Thursday, December 11, 2008

Ornament swap

Dear Shayne,

A few weeks ago, I signed up for an ornament swap on Swap-bot. Cause why not overload myself with more crafts at Christmastime, right? Sigh.

The plan: make 10 ornaments and send 'em out. In return, get 10 handmade ornaments in the mail. I like getting packages in the mail, so this certainly has its appeal.

I waffled for some time about what ornament to make. At some point, I became entranced with these ornaments, which were showing up on several craft blogs I read. Lacking the awesome recycled "postbag" canvas that artist has, I decided to make a little something like it myself.

I started by stenciling a cheerful holiday message onto a piece of linen:
Christmas ornaments [in progress]

Then I drew out 10 hearts.
Christmas ornaments [in progress]

I then cut out those hearts and made 10 ornaments from them:
Christmas ornaments

I like the concept of "parts of a whole," and now 10 strangers each have a little piece of a greater happy message:
Ornaments in a pile

And I think they look pretty cool alone:
Single ornament

Along with each ornament, I sent a photo of the original stenciled linen and also the photo of all of the ornaments together, showing the message re-constructed. I hope people like them!

My only regret is that I only made 10. For some reason, I thought the number 10 included my own ornament, but I actually had to send out 10, so I didn't make one for myself. Bummer, eh?

I may have to make another batch next year and send them to 9 friends, just so I can have one of my own. ;)

love,
kelly

16 comments:

Victoria said...

Wow! These are FABULOUS! I love the concept and they look great! Makes my head swim with ideas... !

Christine said...

I saw these and was really hoping they were for sale. Bummer. Maybe next year?

HC said...

I'm in love with these!

ren said...

love that. one part of a whole...very nice.

Anonymous said...

I love, love these! So clever!

amy dame said...

those are VERY cool! (i like yours better!)

if you decide to make more at any point, let me know, i'll swap ornaments with you anyday!

Whitney said...

So cute! I love the idea :)

Diane Gilleland said...

Those are beautiful! The red thread is a perfect detail.

Jenny said...

Wow. Those are so cute!

Amanda said...

These are adorable. I like yours a lot better. (:

maritessb said...

LOVE IT! The photo of it together looks like a great greeting card.

Anonymous said...

I saw this here first, but I see it is on the Craftzine blog today. Very nice recognition for your craftiness Kelly!

Miki said...

Found your through the craft magazine blog and these are so CUTE!! I love how each one is different, but part of a whole...love them!

Reese Dixon said...

I really love these. What a great project!

bettyninja said...

Very fabulous! Cute idea and they look absolutely wonderful alone too.

Shayne said...

How did I miss commenting on these? They look great - there's something *really* appealing about that color combination.

Chrince - we really all need to convince Kelly to start selling some of her wonderful crafts!