A New Finish For An Old Ornament

Last year, while going through some stitching stuff, I found some ornaments that I stitched back in 1997.

Remember these?

I hadn't completed the stitching on the top one, and it's not really cross stitch but stitching done on canvas.  No, I still haven't finished stitching it yet.  I figure it's been sitting around for 16 years, what's a few months years months more?  Put that one in the WIP file, or would it be a UFO?  I made the one in the lower right hand corner into an ornament and posted about that.  Well, I finally got around to ornamentizing another one.  Hah!  I made up a word.

I like to find different ways of making ornaments, and this idea came out of nowhere.  I stretched the fabric over a piece of medium weight cardboard and used my favorite tape - Terrifically Tacky Tape - to hold the edges down.  Then I used some heavy cardstock for the background.  I then positioned the ribbon hanger and glued the stitched part to the cardstock with tacky glue.  That's it.  How easy can it be?

Nineteen ninety seven was indeed a good year for stitching.  Now to think up a cute ornamentization for the Santa one. 

I also spent a little time in the craftroom working on a project that I can't show you right now.  That's the thing about gifts -- I'd LOVE to post about what I'm doing but can't until the gift has been given.  Pretty cool accomplishment in the craftroom today, don't you think?

Other People's Creativity

All has been quiet in bloggerland for me lately.  I've been up to my usual pre-Christmas busyness and a little more disorganization than usual.  I also have not been stitching as much lately.  Oh, I've wanted to and I thought about stitching, but there always seemed to be something else more pressing that needed to be done in the past couple of weeks.  So I just wanted to get a post in before Christmas day and decided that I would showcase some creativity of others.

I've said before how much I like to get a hand-crafted gift, and I received one last week.  Sheila made this beautiful ornament for me!

It's stitched and finished so nicely, don't you think?  I'll add it to my collection of ornaments and each year will appreciate the work that I know went into it.

Many months ago I posted about a chart that I designed on PC Stitch for my friend Patty to stitch for her granddaughter.  Well, in the meantime the chart was stitched, framed and presented to the parents of this sweet little girl.  Therefore I can now post a photo of it.

Patty did a wonderful job of stitching it and her framer put it together so beautifully!  The baby's name is whited out, but you get the idea. 

One of the great things about the Christmas holidays is that our son, Matt, comes home for an extended stay.  He's been with us for a week so far, and his girlfriend, Stephanie, arrived a couple of days after he did.  Last Tuesday they cooked dinner for us, working together in the kitchen while I put my feet up and caught up on episodes of Project Runway Allstars.  (Why I didn't use this for stitching time, I don't know.)  Anyway, we were served some delicious spicy gumbo and a pear pie for dessert.  No store-bought piecrust for these two. 

Simply Delicious

 

 

 

My last photo is something I never expected to see in December.  Mark and I planted two little rosebushes last summer and one of them decided that December is a fine month to display one perfect little flower.  This just made me happy.

And with that, I'd like to wish all of my followers, fellow bloggers and all readers of my blog a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I plan on starting the new year with a new project that I've gotten involved in and will tell you all about it soon.  Hmmmm, it's still early.  Maybe I can get a little stitching in tonight.......

Christmas Treasures

It really looks like Christmas around here.  The house is almost decorated.  I keep finding things to put out, and I pretty much have to edit because over the years I've collect a lot of decorations.  Can't put them all up or it will look overly-festive.  Yes, there is such a thing as overly-festive.  While decorating the tree, I realized that we have quite a few ornaments that are very special to me.  Ornaments collected on various trips, ones from Christmas trees of my childhood, gifts from dear friends, very old ones (circa WW II, and two dating back to the 20's).  But the ones I love most are the handmade ones that I've collected over the years.

What an assortment!  You can see wooden ones that Mark made on the lathe, a cute snowman that Matt made in elementary school, and a funny macrame reindeer.  Then there are the clay ornaments that Matt and I made in a workshop when he was all of three years old.  When Mark and I were newlyweds, Sheila presented us with some beautiful handmade ornaments for our first Christmas tree.  Years later, she made us some pretty ornaments crafted from sand - yes, sand.  There are some little Christmas animals that I painted during my college years, along with some beaded bells and sputniks.  

These macrame snowflakes were fun to make, as was the Just Nan Santa and turkey that I stitched a few years back.

