Christmas Ornament Exchange 2012

Amanda also made an adorable button ball by attaching some of her extensive collection of buttons to a styrofoam ball using pins with pretty colored heads. It makes for a lovely effect with all the different colors.

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2012

This year Amanda sent me this lovely flower ball, made by pinning little fake flower buds to a styrofoam ball with pretty pearl head pins. She said she saw an example that used paper flowers, but she thought that paper would get crushed when it was stored so this was a better option.

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2012

This year Amanda and Chris sent a waterless LEGO Santa snowglobe! It's just too cute! I'm so glad I was able to get a picture of it without a horrible glare! Merry Christmas!

Merry and Bright Felt Tree Garland

I bought these tiny star buttons (only 3/8" tall) on clearance a while ago and when I saw this garland, I knew it would be the perfect project. However, the Noodlehead pattern uses equilateral triangles, and I wanted my trees to be taller and skinner, so I used an isosceles triangle. My fabric triangles have 2" bases and are 2.5" tall. The felt triangles have 3" bases and are 3.5" tall (plus 1/2" for the trunk). Instead of sewing down the fabric all at once, I first sewed down the trunks with brown thread, then sewed down the trees with matching colored thread. I also simply layered in two triangular pieces of quilt batting before sewing. It was very tempting to make them into individual ornaments, but I think part of their appeal is how nice the colors look together. I strung them on some metallic ribbon and added two silver star buttons to the end, with tiny clothes pins glued to the back for hanging.

Tiny Spool Tree

This was the first ornament I made for the 2012 Ornament Exchange. I was digging through my stash of supplies looking for ideas, and I found a whole bunch of the tiny wooden spools that I used for my yo-yo pumpkins. I usually brainstorm my own ideas, but I was rather uninspired this year, so I googled "spool crafts" and found lots of ideas, but I liked this little tree best. Conveniently, I had everything I needed on hand, and the ribbon from my ribbon tree was the perfect size. The spools are only half an inch tall, so the entire ornament is only 2.5" high.

Candy Cane Spool Wreath

While searching for spool crafts, I came across this spool wreath and decided to make one using the red ribbon left from the ribbon tree.

Santa Gnome Pattern

Make your own Santa gnome!

Download the pattern.

Supplies:

Felt: red, white, black, yellow, tan  

Embroidery floss: red, black

Other supplies: needle, hot glue gun, stuffing, scissors, ribbon, pins

Santa Gnome

This is my original ornament for the year. I tried to make a gnome ornament for last year's Ornament Exchange using little wooden doll shapes, but it did not work out. I decided to do a felt gnome this year. I was trying to decide on a color scheme when it occurred to me to turn it into a Santa gnome! Unfortunately, it came out a bit crooked, but we'll just say he has a jaunty hat. Santa gnome is about 3" tall.

Use this pattern to make your own Santa gnome!

Button Snowflake

While googling for ornament ideas, I came across this button snowflake, which is perfect for Amanda's love of buttons. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough white buttons for a whole ornament, but I think the blue looks nice and snowy. Accented with rhinestones, it matches my blue ribbon ornaments nicely. I didn't have enough buttons to cover the back, but I don't think it's necessary for it to be double-sided. Also as a result of the button quantity, mine only has 8 spokes instead of twelve. I also used eye pins instead of a coat hanger. It is 3.5" in diameter.

Kanzashi Christmas Flower

I came across a tutorial for kanzashi flowers and decided to make one for Amanda. I was digging through my stash for an appropriate fabric when I came across this red print. You might recognize it from one of the ornaments Amanda made me in 2010. Last year, she sent me some of her fabric, and I thought it would be perfect for us both to have ornaments using the same fabric.