Flamingo

Caleb loves all things tropical.  Pineapples, flamingos, watermelon, hula girls . . . . and the tackier, the better.  His classroom decor is even tropical-themed this year.  I thought he definitely needed a festive flamingo on his tree, so I went in search of a pattern and found this one.  It turned out great and Caleb loved it.  

You'll notice that the top wing is a little sparkly.  A couple felt pattern designers I follow are starting to use this new glitter felt that's on the market.  I have glitter felt from Joann, but it's like regular felt with some glitter sprinkled on it.  This is felt backed and has a very thorough coating of fine glitter on the front.  It's beautiful  It's stiffer than regular felt and a little more challenging to get a needle through, but not impossible.  I would never do an entire ornament from it.  It would take forever and would be too stiff, not to mention the expense!  But it adds a really nice bit of sparkle. 

It's heinously expensive and not for the casual crafter.  I asked for a sample pack for my birthday and got the 6"x 9" sheets.  That should keep me in business for a while.  I got it from an Etsy shop called Benzie because that's the shop recommended by the designers I follow.  Click here if you're interested.  

Disclaimer:  I don't get any kickbacks for providing links to either the pattern or the glitter felt.  I'm just sharing resources with you for things I've purchased and liked.  

    

Alligator

Caleb and I went to New Orleans for a few days over his spring break last year.  For reasons I don't understand, doing a gator tour was on his bucket list.  We managed to fit one in between all the eating we did.  It wasn't the worst thing I've ever done, but I feel no need to repeat it.  We did indeed see some gators up close:

I definitely felt like this would be a good souvenir ornament.  I wasn't crazy about the DeAngelis alligator pattern (sorry, Carolyn), so I went in search of one.  I found this one I liked and he turned out great!  

Disclaimer:  I don't receive free patterns or money or anything else in exchange for sharing a link to a pattern or vendor.  I use a pattern I like, I'll tell you.  And if I use one I don't like, I'll tell you that, too.  

Lion King Set

I needed a birthday gift for a young friend and she LOOOOVES The Lion King.  I went in search of clipart to design my own patterns, but actually found some ready-made patterns that worked great.  I did some Googling for clipart of the actual characters and that helped me with details.  I made some changes to the colors and the shape of the eyes to make them more authentic to the movie.  I think they turned out great and my little friend was thrilled with them!  

I did not receive free patterns or anything else in exchange for this post.  I'm just sharing in case you'd like to make a set.  If you do, you can find the Etsy shop here.

Sven

I had three of the characters from Frozen that I designed in the past few years.  Click here if you need to refresh your memory.  I wanted to do a 4th because I thought that would make a nice set.  I had decided on Sven, the reindeer, and hadn't settled on exactly how I wanted to do it.  Then I remembered something Ouida gave me years ago that I'd stuck in a file somewhere.  I went digging and managed to find it!

She sent it because she thought I might like the elves, but it was the reindeer that caught my eye!  I've hung on to that for more than ten years, but look at the date.  1977!!!!  Ouida had hung onto it for longer.  And, fortunately, she also had the black and white drawings, so that made my life much easier.  

He turned out great! 

There are a lot of small pieces, but he went together much quicker than I thought.  And it's a good thing, because I need to do another one by Christmas!

I've done another Elsa and Olaf this year, so I had them handy for a group photo:

Since that initial magazine article included directions and drawings for enlargement, I am able to share the pattern with no problem:

Pete and Robin Hood

You're probably wondering what in the world these two ornaments could possibly have in common.  It's a Charlie Brown thing.  You might remember from an earlier post that I played Lucy last winter in a community theater production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.  It was pretty unanimous that our favorite song was The Book Report.  The kids have been tasked with writing a 100-word book report about Peter Rabbit and they're all toiling away in their own unique ways.  Charlie Brown can't think of anything to say . . . Lucy is counting words . . . Linus is too academic . . . and Schroeder likens Peter Rabbit to Robin Hood and gets lost in a fantasy.  It was the hardest song in the show and also the most fun to sing.  

