can minimize your felt waste and maximize your ornament yield. You can get four Woven Heart Ornaments per roll of felt, making them $1.50 each when all is said and done. That's a fabulous price per item when it comes to holiday crafting.

These ornaments are very easy to put together. Just fold in half and weave the loops created into a basket pattern. I find using a butter knife helps to insert one felt loop into another when things start getting a little tight. And a little bit of fabric glue is a good idea in two different places. Then you just attach the hanger with brads and you are good to go. 10 minutes tops. Quick and easy. 

I created three Woven Hearts out of Vintage Cream, Scarlet Jewel, and Ocean Tides felt. And I packaged them all up in Favor It Box 7 with a little candy. A holiday gift worth giving for $6.00 if you include the price of the candy. 

A little side note. Chicken Scratch has been on my desk as of late and I've been using it a lot. I stamped it and Super Gingham to decorate the Favor It Box 7 on this project. Matches the rustic feel of the ornaments. And counts as #21 (I think...around there...I looked it up the other day and have since forgotten) for my Chicken Scratch Project. For those of you who haven't heard of this, I'm making 100 different projects using my Chicken Scratch Collection. Love how versatile this set can be. 

I even used Chicken Scratch to add a decorative detail to the bottom of my tray. 

There is also a little 3x3 card using stamps from Love Lives Here Holiday, Love Lives Here, and Petite Places: Holiday Lane. Sweet little combination. Inks match the felt colors in this ensemble.

Moving on to another project, I wanted to create a hybrid project with the Woven Heart Dies. Weaving two halves of the heart together using just our cardstock is a no-go due to the thickness of PTI cardstock. But if you team up one half made of cardstock with a more flexible material that won't crease, say like Heat-N-Bond treated fabric on felt, well...you get something totally delightful. The fabric/felt side is the one you bend and stretch when you do the weaving, leaving the cardstock half free of creases. 

I picked out four fabrics with a touch of gold from Joann's. I also picked up inexpensive felt sheets here too in matching colors. Save the premium PTI felt for where it counts. Here it would be a shame to waste it, since it doesn't show.  On this project, the Heat N' Bond acts as a stabilizer for it as well. Nobody needs to know the difference. HA!

Just a little heads up, my die didn't cut all the way through on this project in my die cutting machine. Just too thick of a material. And I'm sort of limping along with a broken Cuttlebug and old plates. So, where it didn't cut, I could see impressions and use my scissors to finish the job. Since this is a bonus application and the dies work so well on felt alone, I'm not going to sweat it. And it wasn't something that I felt would prevent me from making this particular project again. I'll be making dozens, I'm sure. Still easy, still simple. 

Bows using the PTI Satin ribbons in various colors were hot glued on after I strung them with gold cording. These would look lovely added to a gift bag as a decoration.  And after the gift is given, they can be added to the holiday tree as an ornament. 

So how's that for a taste of holiday felt crafting? I have more to come. So much more. Did I mention that there is a die included in the Woven Hearts Die Collection that adds stitching holes to the top curves, so you can weave, stuff, and sew? No, I didn't? That's because I'm a bit of a tease.  Here's a glimpse of the two versions. Eek! Super fun. More on that tomorrow.

The Woven Heart Die Collection will be available on September 15 at www.papertreyink.com at 10 PM EST. It's a fun one to have! I love it. 

More holiday inspiration can be found at Nichole's blog here. Have fun browsing.