My latest crafty obsession is cheap, colorful and widely available; it’s felt.  With the holidays right around the corner and upcycling on my mind, I found a project that perfectly fit my bill.

When I’m looking for crafty inspiration I have a monster pile of blogs I scour and, of course, no project search would be complete without seeing what Martha’s up to. Martha Stewart’s got a PhD in craft, and her website is a great place to gather ideas for fun crafty projects. Most of the time I can’t locate the totally obscure items she lists in the project plans, or I can’t afford her I-have-a-house-with-a-snooty-name taste (Turkey Hill), but this project is simple and uses items that were already in my craft stash. You can see the inspiration for this project on her website. And if you don’t have a craft stash, the supplies can easily be procured for a couple bucks at your local craft shop or fabric store.

What you’ll need:

Wooden Clothespins
Fabric/Craft Glue
Felt
Ribbon/Ric-Rac
Water soluble pen
Scissors
Cardboard (upcycled cereal boxes are the perfect weight)

1) Draw or trace shape on to cardboard, cut out then trace on to felt. Cut out felt. Sharp scissors really, really help. I have a cheap pair of embroidery scissors that are really nice for getting in to tight spaces. Tip: Hide your craft/sewing scissors from your family. Cutting paper with them will dull the blade and make your work twice as hard.

I drew these freehand, but if you can’t draw a stick figure,  no problem. Hit the web for some clip art and print. Cut out the silhouette and then trace on to felt and cardboard.

2) Glue the felt and cardboard together using fabric/craft glue.

3) Add embelishments. I had some ric rac and ribbon in my stash and a sweet little heart applique.

4) Once you have your decorated cuties you can start to get creative. Attach to a clothespin and glue a magnet on the back like the original project suggests. I used E6000 which is probably overkill, I’m sure just about any sort of craft glue will do.  My front door is metal so I went a step further and attached a long ribbon so I can use it to display holiday cards.

Giving a gift to a yarny pal? Clip your mitten on a ball of yarn so your buddy has some felty goodness to keep her yarn ball from unraveling inside her bag.

Instead of attaching to a clothespin, you could glue on to card stock or attach with foam dots for an extra special handmade card.

Sandwich a peice of ribbon or string between the ornament and another piece of felt to make an adorable ornament.

Felt is fun and this project is easy enough to include the shorties in your life.

Okay, so this part isn’t felt, but dang it’s cute and cheap, cheap, cheap. Last night at Joann’s I scored a whole bag full of die cut foam shapes: polar bears, reindeer and stripey scarves and hats for about $2. I glued a little loop of ric rac on and made some uber cute gift tags!

Now go get crafty!

Holly is the Arts & Crafts Editor for Girls Guide. You can check out her site, South City Studio, to see her handmade jewelry, read about her upcoming craft shows and learn more about her artsy self. You can contact Holly by Emailing her – holly [at] girlsguidetothegalaxy [dot] com, and you can follow her on Twitter – @southcitystudio.