Little Leaguer

I wanted to make ornaments for Linus/Daniel for his birthday and he's a HUGE Cleveland Indians fan.  That was a no-brainer:  Little Leaguer.  I love the Carolyn DeAngelis sports figures.  They have nice details that are well worth the effort.  I can't believe that I'd never made this one before now, but somehow it had escaped me.  I had Tyler/Schroeder do a little snooping to find out which variation of the uniform style was Daniel's favorite and this is the final result:

He turned out great and Daniel LOVED him!  And I didn't want him to feel left out after Tyler got two ornaments for his birthday, so he also got a Pete to remind him of our time in Charlie Brown.  His got chives AND a big pencil!

That's a cuticle stick that I cut and painted, in case you're wondering!  

Skating Brayden

Since he was along on the trip to Cleveland for everyone's first ice skating experience, Brayden needed an ornament, too.

(Concentration requires his tongue to be out.  I should've put that on the ornament!)

If you recall, I made Skating Mariah last month.  Back to Etsy to look for a suitable boy. Something about this set of clipart caught my eye.  I think it was the hat.  

I had that moment where I asked for an opinion when what I really wanted was approval of a decision I'd already made.  "I was thinking about a red hat," I said.  "No.  Camo." was the response.  CAMO.  I actually did have some camo felt, so I could deal with that.  "And a black coat. Because my coat is black."  A black coat.  BLACK.  That's not festive.  I put my foot down on that one.  I reminded him that his other coat is tan and he relented.  And I made a decision not to ask him for any more opinions.  First, the Playstation logo and now, the black coat.  You, sir, are done having input!

This one turned out GREAT.  I love the body position and that hat.  When he's hanging, he'll actually be tipped back a little -- like the clipart picture.  He'll look great on the tree this year!

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.  

Skating Mariah

Neither of the kids had been ice skating before.  We promised them a "friend day" over Christmas break and one of the things we did was go ice skating outside in downtown Cleveland.  It was a beautiful day and everyone had a great time.  

I could've just used Carolyn DeAngelis' Katrina pattern . . .

. . . but I knew I'd probably want to do a matching boy for Brayden, so I wanted to go a different route.  I'd seen some cute ice skating clipart on Etsy and decided this would be an easy one to design. I've noticed that very often on Etsy, the clipart vendors will have a "buy two, get one free" offer.  I've even seen "buy two, get get TWO free" before. That's a good time to peruse everything in that Etsy store to see if there's anything you can use down the road.  This clipart came from an Etsy store called Tiny Confetti  and it was perfect for adapting to an ornament because it was simple.  

I wanted to use paper clips for the skate blades like I did on the Katrina ornament.  This one had smaller feet, though, so the whole paper clip would've been too big.  If you look at a standard paper clip, there's that smaller, inside loop:

I used wire cutters to just snip off the larger loop and that worked perfectly.  The overlap of the of the paper clip is hidden up inside the skate.  I think she's adorable . . . just like the girl she's named for.  

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.  

Snorkeling Brayden

We took a family vacation to Mexico in June and it was Brayden's first experience with snorkeling.  I didn't think we'd ever get him out of the water.  This was my view of him for pretty much the entire trip.

I made the Snorkeling Mariah ornament after her first trip to Mexico, so I thought Brayden needed one, too.  I went to Etsy in search of clipart and found the boys' version of the art I'd used for Mariah.  Since I knew what I was doing this time, I took pictures of how I did the mask.  I used clear vinyl tablecloth covering.  This is much thinner and easier to stitch through than actual clear vinyl.  

First, you cut a piece of vinyl bigger than the mask.

Sandwich it between the two pieces of felt and pin it.  

Stitch around the inside of the mask, going through the felt and the vinyl.

Trim away the vinyl inside the mask with a tiny pair of scissors.

 Then you have this.

Now comes the fun part.

Start stitching and stick in the pipe cleaner.

Keep stitching and bending as you go.  

When you get to about here, you have to measure and cut.

Bend it around, stick it down in there, and finish it up!

It's really not as hard or time-consuming as it looks.  The first couple of stitches are the worst and then it's smooth sailing from there.  He turned out great and I'm anxious to see them hanging side-by-side on the tree!  

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.  

Goldie

Our family really enjoyed watching the Olympics this summer.  Especially the women's gymnastics.  I thought an ornament would be a fun way to remember the nights we spent crowded together on the couch watching Team USA conquer the world.  Caleb and Mariah were particularly captivated, so I made one for each of them.  

Step one was to locate some clipart to adapt.  I always go straight to Etsy.  I can almost always find exactly what I'm looking for, it's always affordable, and you can download it instantly.  I found this really cute set for $3.  Step two was to decide on which of the various uniforms to use.  After looking through pictures on the web, I thought this one could be fun with sequins and red glitter felt.

