Mailbox Gnomes

 

I found this glass terrarium on clearance last year but didn't find the right inspiration for it. I'd picked up quite an assortment of odds and ends, including these gnomes, but nothing was coming together. Once a mail scene occurred to me, I knew that was the right theme. I was hoping to find a doll house mailbox, but the one at Hobby Lobby was too large, as the terrarium is only about 3.5" tall. I made the mail box out of cardboard. I was going to make tiny mail, but I found the mail in the doll house accessories while looking for a mail box.

Christmas Octopus Ornament

 

When I found this octopus key chain at Hobby Lobby, I was planning to give to gift it as a key chain, but then it occurred to me that I could dress it up for Christmas and turn it into an ornament. Initially I thought about putting a Santa hat on it, but it has a big head, and the key chain part didn't help. I am very pleased with the results. It is about 3.5" wide.

Embellished Felt Stocking

Amanda and I were able to exchange ornaments in person this year. We moved again this year, and she visited the area twice this year for work.

Glitter Foam Snowflake

This ornament required a video tutorial, which is not my favorite way to learn, but I was pleased with the results. The tutorial does not include dimensions, but I started out with 3" squares. It does have a foam circle on the back, but I started out by gluing all the pieces to the back of the rhinestone, which I think made it easier and looks better. 

Glitter Foam Tree

My glitter foam tree did not come out looking quite like the template I followed. I am not sure I used the same size circles, but it ended up looking much more tightly glued together.

Glitter Foam Gnome

This year I focused on sheets of glittery foam as my medium of choice for the ornament exchange. I bought some last year but the ornament I tried to make did not end up working out. This gnome pattern was intended for felt, but it was easily adaptable to foam. Using a rhinestone-like gem for the nose made it lay flatter and goes nicely with the glitter. I have no idea how I would have cut a wooden bead in half.

A Very Cross-Stitch Christmas

Amanda has a long track record of creating cross-stitched ornaments for our exchange. After several years of procrastination, I finally made two tiny cross-stitched ornaments for Amanda, so naturally she sent me two much bigger cross-stitch creations! She selected the succulents because I have a bad track record with plants and managed to kill the succulents I bought earlier this year. She titled this ornament "Succulents you can't kill (a terrarium in cross-stitch)" or "How I spent 30+ hours of my life in December 2022." She estimates it actually took longer than that. I appreciate all her time and effort because they will last me forever!

Penguin Cocoa Mug Ornament

 

I have wanted to make a cocoa mug ornament before, but didn't necessarily want to go through the effort of working out the dimensions. I started with a toilet paper tube cut in half, then I rolled up some quilt batting scraps to fill it out and glued a pieces of brown felt to the top. Next I cut the felt to size, whip-stitched it and folded it over, then whip-stitched it to a circle to create the mug and inserted the cocoa. I rolled some felt to create the handle and glued it in place, then stitched in on. I wanted to decorate the mug, but didn't settle on a design until after I'd stitched it. (The penguin brads were previously used for stockings.)  I considered using pompoms for marshmallows, but ended up rolling felt strips and gluing them in place. The cocoa insert is only glued in where I inserted the baker's twine for the hanger.

 

 

Finished size: 2.5" high by 2" wide, plus handle

Cross-Stitched Metal Discs

I found these 2" metal discs on clearance at Joann's three years ago, because I know at least two Christmas ornament making seasons have gone by without using them. The first year I didn't even really try. Last year I did settle on the mail box design, but then I just couldn't bring myself to get started or commit to colors or something. This year, I finally sucked it up and it really wasn't too bad! After that, I was motivated to pick out and execute the cactus design fairly quickly, though I decided not to bother with a background. I glued felt circles on the back to finish them off.

Air Mail Ornaments

While cleaning out my parent's basement last winter, we found some airmail envelopes which I happily claimed to repurpose. After cutting out the air mail logo, I mod podged one directly on to the one glass heart I had left (previously used for sprinkles and spools of ribbon). I mod podged another logo onto card stock and glued it on to a wooden spool.

Reindeer Glitter Wreath

I used these 3" wreaths years ago to make simple ornaments with fake flowers glued to the top where the button is in this one, so I've probably had this one left over since about 2006. I had some glittery reindeer from the fireplace Christmas "ornament" of 2017. I tied on the beads, and the reindeer fit nicely in place, but once I glued on the bow and the heart button, I decided to glue everything in place.
 

Weihnachtswichtelchen

"Weihnachtswichtelchen" is my new favorite word. I made a set of these little elves for Amanda and knew I would have to make a set for myself as well, so I used different beard shapes. I did not bother blanket stitching the faces, thought I did blanket stitch the edges of the bodies on the machine. I cut a couple layers of quilt batting to fit to use as stuffing. Conveniently I had matching felt, star buttons, and twine on hand.

Finished size: 2" wide at base x 5.5" tall

Woven Hexie Stamp Ornament

I followed a tutorial for weaving this ornament. I was able to do it without the special weaving tool, though I'm sure that would have been easier than using tweezers. I also used masking tape to hold it in place instead of pins. This is a scaled back version of the ornament in the tutorial. When I drew out the grid, I realized it would be a rather large ornament, so I made the strips 1" wide instead. It's still 5" across and 6" tall. I machine stitched the binding to the front and then hand stitched it to the back. The binding was probably trickier than the weaving, even without the special tool. It's a very reversible ornament. I used a button to attach the ribbon instead of a grommet. This postage stamp fabric was last seen in a hexagon shaped ornament in 2018.

A Trio of Sequin Balls

 

This is not the most original Christmas ornament design, since I made a sequin ornament for Amanda last year. However, the first ornament I made did not work out, and I didn't have much more time to be creative since we were moving again and I needed to get this year's ornaments in the mail before that happened. Perhaps I will try the other design again next year and see if I can figure out where I went wrong when I have more time. As for this year, she will probably be more excited about the box I'm wrapping these in!

Sparkly Sequin Ornament

Over the summer I found a bunch of sequins on clearance at Hobby Lobby, along with these colored plastic sequin pins, which I did not know existed. I had been wanting to make Amanda an ornament like this for awhile, and here was the perfect opportunity. If I'd have had more of these pins, I would've made one for myself as well! 

Postage Stamp Bird Ornaments

I made these birds for me and Amanda back in March, when I was on a bird ornament kick after finding this tutorial. I used some postage stamp fabric to make them postage themed.

Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments

2019 had barely even ended when I started these ornaments. I saw these little hoops at Hobby Lobby and decided I would make tiny cross-stitched postage-themed designs for Amanda, incorporating some tiny heart buttons I had on hand.

Bird Ornaments

I made bird ornaments for Claire and Lucy with fabric matching the quilts I made for them.

Rainbow Bird

I was looking for a bird-shaped pin cushion pattern when I found this tutorial. There were also instructions for turning it into an ornament, so of course that's what I did. This one is for a coworker's birthday, but I plan to make several more for Christmas!

Bird Stockings

More stocking mania! These stockings will be sent to friends.