Hello and welcome to another inspiration blog hop for this month's new Essentials by Ellen products! Oh.My.Goodness! Are y'all ready for some serious cuteness?!! Meet Bear Hugs by Julie Ebersole -- one of this month's newest Essentials by Ellen die sets!
I had SO much stinkin' fun stitching and stuffing these adorable felt bears and their JOY gifts!
Bear Hugs is a huge version of Julie's popular All Inside stamp set & coordinating All Inside die bear -- he measures 5" tall x 2-3/4" wide, so he will also fit on a card front ... or BE an adorable folded card!
I chose to stitch these three bears into felt Christmas ornaments. The JOY letter dies are from the Concertina Tags die set -- they measure 1-3/16", which were just a smidge larger than the gift die in the Bear Hugs set. Or you could use a small alpha die such as Taylored Expressions Sweet & Simple Alpha-Uppers, which are about 7/8" tall -- My first idea was to use those to monogram a bear for each member of my family!
These guys were simple to make. I just die cut two of each color of bear from Taylored Expressions felt, then die cut the eyes out of the front piece of felt. Die cut one each of the arms and position them, then start stitching:
I used a blanket stitch on the center green bear, and a whip stitch on the other two bears. Which look do you like best? I think the whip is a little faster and uses a little less embroidery floss, if that is a concern. You could also do a backstitch, which is what I used on the gifts. Stitch almost all the way around the bear, leaving an opening so you can stuff the bear. I just used large cotton balls, pulling and flattening them out a little:
Then just continue stitching the felt bear together/closed.
The Taylored Expressions Felt Bundles Ellen carries makes it easy to coordinate your projects. In most bundles, you get three coordinating colors and I used two colors from each bundle for the bears and their gifts:
The bears were made from the middle colors of the Pink (Pink Sherbet), Green (Split Pea), and Aqua (Robin's Egg) bundles. Their coordinating gifts (and ears!) were made from the lighter colors in the bundles (Cherry Blossom, Avocado, Aqua Mist). The noses and eyes were cut from Heather Gray in the Neutral bundle -- The Neutral bundle also contains the Marshmallow felt used for the JOY letters.
Next, I die cut two of each coordinating lighter color of felt using the stitched square/gift that comes with the Bear Hugs die set. I also stuffed them with a little bit of cotton. The JOY letters are from Julie's Concertina Tag and were die cut from Taylored Expressions Marshmallow felt. The ear accents were cut with the hole reinforcer from the Concertina Tag set. Use a fabric or mixed media liquid glue to hold the ears, nose, and JOY letters in place, and to attach the hands to the gifts.
You could also use these bears as ornaments or gift toppers and customize them with monograms for the whole family! They would also make great gift card or money holders -- just tuck the card or bill(s) into the arms, under the gifts!
Or they can just be cute holiday decorations, sitting in a sleigh!
Thanks so much for joining the three bears and I today ... I hope you enjoyed them!
BLOG HOP:
Next on the hop is Taheerah Atchia. To start at the beginning of the hop and/or to find the list of all of today's hoppers, be sure to visit the CLASSroom blog, to find more project inspiration!
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