Cocoa Messages & Keepsake Ornaments Mash-up And Restocking Today!

Good morning! First and foremost, I just wanted to make sure to mention that the webstore will be restocked today, Saturday 11/20, at Noon ET. Both kits, all dies, Color Stories*, and individual rolls of felt will be restocked.
*Please note: we are very low on Elegance Color Stories due to manufacturer shortages of some of the findings in the bead palette. We do not know when we will have them available again. We will still have plenty of the felt rolls available though if that is of interest.

As a little extra fun surprise for today, I thought I would share a pair of ornaments that I created using the Keepsake Ornaments Kit and the Cocoa Messages Die. I got this idea in bed one night and couldn't let it go until I made it happen.

Because, I mean...CUTE, right?!

Ok, so which one do you want to hear about first? How about Santa? Because he happens to have a special element that you might find extra interesting (it's a new felt color because I can't help myself).

I began by die cutting a round ornament from Cardinal felt. I cut scalloped bands from Tundra and the *new* Inkwell felt. I just cut the scallops off of the Inkwell layer to create a belt. It was a snap with my rotary cutter.

I used the individual inner/outer ovals to create a buckle from Marigold. This required double cutting. I recommend cutting the inner oval first, lining up the outer oval with the stitching holes, securing the die to the felt with washi tape, and then cutting again. It's a little fussy, but it worked great!

I used the "HO HO HO" from the Cocoa Messages Die on the back ornament. It fit perfectly and I couldn't be happier! Stitching the layers was a little fussy, too (to make sure the thread matched up with the colors of each layer), but it was so worth the extra time and effort. If you prefer not changing thread colors, you could also go with a white stitch instead and it would also feel very in keeping with the theme (especially if you used a thicker decorative stitch like a chain stitch and made it look like trim on Santa's suit).

While I was cutting the Santa pieces, it occurred to me that I could also create an elf using different colors. Ack!!!

So for this one, I used Arugula for the base color and Cardinal Dot for the belt. I asked Sean if he preferred the Cardinal solid or the Cardinal Dot and his exact words were "It's an elf, right? More is more, isn't it?" and I am in complete agreement.

The back of the elf features the "FA LA LA" greeting from the same Cocoa Messages Die set.

I just love that you can use the greetings from the Cocoa Messages to dress up your Keepsake Ornaments! I am definitely going to be creating more sets of these ornaments. The pair are so, so cute together!

Thank you for joining me today and I hope to see more of your projects on social media in the coming weeks. Happy holiday crafting, friends!