Bedazzled Christmas Tree Brooches

Last Christmas at the last minute, I decided to make some felt holly hairbows (below) for my daughters and some felt holly corsages for my nieces. The other day as I was thinking about the FELT CHALLENGE, I thought ... wouldn't it be fun to make my nieces & girls a different Christmas Brooch each year? I mean the possibilities are endless and there are so many options that would be easy to do: snowman, candy cane, gingerbread man, and so on!

So I immediately went to my felt stash and started cutting out trees. Sarah recently gave me a bag of sequins, so the trees got "ornaments" topped with beads. Because there brooches are for kids, I went with a bell topper for fun. Each brooch is stuffed with a little filling and has a holder on the back.  

I am really pleased with how these turned out and excited to start a new tradition of "brooch giving" to my girls each Christmas. And yes, there are NO boys in that generation of the family - just FIVE girls!

If you wanted to make these yourself, it's incredibly simple! Finished, these trees are about 2" wide and 3" tall.

1. Cut out 2 matching trianges from green felt for the tree.
2. Cut out a rectangular trunk (I used pink).
3. Adorn 1 triangle as desired (sequins & beads, embroidery, felt applique - etc).
4. Layer pieces as such: sandwich the trunk piece between the 2 tree pieces (make sure it's layered as it will be finished with the right sides facing out).
5. Start whip stitching at the base of the tree to secure the trunk. Continue working around tree.
6. After you round the tip top and just as you start coming down the second long side, start putting some filling in the tree.
7. Continue stitching. When you get to the beginning, do a little knot. Do NOT cut thread!
8. Then, pull your thread through the back of the Christmas tree (through the filling and all) and pull the needle out right about the place that you'd attach the brooch holder (or safety pin).
9. Sew down the brooch holder or safety pin. Secure with knot and cut thread.
10. Grab a bell or other topper and stitch to the top of the tree.
11. Wa-la! You're all done!

I whipped these 5 out during two Criminal Minds reruns - It seems I am unable to *just* watch TV anymore, so it was nice to have some handwork to keep me busy during commercials! :-)

If you make any as well, leave us a comment or shoot an email - we'd love to see your creations. I'm thinking about making a more "sophisticated one" for me ... thinking dark green with creme sequins! So many ideas, so little time - as usual!

For fun, these are last year's felt holly corsages that I made from Martha Stewart's pattern. My girls got these as hair clips (something with a sticky pin seemed a bad idea last year). For my two older nieces who live here, I made  brooches.




(last year's modeling)