Handmade Ornaments

Making ornaments back in the olden days before Google or Pinterest, people either had to come up with an idea themselves, rely on magazines and the ideas of friends, or reinvent something they saw and make it better.

I'm going to share 11 of the 25 years worth of ornaments I've made.  These might not be the cream of my crop, but they were the ones I could easily find in the ornament bins.

2005 - Santa made from shotgun shell casing

Santa's back side

Over the years I didn't just make two or three ornaments every December, I made anywhere from 20 in the early years to 50 or more the last time I had the ambition or an idea.

Most of the ornaments were not elaborate, didn't involve sewing since I can't, and most could be done with kids because with 6 of those I either didn't have time for elaborate, or the craft needed to be kid friendly so they could help.

Or both.

Wood craft stick sled, circa 1980

Little sleds are all over the internet these days because they are simple.

One of my blogging friends made some this year and hers are totally awesome and 2014.  I thought maybe I should go back and remake them to suit the style of today's Bliss, but instead I'm just gonna admire Kimberly's.

Made from Popsicle sticks.  Notice the date that sled sports........ 1980.  That would be 32 years ago.  My very first ornament and I copied it from my at the time 10 year old sister in law.

Our tree used to be all rustic, everything fit in.  I may or may not have gotten better at making stuff over the years.

1995 butcher paper snowman with batting between layers, where is his hat?

Of those 20 - 50 ornaments I would make each year, I gave them to my friends, my in-laws, nieces and nephews, and of course one for each of my kids.

That also meant whatever I made should be cost effective and routinely I turned to the front yard for raw product because raw product was abundant there...and free.

Glittered white Snowman bulb - 2003

Snow men are popular with me because there is minimal artistic ability needed to make their face or the round shape for their bodies.  And due to my sewing INability, the glue gun is my friend.

1997 - Birch branch & twig Snowman

Long before Martha had her line of awesome glitters, I picked up fine glitter powder, sprayed the ornaments with sealer and sprinkled the glitter on.  It reflects like crystals in the snow would.

2002 Trash - smashed soda cans.  I also made smaller ones from V-8 cans

Orange paint or tooth picks cut and painted was my choice for carrot noses.

The craft bin in those days consisted mostly of bells, twigs, black puff paint, old buttons, bits of flannel and that glittery white fake snow stuff for beards on Santas' or snow on snowmen.

2006 - Rusty tin star snowman

When ever I needed wood or tree cut, I would say something like, "Brawn could you cut me some slat roofs for my birdhouse ornaments?"  "Yes... how many would you like, beautiful young crafty wife?" (Surely he said something like that).

My reply as I ran away before he could change his mind..."Two slats each roof, so 100?  Thank you".

Rustic tree-branch birdhouse with nail perch

Sometimes ornaments that look easy turn out to be a pain in the butt.

Too putsy - and when you have 40 or more to make you will quickly regret the putsy part.

 Like this elf.  Too many small pieces of felt to cut out.

1999 block elf

One of my favorites are the tree branch snowmen with baby sock hats.  Probably because all I had to do was raid the mismatched sock bin and wander the woods for supplies.

Plus the orange light bulb nose is cute.

2004 Baby sock hat snowman

We have all sizes of Rudolph around here.

Brawn's uncle made some 25 years ago and since then we have copied them time and time again.  We have large ones that line our outside walk and short stubby ones our boys helped make.

We make more big reindeer as gifts each year, then Brawn gets to be a lumberjack chainsawing log deer bodies.

1998 Mini version of our outdoor deer

This Rudy is still in the ornament bin waiting to have his legs reattached.  A couple years ago in the middle of the night he and some friends had an accident.

I don't know which elf was being mischievous, but they undid the tree top anchor ties and toppled the 12 footer to the ground.

We heard a loud crash and knew what it was.

So between watching Brawn in his underwear stand the 12 foot tree back up at 2:00 A.M., soaking up water from the tipped stand, and re-decorating said tree for a second time the next night ...... I surveyed the damage and was thankful the only ornaments that broke were easily replaceable.