A few weeks ago I had my ornament exchange party. It is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. I get together with a group of old friends and we exchange a handmade ornament, and just chat and get into the Christmas Spirit. The tradition is that there are 12 of us, and we each make a dozen of the same ornament that goes along with the theme, and then we exchange them and come home with a dozen different handmade ornaments. This year's theme was "A Multitude of Heavenly Hosts" - angels basically. We have been doing this for a long time. This was our 9th annual ornament exchange. A few people were missing. Three couldn't come for whatever reason, and my good friend Veronica is in the reserves, and it was her drill weekend so she was gone, but she made her ornaments and sent them. We missed her and appreciate the service she gives our country.
Usually I have it on the first weekend of December. It forces me to get my decorations up early, and it really gets me into the Christmas spirit. This year was absolutely crazy for our family, and I considered canceling the party. The thought of preparing for a party in my state just stressed me out, but the thought of not having it just made me sad. Joyfully, my sweet and thoughtful friend, Shari, graciously volunteered to have it at her house. What a blessing! That was the perfect solution. I am so grateful for her insight and generosity. The party went on as planned.
Shari wowed us with her gorgeous cheese and fruit platters. I absolutely LOVE good cheese, and it is always such a treat to sample new cheese. (I wish these pictures were better - I am absolutely dying without my good camera! Trust me, the food was beautiful!)
OK Here are my ornaments. I usually make these strange mixed media collage type things for my ornaments. I never have a set plan, I just pull out cool old stuff that I think I might be able to use, and them I start assembling. For these ornaments I fan-folded some handmade paper, and used antique glass glitter on the edges to make the ornament. On this side I photocopied an old photograph I have pinned on the bulletin board in my craft room that feature these fine ladies dressed in Grecian attire and posing deliberately. I turned them into angels with metal wings cut and embossed with my wonderful Big Shot. Then I gave them the foil harps and added the scrabble "HOLY". Can you believe I had enough scrabble pieces to make 12 "HOLY"s?
On the back side I used some old vintage ribbon, and some tiny handmade lace to set off some fun angels that someone had lovingly made from jewelry findings. I couldn't believe it when I found exactly 12 of them at a garage sale last year. They are all different, and very fun.
Here are all the ornaments I got to come home with. They were all really great. Some of us seem to have thing that we always like to do - a material or method of choice. Kristi always makes hers out of seashells, and Michelle always embroiders hers. Lisa, who usually beads, made a pretty angel with a feather shirt this year, and for the past two years Shari has used Mountain Dew cans as her medium of choice. Veronica crocheted hers and, Alysa added some angelic VS wings to hers, and Staci threw in some chocolate kisses.
Shari wowed us with her gorgeous cheese and fruit platters. I absolutely LOVE good cheese, and it is always such a treat to sample new cheese. (I wish these pictures were better - I am absolutely dying without my good camera! Trust me, the food was beautiful!)
OK Here are my ornaments. I usually make these strange mixed media collage type things for my ornaments. I never have a set plan, I just pull out cool old stuff that I think I might be able to use, and them I start assembling. For these ornaments I fan-folded some handmade paper, and used antique glass glitter on the edges to make the ornament. On this side I photocopied an old photograph I have pinned on the bulletin board in my craft room that feature these fine ladies dressed in Grecian attire and posing deliberately. I turned them into angels with metal wings cut and embossed with my wonderful Big Shot. Then I gave them the foil harps and added the scrabble "HOLY". Can you believe I had enough scrabble pieces to make 12 "HOLY"s?
On the back side I used some old vintage ribbon, and some tiny handmade lace to set off some fun angels that someone had lovingly made from jewelry findings. I couldn't believe it when I found exactly 12 of them at a garage sale last year. They are all different, and very fun. 
Here are all the ornaments I got to come home with. They were all really great. Some of us seem to have thing that we always like to do - a material or method of choice. Kristi always makes hers out of seashells, and Michelle always embroiders hers. Lisa, who usually beads, made a pretty angel with a feather shirt this year, and for the past two years Shari has used Mountain Dew cans as her medium of choice. Veronica crocheted hers and, Alysa added some angelic VS wings to hers, and Staci threw in some chocolate kisses.
This year I was blown away by Shirley's amazing wood ornaments. Her hubby Mike cuts them all out, then Shirley carved, sanded, and stained all the small pieces, then glued them all back together to make the ornaments. It was definitely a labor of love! Isn't she just lovely? I am so excited to have one!
I always make my guests a special gift. Some years are more complicated than others. This year I kept it very simple and made them each a pennant banner that says "JOY." They were all different, and I let them pick which ones would fit their decor. Aren't they just fun?
What a great party it was. I just love all my ornaments from all the years past. I have a whole tree-full now and my kids just love to look at all of them and ask me who made what. I just love handmade anything, especially ornaments, because now I have a tree full of love - my friendship tree! LUCKY ME!
3 comments:
Super cute ornaments, Rachelle. I love the clever use of scrabble pieces!
How fun to have a tradition to exchange ornaments.hope you guys have a Merry Christmas. Also thanks for posting the funeral I really wanted to be there but was unable. We hope everyone is doing well.
Wow, Shirley's is amazing. It does sound like a lot of fun. Except when I see Shari scrambling to get hers made. :) I missed that this year. :)
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