Once I got the pattern drawn up, it was time to cut out and start stitching.  Here's a little lesson on perspective.  I got to this stage and just wasn't happy.  Something didn't look quite right.  I finally decided the facial features were too small and too close together.  I took out the stitches, moved the eyes farther apart, and made the smile bigger and that took care of things.  

I named her Goldie and she turned out great.  I always do my people ornaments with hair and eye color to match the recipient's.  Here are my two ornaments for Caleb and Mariah.  

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.  

Jeffrey Jump-Up 2

This is the third time I've made this ornament and I'll be honest that I'm not a fan.  I will say that he turns out GREAT, but he's just a pain.  There are small pieces and those socks and shoes require a lot of thread changes when you stitch the legs together.  The stitching on the basketball is no picnic, either.  The first time I did this one was for my oldest nephew, Alex.  I think it was one of the very first ornaments I did -- definitely prior to starting this blog -- and I didn't even take a picture of it.  The second time was for our friend, John, who was playing basketball for Heidelberg College at the time.  As you can see from the blog post, the colors weren't very exciting and my picture was terrible.  In fairness to Jeffrey, I thought I'd post this ornament a second time so you can get a better picture of what he looks like.  My younger nephew also plays basketball, so I thought I'd do this ornament for him, too.

When I got the pattern out, I laid out all the pieces to be sure I had them all.  

Ouida's mom must've made this pattern several times, too, judging by all the pin holes in the pieces.  Just looking at the pieces filled me with dread!  I had a picture of Zach in his uniform to go by for the color choices:

He may be a pain in the butt, but he sure does turn out well.  I know Zach will love him! 

Mogul Mike/Mariah

Happy belated Easter!  I didn't post yesterday because we were busy enjoying a holiday with both kids -- something we hadn't done before.  But ornaments wait for no one!

When  Clif shared his ornament photos with me years ago, I was struck by his Mogul Mike ornament and always wanted to make him.  

I had intended to make him for Scott a few years ago when he started skiing, but I never got around to it.  Now that Mariah skis with him, I decided to make the ornament for her.  And I'll try to get one made for Scott, too!  The first trick was to change the ornament to a girl.  And knowing that I'd like to make a second one, I wanted to do something just a little different so I didn't wind up with two of the same ornament on the tree.  (Why that matters, I do not know . . . but it does.)  I kept thinking of the Herald Angel ornament I made several years ago for Audrey and decided to steal her ponytail and profile.  

I didn't like that spit-curl thing that was happening on her face, so I omitted that.  I also decided to do a headband instead of a hat  . . . though Mariah is too cool to wear either of those things and prefers to just pull her hood up.  Here's my finished ornament:

You're probably wondering about the ski poles.  The poles themselves are just long, skinny rectangles that are stuffed with a pipe cleaner.  The round things at the bottom . . . . what ARE those things called?  I know they probably have a specific name, but I don't know it.  Anyway -- those round things at the bottom look like this:

It's two circles cut from my silver fabric with a hole punched in the middle.  Then I stitched them front to back, making sort of a donut.  (Yum . . . . now I want a donut!)  I put the poles through the middle and just used a tiny dot of hot glue to hold it in place.

She's really cute and Mariah LOVES her!

Snorkeling Mariah

As I told you in the Pacos post, our family took a vacation to Mexico in August.  One of the highlights was snorkeling.  This was Mariah's first beach vacation and first time snorkeling.  She LOVED it!

I made the Pacos and donkey set for our family tree, but I wanted to make Mariah her own ornament from the trip.  In my search for some suitable images to use, I stumbled upon the website for JW Illustrations.  She has very affordable clip-art packages that lend themselves very well to our purposes.  I purchased several different packages from her, including one that included images of girls snorkeling.  That led to this little cutie, which I named Snorkeling Mariah.  Isn't she great?  We're decorating the tree tomorrow and I can't wait to see her on there!

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.  

Horsin' Around

As you know, I make ornaments each year for my two nephews.  Sometimes, it's easy to pick a design and other years it isn't.  That was the case this year for Zach.  I was stumped.  I finally thought it might be a good time to commemorate his love for pitching horseshoes.  He pitches with his father at tournaments in the summer.

Aaaaand, as you know . . . I can't draw.  At all.  I'm pretty good at adapting, so I searched the internet for some graphics I could use and basically found nothing.  This grainy image did at least let me know I wanted one arm swung back and holding a horseshoe.

But that was it.  Back to square one.  I started perusing Carolyn's patterns to see if there was anything usable at all.  I kept coming back to Josh '84:

What if I gave him a rear arm and a horseshoe ... lost the overall straps and cuffs ... and sort of tipped him forward?  Guess what?  IT WORKED!  

P.S. -- In case you wonder if I ever mess one up . . . I stitched Zach's name and the year on the back of the shirt without remembering that the arm would need to be glued there.  So part of it is covered up.  AND, as I'm writing this post and looking at the photo, I'm realizing that the ornament is pitching left-handed and Zach is right-handed.  Oh, well!!

