I am very partial to handmade gifts, especially those that have been made by my family and friends. Given that I’m in the Grandmother phase of my life right now I’m especially partial to handmade gifts from my grandchildren. Whether it is a card or an ornament I love them and cherish them all. In fact, nothing pleases me more than receiving a handmade card or gift from my family and friends at the holidays.
With these economic times when money is scarce for so many people my thoughts turn to the different times in my life when money was scarce for me and the handmade gifts that I created and gave at the holidays.
If you are a reader of my Linda's Blog (http://lindawalshoriginals.blogspot.com) you know that I come from a family of crafters and that when I was growing up at the holidays we always had a Christmas crafting project to do.
One year it was a church scene created out of Styrofoam that my Dad and I created. My Dad painstakingly cut the Styrofoam to form a cone steeple and painstakingly cut the windows so they were a half circle at the top and had window panes. We added colored plastic to the inside of the windows and used a lighted angel inside the church so the colored glass would shine through. Then we added candle carolers, candle trees, and snowflake sprinkled felt for snow for the outside of the church. We used this scene as one of our Christmas displays until the foam finally fell apart. I loved that scene and especially loved working with my Dad on it.
Another year I decided to knit large stockings for everyone in the family. I knit their names in the top and each had their own special knit decoration on it. The stockings were knit with red, green, and white yarn and were about 24” long. We used those, too, until they finally fell apart.
Another year when I was in my twenties I decided to make all the gifts for my family and friends as money was tight that year. So, I decided to make handmade Christmas ornaments for my friends with their names embroidered on them and other handmade gifts for my family. Some members of my family got dolls (of course) and some got quilts, etc. My friends each got several ornaments of different types with their names on them. Some were trees, candy canes, snowmen, stockings, etc.
When my twin granddaughters were young they made their Grandfather and I handmade paper ornaments with their mother. They cut the ornaments out of construction paper and glued glitter all over the front of them. Then they added our names and their names to the back of the ornaments. A hole was created in the top of each and a piece of yarn was used as a hanger. They are some of my favorite ornaments and we still put them on our Christmas tree every year.
In fact, our Christmas tree is only decorated with handmade ornaments. You’ll find ornaments my grandchildren made or ones I've made over the years (and there are many of those) on our tree. Some are made of paper, some are cloth, and some are floral decorations I've made.
Others might be beaded ornaments my Mother and I made one year or wooden clothespin reindeer that I made 30+ years ago. I even have foam toy soldiers that I made from a kit over 35 years ago. Plus, I have wooden ornaments that I painted from a kit I bought close to 30 years ago.
You might also find beaded ornaments a friend of mine made, terracotta floral and terracotta cloth ornaments I made, porcelain Santa heads my sister made, a knitted wreath from my Grandmother, or a felt cardinal made by a friend that sits on a branch with an old fashion silver hair clip. There might be silver icicles or wooden dolls.
You just never know what you may find. What you can count on is that each and every ornament is remembered and loved and painstaking preserved so that we have it for the next holiday season.
So, I thought I would share some easy and fast cloth, paper, and E-Printable ornament ideas with you. Maybe they will entice you to make your own handmade ornaments this year that you’ll cherish and painstakingly preserve for years and years to come.
The same basic outline was used for most of the ornaments whether you are making them out of construction paper, coloring them on heavier stock paper, printing them out on heavy card stock for E-Printables, or making them out of cloth. They can be as easy to make as you want or some of the cloth ones can be more elaborate just by adding beads or other decorations. That, of course, is up to you. We’re providing instructions for the basics. The rest is up to you and your creativity.
Adult supervision is required if you are making these ornaments with young children as some of the ornaments require the use of scissors, Elmer’s glue, hot glue, small decorations, and needle & thread.
Our E-Book is broken down into 4 sections as follows:
Section #1—Instructions and Supplies Needed.
Section #2—BASIC SHAPES and DETAILS for construction paper cut-out ornaments or for coloring ornaments on heavier stock paper.
Section #3—COLORED E-PRINTABLES for creating e-printable ornaments on heavy card stock.
Section #4—E-PATTERN PIECES for felt cloth ornaments that you can decorate as elaborately or as simply as you want.
Please follow the instructions within each of the sections as to how to make the construction paper ornaments, colored ornaments on heavier stock paper, colored e-printables, and felt cloth ornaments.
I hope you enjoy our "How To Create Fast and Easy Cloth, Paper, and E-Printable Ornaments" FREE E-Book. Happy holidays.
Copyright © 2008 All Rights Reserved—Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns (www.lindawalshoriginalsepatterns.com) and Linda’s Blog (www.lindawalshoriginals.blogspot.com). Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer.
