Thursday, November 13, 2014

Exchange ornaments

This year I had three (3) different handmade ornament exchanges from two different Yahoo groups.  I have been involved in ornament exchanges for almost 20 years.

I had two exchanges which were from the Yearly Ornament Exchange group.  Those that are signed-up are assigned to groups of (usually) four others and everyone makes an ornament for each person.  And if everything works out, you will receive four handmade ornaments.  No style or medium is set so you can (and usually) get four different ornaments.  In past years, I have received ornaments made from beads, polymer clay, wire, cross-stitch, plastic canvas, paper, cloth, wood, and puzzle pieces.  These have been both religious and secular in nature.  I will do the same ornament for each exchange partner unless they are duplicated in both groups, then I will make another ornament, usually same designed but a different color or different focal element.

The third exchange group is from the Christmas All Year group.  This group you sign-up and the co-ordinator instructions have many ornaments you need to make.  One rule is that the ornaments which you make all have to be the same. So that when the ornaments are re-packaged, everyone in the exchange will receive the same ornament from you.  This the magic number was eight (8).  Trying a new ornament design for this group and hope everyone likes it.

Will be posting photos of both ornaments I send out after Thanksgiving, along with instructional photos of the new design and variations on the theme.

On the personal gift/ornaments front,   I usually joke with people that I have several lists I make at Christmas, an “A” list, a “B” list and a “C” list.  The C-list gets a card, the B-list I will buy something for and the “A”-list will get an ornament or a set of ornaments. 

The lists are not set in stone as this year I found a ceramic Krampus head I bought for a friend, and my soon-to-be step daughter and husband, I have Egyptian glass ornaments which will go with the set I gave them last year.  They married last year and I gave them a group of four blown ornaments as a way to start their own ornaments.  They had a baby in February of this year so I will be making her a little commemorative ornament with her name and birthday date on it.  I am planning on making 2 of these, one for the tree and the other sealed to be given to her when she moves out on her own, so she will have her own set of personal Christmas ornaments.

I have many ornaments in various stages of creation.  Many people will be receiving personal ornaments this year.  I have one person who loves the Minion characters from the “Despicable Me” movies, another enjoys “Doctor Who”, several who pull for Alabama, UNC or NC State, and another who loves Mickey Mouse (okay he is only 2 years old).  I have either found pre-printed fabric and scrap-booking paper in these themes, but I always have had to create copy to use.  Luckily, I have a very nice commercial laser printer available to me through work, as well as the programmes (Adobe Creative Suite Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign) and knowledge to make my own compositions.  Sometime my job does come n handy outside of work.  So Deb will get four Minion theme ornaments, Matt will get two Doctor Who theme ornaments.  Chuck and Little Jimmy will received four Alabama ornaments each, Ayden - two (maybe four) Mickey Mouse.  Robert a new set of UNC ornaments, Roger and (another little) Jimmy will receive NC State ornaments.  Others like a specific color, I’ve got an Orange person, a Pink person, a Purple person, and a Dark Blue person, another person likes the color combination of White, Black and Gold.