Christmas reindeer in my lounge!

Today, I'm happy to present a real DIY post!
I got in the Christmas fever this week-end and bought a lot of supplies to start building the holiday atmosphere at home. We are hosting our first Christmas party at home next week-end so we need to get in the mood quickly!

When we were in England at the beginning of November, Dave's mom gave me a super handy magazine about Christmas crafts. I have fallen in love with the little reindeer  plushes they were displaying and decided that would be my number one project. Look how cute they are!

To make a little reindeer, you will need:

- felt, the colour you prefer. I loved the white reindeer with red stitches on the cover
- thread 
- a thread needle
- something to fill up the body of your reindeer
- a pen to make marks

Start by drawing the desired shape on a paper. I used a shape already displayed in the magazine, but you can very well create your own!

Cut the paper shape and place it on the felt to draw the contours. Careful! You need to use a discret pen. I first used a pink pencil but later realised that either the pink border would have to show, or I had to cut the felt a little bit more. Since the shape of the reindeer was already very thin, I decided to keep the pink pen border.

Turn the paper shape on its other side and draw the exact same shape. It needs to be very symetrical to the first one to ease the stitching.

You will then need to cut the "belly" of the reindeer, it should match the legs and length of the body you just drew.

Cute all the shapes and start stitching any details you might want on the sides of your reindeer. I have stitched a small wreath on each side and made some French knots for the eyes. You could add a square of a different fabric, a heart, why not some pearls?

Now start assembling. You will need to start stitching the legs of one side of the body to half of the belly part. Once you've stitched the 2 legs together and arrived to the middle of the belly part, start stitching the other body shape to the belly part still untouched.

Before you start stitching the top of the body and the head together, start filling the legs and the body with cotton, or any kind of filler you decide. It could be feathers, some more felt, some cotton, or maybe even sand?

Do not cut the thread yet, you can actually do the whole stitching without stopping at all.

Finish stitching the rest of the body together and close everything with a nice discret knot.

There you go, a nice reindeer decoration that will look festive on the table, or could even be used as a Christmas tree ornament if you add a little colourful string.

I hope you enjoyed this DIY post! I just can't wait to start making other little decorations like this one. I was thinking about a fox one but I'll need to draw a pretty good model on the paper first.

What about you? Any ideas for some DIY Christmas decorations? What have you done so far?