Saturday, December 12, 2009

"Loony" Ornaments

Every year Far Guy and I design and develop a Christmas Ornament.  It is a labor of love..and once you start a tradition..you just keep plugging away..every year.. this is our 19th year.  Here is a link to the history of all of our ornaments.  

This year I designed a loon for the Christmas ornament.   This is quite a process.. first  Far Guy cuts out the diamond shape..he used Basswood.  He sands them and gets them looking smooth...


I transfer the pattern in pencil.



I use the wood burner to burn an outline.  The first couple of ones are always just practice, I worked out in  Far Guys Greenhouse/Shop this fall when the weather was nice.


I brought them back in the house to paint them..painting about ten at a time. Each one is different..It is impossible for me to make them all look the same.  Hand painted one at a time!



 I write the recipient's name and the year on the back..then they go back out to be wood burned on that side.  Then Far Guy drills a hole in them  and dips them in a shellac...and they hang to dry..


Then I decorate envelopes and package them all up.. delivery has started.   I am glad I started early this year..there was no mad rush to get then done.   I made sixty of them.  I have two that I made especially for blog readers, if you would like to enter a drawing for one leave me a comment telling me about one of your Christmas Traditions. I am giving one away on both of my blogs..area voices and blogspot.. the drawing will take place on Monday at 9PM  and the winners will be announced on Tuesday.  So comment away! I am just a little loony..and you can be a little loony too:)

21 comments:

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Patsy said...

Our children live far away so every year The Bennie makes Chocolate and Maple fudge I make cookies. This year I also made cinnamon and chocolate scones. Then we mail before the 15th. Your ornament is a great idea.
Patsy

Rae said...

Those are fantastic ornaments and great original gift ideas. I like how you personalize them. I can't imagine all the work you put into them. It looks time consuming. They are little treasures and unwrapping them each year must bring back sweet memories.
I want to be loony too. You can read one of my family traditions on my post today.

Maery Rose said...

I like your traditions of making ornaments. A friend of my Mom's used to make them for people every year. Most of the cute ornaments on my tree are ones she made. She'd put a tag with the year on it which is a nice touch too.

I'm starting over, having lost my usual peoples at Christmas, trying to create new Christmas traditions. My cousin is coming over tomorrow to bake cookies with me. I hope that's something we'll do every year now.

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! I'm just boring and made traditional fruitcake from the old (but tweaked) family recipe.

Emma Rose said...

What a wonderful thing to do every year. I'll bet your family and friends look forward to receiving their gift each year. I used to make all of my ornaments - years ago. Most of them I still have and use. Some are pretty sad looking now though. If my grandchildren lived closer I would make ornaments with them.

By the way, we finally got the tree up and I have re-decorated it 3 times. Mister Higgins thinks the garland is great fun! He was running across the room with it and the tree was spinning! It is going to be a challenge to keep that tree up this year!

The Duchess

Leah said...

Your ornaments are wonderful and even more so once I know the tradition-history behind them... I now have two - just brought Loony home to my tree tonight! Thank you so much!

West Side of Straight said...

They are a work of love, and I love mine too! We know how much of your time goes into making them. You don't need to be a quilter/sewer to make beautiful things! Thank you so much friend!

Lanny said...

That is a great project! What a good time you must have getting all those ornaments done up for folks.

Gail said...

Just a wonderful tradition! You are not only making art but a memory as well.

We decorate plain ornaments and pieces of wood with the little ones to give as gifts.

Liz in PA said...

Oh such a terrific tradition you and Far Guy have begun! Your relatives and close friends must be so thrilled and delighted to see what you have designed for the Season 2009! I hope I am the lucky winner of one!
My tradition is hanging my one and only very small silvery ornament ball w/a narrow red and blue stripe circling the ball Christmas Ornament from my childhood. Due to circumstances my sister and I have only the one ornament each that we treasure so very much!
It hangs way up high and is usually the last ornament hung on our tree each year!
.....also we have only had Angels on top of our Christmas Trees!
MERRY CHRISTMAS CONNIE AND FAR GUY AND CHANCE:
....and a Happy & Healthy New Year 2010!

