More Ornaments

We had a lot of fun participating in the kids ornament swap. The first three ornaments arrived last week. I posted about those HERE. Over the last few days, the rest of them have arrived. It's been fun opening up the packages to see all the unique items that are on our tree this year as a result of this swap. I apologize for the quality of the photos and for the fact that I didn't note where all these great ornaments came from! Sorry!!!

These two came together. They are little mini cookie cutters backed with pretty paper. They are very pretty on the tree.

This little tree arrived the same day as the one below. This one is made out of felt with button ornaments.

This is a very yummy smelling cinnamon ornament that was painted green & white. Very snowy looking & that's pretty appropriate around here these days.

Today's mail had this adorable owl in it made out of felt. It joined the rest of them on the tree to round out all the ornaments from the swap.

Thanks to everyone who participated with us! If you are here & seeing all these ornaments and you were one of the wonderful families who sent us one, please leave me a comment with a link to your blog & I will update it with that information. Thanks!

Kids Ornament Swap

Last month I posted about a kids ornament swap & a card swap. We have been enjoying getting our cards and ornaments in the mail the last few weeks. So far we have received three ornaments so far. The first two arrived on the same day.


I forgot who sent this adorable snowman. In the mess of my desk I think I have the package somewhere, but I can't put my hands on it at the moment. He's cute though isn't he??


This ornament was made by a little 5-year-old girl named Isabelle. It's made from Celluclay & cut out with a snowman cookie cutter. Then she painted it with acrylic paint. It's delicate but held up nicely to the shipping process.

This little ornament arrived yesterday all the way from Alaska! It's very cute and very appropriate - it's a picture of a reindeer on the front of it!

We've also received four Christmas cards so far. One from Massachusetts, England, Oregon, and one from France. The boys are really enjoying it all this year.

And before I forget, here is the ornament we sent out...

I meant to do a whole "how to" post but I forgot to take photos of it. Here is what we did...

• I shaved red & green crayons.
• The two littlest boys (Ben didn't want to do it) sprinkled them on to wax paper.
• I put a second piece of wax paper on top of them, a face cloth on top of that & ironed it until it melted in to a pretty red/green mosaic.
• I cut 4x4 inch pieces of black card stock.
• I have a negative punch Christmas tree punch & used that to cut four trees on the front.
• The wax paper was sandwiched between two pieces of black card stock.
• The final step was glitter glue drawn around the edge on both sides.
• We used red yarn as a hanger.

These were fun & easy to make. I'll post more photos of the rest of the ornaments as they continue coming in. There should be four more on their way.

SHS Ornament Swap

It's here! Every year my Yahoo group, SHS (or Support for Home and School) does an ornament swap. This is the 3rd or 4th year now I've participated and it's always fun. My ornament actually arrived on the 2nd (I think...) but it took me a bit to grab a photo & post this.

Here is what came my way this year....


Aren't those neat!

The gold ball is handmade & it's very pretty. The photo simply does not do it justice. It's a Styrofoam ball covered in gold sequins held in place by gold topped pins. Simply gorgeous! It's going to look great on our tree with the Christmas lights this year I'm sure.

Also included was a great candy cane ornament & yes, it's facing the right way. There is a legend about the candy cane and here is what is printed on the back of the box...

Jesus is the Reason!

Jesus, Gentle Shepherd,

this cane of red and white

proclaims the

sweet love story

born on Christmas night.

This can, you see,

when turned around

begins your name of Love

and now becomes a symbol

of peace proclaimed above.

The lively peppermint

flavor is the regal

gift of spice.

The white is your purity

and the red your sacrifice.

And so this cane reminds

us of just how much

you care and like your

Christmas Gift to us

it's meant for all to share.

That is a great reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.

So who do I need to thank...Andra!!! And I have to apologize, I did not save the address so I can't remember where you live but I'm pretty sure it's out west somewhere. Thank you, Andra. Both of the ornaments are just great & the gold ball survived the trip completely unscathed. ;-)