Another tutorial as promised in this post.
I know it seems way too early to be posting tutorials for Christmas ornaments, but I happen to have some especially joyful Gingerbread People running around in my shop who would love to be at your house decorating your tree.
I am really happy with how they turned out. The ornaments ended up having the kind of vintage feel I was after.
Gingerbread Cameo Ornaments are super easy to make, and would be very fun to craft with children. I wish die cutting machines had been around when I was small because I would have been cranking the handle to cut anything that machine could die cut.
The instructions below are for the ornaments you see in the pictures above.
{PLEASE NOTE}
I used a Cuttlebug Die Cutter to make the Gingerbread Cameo ornaments, but you don't have to use a Cuttlebug. Spellbinders Dies are made to be compatible with many die cutting machines, click here for a compatibility chart.
Hand cutting directions using freezer paper for the pattern:
You don't have to use a die cutting machine to make the felt oval frames for the ornaments. You can measure and cut felt ovals by laying freezer paper over a Gingerbread Cameo (the shiny side of the freezer paper needs to be face down) and tracing the oval edge of the cameo where the pink stripes meet the black fabric. Draw a second oval around the first traced oval on the freezer paper so that is 5/8" wider on all sides. You should end up with the larger oval being about 5" tall, and the smallest oval should be about 3 3/4" tall (centered inside the 5" oval). Use the freezer paper as a cutting template for the two felt oval frames. Iron the freezer paper onto felt (shiny side down), cut along the oval lines, remove the freezer paper without tearing it, and iron the freezer paper oval frame onto felt again to cut out your second felt oval frame.
*******
You will need:
*two Gingerbread Cameo's (you can find them in my tiny shop)
*black felt
*5" x 8" piece of Pellon #805 Wonder Under
*5/8" Rick Rack trim
*5/8" grosgrain ribbon
*white fabric marker or fabric pencil (removable)
*freezer paper - to use if you are cutting the ovals out by hand instead of using a die cutting machine
*fabric glue (I prefer Fabri-Tac by Beacon Adhesives)
*5 1/2" x 8" piece of chipboard or the side of a cereal box
*5" oval die cutter (Spellbinders Nestabilities Petite Ovals Set)
*3 3/4" or 3 7/8" oval die cutter (Spellbinders Nestabilites Petite Ovals Set)
*One Spellbinders Enlarged Embossing Pad
*fabric scissors
If you are using a Cuttlebug Die Cutting Machine here is the sandwich recipe for cutting fabric or felt:
1. Spacer A on the bottom
2. Spellbinders Enlarged Embossing Pad
3. Chipboard on top of the Embossing Pad
4. Cutting Pad B on top of Chipboard
5. Place felt or fabric on top of Cutting Pad B
6. Place Spellbinders Die on top of Felt or Fabric
7. Place another Cutting Pad B on top of Die
Feed the sandwich through the die machine. If the machine does not want to accept your sandwich stack do not force it through. Check your chipboard layer and make a substitution there with a thinner piece of cardboard. Try again and see if this was the problem.
Cut two Gingerbread Cameo's with the 5" oval die making sure to center the cameo image within the oval die.
I usually use two small pieces of two sided tape mounted on the Cutting Pad B on the top of the sandwich to hold the oval dies in place. You can see the tape in the photo below.
Cut out two felt oval frames as shown using the 5" oval die and the 3 3/4" oval die
(or 3 7/8" oval die).
To assemble the Gingerbread Cameo ornament you will need:
2 - Gingerbread Cameo's cut into 5" ovals as shown
1 - piece of Pellon #805 Wonder Under cut into a 4 7/8" oval as shown
2 - oval Felt frames die cut as shown or hand-cut following the directions for using freezer paper to cut the felt ovals
Press the Pellon Wonder Under paper to the back of the Gingerbread Cameo fabric (as shown above) following manufacturer's directions. Make sure the Pellon is centered on the image. Once the Pellon paper has cooled down from the pressing, peel the backing paper off.
Place the second Gingerbread Cameo fabric oval on top of the first so that wrong sides are together and edges match. Steam press following the Pellon directions for the Wonder Under so that the two Gingerbread Cameo's are fused together back to back.
Mark a line 1/8" in from the outside edge of the fused cameo oval fabric using a white marker or white fabric marking pencil.
Cut along the line you have marked to trim away about 1/8" of fabric along the edge of the oval all the way around.
Center one Felt oval frame over the Gingerbread Cameo and glue in place.
Flip the Gingerbread Cameo over so that the felt edge is facing down and the side without a felt edge is facing up. Glue rick rack along the outside edge of the oval so that the curves of the rick rack stick out just a little beyond the felt frame.
Glue the second felt oval frame on top of the rick rack as shown. The rick rack should be sandwiched between the two layers of felt.
Cut a 4 1/4" long piece of 5/8" wide grosgrain ribbon. Fold the cut edges of the grosgrain ribbon under and glue down. Fold the entire ribbon in half and glue each folded end to one side of the oval ornament at the center top as shown. Add an ornament hanger and you are done!