L. D. said...

What a neat idea. Your loon ornaments are very good. I like you tradition blog of ornaments. You two have a lot of fun with this and it is nice for those who receive them.
We always take in the candlelight Christmas eve service at our church and come home to special foods that we normally don't eat. We still buy toys and give ornaments to the boys and now their wives. We over-decorate our house and it glows through out. Our own special project that is ongoing is nurturing and taking care of our widowed neighbor lady. She has family but she hasn't known much kindness in her life. At Christmas we do a lot of special things for her.

RURAL said...

Loons are my favorite birds. Now whenever I see one I will think of you. LOL. You are amazing to make so many ornaments. Very creative, I love that you have carried that tradition on for so long.

Saw one at the beach the other morning in the sunrise, it meant a lot to me.

Gar and I usually spend Christmas Eve quietly together, and then we call long distance up to my Mom and Dad. Talk about all the snow that they have, and hopefully we don't.

Wish each other a very Merry Christmas, and then we all talk about hoping to be able to spend the next Christmas together up in Armstrong.

There is a tone of wistfulness in our voices, and this is one tradition that I would like to break. Start a new one, where we actually get to have my Mom and Dad over for Christmas dinner at our house, up in Armstrong, instead of just talking to them on the phone. One day this will happen, and I can't wait. I am feeling very sentimental, can't you tell. Too much work.

Jen

LadyFi said...

Love the loony loons! You're both very good at crafts!

Well, as we live in Sweden, far away from family in the UK, we don't have so many traditions. The kids wake up early on 24 Dec and we get up and have coffee and then start opening presents in our pajamas. We break for breakfast and dog-walking.

After a simple lunch, we watch cartoons at 15.00 hrs - like every good Swede does!

Connie Peterson said...

How wonderful to make your ornaments! My tradition is to give ornaments each year to everyone in the family and I try to make them mean something (this year one son-in-law will get a Vikings ball).. Making them is a great idea - I'll have to think on that and see if I can make some for next year.

Put my name in the pot, please. I love Loons!

JEWEL said...

I buy a Christmas ornament for each of my grandkids, if we meet up with the grandkids (and their parents) in Mammoth CA, I get them a camping ornament, this year it is an ornament that looks like a petroglyphs on sand stone.We met them in Zion, UT. I'm still looking for the right ornament for Payton and Emily.

Anonymous said...

These are so pretty -you do a wonderful job. We always open our presents Christmas Eve. It actually started in my family because my Dad didn't like waking up so early with us kids. Then when I got older -well I didn't like waking up early either!
vickie

patty said...

i have 11 nieces and nephews, 4 great nieces and nephews and 4 grandchildren and 1 almost grandchild. I have given them all an ornament every year until they reach 21. When they set up their own homes they will have ornaments for their first tree and hopefully will think of me when i'm gone. For my grands i get them an ornament that signifies something that happen in the past year. My oldest grandson flew home from Colorado by himself this year, granddaughter gets a cheerleader ornament, little grandson wanted to bring home a penguin from the zoo, he gets a penguin ornament and for little granddaughter this year is her first Christmas so she gets baby first Christmas, also grandson gets baseball ornament. some times i made the ornaments, sometimes i buy them.

DayPhoto said...

Once again I am very impressed!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

OK this is me puttin' my comment I accidentally removed. I love the loony ornament. I love it. I want it. It could be a reminder of my loony tune life. Plus it would look right at home on my very country tree.

Have a great evening!

lilly said...

Our small tree is only decorated with ornaments that have been given to us. Some are from our children,grandchildren and friends. Each year we buy some small ornament that has some special meaning for us. The only other thing on our small tree is some are some small red bows. I have one small duck that is hand made. This was a gift from one of my customers who passed away from caancer. I would loce to be able to hang your ornament on our tree, Thnak you. lilly