Oh, Christmas Tree...

A long time ago,

before she gave birth to eight boys

and turned into a full time chef,

my sister used to cross-stitch.

Now she mends socks.

Actually, she does sew,

but it's mostly clothes for herself

to keep herself sane from all the sports talk.

But at one point

she cross-stitched onto this paper

and made this ornament:

I'm not sure how I got it,

but I have this vague recollection of finding it in one of her trashcans

when she was packing to move.

This is proof that I have trash-picking problems.

But it amazes me how this paper ornament has made it through many Christmases

and it makes me smile every time I pull it out of my ornament box.

Over at Funky Junk Interiors blog,

she had a link party of home-made ornaments.

I'm late for it,

but as I looked at my tree

I realized there are a lot of memories

and home-made ornaments on our tree.

I wanted to do an "ornament" post last year,

but don't think I ever managed to get it done,

so

here it goes!

The same busy sister glued pieces of material onto blocks to make these:

My mom traced my kids' hands onto fabric one year 

and made these.

 

 I thought they were such a sweet idea!

My mother-in-law and I got together one year

before I had any kids yet,

 

 and tackled the important task of figuring out how to make
these pretty pin-studded bulbs
as we made a fun memory.

Violet and I collected these pinecones from one of our trees

a few years back.

She painted glue and glittered them

and then I helped ad ribbon to hang them.

She sold some at the craft sale

and I got to keep the rest.

I also got to keep the ornaments we made

from tiny clothespins.

 They were left-over from her 5th birthday princess party.

I made a bunch of these for the guests to chose from

as the pendants for the beaded necklaces they made.

 

 Perhaps we should ad wings to them!

 This year,

these snowman heads were the ornaments she chose to make:

 

 she was super happy she made her goal

by selling $13 worth of ornaments

(her goal was $10).

 I helped her with these a little because the "clay" I use to make the 

facial features is nasty stuff;

but it sticks the best.

We just got some cheap plastic ornaments,

base-coated them with white paint mixed with plaster Paris,

and then I added the features before she finished by rolling them in clear glitter,

and then painting their faces.

The extras came in handy for her church teachers.

I used the same "clay"

on my gourd ornaments:

for the snowman's face,

the penguin's beak,

and

the goose's legs and beak.

There are other ornaments that were left-over from past years as well

and it's fun to remember them.

 Levi even attempted to make some this year,

but he lost interest after base-coating his blue;

so Violet finished them off

and claimed the money for the two that sold

(thanks, Grandma!)

 I have lots of other fun home-made ornaments,

especially by another super sweet crafting friend,

but I couldn't find them on this tree.

My daughter didn't want to hang all the ornaments on the tree

so she must have left some of those in the box.

Or they may actually be on there,...

 somewhere.

 Perhaps I'll do a post on them next year.

Linking up to these places:

Hip Homeschool Moms
We are that Family
Raising Homemakers
Not Just a Housewife
Homestories A to Z
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Amaze me Monday
BNOTP
Made by you Monday

Frugal girls

lollyjaneboutique

Funky Junk Interiors