All of these wonderful treasures make the Christmas season special because they bring up so many memories.  I can't remember when the water bill is due, but I remember where I got each one of these little ornaments.  And, by the way, the tree looks so festive!  A photo of it will surely be coming up in the next couple of weeks.  So stay tuned.  Happy decorating!

A Little Joy

Last week I took a stitching finish from last year and turned it into a festive door hanger just in time for Christmas decorating.  The pattern is "Joy" from Little House Needleworks.  It turned out a little too big for a tree ornament so I figured that other parts of the house could use a little brightening up.

I stretched the stitched piece over foam core board, and thought about what I could use for a backing.  I liked LHN's idea of making a pillowy hanger, but wanted to do something a little different.  The pretty moss green felt that I had was regular felt -- soft and pliable -- not suitable for the backing I wanted.  So I went online and found out how to make standard felt into stiff felt.  All it took was one part white glue and one part water, mixed up and a paint brush.  I painted both sides of the felt and let it dry on freezer paper.  If you do this, you may notice that it looks really splotchy while drying, but have no fear.  Mine was very splotchy and it dried perfectly clear.  Also, you might want to turn it over a few times while it's drying.  It takes about a day for it to get good and dried out.

For the hanger, I used one of the DMC colors in the design and some silver metallic DMC and crocheted a chain.  I attached a couple of silver beads to the felt, and tied on the hanger and TA DAA!!  A sweet little door hanger.  A fun way to finish a stitching project.

Now back to my tree trimming.  And more about that coming up!

A Surprise Finish

As in, I'm surprised that I actually finished something.  Ha ha.  I wanted to stitch a little something for Christmas and searched the stash for the perfect thing.  There I found "Peppermint Twist" by Little House Needleworks.  As I looked through my fabric supply, I found a bag with a label on it that said "ornament fabrics".  It's not my writing.  So apparently sometime in the past, I purchased an assortment of pretty fabrics in sizes suitable for ornaments.  Genius!  And here's what I accomplished.

A sweet little finish, if I may say so myself.  In my humble opinion, though, I don't think it needs the candy cane button.  Oh, it's a cute little button, but this pretty little design does all right by itself.  I'll sharpen my finishing skills and attempt to finish it in time to hang on this year's Christmas tree.

I'm also in the process of finishing "Joy" by LHN.  I've already stitched it, ahem, last year, but am now creating a door hanger out of it.  This one will be featured in a future post. 

I love this time of year.  The Christmas season, in many ways, begins on Thanksgiving.  We traveled over the river (not sure which one, but there was definitely a river) and through the woods to Hiawassee in the North Georgia Mountains.  What a wonderful day spent with family!  While walking one of the many dogs present that day, I noticed that the sun was shining on part of the mountains and lake and ran in to get my camera.  I think I captured the beauty of it.

Did I mention how thankful I am for my followers?  I blog for fun, so it's just icing on the cake to get new followers and receive such encouraging and fun comments.  Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog. 

Don't forget to come back to see what I did with that door hanger! 

A Little Christmas In July

Remember those stitched-but-not-finished ornaments I found a while back?  I decided that this will be the last Christmas that they sit in a drawer, and began my finishing project this weekend.  Here's my first effort.  I can only assume that this came out of the 1997 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue because the other two with it were from that magazine.  I think.  I can't check because I no longer have that issue.  (GRRRRR, I really have to get over it).  ANYWAY, for the backing I used leftover fabric from the wreath project that Sheila and I did, and sparkly gold rick-rack and some beads and pins for the edges!  I'm pretty proud of myself.  

I also found a new product, Terrifically Tacky Tape, which I used to stick the fabric edges to the backer boards.  Love this stuff!  I will definitely be stocking up on different sizes of this tape for more ornament finishes and other crafting endeavors.  

As for the other two ornaments, I realize that I have to make a trip to one of my favorite craft stores to get some supplies for these finishes. Oh darn, a trip to Joann's.  Think I can get Sheila to join me?  I do think that this is a good start.  Very encouraging for someone who hasn't done a lot of ornament finishing.  

Thank you for all of your comments and encouragement in previous posts.   I read and enjoy each one of them.  Also notice that I now have 92 followers!  Only eight to go and then I'll post all about the giveaway drawing!