tutorial: felt polaroid christmas ornament

yay! i'm finally getting around to posting this! i'm not that experienced with sewing, i kinda just make it up as i go, and it's been a while since i did a tutorial, so i hope this all makes sense. :)
supplies needed:
white felt. [the 9" x 12" rectangles from craft stores are perfect!]
scissors
pencil/chopstick
iron
sewing machine & thread
picture(s) [i used 4x6 inch pictures]
ribbon
1. cut your felt into a 9 inch by 4 1/4 inch rectangle.

2. fold in half, hamburger way. [lol] and sew a straight line 1/8 inch on two sides, creating a little pocket, with the folded edge at the bottom. [i used dark thread to show you which two sides, but you can just use white.]
3. turn it right side out, and poke out the corners with a chopstick or the eraser side of a pencil.

4.iron on the lowest setting on your iron.
5. cut out a square on one side for your picture. mine ended up being approximately 2 3/4 inches. set aside the felt polaroid.

6. trim your photo. [mine ended up being approximately 3 3/8 inches by 4 inches, but it will vary on whether or not you have portrait or landscape photos and where your seams ended up.]

7. insert into your felt polaroid sleeve. if it doesn't fit, trim off 1/16 inch pieces until it does. set felt polaroid with picture aside.

8. trim your ribbon to the desired length. [mine ended up being about 8 1/2 inches, laid flat.]
9. start in the upper right corner, and sew a straight line down to corner, making sure to back stitch at the beginning. turn the polaroid, while the needle is still insterted into the felt and the presser foot is raised, sew along the bottom [folded] edge of the polaroid. turn again, and sew up the other side.
10. when you get to the top left corner, stop you sewing machine, and get your ribbon. cross the cut ends, so that it creates a loop for the polaroid to hang from.

11. insert your ribbon, so it is centered on the ornament. be sure to put it behind the picture, but in front of the back layer of felt on the polaroid.
12. sew across the top of the polaroid. back stitch over the ribbon to make sure it is secure. when you get back to the upper right corner, back stitch again.
13. sew a straight line across the bottom of the picture square and hole, back stitching at the beginning and end.

14. trim strings and enjoy your polaroid ornament!
just remember, that you polaroids don't need to be perfect. i think that's what gives them their charm, just like real polaroids. :) and if you have any questions, you can leave them in the comments [along with your email so i can make sure to answer it.] or you can email me at katiehaddox [at] gmail [dot] com.
<3katie

lovies...

i just wanted to say, first of all, that steven left for a business trip thingy until sunday.
and as much as i'm bummed, and as much as i'll miss him, it doesn't even compare to the was paisley has been feeling tonight... he's everything to her. mostly her break from mama, when she and i can't stand each other at the end of the day. and dady's super fun to play with, and he's really ticklish! and he colors with her in the tub, and sneaks her bits of candy. she was so heartbroken when we dropped him off at the airport. she burst into tears and through her sobs, kept saying, "love you daddy! miss you daddy!" it made me want to cry. :(
i hope you have a wonderful time in san fran steven!!! i love you!

anyway, now i wanted to show some of my favorite things from the red velvet art shop. :)

holiday cards!
these come as a pdf that you can print at home or get professionally printed. they have 4 different print sizes, all the way from 8x10 to 2x2.5, which can be used as gift tags.

i printed out the 5x7 sized ones onto cardstock [bazzill basics "avalanche" which i thought was appropriate for christmas stuff.] then i cut them out, and sewed on a coordinating piece of cardstock. [the gingerbread girl got red, the girl with trees got green, the girl with anters and holly got yellow, and the girl with candy canes got pink.]
i only sewed on three sides, leaving the right side open to make a little pocket to hold our christmas photos. :)
then i wrote out "happy holidays" and "merry christmas" on the backs of the cards, along with our names, and a reminder to look inside for the photos.
i still need to figure out what i'll actually write out for our christmas letter update. now i just need to get some envelopes from paper source and i'm done!
ps-these are the pictures i think we'll be sending with our christmas cards. :) they're from natalie franke. and they're the most wonderful thing ever! you know, besides my family.

anyway, onto more rva lovelies.

i looove thise polaroid prize ribbon, but unfortunately, someone else bought it up before i could. but it gives me an idea for my christmas stocking!
i love this holiday candy skinny scarf by emma. :) it's one of the 5 colors i've been obsessed with lately!
and i love love love this alice headband! i don't think i could pull it off... but maybe i could....i don't know?
i think this advent calendar is my favorite thing from this shop update!

i seriously love it!

go check out red velvet art for more yumminess!

