Easy Embellishment in this Free Ornament

This adorable ornament I found on Pinterest is made of felt, but you can easily turn it into a needlepoint ornament.

Begin with a trip to your local fabric or big-box crafts store. You are going to be looking for two, possibly three things. The first is already-made ribbon flowers. You want bigger ones that look similar to the ones in the inspiration ornament. They don’t have to be white but if they aren’t you may have to adjust the colors in your heart.

Buy two. If they don’t have leaves, you’ll need 1/2 yard of green 1/4″ satin ribbon. Finally you’ll need some seed beads in gold for the centers (you can use stuff in your stash for this).

Use a heart template (find here) and trace it onto your canvas. The inspiration piece is red and white, you can use other colors if you want to. Begin by stitching a three-stitch wide Tent border in white. Once this is complete, fill in the heart with red in a stitch of your choice. The stitch won’t register much, mostly the color will bee seen, so this is a great place to practice a new stitch. Don’t use a stitch that is bumpy or open.

Once the stitching is complete, the embellishment fun begins. If your flowers don’t have leaves you’ll need to add them. Cut 1″ lengths of ribbon Fold them so a leaf-shape is formed (picture here). You don’t have to press them or sew through the bottom, they can be more dimensional and looser. Attach them at the base with one strand of floss. They should be arranged in a circle and three or so is enough for each flower.

On top of the leaves attach the flowers. Sew them on through the center. By doing this the stitches will be covered by the beads.

The final step is to sew beads in the center of the flowers to be the stamens. If you don’t like beading, make French Knots in gold or yellow thread.

Your ornament is stitched and ready to be finished.