Mostly Handmade Ornaments: A Tradition Continues

A tradition continues. I have squeaked by for one more year. I began this tradition back in 1990. This year we made 60 ornaments. You can check out my view of Pyrography and this mission here, I wrote about it last summer.

Now for a little bit about the ornaments in our collection, that we share each year with family members.

1990, A Loon, cut out of wood...everyone else has one but us. No Photo.

1991, Santa, Mrs.Claus or Elves... a wooden painted ornament. I didn't keep one for us that year either. No Photo.

1992, A pair of wooden mittens, hung on ribbons. Same story. No Photo.

1993, The Toy Soldiers, Wooden and hand painted. (the first photo!) I am finally keeping one for us!

1994, Shotgun Santa's, a spent Shotgun Shell decorated with cotton balls and fabric.

1995, Big Red Sleigh Bell, I had no imagination this year, bought some bells and put names on them.

1996, Bird Houses, Wooden and hand painted..my first adventure with splattering paint with a comb.

1997, Turned Snowmen, Far Guy turned them on his lathe, they were painted and adorned with a scarf.

1998, Sea Shells, Where are mine? Someplace in my Garage in a box. No Photo Available! We spent the winter in Florida. that year. It was just a plain old shell with your name on it. I heard they smelled too, even though we did soak them in bleach, the sand was a extra bonus.

1999, Clothespin Angels, Hand Painted and decorated with lots of tinsel!

2000, Spoon Santa's, A spoon bent, painted and sculpted with some snow stuff.

2001, Black Walnut Tree, decorated with buttons.

2002, Black Walnut Gingerbread Man, I went nuts with a Glitter Sealer and added some buttons.

2003, Decoupage Pictures on Ovals, everyone's was different. Individuality ruled that year!

2004, Country American Flags, Wooden, this pattern came from the Internet.

2005, Little Light Bulb Santa, they were small bulbs that look like the flame of a candle. Painted and Sculpted.

2006, Candy Canes, Hand Carved and painted. I needed lots of bandaids that year.

2007, Beaded Angels, I had beads all over that year, all different colors!

2008, A Snowflake burned into a piece of basswood. With a bit of blue color from a colored pencil.

We finished the last of the woodburning, coloring in the lines and sealing last week. It is not our best work, Woodburning is an Art Form in itself. We need a lot of practice, however we did manage to work with several of the different tips, and sustained no burns. Names and the year were burned into the opposite side, some contain the greeting Merry Christmas..some do not. It will work! It certainly isn't as lame as the Red Sleigh Bell (although it is one of my favorites) or the stinky shell. Some years when I get discouraged, Far Guy steps in with some big idea or some help. We usually decide together, what the design will be, work up a prototype and see if it will work. Some of the failures are pretty funny, I have them on my tree too. I have some clay loons that do nose dives. I have some wooden stars, they were too plain..so I wrote the Grandkids name and date of birth on them..they are Grandma and Grandpa's Stars!

I have also learned, that I will never work with a breakable ornament after the Little Light Bulb Santa, they are too fragile, some will be broken. I tell myself every year that I am going to start on this project earlier, it is a good idea..maybe next year.
I make ornaments for Dogs too! Chance got his and Miney, Dakota, Daphne, Hooch and Ernie all got ornaments this year too! When dogs are members of the family they should be included:)
Snowflake 2008