Santa's Reindeer

By: Debra Quartermain for Styrofoam Brand Foam

Make a cute Christmas scene with Santa and his reindeer. This cute decoration is made with felt, beads and buttons. Make it your own and have a great Christmas scene.

Materials:

STYROFOAM* Brand Foam:
- Balls, one each: 5"; 4"; 3"; 2"; 1", three
- Egg, 4"
Black beads, two each: 6mm; 8mm
Black buttons, 1/2", two
Felt: 45" white plush, 1/2 yd.; 9" x 12" sheets: red sparkle, three; dk. green, one
Red pom poms, one each: 1/4"; 1/2"
Embroidery floss: black; white
Jingle bells, 10mm, eight
Forked twigs, 3" long, two
Serrated knife
Candle stub or paraffin
Sewing needle
Strong white thread
Fine-line black permanent marker
Pencil
Ruler
Compass
Scissors
Extra-long straight pins
Low-temp glue gun and glue sticks
Thick, white craft glue
Powdered cosmetic blush (optional)
Pattern

Steps:

SNOWMAN

Wax serrated knife with candle stub or paraffin. Cut small slices from top and bottom of 5", 4", and 3" balls (snowman body). Glue balls together, smallest on top.
Use patterns to cut felt as indicated; set aside candy cane and reindeer base.
Use compass to draw circles onto white plush felt: one 12" (body); one 6" (head); three 3" (pom pom/hands). In addition, cut 2"-wide strips from plush felt of following lengths: 18" (bottom jacket trim); 9" (hat trim); 6" (front jacket trim); two 5" strips (sleeve trim).
From red sparkle felt, cut two each of the following: 5" x 9" rectangles (coat); 4" x 5" rectangles (sleeves); 3/8" x 12" strips (garland). From green felt, cut three 3/8" x 12" garland strips.
Using strong thread, sew gathering stitches around 12", 6", and 3" plush circles. Place bottom of foam body in center of 12" felt circle; pull stitches tight around foam. Take a few stitches to secure. Repeat for head, using 6" felt circle. Cover 1" foam balls in same way for hat pom pom and hands; set aside.
Referring to diagram, use scissors point to poke holes for eye beads; glue 8mm beads into holes, pushing firmly to give dimensional appearance.
Using six strands of floss, insert needle through excess plush at neck, pulling needle out at one end of mouth. Sew running stitch as shown; bring needle back down to bottom of head and secure. Use fingertip to blush cheeks, if desired. Glue nose to face.
For jacket, glue 5" x 9" rectangles together, slightly overlapping, to measure 5" x 18". Fold long edges of 18" plush strip to center, wrong sides together, to measure 1" x 18". Repeat for all trim strips, making width 1". Glue 18" trim piece around bottom of jacket.
Sew gathering stitch along top long edge of jacket, 1/4" from edge. Pull stitches tight to gather jacket around neck. With jacket opening at center front, smooth and adjust gathers. Overlap and glue front edges closed. Glue front jacket trim in place, trimming excess as needed. Glue two buttons to trim as shown.
Glue one sleeve trim strip to one 5" edge of each sleeve. Slightly overlapping edges, glue 4" edges of sleeve/trim together, forming tubes. Glue hands into ends of sleeves.
Sew gathering stitch around upper sleeve ends; pull stitches tight. Glue sleeves to neck edge on each side of snowman. Glue collar around neck, overlapping at front. Glue two holly leaves to center of collar as shown.
Glue hat trim along bottom edge of hat. In same way as sleeves, glue hat edges together, forming tube. Sew gathering stitch around top of hat; pull stitches tight. Glue plush pom pom to tip of hat. Glue hat to head. Glue holly and berries to hat as shown. Spot glue tip of hat to front hat trim.
For garland, cut one 3/8" green strip and one 3/8" red strip in half to measure 6" long. Glue 6" lengths to ends of 12" lengths of same colors, creating 18" strips. Braid three strips together to length of 12"; knot and glue ends to secure. Glue jingle bells to garland, 1-1/2" apart. Glue garland into snowman's hands.

REINDEER
Use compass to draw circles onto white plush felt: one 10" (body); one 5-1/2" (head). From green felt, cut one 1-1/2" x 9" strip (scarf); fringe 1/2" at each end of strip.
Slightly flatten smaller end of egg (neck).
Sew gathering stitch around plush felt circles. Place smaller end of foam egg in center of 10" circle, and 2" foam ball in center of 5-1/2" circle. Pull stitches tight. Glue head to body. Glue felt base to bottom of body.
Referring to diagram, use scissors point to poke holes for eye beads; glue 6mm beads into holes, pushing firmly to give dimensional appearance. Glue 1/2" pom pom nose and 1/4" pom pom mouth to face as shown. Poke small holes in top of head for antlers; glue twigs into place. Use fingertip to blush cheeks, if desired.
Glue candy cane to one end of scarf, just above fringe. Using six strands of floss, insert needle at back of scarf. Stitch back and forth across cane, creating stripes; knot and clip threads. Tie scarf around neck.