Woodland Angel Ornament

Hi there, I’m Lucy and I blog over at Patina Paradise. I love to think outside the box when it comes to repurposing things, creating one of a kind decor and painting furniture. I’m not sure about you but even though it is only the beginning of November, I am already in the Christmas crafting mood… I am happy to share with you today a simple Christmas ornament that you could make with your kids or grandkids… a sweet angel with feathers for wings and felt for a dress…

The inspiration came to me last year when I was involved in an ornament exchange. We were asked to find out as much as we could about our ornament exchange partner. I found out that mine had 2 little girls, that the colors they decorated their Christmas tree with were red, green and gold, and that her family was into the outdoors and camping. Seeing as I never get to make things for girls, because I have a boy, I looked at my supplies and decided on a woodland angel.

Woodland Angel Ornament

Here’s what you need for this project:

• popsicle sticks or wooden puppet figures (shown)
• small seashells (optional)
• red felt (or any other color felt)
• craft paint (for painting on the hair)
• fine point permanent markers (for adding on the eyes and mouth)
• glue gun and hot glue
• floral holly pick
• white craft feathers
• gold wire or ring for the halos or small crochet rings
• embellishments of your choice (beads, glitter, sequins, lace, yarn, etc.)
• scrapbook stickers to personalize the angel (optional)

I used wood stick figures that are actually used for making puppets. You should be able to find these at most craft stores.

You begin with a small seashell that you paint a face and some hair onto. I used paint for the hair and a fine point permanent marker for the eyes, nose, and mouth. If you don’t have seashells you could also simply paint the face onto the wooden head of the puppet. Glue the shell onto the stick figure.

The next step is to add a sash-like strip of felt to each side to create the bodice of the dress. You then create the skirt, which you can make as long as you like. It is a little less than half a circle. (See the first photo with the materials displayed). You could cut out a template with some scrap paper so that you don’t waste the felt and cut it too small. Hot glue everything in place.

I dismantled the holly and berries from one another, twisted the 3 holly leaves so they would hold together, and divided the wires so that I had something like a belt to attach to the top of the skirt. If you can’t find any berries, you could use a piece of lace or yarn.

You could stop at this point, but since I wanted it to have an outdoorsy look I added some leftover berry wire. You could also add sequins or if you like some embroidery stitches or glitter puff paint for interest.

Now you add the halo and the feathers using hot glue from behind. The last thing is to add something to hang it with. I used some thin brown string to add a loop for hanging.

Here you can see one of them hanging on their Christmas tree from last year. I made two angels, one for each of my gift exchange partner’s girls and added the initials of each of her daughters to the Holly. I was told that the girls really liked their angels. I am so glad that they did.

They really are simple to make once you get the hang of it. Of course, the kiddos will need supervision with the hot glue depending on how old they are, or you may have to do that part for them. I hope I have inspired you to give them a try!

If you would like more Christmas inspiration and to make a Christmas banner like the one below, I have a step by step guide that you can find here.

Blessings, Lucy

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If you liked this project, check out these other simple Christmas projects!