Skip to main content

Wrensday: Favorite Ornaments


Years ago Hubs and I made ornaments for our friends and family for Christmas gifts.

Our dining room table was our workshop for weeks. 

We would start with wooden birdhouse shapes from the craft store and add other odds and ends until we had an ornament we were happy with. 

This ornament started with "stones" cut out of different shades of leather.  We filled in around the leather pieces with puffy paint "mortar".  The roof is a small piece of copper with tiny nails to hold it down.  This stone house is one of my favorites!


This ornament was made to look like a little gingerbread house.  We used a nail to hammer indentations into the wood to mimic gingerbread (or graham crackers).  More puffy paint looks like frosting.  We added pompom wreaths, tiny bows, and tiny candy canes for decorations.  The shutters are adorned with heart shaped jewels.  Fifteen years later, this ornament looks good enough to eat!


What are your favorite ornaments?

Comments

  1. Not every year, but most year's we have something "big" happen - a move, a baby born, even a death (which seem to happen around the holidays in our family). I love getting ornaments to remember such events or the loved one that passed. It is like looking at history on the tree. One of my favorites though is a little wooden stocking with our family name on it that my mom gave to me the Christmas just prior to our wedding. It was so exciting to know I already had an ornament for the tree we'd have for our first Christmas as husband and wife and it bore the name we would share. Funniest thing is the ornament wasn't even the gift - she merely used it as the gift tag on top of the package!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's easy! My favorite ornaments are the ones you make!

    Do you or have you ever done a post on how to wrap gifts 'the right way'?

    Send help if ya do!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those are cute - I can't believe you made them!

    In our last move we (mom and I), somehow managed to lose ALL of our ornaments from childhood on...we are all bummed and starting from scratch. Unfortunately it's really hard to find the unique kinds of ornaments we used to have. Everything is so cheap now.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I'd love to know what you're thinking. Please feel free to leave ideas and comments.

Popular posts from this blog

How To Make Your Own Exercise Bike For Next To Nothing

Remember back in April when I had a kidney transplant?  Well, the kidney is doing great (thanks, Cathy , for taking such good care of it when you owned it).  There was one little glitch, however.  During surgery, the retractors they used caused some nerve damage in my right leg.  When I woke up from surgery, I couldn't move or feel my leg.  The docs felt like the feeling would come back but the paralysis had them stumped.  A visit to a neurologist ruled out a stroke and a CT scan showed some fluid which was pressing on L4 and L5 (medical talk which means I couldn't feel or move part of my leg).  The prognosis is good and I'm recovering pretty quickly.  In fact, I've left my cane behind and I'm walking freestyle without falling.  My next goal is to be able to drive. I've been itching to get back to exercising (physical therapy doesn't count) because my medication causes me to gain weight and I need to burn some calories.  Running? - nope.  Walking? - can&

A Designer's Secret For A Taller Bed

  Several years ago Hubs and I spent almost a year looking for a bedroom set that we both loved.  He wanted clean lines and dark wood.  I wanted curves and a "tall" bed.  Of course, there was no perfect bedroom set but we were able to compromise on a set that we both liked.  My main wish was for a bed that I could "climb up into".  The problem with that wish was that most of the "tall" beds were four poster beds and Hubs was not in the mood for that.  We found a Thomasville bed on display at a local furniture store and it fit the clean lines that Hubs wanted and it was "tall"  enough to suit me.  The problem was that once we received the bed we ordered in our home, it wasn't as tall as I had remembered it being.  My heart sunk!  I went back to the furniture store to look at the display.  Their bed was much taller than our bed.  Hmmm. . . what was different? I got nosey and lifted up the comforter on the bed.  It revealed their secret

Plans For A DIY Exercise Bike Stand

  Thank you to so many of you who emailed me about plans for the DIY Exercise Bike Stand .  I apologize that it has taken me so long to get the measurements to you, but they are finally here!   The wood was purchased at Home Depot and the bike pegs were purchased at Walmart in the bike section.    The bike we used for this project is a 24" 12 speed bike (I'm a shorty).  I used the hardest gear while riding, but this set-up does not allow you to really get much resistance (for building muscle).  It was great for getting my legs moving after some nerve damage.  I also wanted to burn calories and get my heart rate up and this did the trick.    If you have any questions, just shoot me an email.