It’s Day #6 of 30 Days of DIY Designer Ornaments, and we’re glad to have you here!

Have you heard of Suzanis? If you follow interior design trends, I know you have. These vibrant tribal textiles from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries are all the rage in home decor.

Suzanis are richly embroidered pieces crafted in stunning color combinations. The designs have a striking, graphic quality, and often include stylized motifs of the sun and moon, flowers, fruit and leaves. A Suzani bedspread or accent pillow can make a room.

Colorholic that I am, I’m enamored with this joyful explosion of hues. So today, vintage Suzanis inspire our ornament designs! Trust me, you might get hooked on these. I wanted to block out the world and design more, try more color combinations and deck an entire tree in Suzanis.

But like the accent pillow, a few will make a big impact. So put aside a couple hours, and have fun crafting these little gems.

Materials and Tools:

• Our Suzani Snowflake Ornaments Printable Patterns (PDF)

Suzani Snowflake Ornament 1
 
 
 
 
Suzani Snowflake Ornament 2
 
 
 
 
Suzani Snowflake Ornament 3
 
 
 

• Colored Pencils
• Sheets of Soft and Stiff Felt in Assorted Colors
• Small, detail-cutting scissors
• Scotch tape
• “Mini” hole punch
• Tacky craft glue
• Foam brush
• Waxed paper
• Thin wire & wire cutters, or ornament hanger

Instructions:
1. Print our Suzani Snowflake Patterns (PDF) (links above) onto light card stock if you have it. No worries – regular copy paper works just fine.

2. Plan your color scheme. Grab your colored pencils, markers – whatever, and color in the completed design on your pattern, using colors of the felts you have. (Note: It will strengthen your ornament if you plan to make from the stiff felt one of the larger “outside”
pattern pieces.)

Have fun! You might need to print a few pattern copies and play away until you get a color combo that you like. You’ll find lots of inspiration for Suzani colors online. Or skip this step and use the colors I show here.

3. Cut out the pattern pieces. From the paper pattern, cut out the individual paper shapes. Just cut quickly outside the detail of the pattern; you will cut the details later when you cut the felt (step 5).

4. Make little scotch tape loops and tape each pattern piece to the felt color you chose.

5. With your detail scissors, carefully cut each pattern piece from the felt. Refer to the photos – for some shapes you will need to cut multiple pieces. For the tiny dots and leaves for Suzani Snowflake 2, just freehand cut those rather than trying to tape on the tiny pattern.

6. With your tiny hole punch, punch a hole through the paper and the felt for the flowers and other shapes that have a small circle in the center.

7. Lay out your ornament to test the placement of your pieces.

8. Assemble the ornament. Starting with the largest piece and layering on from back to front, glue the pieces together. Apply craft glue to the back of each piece, and spread it with your foam brush. Refer to the pattern for placement, and press each piece down firmly.

9. Press the ornaments to dry. For good adhesion, sandwich each ornament in a folded piece of waxed paper, and press under some heavy books.

10. When the glue is dry Punch a hanging hole in each ornament. Attach wire or an ornament hanger, and Voila! Kaleidoscopic color for your tree!

Thanks for crafting with us on Day #6 of 30 Days of DIY Designer Ornaments! Enjoy the colors of the season.

Next time meet us for Day #7 and some family fun….