Keep your hands and your hearts warm this winter with these homemade hand warmers! This would make a great last minute holiday gift, or plan ahead and make this for your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day.
It requires a little bit of sewing, but if you have a sewing machine this project would be even easier. Sorry, no gluing allowed.
You will need:
– Felt (in colors of your choice) or you could use Fleece. Make sure it is non-synthetic, otherwise it could melt in microwave.
– Yarn or embroidery thread for sewing
– Needle
– Cup of uncooked rice
Nothing is cuter and cozier than a sweet little owl and I am providing the template I used to create my owl shaped hand warmers. But you could make any shape you want. The simpler the shape, the less sewing you will need to do.
First, use the template to cut out the shapes from felt. Make sure you cut two pieces for the body. Then begin sewing each piece together. You will want to start by sewing the heart to the tummy, then the tummy to the top body piece, then the eyes, then the beak. I used a small tapestry needle and 2-ply yarn to stitch each piece together. Again, much easier if you have a sewing machine. But you could also just make a simple heart shape and use a blanket stitch to sew the edges together.
Before you finish sewing the two body pieces together, fill with rice then sew closed.
When ready to use, heat in microwave for approx. 30 seconds and enjoy up to 30 minutes of heat.
Make “His & Her” owls for a couples gift! Or one for each of your children to keep their hands warm while walking to school or waiting for the bus.
Need other handmade gift ideas? #MyFavoriteBloggers has a great roundup of 12 DIY gifts under $20!

Awwww … love these little guys 🙂
sweet;-)
What a cute n clever idea for stocking stuffers, gift toppers, how about slipping them into a mug along with some home made cocoa for a teacher or a co worker? I love the idea of saving these back for valentines too! Sarah, you always make me smile!
These are so perfect. I just made my good friend an owl hat (I know a lot of people were having issues, but using worsted weight yarn my gauge matched yours perfectly), these would be perfect to go with the hat.
I make neck warmers with the same rice stuffing. One tip is that you can use tea to make them smell nice. I snipped open a couple of tea bags and dumped the tea in with the rice. It subtly scents them when they're warmed up. The good thing about this is that you can use up those weird bags of tea in the back of your pantry – I had a whole bunch of cheap lemon tea that I used, and it smelled great! I'd say 1/2-1 bag of tea in each hand warmer would be more than enough.
neat idea. thanks so much. I know just where to look.
Know when you see the postman across the street and he is packages and your excited, hoping one is yours? Thants how I feel when I open my email and see one from your page. I LOVE THESE!!! I am going to make football ones for my boys and then these adorable owls for my girls and me! you ROCK!!!
Hugs!
great,love them.
I always love your posts. Thanks so much.
What kind of felt are you using?
This is such a cute and simple project! And a very useful one! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
These are great – I made a bunch last night! Perfect for all those little secret santa's we all have…. A tea bag in the rice worked great (dry coffee was great too)… They are adorable and perfect for the chill while the car warms up or at a cold desk!
Thanks for sharing!
I love these! What a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
I LOVE this. So adorable! I'm hoping to make one for my mom's stocking this year 🙂
You're so on the ball – V-day already? 🙂 These are super cute, thanks for sharing the template. And I'll have to look into embedding through Scribd. I keep getting people who ask me to email them because they can't access my documents on Scribd. Anyways, saw you on craftgawker while I was stalking my own submissions and thought I'd say hi!
Where did you find your felt? I've looked around and cannot find anything non-synthetic.
What a cute idea!! Love the addition of adding tea like Spangled suggested and making a neck warmer too. Love finding a muse and giving me inspiration..thank you!!!
I wonder, could you possibly use something like lavendar or peppermint extract to the rice?
Sarah these owls are so darn cute! Thanks for not only inspiring me but including the template! Happy Thursday!
Thank you so much for posting the potholders. They were my Mom's favorite I made them for her years ago and they last forever. I had misplaced the pattern so I was excited to see them. I have received many of great patterns from your site and the best part is you do them free.. Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to a lady who makes people smile throughout the year.. 🙂
These are soooo adorable!
I love these owls, and they look simple to sew too. I can imagine a whole army of little girls wanting one of these, or rather, two of them, one for each coat pocket!
These are fabulous, Sarah! I love them! All-things-owls are welcome in my house!
I absolutely LOVE felt creations – – and this may be just my "gateway" into embroidery projects. Who can resist a felt owl handwarmer?
These are adorable! I can't wait to make some!!
These are so cute, I am making some for Christmas gifts right now:) Thanks for the template too!! By the way I found you through Pinterest.
I love this little hand warmer… but Scribd isn't letting me download it. 🙁
New site design is very beautiful! And owls are so adorable ^_^
Hello! Where did you buy your nonsynthetic fleece/fabric? I found 100% polyester fleece in Jo-ann and Michaels only.
These owls are just the thing to help use up a lot of scraps and make. Thinking of making
some in , cats , dogs, fox faces for the kids in the hospital and donating them at Christmas time to the childrens ward here in our hospital that’s in our county.Think the children will love them. I will be looking forward to more of your ideas. I’m 76 and I don’t have much to spend for freebies but this is such a great way to share with others. Thanks for your talent and for sharing it with us.
Phyllis Smith
It’s great that you share with us.
i want o make it, it’s pretty.
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it’s a nice dress.
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great post