"Won't You Guide My Sleigh Tonight?!?"

Are you getting ready for Christmas yet? I have, mentally that is. I have been mentally placing all of my decorations merrily around the house for a few weeks now. I guess next week I will have to start decorating. We will be hosting a Sunday School Christmas party in a couple of weeks and I really don't want to leave the decorating until last minute. If I start early and I realize that I don't have enough vintagey Shiny Brites, Gurley candles, Elves, Dept 56 houses, garland, Santas, Nutcrackers, Putz houses, CDs (of course CDs aren't vintage but they play vintage music, right?), records, or any other vintagey goodness, I will still have plenty of time to order off of Etsy, Ebay or search a few antique stores before the party! Thinking ahead....

Don't you just love the old Rudolph the Red Nose Movie? It is one of my favorites. I was always fascinated by the animation. Anyway, I thought that a little reindeer in the likeness of Rudolph  was needed to add to my collection of ever growing Trinket boxes. He may be a little more time consuming than the others but he is so adorable. Making 8 black nosed reindeer and one with a red nose would be "sew" fun!

 

 

 

Use a 2 1/2" x 3 1//2" paper mache oval box. Paint the bottom red and the top white. You can use the icicle pattern from the Snowman Trinket box pattern (here) if you want or you can just use your pinking shears-that would be adorable too! The holly leaves and berries  are from the Snowman Shaker pattern (here). Mod podge the painted lid and box. When it is dry add another layer of Mod Podge to the top of the lid and sprinkle glitter. Let dry.

 

Print to 8 1/2"x11" sheet of paper. Or you can just blow it up to size you want on the screen and lightly trace (this is what I do when I am too lazy to run downstairs and retrieve something off the printer :)

A buttonhole stitch (2 strands of embroidery floss) is used throughout. Stem stitch the mouth.

This photo shows the gussets already sewn in place. If you are not familiar with gussets I hope these instructions will help. If you are still confused, please leave me a comment and I will try to explain better.  Take gusset piece #1 and line up "a" of gusset to "a" of body, "b" of gusset piece and line up to "b" of body and so on. Stitch on gussets. Now sew on the other side of the body- starting with the back of the neck and going toward the nose -matching the nose to nose and bottom to bottom. After you have stitched the head together stuff it. Then continue stitching, stuffing as you go along. If your gussets are too long and tend to stick out, just secretly snip them off after you have made the body. Nobody will ever know about your secret snipping.

Legs:

Stitch the legs but do not stitch the hoofs (or hooves) closed. It is not necessary to stitch them closed. Because we will be gluing Rudolph to the lid of the box. Lightly stuff legs. Glue legs to body.

Ears:

After cutting the ears out of felt, add a little bit of white paint on the inside.. The pattern piece shows where the white will go. Paint with a light hand. If you mess up, you can always cut another ear :)

I like to pinch the ear bottom and take a few tiny stitches. This will help the ear to "cup" a little. Now you can just glue the ears on.

 

 

Antlers:

Cut out antlers from a darker brown than the body and glue between ears. Look at photo for placement.

Eyes:

Cut out eyeball from white felt. Now for the center of the eye (the black part) I used the same pattern and cut out the teardrop shape and then trimmed this shape to make the iris. Glue in place and then glue on head.

Mouth:

Using two strands of back embroidery floss, stem stitch a mouth. I didn't draw this on the pattern but you should be able to "eyeball" the mouth easily.

 

Nose:

Tiny purchased pom pom. Glue in place.

Tail:

Sew two tail pieces together. Glue on.

Jingle Bell collar:

Small piece of red ribbon with tiny jingle bells sewn on. You could also glue bells on. Glue one end of collar onto back of neck. Pin and let dry. Bring other end around and glue it in place.

Placement of facial features.

 

 

Finish:

Glue on: felt icicles, Rudolph and holly leaves and berries.

 

 

The Whole Jolly Gang. Don't you just love Elizabeth's little reindeer. He's beyond adorable!

 

Hope you enjoyed this fun tutorial! Let me know if you make any of the Trinket Boxes. I would love to see them!

Have an awesome and crafty night!

Holly