At one point, Lucy is talking about Mr. MacGregor's garden and, in an effort to add as many words as possible, lists all the vegetables he grows.  I, in turn, had to sing that list every night.  I don't think I'll ever forget it:

carrots

spinach

onions

lettuce

turnips

parsley

okra

cabbage

string beans

parsnips

tomatoes

potatoes

asparagus

cauliflower

rhubarb

chives

And when I ended the list, "chives" was to be sung in a big, operatic way.  Spontaneously bursting into CHIIIIVES just became a running gag among the cast.  When it came time for Schroeder/Tyler's birthday, I knew just what to do:

If you have the DeAngelis patterns, that's Robin Hood and Pete.  I made a couple of changes to Robin Hood.  For starters, I gave him arms.  The original pattern has none.

I knew I wanted him to hold the notebook and you can't do that without any arms!  For this song, we all had giant composition notebooks and pencils:

  

I gave him a feather on his hat instead of an arrow and moved the arrow to his other hand.  I made a minor change to Pete, too.  I gave him overalls instead of a full jumper.  And instead of a carrot, I gave him CHIIIIIVES!!!!

Both these patterns worked up quickly and were simple to do.  And Schroeder wept when he got them.  Because he's a big sap.  

The Pet Set

I did ornaments for our dog and cat back in 2018.  At that time, we just had Violet and Joey.  I went back to look at that post and it made me laugh.  I said:  Last fall, we quite literally inherited another dog from a relative who passed away, so look for a new dog ornament some time this year.  And if Joey has his way, we'll be adding another cat.  He has a friend who comes around regularly to play.  We felt sorry for him, so we put out some food.  Then Mariah named him Whoopie.  It's only a matter of time.  But don't tell Scott I said that!  

Well, we did indeed take in Whoopie on a permanent basis.  It took a long time to win his trust, but he's a great little cat now.  About ten months later, Whoopie brought home a friend.  A really tiny orange kitten.  He was very screamy and very persistent and he eventually wore Scott down.  He darted all over the house like a chipmunk, so Mariah named him Chip.  So at a time in our lives when we should be scaling down on dependents, we find ourselves with five pets.  

The cats were easy, because I just used the pattern I already had and changed the colors.  Oreo required an original design.  She is a pomeranian/fox terrier mix and her coloring makes her look like a border collie.  People are always surprised when they see her in person because they expect a much bigger dog based on her pictures.  She's actually quite small:

And there's Violet -- just generally not caring about anything -- LOL!  I searched for some border collie clipart on Etsy and found something that worked.

Here are the cats:  Joey, Whoopie, and Chip

And here is the pet set!  

DISCLAIMERS:

In case anyone happens by and thinks I've stolen someone else's work or thinks I'm profiting from it:

• I purchased the clip-art.  I did not do a "right click/save as."
• I am not selling a pattern made from this clip-art.  I'm not even giving away a pattern made from this clip-art.  
• I am not selling ornaments made from this clip-art.  

Hager Show Goat

In my previous life, I was the "VBS lady."  I ran our church's bible school for 10 years and had an entire generation of kids in our small town.  I met Macin when he was three.  This is the very first time I met him and he was super ticked that his mom left him at church.

Over the years, he grew to like me -- LOL.  He was always one of my favorites.  He's a year behind my daughter in school.  When we adopted Mariah in the 7th grade, I was at the school for the first time picking her up in the afternoon and I saw Macin's mom.  She asked me why I was there and I told her and she was so excited for us.  The next day, Macin walked up to Mariah and said, "Are you getting adopting by Mrs. Loveday?"  Mariah said she was and he said, "Well . . . you're lucky, because she's AMAZING!"

I'm sure he probably doesn't remember saying that, but I do.  On my worst parenting days when I thought I couldn't possibly get any lower, I'd hear Macin's voice say that in my head and remind myself that SOMEONE thought I was amazing.  And I think he's pretty amazing, too.  He's just one of those human beings who radiates joy.  It's impossible to be in this guy's presence and not smile.  Here we are at a Christmas wedding last year where I was singing and he was asked to dress as Santa:

We live in a small, rural community where lots of the kids are involved in 4H.  Macin raises and shows goats and and plans to be an auctioneer when he graduates in the spring.  Here he is doing what he is most passionate about:

He unveiled a logo for his goat business on Facebook and something made me immediately think I could work that into an ornament.  I didn't love the Carolyn DeAngelis goat pattern, so I did a little Googling and had Macin's mom send me a picture of his current show goat so I could get the color and markings correct.  I largely do ornaments for me, my kids, and close family friends, but every now and then I make one randomly for someone special.  This is the one I made for Macin this year and I hope he likes it.  

