Christmas Ornaments 2015

We have a family Christmas Ornament tradition that started in 1977.  You can see the ornaments through the years on my earlier posts.

Here are the 2015 ornaments.

 The ornaments were made using fabric yo-yos that were made by our grandmother and aunt many years ago.  The yo-yos were tacked together to form a bedspread and dresser scarf. We cut them apart and used them as the center of our ornaments (saw the idea on Pinterest).

I have learned recently that they are also called Suffolk puffs. There are videos on how to make yo-yos and ideas for using the in crafts on You Tube.

The larger circles were cut from felt using a Big Shot.  We used embroidery floss to do a blanket stitch around the felt circles. Floss is also used to tack the circles together through the centers and make a bow on the front. 

 We got started on these at a Sisters Retreat in Galena IL in August. Here are the stacks of circles.  We each made a prototype and took our share home to complete over the months.   They really turned out cute. 

 For our Wehrheim Christmas Gathering, our brother, Ron, had made this house to hold the Christmas tree.  This is based on one our Grandmother Wehrheim had made many, many years ago for their tree.  Our parents continued using it through the years. This house brings back many Christmas memories.

 We placed our 40+ ornaments on the tree.  It certainly filled it out nicely.  It's always fun to display the ornaments and then distribute them later in the day.  The younger generation enjoys delivering each ornament to its owner (they all have tags with the names) and it helps them to learn some of the names and faces that they don't see very often.

A closeup of some of the ornaments on the tree.  I think these are one of my favorites.

Joy to the World - Christmas Stars

When I first saw the new stamp set "The Sounding Joy" in the Holiday Mini, I knew I wanted to make these Christmas ornaments.


The star shape of the Joy to the World verses is perfect for these ceramic star ornaments.
Ink - Stazon Black and Forest Green
Stamp Set - The Sounding Joy

The verses were stamped in the Forest Green. Joy was stamped in Black Stazon. It took me several (well maybe 8 or 9) tries to get the verses looking decent. But once I figured out a few tricks it went well. The nice thing is the Stazon ink comes off with rubbing alcohol or wet wipes if it has not dried.

Let Earth Receive Her King was used on this one.
If you like these and would like to make some of your own, watch my calendar (link to the right of this blog). I will be scheduling some workshops for these soon.


I can't take total credit for these as my sister had the idea of stamping on the ceramic ornaments several years ago. We made these ornaments for our family members that year. The stamp is from the retired "City of David" stamp set.

A Multitude of Angels

This month I am leading Children's Worship at our church. This is a special 'class' for the 4 year old and Kindergarten children to help them understand how and why we worship. What a great month to do this as it is all Advent related.
Yesterday we talked about angels and their importance in the Christmas story. The snow and disrupted routines (plus DH helping instead of DD) proved for a very active group.

Here are all 4 children (we usually have 6 but a couple did not make it) with their angels. I used Stampin Up Designer Label, 1 3/4 scallop circle and 1 3/8 inch circle punches to make the face and hair. The wings are silver waffle paper and the halo-hanger is the silver tinsel trim. The kids decorated the angel skirts before we assembled them.


Each child has a different personality shining through. Miss Suzy has 2 older live-wire brothers and 2 cousins (who are also in this class) who get her charged up. DH is another energizer for her so she was bubbling yesterday.


Miss Emelia is the rule follower. She informed us she makes hearts much better than she used to because she did not put a point at the bottom before.


Master Ryan was wound tight yesterday. He also was energized by DH and the fact that their routine was disrupted by Daddy coming to church early to shovel the parking lot.


Master Kyle was the creative one. He realized the angel cone skirt made a perfect party hat.

What a joy to spend 20-30 minutes with these children on Sunday morning.

Children's Ornament Workshop

I will be offering a children's workshop in December - mark your calendars now!

Monday, December 6 and Tuesday, December 7 - 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.
$5.00 per child

Children 4 and older -
Younger if accompanied by an older child or adult.
Make this cute 'diaper fold' ornament -
choice of colors and paper.

The fold creates a little pouch that could hold some candy,
currency, gift card or a wallet size school picture :-)
These would make a great gift for mom, dad, grandparents,
teacher, babysitter.
If my dates don't fit your schedule - contact me,
we can come up with a date/time that does.