Twelve Days of Creative Christmas: Day 2

 

My second homemade gift goes to Diane, my other Ornament Swap partner. Diane loves nature and all sorts of trees. After sketching ideas on sticky notes and napkins, and googling nature themed ornaments I came up with the idea of making a little tree stump dressed up as a Christmas tree. Hence, “Christmas Tree in Training” embroidered around the stump’s skirt. For its shining star, I put a plastic tea light sticking out of the stump’s head. I added scrapbooking Christmas light on it and also embroidered a smiling face on the stump. Isn’t he the cutest thing ever? He was chilling on my Christmas tree for a few days before I shipped him out to Diane’s. I miss him so that I’m going to have to make one for myself.

This is what Diane said when she received her “Christmas Tree in Training” ornament, “I got it today! Thank you! It was the end of a very long week, so it was a great surprise! Thanks for the Christmas tissue too! The ornament is just darling and on my tree now! Love it! Merry Christmas!”

I’m glad her “Christmas Tree in Training” ornament lit up her day and her Christmas tree a little more.

Oh, and Hallmark if by chance you happen to fall upon my blog and like what you see, hire me! I would love to create an ornament for you!

To see more ornaments from the Ornament Swap check out Emily and my facebook page, officially called Bee Creative Swaps!

New Ornaments from Ornament Swap

This week I received two new handmade ornaments from both of my partners from the Ornament Swap Emily and I put together. I received a bulb ornaments with different colored hippos painted around it and in between some of them have a flower, a camera, a music note, a heart, and a ball. One hippo even looks like a tiger. I told Diane my favorite animals are hippos and I don’t have a favorite color. I love them all. It was love at first sight when hippos became my favorite animal. My dad took my siblings and I took the LA Zoo when we were kids and I saw this huge gray mass in a tank under water. I don’t know what attracted me to hippos but I just love them. The ornament made its arrival on a perfect day, December 5th. I was having a bad day. I had gotten home from the Chiropractor who told me that my neck was out of ligament and he would have to see me three times a week. My firefighter also told me the Christmas wreath we had made from real pine tree clippings that was hanging on our fireplace had fallen and broken one of my firehouses. From all that negative stuff, my hippo ornament brightened up my day.

The other ornament I received was from Tristin. I made her the “Princess in Tower” ornament, which she received yesterday and loved. Tristin made me a sock monkey with a mustache made out of clay and bottle caps that said, “Stashing through the snow…” and “2012.” I’m very proud of Tristin. I know she was having trouble with the ornament swap. She says she isn’t crafty but she is. She did a wonderful job making me my ornament, even though her husband helped her a little. I love my sock monkey ornament! I love sock monkeys because they are one of those old homemade toys, made out of socks. For some weird reason I also love mustaches. They make me laugh.

Do you have a homemade ornament hanging on your Christmas tree this year? I have two new ones I absolutely love. Thank you Diane and Tristin!

Twelve Days of Creative Christmas: Day 1

I believe the best gifts are those that cannot be bought, like family pictures, heart felt letters, home cooked goodies, heirlooms, and my favorite handcraft gifts. This holiday my goal is to make at least twelve homemade gifts to give to my family and friends.

My first homemade gift is an ornament of a princess with flowy long hair. She lives in a tower where her favorite flowers, sunflowers, grow around it. This “Princess in Tower” ornament was made for Tristin, one of my Ornament Swap partners and she is also one of my employees. Her favorite flowers are sunflowers and she has beautiful long hair.

The idea to make this ornament came from Pinterest. Click here to see my inspiration. I can’t take all the credit for myself.

I used felt to make the ornament and I hand embroidered the sunflowers. This ornament took lots of time and patience. My firefighter asked me if it was a toy. It does look like something a child would use to play dolls with. He also told me to stop looking at it constantly, that it wasn’t going to change. I kept looking at it because I was very happy how it turned out. Sometimes I tell myself, “I can’t believe I made that. It looks so good.”

All of my handcrafted gifts have my initials on them and the year they were made. That way people will never forget who made it for them and when it was made. I will give Tristin her ornament today at our work’s Christmas party. I know she’ll love it!

If you're interested in a custom “Princess in Tower” ornament, please contact me for pricing. 

Ornament Swap Sign Ups!

I know, I know, Halloween was just the over day but next thing you know Christmas will be here too. So, why not add some new ornaments to your Christmas tree and give some out too, with The Morose Bee & Creativity Lizette’s first Christmas Ornament Swap!

How It Works:
You’ll get paired up with two people. You’ll make three ornaments, one for each of your partners and one to keep for yourself. The ornaments can be all the same or different to meet the taste of each partner. Then, you’ll mail out the ornament to your partners. In the end you’ll have three ornaments to hang on your Christmas tree. Swap participates must be US residents only.

Rules:
Sign ups open now until Saturday, November 10th.
Sign up by emailing me at creativitylizette(at)yahoo(dot)com.

You will be given the names and e-mails of your partners by Wednesday, November 14th. From there you'll contact them to ask for likes/dislikes and their address.

You should make and ship your ornaments no later than Friday, December 7th. That way everyone will have at least two full weeks of display his or her wonderful homemade ornaments before Christmas.

Any questions, feel free to contact Emily or myself.

Get into the Holiday spirit and sign up!