Ornament Exchange

One of my favorite Christmas craft traditions is the annual ornament exchange. I've been to several now with friends in multiple states. Every year is different; every year is fun.

I love decorating my tree with all the handmade goodies I get to bring home. Seeing all those treasures on my tree reminds me of friends near and far, and because I'm silly and sentimental like that, I feel like I've brought home a piece of them (but not in a gross, body-parts-hanging-from-the-tree kind of way).

Anyway, I should have taken pictures of all the ornaments I've brought home through the years, but I didn't think of it until we'd put away all the Christmas decorations. But I did manage to get pictures of the ornaments I made. Miles was my assistant for the photo shoot.

I wanted to make a beaded snowflake. I've had it in my head for years, but I've never succeeded in making that vision a reality. This year I thought with a little help from Martha, I could make it happen.

I was wrong.

Feel free to click and make it bigger. You really should see it close up, in all of its spindly, awkward glory.

I would have taken it apart to salvage the beads, but I actually spent quite a bit of time on it. I found myself in that awkward position of trying to convince myself to like it to justify my investment of time. To make mattes worse, Sam and Grace loved it. It was kind of funny actually. I make stuff all the time, and the kids hardly pay attention. They're hard to impress, usually. But this one, they carried around like some precious object. They called it a starfish, and wanted to give it a place of honor on our tree.

I thought it might still be passable to take to the ornament exchange, until I heard Shane's feedback. He tried so hard to be diplomatic as he offered suggestions to "make it look better." By then I was over it. I just said I'd try to make sure it went to someone I didn't' like.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone on the guest list I could wish it upon.

In the end, I came up with something a little more presentable, and no one had to pretend to be excited to take the starfish home.

These beaded wreaths and icicles were quick and surprisingly easy to make while holding a baby. I made them mostly with beads and ribbon from the stash. I purchased a couple strands of filler beads, and some wire to hold it all together. I spent less than $10 on the whole batch.

Cheap. Crafty. Sparkly. My favorite.