felt poinsettia pin - day 1 of the 12 crafty days of christmas!

so, this is starting a little later than i intended, but we still have plenty of time to fit in our crafty days.  :)

my first craft is one of my own creations.

 if you know me, then you know that i love flower pins for me and flower barrettes for my girls. so, i thought we might need a little seasonal flower to decorate ourselves with this year.

here is what i came up with...

my felt poinsettia pin!

i think it turned out really cute and i can't wait to wear it on my black coat today. 

i think the contrast is going to be beautiful and very christmas-y!

it was pretty simple to put together. here is all you need...

that's a piece of red felt, a piece of green felt, some red embroidery thread, and some gold glass beads. 

you will also need a needle and either a pin or a barrette to attach to it.

i basically just cut six pieces of red felt in the shape of  poinsettia leaves and then one small piece to place in the middle that has the leave shapes all around. 

i did not use a pattern because i didn't want them to all look the same. 

you will see on the center piece that i took some of my red embroidery thread and sewed some gold beads in the middle to resemble the buds in the middle of a poinsettia plant. 

i also thought the felt needed a little more interest and depth so i backstitched (by hand) down the middle of each leaf.

this might sound a little complicated, but it is really easy and did not take much time at all.

i also ended up doing the same on three of the six large leaves.

then, i started gluing everything together. i cut down the 6 large leaves at the bottom to avoid so much bulk. 

i glued the 3 leaves i embroidered together first as the bottom layer.

then i glued the other 3 leaves on top of those.

and the final layer goes on after that! 

that was all that was on my original plan,

but i thought it needed a little bit of green (especially on my black coat!)

so i just cut 2 green leaves to glue to the bottom for a little peak of color.

add your pin or barrette to the back and VOILA!

you have a really cute accessory for yourself, a friend, a teacher's gift, or your little girl!

i always make cinnamon candy for my children's teachers at christmas but i'm thinking these pins might look really cute perched on top of a jar full of red candy.

here is the final product..

and a view from the back...

kinda looks like the real thing, huh?

please come back and visit again. i promise i have many more cute, fun christmas ideas coming!