Jack and Mrs. Sprat

I love the various storybook/nursery rhyme characters that Carolyn DeAngelis designed and I try my best to do one each year for my tree.  This year, I chose Jack Sprat and his wife.  I love the vintage feel they have and I chose bright colors.  I love how they turned out! 

Bernie Sanders

Sometimes I peruse felt ornament patterns on Etsy just for fun.  (Mainly when I'm procrastinating about doing something else.)  That's what I was doing when I ran across this pattern for Bernie Sanders.  Regardless of how you voted, this shot of Bernie at the inauguration is forever frozen in history and I thought this pattern perfectly captured it with the right amount of detail and humor.  I wound up making three of them this year for gifts and all the recipients loved it!  The first thing everyone said was, "THE MITTENS!"  

Disclaimer:  I'm just sharing resources here . . . . I don't receive any sort of kickbacks for recommending a pattern.  If I like it, I think one of you might like it, too.  

Thor

During the big quarantine/shut-down of 2020, Caleb came home for about six months.  He's a teacher and all his work was done remotely, so we decided to hunker down together.  We had a great time doing all the same things everyone else did, largely eating too much and binge-watching shows and movies.  We watched all of Schitt's Creek.  Then we made him watch all 11 of the Star Wars movies.  He, in turn, made us watch all 23 of the Marvel movies.  It was hardly a fair trade.  I can't believe I did it and really feel like I need some sort of medal . . . or at the very least a memorial service to mourn the loss of the hours of my life that died a slow, painful death.  

And because we feel the need to commemorate everything with an ornament, the search began for clipart.  Fortunately, I didn't have to work that hard because there were some awesome patterns available on Etsy from a shop called Mimi Boom.  They are done in the style of the Funko Pop figurines and I thought they were cute and had nice details.  And if there are patterns available, why reinvent the wheel?  This pattern was very nice with full color diagrams and clear instructions.  

I started with Thor because he was Caleb's favorite and I think he turned out great!  

DISCLAIMER:  I do not receive any sort of compensation for recommending a pattern:  neither money, nor free patterns.  I'm just sharing resources I've found.  If it's a good pattern, I'll tell you.  If it's not, I'll tell you that, too.  

Village People, Part II

I made the first half of the Village People in 2019 and I did manage to do the second half in 2020.  Take a minute to go back to that original post to refresh your memory.  The second half turned out just as great as the first half.

These are just so hilarious.  I think they should hook up with the Drag Queens and all go our for the night!  It would be really hard for me to pick a favorite because they all have such fun details.  But I think the motorcycle guy might just edge the others out for this:

Don't hate me because I'm secretly trashy.  It just had to be done.  

Here they are, ready to hit the floor at the disco!

(And, yes -- I did take this before attaching

the construction worker's hammer!)

Reminder to clipart designers:  I do not sell the ornaments or the patterns.  I purchase the clipart and use it to make felt patterns.  I profit in no way from anyone else's work.    

Little Leaguer

I wanted to make ornaments for Linus/Daniel for his birthday and he's a HUGE Cleveland Indians fan.  That was a no-brainer:  Little Leaguer.  I love the Carolyn DeAngelis sports figures.  They have nice details that are well worth the effort.  I can't believe that I'd never made this one before now, but somehow it had escaped me.  I had Tyler/Schroeder do a little snooping to find out which variation of the uniform style was Daniel's favorite and this is the final result:

He turned out great and Daniel LOVED him!  And I didn't want him to feel left out after Tyler got two ornaments for his birthday, so he also got a Pete to remind him of our time in Charlie Brown.  His got chives AND a big pencil!

That's a cuticle stick that I cut and painted, in case you're wondering!  

Steppe Brother

I do love my international people and could probably add to that set indefinitely.  I'm always looking at cute clipart of kids from around the world and drooling at the thought of filling a whole tree with those.  I needed to cut out something quickly one day and went back to my Carolyn DeAngelis patterns.  I saw the pattern for Steppe Brother, a Russian Cossack, and decided to whip him up.  I looked at a few Google images for color inspiration and I'm really  happy with how he turned out. 

Jack and Jill

At this stage of the game, I'm designing a lot of my own patterns.  That takes time and I sometimes get caught in need of a new ornament to stitch, but nothing designed and ready.  That's when I reach for one of Carolyn DeAngelis' patterns.

For some reason, I have a fondness for the nursery rhyme/storybook characters.  The last time I visited Ouida, she was working on Jack and Jill and they were super cute, so I put them on the mental to-do list.  The first time this year I needed to cut a pattern ASAP, I reached for them.  

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do color-wise.  They had a lederhosen vibe, but I didn't want them to look like the German couple I already have -- Happy Heidi and Al Pine for you hardcore CDA fans.  I did a quick Google search for some inspiration.  Right away, I saw this:

Exactly what I was NOT going for!  Then I saw this and for some reason, I was hooked.  Maybe it was the vintage feel of it:

 

I used that picture as a guide for making my ornament and I just love it.

And, yes -- they are connected.  So is it "ornaments" or "ornament?"  I haven't attached the hanger yet.  I guess it'll attach to the back of both heads.  

