Homemade Felt Gingerbread Ornaments

So, I was browsing through Michaels a couple of weekends ago and saw Gingerbread Men ornaments. I immediately grabbed a few of them and put them in my basket. After some more browsing through the store, I realized that I can make similar ones for WAAAAAAYYY less. So, being the semimodern person that I am, I decided I wouldn't buy them, I would get the supplies to make a few instead.

After all was said and done, I only spent around  $4 for supplies. Here's what I bought: one bottle of puffy paint "SCRIBBLES SHINY WHITE," one bottle of puffy paint "SCRIBBLES DEEP RED," 2 sheets of brown felt, one spool of silver ribbon for the string to hang from tree (after I made them I thought it would be even cuter with white mini rac-rac?), and one bottle of Tacky Glue. Another supply item I used was a gingerbread cookie cutter for the pattern. You can also Google a pattern online.

Here's what I did:

STEP #1: Trace your pattern onto felt. Make sure that you make an even number-front and back. Then cut them out.



STEP #2: Using the Tacky Glue, run a line of glue around the edge of the wrong side of cutout. At the head, add an extra dollop of glue. Take the silver or ric rac and create a loop. Place the ends of the loop into the dollop of glue.

STEP #3: Take the partner of the first cutout and place wrong side down onto the cutout with glue.  Press down on the edges to make sure that you have a good seal.

STEP #4: Using the white puffy paint, add the "icing" around the edge of the "cookie." HINT: Have a paper towel nearby to wipe excess off the tip of the bottle or to check how much pressure to apply to the bottle to get a nice even line. Also, I put my cookie on another sheet of felt that I rotated as I drew on my icing.

STEP #5: Add the squiggles at the arms and feet and then buttons. HINT: Again, I practiced my pressure on the paper towel to make sure the buttons were going to be the right size.

 STEP #6: Using the red puffy paint, draw on the happy face. Again, practicing on the paper towl first helps to get the right pressure for the smile.

And VOILA!! All done! Super easy and INEXPENSIVE! Make sure to allow 4 hours for the puffy paint to dry.

PS. I am going to try to add a little stuffing to one of them and see if I like them a little "puffy." I'll let you know how it turns out! Flat or puffy, they look like the real thing and I can't wait to put on our tree!