[[[i really miss you steven!!!]]]
<3katie

ps-[felt polaroid ornament tutorial]-we had a problem with the pictures i had printed for the sample/what i was actually going to use on paisley's tree, because let's face it, why would i waste a polaroid ornament?! so we got a refund, and reprinted them all. so i'm working on that tonight, and hopefully i can take photos and post it by tomorrow night! [thursday]

coming soon...

[source]

last night/this morning was the leonid meteor showers. steven and i were up when they were supposed to be starting, but at 36*F, we decided to try to watch from our bedroom window. but we had less than ideal stargazing conditions...so we gave up after a half hour and went to bed. if any of you stayed up/got up to watch, did you see any meteors?! i'd looove to know!

i'll have a crafty/christmas-y post later tonight... :)

and i'm working on the polaroid tutorial [finally got pictures printed to make them!] it should be up by thursday at the latest!

ps-left or right?? [sorry for the crappy-taken-at-night-iPhone-picture...]
i can't decide how our tree skirt should be... and i know i've asked on twitter and flickr, but i still can't decide...

<3katie

let the festivities begin!

when steven got home from work, i made him drag our pink tree out of the basement, and paisley's little green tree. they're both assembled. but we've had our first hiccup. there's a few strands of lights burnt out on each, so we have the christmas buzz kill of trying to find the broken or burnt out light bulbs. :(

but i did set up all of our ornaments on the ground to take a picture! i can't wait to put them on!
i also got this book the other night at barnes and noble. so far it looks reaaaaalllly good!

i emailed a couple recipes from it already, including one for turkish delight, and one for marshmallows!mmmm! i cannot wait to make marshmallows this year!!! i think that's what i'll do for neighbor's gifts along with cookies or hot chocolate mix or something. :)

i need to print some pictures so i can make the felt polaroid ornament tutorial. [and this rain needs to go away so i can take pictures for said tutorial!!!]

have you put up your tree yet??
<3katie

christmas trees and felt polaroid ornaments

i've decided.
i'm putting up my christmas tree soon.
don't shoot me just yet!
listen to my reasoning.
1. thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday.
i mean, i think it's great when you have family to be around, but we don't.
[we'll be eating dinner over at our friend nate's house, which is *awesome* because who wants to be alone for the holidays?!]
and i don't gorge myself on thanksgiving. i have never in my life gone back for seconds, except maybe to get another of my grandma's rolls.
2. we'll be out of town [aka in arizona!] from the 16th of december until christmas morning.
so when we get home to a lonely, empty house on christmas day, i just want my tree to be up to welcome me home.
3. i'm making a bunch of holiday crafts and decorations and i don't just want to store them for 2 weeks. that's pointless. although, it'll probably take me that long to do them... i have a lot to do.
4. i'm making a ton of felt food for paisley for christmas. and if i have my tree up, it'll keep me motivated to keep working on them!
5. paisley has a small christmas tree that i'm dying to put up. :)
6. we're using different ornaments on our tree this year [bye bye candy land!] and i'm dying to see how it looks! [however, i am still looking for a tree topper. our giant lollipop won't do.]
7. and i'm just excited.
8. christmas is magic.

to show you how excited i am, here are some projects i've been working on/wanna do before christmas:
i've been making pom poms for this pom pom wreath from bleubird vintage.
i wanna make some finger knit garlands for paisley's christmas tree.
i wanna make christmas tree skirts for paisley's tree and our big pink tree.
i'm making something special for my brand new niece [paisley has her for christmas this year] our of this cosmo cricket fabric.

i started ornaments for p's tree last night!
this is what i came up with:
a felt faux polaroid ornament! yay!!!
this was just a sample. to see if i could do it. because i don't really "get" sewing things yet. but i'm getting there. anyway, i think i'll make a tutorial later this week to post here, if people are interested...so let me know via comment or tweet.

anyway, i'm going to print pictures of family and friends and make them into cute little felt polaroids for paisley's tree this year. :) so she can always remember what they look like [she's been mixing people up lately, and i think it's because it's been so long since she's seen some of them.]

anyway, that's it!
are you anti-christmas before thanksgiving?
[my mom is. and she's probably going to give me a hard time.]

<3katie