Introducing The Homespun Holiday: Nutcracker Parade Kit

Every holiday season, the magic of The Nutcracker ballet enchants viewers across continents and lifetimes alike. 

The Homespun Holiday: Nutcracker Parade Kit brings the story’s hero to center stage and gives you the opportunity to shape your own piece of this beloved yuletide tradition.

This kit includes a wide variety of uniform and accessory options to allow you to create an entire battalion of unique nutcrackers, each one as special and lovingly crafted as the last.

The Homespun Holiday: Nutcracker Parade Kit includes:

• 46-piece die set
• zippered project bag
• 2 all-purpose Needles in a handy storage tube
• printed inspiration guide for easy reference
• exclusive access to an instructional video
• 5 yards of white crochet thread
• 5 rolls of 5" x 36" felt
• 4 panels of 5” x 9” felt (Cocoa, Tundra, Peach Puff, and Inkwell)
• 9 skeins of embroidery floss
• 5 colors of beads
• 5 colors of sequins (in two sizes)
• compartmented bead storage container

*die cut machine and fiberfill stuffing not included in the kit*

This kit retails for $170 and qualifies for free domestic shipping.

The Guest Creators have been hard at work creating holiday magic to share with all of you, so let's take a peek!

 Larissa's nutcracker looks like he's ready to spread love this holiday season! The little cutout details on his hat look amazing in contrasting colors. See more of her project HERE.

 When I think of a quintessential nutcracker I think of a red jacket, blue pants, and black boots. Laura has absolutely nailed that look with her sweet fella! Check out more of her project HERE.

I am so grateful to these talented ladies for sharing their creativity with us this week. They are truly amazing and it has been a thrill to have them!

I have also enjoyed creating with this kit and I can't wait to share the ornaments I've made! I used two different Color Stories, Fairy Floss and Jubilee, and I think both sets turned out great. Let's start with the Fairy Floss ornaments.

I wanted to do a set of full nutcrackers all wearing different uniforms. I really, really love these guys!

Here's a close up of the nutcracker wearing crossed sash jacket. I want to explain a little about the construction of these guys because it takes a little advance planning while you're die cutting. This ornament is sewn to a Tundra base. I find the base to be important because it creates a foundation for all of the other details. I went with Tundra because I wanted the hair on this particular nutcracker to be white. The base is most likely going to be the color of either the hair or pants of your nutcracker (there are both hair and pants layers included in the die, so you can choose whichever way you prefer to build your characters).

Beyond that though, I just decided to add little bits of color and sparkle wherever I could. It's all about the details on these guys. From the stitched teeth to the feathered hat and buckles on his boots - there are so many little ways to make these nutcrackers truly special.

This nutcracker wearing the open jacket was built on a Chantilly base. I used the hair dies to add the black hair. I am particularly fond of his bejeweled crown and belt buckle. The buckle can be sewn on, but it's far easier to glue it into place. I really like E6000 for this. I just squeeze out a blob onto some scrap paper and use a pin or toothpick to add adhesive precisely where I want it. The nose is another area that benefits from a tiny bit of adhesive to make sure it's secure and not going to be pulled off of your nutcrackers' faces.

I used the strapped jacket for this nutcracker. I love that adding beads to the ends of the straps makes them look like fancy buttons. I even added some stitching and beads to his boots to dress them up a bit.

I used lazy daisy stitches for all of their eyebrows (I used three strands of thread). I also used beads for their eyes, but you could also use French knots if you would prefer them. I'm left handed and have always had a particularly difficult time learning French knots from well-meaning right handed stitchers, so the beads are a more comfortable option for me. That's the beauty of these; they are as unique as the people creating them.

I also wanted to share what these ornaments look like from the back. I decided to decorate the back of each one, a little more simply than the front, but decorated just the same. You could also decide to leave the backs completely blank by using the back body and not adding any layers. Or you could go all out and add beading and details here too. It's truly a personal preference.

I also wanted to share the profiles of a couple of these nutcrackers. These bad boys can get a bit on the thick side, but one way I discovered for slimming down the cuffs is to snip off the last hole in the sleeves on the innermost layer of felt before you sew in the hands. On the nutcracker on the left you can see that I cut off just a tiny sliver (about 1/8") before tucking in the hands. I didn't do that on the nutcracker on the right and you can see that the cuff flares out a bit more. It's a small difference, but one I noticed right away. I like the slimmer look of the sleeve on the left, but both will work just fine. Another trick is to only use one layer of felt for the hands, but I used two layers in all of my samples.

Now let's say you want to make some nutcracker ornaments, but the full body figures are more of a time commitment than you can afford. I've got you covered with this next set of ornaments!

Admittedly, the nutcrackers can take some time to complete, so I was thinking of ways you could get the same effect, only quicker. I realized that it would be easy to add nutcracker heads/faces to ornaments you may already have in your collection!

On this first ornament, I paired the nutcracker with the Simple Scalloped Circle Ornament Die. I cut the front of the ornament into a frame and then sewed the nutcracker directly to the center. There isn't a "holes only" die for the face, but it was easy to hold the nutcracker in place and use the stitching holes in the head and hair as a guide.

I used that same circle window die from the Simple Scalloped Circle Ornament to cut a circle from the Layered Snowflake to create another ornament. I absolutely love the beading and contrasting edge stitch on this ornament.

I wanted to try a head and shoulders design, so I sewed this nutcracker to a Poinsettia Bloom die cut circle. You need a pair of very sharp scissors to cut along the edge, but I really like how this one turned out! I'm also head over heels for the cutaway hat designs. There is this one and the diamond option I shared earlier. It's such a cool effect!

On the back of all three I decided to add some customization. All three received the year using the Keepsake Dates Die. The Layered Snowflake and Simple Scalloped Circle ornaments both got Monogram Alphabet initials in coordinating colors while the Poinsettia Bloom nutcracker was emblazoned with a greeting from Cocoa Messages. I'm so glad these worked out so well! I like having quicker options for when I'm in a rush and this definitely fits the bill.

Well, that's all for me today. Thank you so much for joining along this week as we have introduced all of this release's new products. I want to say one more great, big thank you to Larissa, Laura, and Tiffany for all of their hard work and creativity this week. Please make sure to visit them and show them some love.

Also, I am going live on Instagram tonight at 8pm to answer any lingering questions you might have about this month's release.

In the meantime, it wouldn't be a grand debut without a grand giveaway - and this is our grandest yet! Leave a comment on this blog post letting us know:

Are you a fan of the Nutcracker Ballet?

Leave your comment before 7am tomorrow (10/5) for your chance to win a $175 gift certificate to our store! The winner will be announced at 9am on tomorrow morning's blog post, right before the kits are available for sale! The winner has 30 days to contact Customer Service (customerservice@poshtadesign.com) to claim their prize. Good luck!