Village People

My kids LOVE the felt ornaments and with each passing year, they grow increasingly competitive and concerned about who will get what when I die.  I make specific ones just for them that they can take for their own trees, but the unspecified ones go on MY tree.  Lately, Caleb thinks if he comes up with an idea, that means the ornaments are his.  WRONG!  Those circus ornaments and me are in a "'til death do us part" relationship.

We were in a deep ornament discussion one day when Caleb said, "I like when you make sets.  It makes me feel like they're collectible."  (Did I mention my kids are weird?)  Then he said, "You should make the YMCA guys."  Or, The Village People, as us old folks like to call them.  I thought, "You know what?  I SHOULD!"  Challenge accepted.  I mean, let's face it  -- Carolyn DeAngelis already did part of the work with the cowboy and the sailor.  How hard could this be?  And I knew I wanted to use beads and sequins because, hello -- who's more flamboyant than The Village People?  I did Google an image for inspiration and when I found this, they practically made themselves:

I have the first three done and he'll get the remaining three next year.  I'm not gonna lie . . . it's gonna be hard for me to hand these over on Thanksgiving because they make me smile every time I look at them.  They're just hilarious.  I reworked the pattern for the cowboy and the sailor, so I'll include all three patterns with this post.  I'll warn you . . . as soon as you scroll down, you're gonna have "YMCA" stuck in your head for the rest of the day.  Sorry in advance.  

Al Ahoy

My youngest nephew, Zach, graduated high school and joined the Navy this year.  No problem picking an ornament for him!  Straight to Carolyn DeAngelis' pattern for Al Ahoy.  I added some stripes and changed the shape of the sleeve a little to mirror Zach's actual uniform.  I think he turned out great and I know Zach will love him!  

Zach and his mom/my sister, Jenny 

Rich Uncle Pennybags

My oldest nephew, Alex, is now 21 and it gets a little tricky thinking of what ornament to make for him at this stage of life.  He'll graduate college in the spring and I've already made an ornament of his school's mascot.  And he's quirky.  This is the child who requested a raccoon in a trash can one year.  I asked him for suggestions for this year's ornament and he said, "make me a guy with a big bag of money."  He's a business major with big plans for the future.

I pondered for a second and the first image that came to mind was the Monopoly man.  Then I remembered the time Alex came up for a couple of days over his Christmas break when he was about ten and the two of us played a game of Monopoly so long and so intense that we forgot to eat lunch.  True story.  So off to Google I went to search for images of the Monopoly man that I could work into an ornament.  And it had to incorporate a money bag, which narrowed the field considerably.

Did you know the Monopoly man has an actual name?  Yeah -- me, neither.  His name is actually Rich Uncle Pennybags.  In case you need that for your appearance on Jeopardy, you're welcome.  He turned out great and I can't wait for Alex to get him.

Since there are a billion images of Rich Uncle Pennybags on the web and since I AM NOT SELLING THIS PATTERN OR PROFITING IN ANY WAY FROM IT, I feel like I can share it with you. 

(Yes . . . I know the dollar sign is backward on the pattern.  That comes from me tracing from the backside and not paying attention.  I'm trusting you'll forgive me this once.)    

Ringmaster/Lion Tamer

Okay . . . I'm not the only one in my house who gets a little excited about felt ornaments.  (We don't get out much.)  Once I said I was making a circus set, everyone started giving me helpful suggestions.  Mostly along this line:

You're making a lion tamer, right? 

You've GOT to make a lion tamer!

You can't have a circus without a lion tamer!

I had already designed a ringmaster because I figure he's the star of the show!  I went through the Deangelis patterns to see what I had that I could adapt and stumbled upon Lucky Larry, the groom.  His jacket was perfect with that lapel situation.  Just needed to add a bowtie.  And different pants.  And boots instead of shoes.  And a top hat.  And a cane in his hand.  No big deal -- right?  

But my crew was still squawking about a lion tamer.  So I did some Googling and ran into a little dilemma.  The ringmaster and the lion tamer apparently shop at the same store.  

See what I mean?  I don't know . . . maybe it really is the same guy doing both jobs in some circuses but my felt ornament people were not meant to multi-task.  I was all ready to just go ahead with the ringmaster as planned and tell the fam to get over themselves.  But I know these people.  Every Christmas for the rest of my life, I'd hear, " You never did make a lion tamer."  So at the last second, I cut a different jacket with one arm going up, cut the cane in half and stuck a piece of black wire in it for a whip, and just used a pipe cleaner for a hoop.  He turned out pretty darn good!  

His body is the standard size I make my ornaments, but the whip and hoop make this ornament look huge!  And guess what I noticed when I got him done?  Foxy also shops at that store -- LOL!!!  

Here are the adaptations I made to Larry to create the new pattern for the Ringmaster/Lion Tamer:

And I figured out how to deal with that top hat so the sides of the head don't pull in like they did on my Good Cheer ornament.  I'll share that in an upcoming post.  And now you can all camp out and wait for the lion!  

