My Favorite Christmas Decorations

For as long as I can remember New YEar's Day has had taking down the Christmas Tree on the top of the chore list. My family was never into Football and if we did naything social we ususally gathered somewhere for brunch. The tree put away was laways the big task to get done. So here it is New Years Day 2010, and I am taking the tree down . As I do I thought that I would share with you , some of my favorite ornaments that live in my collection. I did not get out the full collection this year. We stopped unwrapping when the tree was full!! As I am the primary "tree putter upper" and "taker downer", I get to decide when I think there is enough out!!
the glorious blue Star above arrived from the fabulously talented and generous Martha Brown of Ontario. marthat and I met through an on line art group and we have remained great friends. you have probably noticed Martha's wonderful work in all of the issues of Sew Somerset!! Quite an achievement.!! She has a fabulous blog that you will find here and she teaches kindergarten with such flair and artistry, I am in awe of her!!!



This little garden wheelbarrow ornament was given to me by my Mom and is part of a series. It is probably the first piece of altered art that I ever recieved- though at the time I did not realise what the term "altered art" or "assemblage" meant. (I'm talking back in the mid 90')If you look closely you will note that the pieces of this ornament are bits of children's toys, probably fromPlay mobile or Barbie Dollhouse or something similar. The artist painted everything gold and then made little scenes and glued it all together,adding rhinestones here and there!! So Wonderful!!!

This is a new ornament that I bought for myself this year, as inspiration. I love the colors and the hand stitching! It is crafted from felt and is stuffed. I think that this piece will hang in my studio year round.

This covered snow scene is one that I found after Christmas last year . I just love it and it is a wonderful addition to my Snow People collection.

This is the addition to Becca's ornament collection for this year. I got it at the same time as the House ornament above. Becca has a real love affair going with cats so this ornament really spoke to me. We cannot have cats because of allergy issues with Tom, for all we know , becca may ahve the same allergies.!! I just love how this little black cat is lounging on the cresent moon!

This bureau scarf, table decoration is from my Grandmother's house and I am fairly sure that she did the stitch work. I love the total Swedishness of it!! I asked her several times to translate it for me and perhaps she did, or perhaps she could not remember, but in any case I no longer know. I must find out someday. This piece brings back wonderful memeories of Christmas Eves spent at my cousins home where she lived, with all 5 of my cousins. All in all there wer 7 of us and my brother and I used to call the mayhem- "Living cartoons!!" There were 7 matching stockingshung on the fireplace, all knit by a dear family friend who had no children of her own. It was a wonderful time of my childhood.

This is one of a series of four handcrafted ornaments from Becca's preschool years. I treasure this one especially- she is so cute and innocent. I wisht ath I ahd similar pieces for Matthew but he was not in preschool when we were in Oklahoma. Sigh!! I might actually go back and take some pictures of him when he was around preschool age and make some ornaments. I had better write down this idea or it will be gone forever!!!!

This precious angel ornament was sent to me by my incredible friend patti. She created HOPE using an angel excavated from a factory site in Germany. These little frozen charlottes, as theya re called were throw out into the factory yard when it was determined that they were not perfect. This little doll was probably rejected because the glaze had flowed too far down the legs fuzing them together. By being discarded they were damaged further, and now they carry the marks of age. They are so beautiful in all of their imperfections- they are perfect earth angels-glorious, imperfections and all!!

This handkerchief angel was created many years ago when I came across this wonderful vintage hankie with the red tatting on the edges. I made several that year and gave them as gifts.

This ornament is made from a salvaged ivory piano key. The angel is done in Scrimshaw. this was also a gift from my Mom and done by a friend of hers.

This little mouse in his matchbox bed was created by a friend from Oklahoma. When we lived in Stillwater I was invoved witha wonderful group of artists at the local Parks and Rec art center. We had a wonderful teaching space with awesome classes offered for all ages. We also ahd a great gallery space where every Christmas there was an amazing Holiday Gallery. The ornaments that we all created for sale were always a huge draw to the gallery and we always did much of our holiday shopping there. Support your local artist!!! Jaqui did all of the detail work on her pieces with hand stitching.

Finally, this little lamb nestling in the branches was made by Becca last year after Christmas. Another project that I hope to get to this year, is to create simpleneedle felted animals as ornaments.

For now I have to get back to packing up the tree and seetlting everything down for long summers nap!!

Happy New year to all of you, my wonderful blog reader friends and may it be a fullfilling and creative year for everyone!!!