Touchdown Tommy Goes to Ohio State

It's been awhile since I've posted.  Partly because I did a couple of ornaments that are exact duplicates of ones I've already done.  I didn't think you needed to see a second purple Ashland eagle!  I also did a couple of Touchdown Tommy ornaments in Ohio State colors for some friends who are rabid fans.  I love Touchdown Tommy because I think he turns out so cute.  I realized that I think I've made more from that pattern than any other!  He's a little deceptive, because I always think he looks easier and quicker than he is.  Doing two at a time about killed me.  Major snooze-fest!!  He turned out great, though, and I think my Buckeye friends will love seeing him on their trees this Christmas.

Touchdown Tommy -- Steelers Style

This post can aptly be subtitled, How To Over-think an Ornament

 Our friend's son, Luke -- owner of last year's squirrel wearing aviator sunglasses ornament -- requested a Pittsburgh Steelers football player this year.  I know what their traditional uniform looks like:  black jersey, yellow pants, and black helmet.  Blech.  That won't show up well on a Christmas tree!!

I did a little research and turned up these uniform options:

I decided that top left one had the most potential for showing up well against the green branches of a tree.  I cut it all out, including the little yellow, blue, and red diamonds for the emblem on the helmet.  I stitched them all to the little white circle and was pretty impressed with myself.  Feeling extra big for my britches, I actually stitched STEELERS on it, too.  (Hold your applause, please.)  Then, I looked at this graphic again and realized I had a problem. 

According to the Carolyn DeAngelis pattern, Touchdown Tommy is facing left.  According to this graphic, the side of the helmet facing left has no emblem on it.  What's an OCD girl to do?  Flip the pattern and make him face right, of course!  And in the midst of all my efforts to over-achieve, I neglected to realize that I had reversed the yellow and blue diamonds.


Well, great.  Now the Pro Football Hall of Fame will NEVER exhibit this ornament in their Steelers section!  And Luke will probably bust me on it, too.  Oh, well . . . I think he still looks pretty darned good!

Pep

I always thought Jeffrey Jump-Up (the basketball player) was the most time-consuming ornament. Now, I'm not so sure. Pep could give Jeffrey a run for his money! Because I stitch everything, the soccer ball alone took over an hour. Between the black patches and the changing colors of thread as I stitched around the outside, it was a pain. I needed this to be a girl, so I stole this hair from one of the angel patterns. This was one of those tricky patterns that totally changed shape once it was stuffed. If I ever make another one, I'll be adjusting that hair to eliminate that whispy thing that winds up looking like a sideburn.

This is for Cally -- the girlfriend of our friends' son, John. She got the Leiloni hula girl last year. She doesn't have ornament-related hobbies and I was about to cut out Betsy Bubbles for her because I know she likes to go to the spa . . . . but then John told me she plays soccer recreationally and suggested that might be a better fit. (That just means she's getting Betsy next year!)

Touchdown Tommy

I made this as a thank-you for a friend -- obviously a UK fan. I printed the letters out using the Varsity font and then cut them from felt. The stitching wasn't so bad . . . but they were a HUGE pain to cut out! I think the next time, I'll hot glue-baste the cleats in place before stitching. I didn't notice until I was done that they don't match. They're farther apart on one shoe than the other.

Ninja

This is an original design. Well . . . semi-original, anyway. I don't draw at all, so I found a clipart graphic online and used it. Our friend, Dave, is a black belt in karate and all-around martial arts guy. He was the inspiration for my Karate Kid ornament last year. Recently, he was in his back yard playing around with some very sharp swords and cut his finger, requiring 5 stitches. That's when we dubbed him "The Ninja." I was at a loss as to what ornament to make him this year, and that just sealed the deal.

The throwing star is just two layers of felt stitched together -- no stuffing. There's a silver sequin stitched to the front. The sword is stuffed with a pipe cleaner. It doesn't show up too well in the picture, but on the hand holding the star, I put some little black stitches. My little "gotcha" to Dave!

Karate Kid

This is another original design from me – the non-drawer. I had to “interpret” a piece of clipart I found. I was pretty pleased with how he turned out.




For those of you who have read all the other blog posts on here, you’ll be interested to know that Karate Kid is engaged to Nurse Naomi and they will be getting married next July. I’m sure you can guess which ornaments they’ll be receiving next year!

Jeffrey Jump-Up

This is the second time I've stitched this ornament and it might be the last! He is really tedious, but the end product is worth the hassle. He just has a lot of little pieces and seems to take about 3 times as long as any other ornament.

This was made for our friends' son who plays basketball at Heidelberg College. Their home game jerseys are actually orange, but I didn't think the basketball would show up very well, so I did the away game colors. I backstitched orange and black around the edges of the uniform to get the school colors on there.

Louisville Cardinal

Here's another self-designed ornament. My husband is a University of Louisville alumni, so I designed this for him. What a pain in the butt it was! Those feet are really skinny and they're completely stuffed with pipe cleaners. He has a ton of pieces and was a true labor of love!