Dutch Couple

I haven't done any international people in a while and I decided I wanted to add to that collection.  I like the idea of little groupings within my collection.  I'll make it easier for my kids to divide up the ornaments when I die.  "You get the international people and I get the Peanuts characters."  LOL!

So far, this is what my group includes:

 

Most of those are DeAngelis Patterns -- all except the Thai people and I did them myself.  And once again, I didn't put noses on some of these and I don't know why.  It makes the Thai people look like aliens.  My stitching details have evolved over time.  Anyhoo . . . I was perusing patterns one day looking for something simple and decided to whip up the Dutch Couple:  Dutch Uncle and Della From Delft.  Once again, I drew inspiration from Clif and Ouida.

Clif's Pair

Ouida's Della

You can see that Ouida used the original hair pattern, while I went with an actual braid like I used on the Anna and Elsa Frozen ornaments.  I did a little little Googling and decided to add a white shirt to my Dutch Uncle.  I kinda like Clif's hat with the brim.  Different stitchers add their own unique details!  

Penny

I made this ornament years and years ago -- before I started taking pictures of my completed projects.  It is supposed to be a girl with hair like this:

Both times I've made it, though, I've made it for a boy.  I just took the decoration off the hat cuff and rounded out the hair so it doesn't have that feminine flip.  There are so many ways to tweak these patterns to suit your needs.  It looks just great for Reid's collection of miscellaneous boys!  

Clif has also done this ornament and here is his version:

See how a little detail like making the sleeve a different color than the shirt makes a big difference?

Old MacDonald

There is a whole Old Mac Donald set that Carolyn DeAngelis did with the farmer and all the animals.  I'm doing a collection of assorted boys for my friend's son and he's kind of into farmers right now.  Because I'm not doing the whole set, I wanted the farmer to be a little more special, so I did the dog and attached him.  I asked Rachel what color muck boots Reid has and that's why I did these boots black with green bottoms.  

Pierre

Alex, my oldest nephew, is a sophomore at Ohio University.  I made him an ornament of his school mascot last year.  And now that I type that, I realize that I neither posted it . . . nor took a picture of it.  I'll have to have my sister take a pic and send it to me.  Anyway, since I already made that, it was hard to decide what to do for him this year.  He did a study-abroad trip to France in May and he nearly got a French poodle before I came up with the idea to just do a French guy.  I Googled "French boy cartoon" or something like that and came up with some generic ideas.  Then I took the general features from the DeAngelis Solo Sam and stole the beret from  Marching Brayden.  I added a French flag and . . . PIERRE WAS BORN! 

I did have to stitch to separate the arms because of the stripes and those stripes are individually stitched on.  No fun, I tell you.  But he turned out great and I think Alex will love him.  Because I adapted a DeAngelis pattern, I'm happy to share this one with you.  Make it fit an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and you'll be all set. 

Different Color -- Different Look

I did a couple of duplicates this year and I did the colors differently.  Thought you might like to see how changing the colors can change the look of the ornament.  I first made Wild Willy years ago and gave him an all-denim look.  This year, I changed his clothes up a little.  This is still one of my favorite DeAngelis patterns, though I think that cowboy hat could use a little tweaking.  Maybe the third time will be a charm!  You can also see the different of adding a nose.  

My youngest nephew began vocational school this fall in a fire-fighting program.  Fire Chief Freddy seemed an obvious choice for his ornament!  I wanted him to match Zach's uniform -- which is the tan version -- so I used those colors.  (I have no idea if Zach's helmet is red.  It probably isn't.  That was my festive choice.)  When I first posted this ornament, I remarked that I thought he needed some sort of accessory and contemplated stitching an axe.  Then I saw the version made by a faithful reader, Janet, and she had brilliantly used a piece of shoelace as a hose.  Perfect!

Sea Legs Stout

I've been a little quiet lately, but I've been here stitching!  I've done several that I've done before and I didn't think you needed to see a third mermaid that looks exactly like the others I've done.  I made the mermaid for our oldest, Caleb, who was the musical director for his district's version of "The Little Mermaid" back in the winter. Caleb also requested a pirate, so it was back to the drawing board for that one.  How is it that Carolyn DeAngelis never got around to designing one of those??

Of course, I headed straight to Etsy where I found this clipart from a site called Cutesiness.  I had asked Caleb to pick two features so as not to over-accessorize our pirate friend. His choices were:  eye patch, hook hand, peg leg, parrot, earring, and facial hair.  He chose eye patch, peg leg, and parrot.  This one turned out GREAT and I'm such a fan of that parrot that I may have to turn that into its own ornament!  See what you think . . . 

The hat has a strip of gold across the top.  You couldn't see it in the first photo.  Might have to make that a bit wider the next time.  

 

DISCLAIMERS:

In case anyone happens by and thinks I've stolen someone else's work or thinks I'm profiting from it:

• I purchased the clip-art.  I did not do a "right click/save as."
• I am not selling a pattern made from this clip-art.  I'm not even giving away a pattern made from this clip-art.  
• I am not selling ornaments made from this clip-art.