Monday Makery - Felt Baubles

Each year we try to create our very own pieces for Christmas whether it's decorations, treats or homemade gifts it feels good to get creative in the festivities and the girls love it more each year as it symbolizes the getting ready for the festive season.
So far we've been making some homemade gifts and decorations that I hope have inspired you to create your own.
Here we make beautiful baubles made with felt. They're very quick to sew together and the sewing doesn't require any expertise, just an eager needle and thread.

Here's what you'll need:

• felt in your chosen colour.
• scissors
• pencil
• needle and thread
• small piece of ribbon or ric rac

Here's how:

1. Begin by drawing around a circular object onto your felt. We used a large cup to create our circles but what you use will depend on how big you want the circumference of your baubles to be. 
2. Repeat until you have 6 circles
3. Place the circles one on top of the other and sew down the centre line to join them together. Leave a small gap at the top to sew on your ribbon for hanging.
4. Take a piece of ribbon or ric rac and fold it in half, the length of your ribbon may depend on the size of your bauble and the drop you want to give it. Place the ribbon in-between the gap at the top of your circles and sew the last remaining stitches to complete the central line.
5. Now to give your bauble its shape. Take two edges of the circles and sew a few stitches in the centre of the edge. Take the next pair and sew a few stitches to join them together at the centre edge. Continue until all 12 edges have been paired to create 6 pairs.
6. Now pinch one edge of one pair and another edge of its opposing pair about a quarter of the way down from the top and sew a few stitches at the edge to bring together. Do the same for the bottom end, again about a quarter of the way from the bottom edge. Keep going around the bauble sewing a few stitches to the bottom and top of each opposing pair. 

Now you're ready to hang them up. 

These would look great with alternate coloured felt and can be altered in colour and size to suit your own festive decor. The rich red and soft texture of these make a nice contrast to the bright and shiny baubles we have on our tree and I'm hoping to make enough to hang along the banister to add some richness to our hallway.

If you don't have felt you can replicate the idea using card and glue which for younger children may be a little easier. The idea is to show you that being creative isn't a gift you either are or aren't blessed with but rather a pleasure that just requires a little time and imagination.

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This is part of our Monday Makery where each week we bring you a recipe to bake, a craft to create and simple ideas for fun things to make with children. We know that sometimes the craft isn't about the final finish but having created something together and we want to encourage everyone to have a go. I am certainly a 'newbie' when it comes to making things and trust me I'll leave all baking recipes to my sister, you see the thing is my girls love it, they feed me with inspiration and I love that our home is a constant and evolving state of creating and creations.

Our daily blogs offer you a sneak preview in our 'once upon a week' where we give you an insight into a week with Sisters Guild, a guide to whats on, with places to visit and things to do with all the family in our 'Art of Living', on Tuesday we bring you a little closer to our designers and why we chose them with 'The Story behind Our Collections' and a little closer to the bloggers, crafters and friends of Sisters Guild with our fun 'Tell us its Tuesday', whilst on Wednesday we show you new arrivals and inspiring discoveries in the Sisters Guild Boutique. To find where we get our inspiration from take a look at 'An A-Z of Sisters Guild' ; a collection of images inspired by the words which express the meaning of what we believe.

Christmas is coming and we've been busy putting together a little inspiration to help you through. We're helping Father Christmas with his lists and guiding you though our selection of gifts and decorations.