Custodians of Beauty

For my crafty gift this year, I made five state ornaments: Arkansas, Minnesota, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin. It was fun to customize the individual ornaments by placing a heart over the area where each person is currently living. The ornaments were made with a combination of hand sewing and machine sewing. After cutting out the states, I used the sewing machine to sew right near the edge of the shape. The small hearts were also sewn on by machine. Added some stuffin' and finished them off with a blanket stitch edge which gave them a homey look. I was pleased to find a use for my red and white sting (gotta love the dollar section at Target.) Minneapolis, MN and Saginaw, MI Madison, WI and Savannah, GA My MIL loved her Michigan ornament. She commented that it would be great to have the year sewn onto the backside. Doh! I always forget to do that.  I was so busy getting these finished and wrapped up, that I forgot to make a extra WI or...

These woodland ornaments were given as gifts last year for Christmas, so I wasn't able to take proper photos of them until now. They were hand sewn using felt and embroidery thread and stuffed with fluff to give the animals dimension. The fox and bear ornaments were adapted from patterns I found online, but the raccoon ornament is custom.  Grizzly Bear Raccoon And the fox. These ornaments look lovely hanging among the fir branches. I'm hoping to add to my woodland felt collection. A deer, owl, or moose perhaps. Any other ideas?  The ornament I made this year was a gingerbread house. I'm thinking of sewing a gingerbread man next time around. The backside of the ornaments are missing something. In the future I'm thinking of sewing the year. A bit of pink ribbon completes it. The felt ornaments were put on the lower branches of our Christmas tree for the littles to enjoy. My two year old loved to take the gingerbread house off the tr...