I found myself very busy over this holiday season, creating and packaging gifts for people. Every year I put off making gifts for my family and friends until the last possible moment, and then panic the night before. This year was particularly hectic because my workplace offered to buy quite a huge chunk of my stock to use as gifts for the other employees. This was a great opportunity for me, so I snatched it up. Little did I realize that I didn’t have quite as many little Santas and Snowmen as I thought, and I had to needle felt like mad to get them all done. I did finish, and packaged them all up with little bows. Take a look.

Santa stemmed from the snowman idea. They are both very basic, not-entirely-3D designs that make quite cute Christmas tree ornaments. They can also be made into broaches, and I may even try magnets!

Santa starts with the head shape. I chose a peachy-pink skin tone, because it was actually all that I had. It is quite good because he ends up looking a nice healthy robust colour, which is how I would imagine Santa to be. I needle felted the red part of the hat onto his head, then added the white fur trim and pom-pom. After this, I did his eyes, nose and rosey cheeks. The nose is just a small piece of wool that I attached on and then shaped using a single needle. Most of this work needs to be done with a single needle because it is quite small and detailed. The cheeks were done in the same way as the snowman; I just took a few fibres of pink wool, and attached them with a couple of pokes.

Santa’s beard went on last. I started by attaching some white wool and then needle felting it quite a bit, so that it was quite firm and sturdy. Then, I attached some looser pieces that I didn’t felt quite as much. This gives his beard a fluffy, Santa-esque look.