doorknob decorations
Dec 9, 2010 
When dressing up our apartment for the holidays, we do the typical tree, stockings and wreath to snazz up the front door. But I also love dressing up small, unassuming areas like the doors. I don’t know what it is about hanging pretty things from doorknobs, but I get a little burst of satisfaction as I walk down the hall past these cheery decorations.
For this project, I went for simple birds cut out of felt in two different sizes, along with beads and yarn pom-poms. There is something so retro-ski-hat-wintery about these plush little balls. I know there are pom-pom makers on the market, but I went with the lo-fi option of my two hands. The pom-poms are easy and quick to make. And if you get addicted to making them (ahem), you can create a snappy garland, or use the extras on presents, or string a few together for a soft and lightweight necklace. The pom-pom'ing is endless!
You’ll Need:
Card stock
Pen or pencil and chalk
Scissors
Felt (I used plain red and a glittery red)
Yarn
Beads
Needle
Embroidery floss
How To:
1. Create your bird template by drawing two different size, simple bird shapes onto card stock (or use my template right here). Cut out.
2. Place template on felt and trace outline onto felt. I like to use chalk on felt, but you can use a pen or pencil, as long as you can see the markings. Trace and cut out as many birds as you want (I double up the felt and pin inside the bird outline so I can cut two pieces at a time).
3. Create the yarn pom-poms by wrapping yarn around the fingers of your left hand (if you’re right-handed) until you have a substantial thickness of yarn. There is no set rule as to how thick you should make your yarn, but the thicker you wrap the yarn around your fingers, the more full the pom-pom will be. For these size pom-poms, I wrapped the yarn around my first two fingers. You can make them larger if you want (the larger the pom-pom, the easier they are to create).
4. Carefully pull the yarn off your fingers and place it on your work surface, trying as best you can to keep its shape. Cut a 6” piece of yarn, pinch the center of the wound yarn, and tie the piece of yarn around the center.
5. Insert the blade of your scissors into the loops of one end of the pom-pom and cut to open. Repeat until all loops are cut open, being careful not to snip the central piece of yarn that you just tied in the previous step. Repeat with the other side of pom-pom, and fluff into a round ball. Trim to shape if needed.
6. To create the ornament, thread your needle with an 18” length of embroidery floss. Create the ornament from the bottom up, so if you want a bead at the bottom, add it first. Leave a long enough tail to make a double knot at the bottom of the bead.
7. Work your way up, adding elements as you want. To attach the birds, pass the needle from the front side of the bottom of the bird to the back, and bring it to the front at the top of the bird, in a straight line. This keeps the bird in place with the floss on the backside of the bird. Pass the needle straight through the center of the pom-poms.
8. When you’ve created your ornament, cut the floss, leaving enough room to tie a loop at the top to fit over the doorknob. Trim ends and hang anywhere that could use some cheer.
Again, I want to offer big, merry, crafty thanks to Michaels for the support (and most of the supplies) for these lo-fi DIY projects.
christmas, diy, doorknob decorations, felt birds, holiday decorations in make
Reader Comments (8)
I am making pom poms!!!! I didn't realize how easy those were to make. I bought a few gifts for friends at Anthro last year and they gave our the cutest felt and cotton ribbon to go with their gift wrap. Totally going to rip them off this year and add a pom pom of my own doing.
ooh -- glitter felt. need some of that!
Those are super cute. Can't wait to get our tree tomorrow. You are getting me in the spirit.
A felt bird and a pom pom would make cute decorations for the kid tree as well - thanks for the great idea! Think we'll be making some of these!
These are really sweet. May need to whip up a set this weekend. Thanks for the great ideas and super helpful tutorials!
Super cute! What a cheerful little decoration!
These are so sweet! I'd love to make a flock of them.
Kelly - thanks so much for the idea. I've made some for our boy's tree. You can see here if interested - http://mummydinosaur.blogspot.com/2010/12/transformer-tree.html. Happy Christmas crafting!