Annual Ornament Exchange 2011

Please forgive me, but I'd like to post the rest of our Christmas goodies 

BEFORE I start telling you how excited I am about Valentine's Day!  lol 

Remember my friend Rachele that I've spoken of before?  

(We made paper gingerbread houses at her place last month) 

We have good times together and her/our projects are fun to make!

I also hope she starts blogging again, because she's good at it!

(RACHELE, ARE YOU READING THIS???)

Anyway, as part of the craft group that Rachele has organized, 

she has added an annual Christmas ornament exchange.

I am so grateful to be surrounded by such amazing (and crazy fun) crafty women!

I'll start with the ornament I made.  Believe me, it was a huge improvement over my ornament last year! hehe

And can I just interject AGAIN about how much I love Pinterest?

Anytime I need an idea for pretty much ANYTHING, I can find it there!

So I created a list of  handmade ornaments that I loved and finally narrowed it down to one.

This wonderful little guy

I don't know who originally made it, but isn't he completely adorable?!

(if you know who made it, let me know so I can give them credit...thanks!)

I did my best to copy him with what materials I could find

This was one of my favorite quests EVER at Hobby Lobby!

I filled regular and small sized clear glass ornaments with tiny foam balls and fake snow.

I left the metal 'cap' on the small ornament to hold the snow in, then glued them together with E6000.

The small ornament with it's 'cap' fit perfectly snug into the larger ornament.

Something weird happened overnight while I let them dry..........

 Some were fine, but in over half of them the 'snow' melted!  What?!!  My only guess is the fumes from the E6000 disintegrated the foam.  Whatever.  They're still cute.  Right?  *silent sobbing*

Here is the first one I finished.

Ummmmmm, are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Yeah, Groucho Marx!!!

Or who's that Mario guy?  Him too!!!

Gah!

If there was ever a time I wanted to knock the smirk right off someone's face............... 

Ahhhh, that's better.  A little more charming without the big goofy grin! Don't you think?

My little army

Now for the ornaments from the rest of our little crafty group

How cute is Tracie's handmade 'cupcake'?!

Char's bell!

Dianna's hand sewn star!

Paula's tiny topiary blew me away!

Ann's precious handmade drum....she always has a way with packaging too!

Rachele is a clever one with that paper!  So cute!

Sandy's handmade paper bell

I love every single ornament and how completely different they all are!

Soooooo, since we're talking about ornament exchanges 

AND

I wasn't so much of a blogger a year ago

I'D LOVE

to also share our ornament exchange from last year.  :)

Funny how I didn't even make one of mine to keep for myself.  

I honestly thought I had, but somehow...

well, I dunno.

Anyway.....

Here's Ann's handmade 'ribbon candy' with her clever packaging (that she also handmade).

Sandy's handmade wooden stocking

I absolutely love the simplicity and meaning of Monika's glass ball!

Kathy is the super sewer of the group!

Rachele's made from a cookie cutter, a big bell and layers of fabric and glitter!

Tracie's handmade decoupaged paper ball!

Britany's Santa paintbrush...so adorable!

I hope you found some inspiration to make some ornaments of your own next Christmas!

If you do, please let me know!  I'll add them to my pinboard!  :)

Happy Crafting!

(and pinning!)