And in case you need to make a goat, here's the pattern:  

  

Mama Sloth

Last year, I made these cute llamas for Caleb and Mariah because they have a llama thing.  I don't know why.  I bought the pattern on Etsy from a great shop called Maisie Moo Pattern Shop.  At the time, she was running some sort of BOGO sale, so I picked up another couple patterns that I thought were cute, but if I'm honest, didn't really have a plan for.  Earlier this fall, Mariah bought a pair of socks with sloths on them that she thought were the cutest things in the world.  That reminded me that one of the Maisie Moo patterns I bought was a mama sloth with her baby.  How convenient!

Her patterns are well priced, simple, and have great instructions.  This mama sloth turned out adorable and I know Mariah will love her.  

PLEASE NOTE:  I have never personally communicated with the pattern designer other than to order the pattern.  I didn't receive a free pattern for this post and I'm sure she doesn't even know this blog exists.  

Petunia

Millie was a skunk this year for Halloween.  I already made her the birthday party cake ornament for her first birthday, but there's no rule saying I can't make her more than one ornament a year -- right?  I knew the Carolyn Deangelis Petunia pattern would be perfect and it was.  Easy, too.  I did separate the tail and make it a separate piece, but it was smooth sailing other than that.   

Millie with her mom and dad

Petunia 

Calliope

As I looked through loads of circus pictures, I kept seeing all the fancy, decorated circus horses and knew I had to do one.  The Carolyn DeAngelis pattern really didn't do anything for me:

See what I mean?  Not very circusy.  Then I thought of the carousel horse pattern called Dobin-Go-Round:

Still not quite right.  But I did remember that I was able to use that one and adapt it when I made Peggy.  If I did it once, I could do it again -- right?  I bought a circus-related clipart set from Etsy that had several images I want to use for ornaments.  It had a horse I loved and I was able to tweak this carousel horse to make it work.  Because I'm a little over-zealous when it comes to these ornaments, I sometimes get hung up on a name.  I even went so far as to Google "famous circus horses" but that didn't turn up anything that set me on fire.  I finally decided on Calliope.  That would probably make more sense for a carousel horse, but I don't care.  Once my brain got stuck on that name, that's all it could be!

I feel like enough of this pattern is mine that I can share it with you:

Oh . . . and I decided on those feather plumes after I'd already made the pattern.  I actually just cut those freehand from felt.  

Trumpet & Lil Toot

This one was super easy and a no-brainer to add to the set.  The only change I made was to add that little thing to the mama elephant's head just to make her a little fancier.  I got that idea after looking at some pictures of circus elephants for inspiration.  I had this 9x12 piece of textured felt that I bought years ago.  I remember thinking it'd be perfect for elephant skin and it was!  This one worked up quick and easy.  

Violet and Joey

I wanted to do ornaments of both our pets, so I scrounged around on the internet looking at various free images and just sort of cobbled something together.  

Violet is our rescue pug who just generally sits around the house with her tongue hanging out, looking extra smart.   

Joey is a stray that our kids pulled out of a local creek.  We're suckers.  But he's a pretty good cat.  

Last fall, we quite literally inherited another dog from a relative who passed away, so look for a new dog ornament some time this year.  And if Joey has his way, we'll be adding another cat.  He has a friend who comes around regularly to play.  We felt sorry for him, so we put out some food.  Then Mariah named him Whoopie.  It's only a matter of time.  But don't tell Scott I said that!  

Llamas

For some reason, my kids have a fascination with llamas.  Not real llamas . . . just llamas they see on stuff.  I saw this cute pattern  on Etsy and decided to make them a matching set.  The pom-poms are just circles of felt cut with a hole punch.  I don't know if I've ever talked about that before, but a good-quality Fiskar hole punch -- the kind with the rubber coated handles -- does a really nice job punching felt.  I use a 1/4" one for this size and a 1/8" one for my eyes.

These were super fast to put together and they're really cute on the tree!

PLEASE NOTE:  I have never personally communicated with the pattern designer other than to order the pattern.  I didn't receive a free pattern for this post and I'm sure she doesn't even know this blog exists.  

Peggy

Like half the pool-owners in the United States, we acquired this giant pegasus float this summer courtesy of Mariah.  She promptly named her Peggy.  

I'm telling you, this float really made the rounds.  Peggy was hard at work saving lives in Texas following Hurricane Harvey.  

