Do you love crafts? Sign up for CanadianLiving.com's craft newsletter, Get Crafty!

These beautiful felt tree decorations are fun to make and last a lifetime. The basic method is straightforward; it's up to you how sophisticated you want the decorations and details to be. Take your inspiration from your favourite birds, and make these felt birds as colourful as you like. Make them uniquely personal by adding a family member's initials to each finished decoration. 

Take a look at photographed step-by-step instructions for this festive bird ornament craft.

You need:
• Felt in assorted colours
• Festive bird templates (you can find the templates here! Enlarge to 100 per cent or whatever your desired size)
• Scissors
• Skewer
• Colored embroidery thread and needle
• Leather strips or lengths of twine
• Found and recycled materials to decorate the bird (optional, see green tip on last slide)

To make:
Cut two body and wing shapes and some flower and leaf shapes for each bird. Make a hole in the top of each body shape with a skewer.

Stitch a flower eye onto the outside of each body shape at the head, then sew some flower and leaf motifs onto the body and wings.
Embroider simple patterns onto the felt shapes, then sew the two body shapes together using blanket stitch. Repeat with the two wing shapes.

Cut a slit close to the top of the bird's body and push through the sewn wings. Thread the leather strip through the hole and tie it in a loop.

Green tip for recycled decorations:
Source a variety of items from the garden, or kitchen shelves or drawers to decorate each bird. Look out for grasses, twigs, dried flowers, dried beans, rice, and pasta, bay leaves, old candy wrappers, buttons and vintage beads.


Page 1 of 1