I really like ornaments that mark a specific memory or moment in time, so I just had to make this one a reality.  Since I can't draw, it was time to adapt.  This one was a cinch.  I headed straight for Carolyn DeAngelis' carousel horse, Dobin-Go-Round.  

I ditched the pole, bridle, and saddle and made stripes on the mane and tail.  Looking at the pattern, I did manage to freehand a wing.  I added some silver star sequins for some bling and made the facial features match the photo.  Everyone who sees this ornament says, "Oh -- a unicorn!"  There's just one problem . . . . no horn.  C'mon, people.  But you could easily add a horn and have yourself a fancy unicorn!

Since I adapted this from a DeAngelis pattern, I'm happy to share it with you.  As always -- just make it fit an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and you're good to go!

Leo

This is another one of those patterns that's a little deceiving.  It is SUPER unappealing on paper.  I wanted to do a lion, the Alpha Delta Pi mascot, for Kelly's ornament this year.  Every time I went to cut out a new ornament, I'd look at this pattern and think, "Yuck.  I'll design something better than that."  Push came to shove time-wise and there just wasn't time to design something from scratch.  I decided to do my best to make this one look presentable.  

Here's the picture from the original pattern:

See what I mean?  Snoozefest.  The more I looked at it, the more I realized that what was bugging me was that the mane and body were one piece.  That just didn't even make sense to me.  I figured if I could make them separate pieces, that would probably help in terms of color.  Here is the Alpha Delta Pi lion logo:

I looked at several images and they were all the same: two-tone lions in light blue and a darker blue.  Easy peasy.  A simple drawn line, an additional piece and abra cadabra:

Doesn't he look great?  And don't let that stitching scare you away.  I was too lazy to walk downstairs to get embroidery floss, so that's just two strands of plain old thread.  He went together pretty quickly, so if you're in a pinch, stitch up this one!  I can't wait to give him to Kelly . . . she'll love him!

Doczee

Brayden, our latest acquisition, had a dachshund when he was little.  He was determined to get an ornament this year, so I quickly threw this one together right at Thanksgiving.  I added the brown patches to make him look more realistic.  He was quick and easy . . . and well received!  

Sammy the Sea Turtle

I posted Serena the Seahorse last time and told you that I'd ordered the pattern from an Etsy shop called Squishy Cute Designs.  When I was ordering, I perused the other patterns, too, and stumbled across the magnificent Sammy the Sea Turtle pattern.  I'm not really into turtles, but our family did have a great turtle encounter last summer on our Mexico vacation.  

We had rented a house on the beach and there were lots of signs and roped-off places in our general vicinity marking where sea turtles had laid eggs.  My husband got up early one morning to find some conservationists on the beach right outside our house.  A turtle was out there laying eggs!  We got both kids up to watch and we had the opportunity to watch the mother tossing sand out of the hole and then crawl out and return to the ocean when she was finished.  

When I saw this pattern, I immediately thought of this experience and knew I wanted to make the ornament to commemorate it.  It's a really basic turtle design, but I love what she did with the stitching detail and the embellishments like sequins, beads, and buttons.  Even with all the little shell pieces, it was a relatively quick ornament to make.  And it turned out great!

(It's hard to tell in this picture, but the green felt for the shell is a darker green than what I used for the body.)  

Pacos and Donkey

This summer, our family took a trip to Mexico.  We all had a great time swimming, sunning, snorkeling, and just generally being lazy.  We also really enjoyed the local cuisine.  The maitre d' at one restaurant really left a lasting impression on all of us.  He was an absolute riot and kept us laughing through our whole meal.  His name was Roberto Carlos, but Mariah has insisted on calling him Robert Carl, which she says is his American name.

Here we are taking the typical tourist pic.  And yes, I probably COULD have found a less flattering picture of myself!

And here is Mariah with her new best friend, Robert  Carlos:

I wanted to make an ornament to commemorate our trip and it wasn't a hard decision. Pacos!  I thought about designing a girlfriend for him, but I've already done an international pair this year and, I'm not gonna lie, I did think about the time involved with everything else going on in our lives.  I remembered my Eskimo and husky dog and decided to give Pacos a burro instead of a woman.  (Something tells me he does not share my enthusiasm for this idea!)

They turned out great and we'll think of wonderful memories from our first vacation as a family of four every time we look at them!