Blessed Event

I made this one for Nurse Naomi since she works in labor & delivery. I made a few changes. For starters, that bundle needed a baby! Secondly, I made felt legs and then stuffed them with pipe cleaners. I also stuffed the beak with a pipe cleaner. I took a long one, bent it in half, and shoved it in there. I figured it would give the beak more stability for toting that heavy baby! I also made the wings dimensional. I thought this one really turned out cute. This'll be my new standard baby gift!

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!

Holy Family

Here are Mary, Jesus, and Joseph to accompany the kings I made for my friend, Lisa, last Christmas. Nothing too spectacular in the way of changes. I first stitched Joseph's moustache to his face, but you couldn't see it at all. I took it off, cut a second moustache from felt and stitched the two layers together. Then I glued it on. It looks much better.

The Graduate

I made this graduate for one of my church kids, Lorraine. I didn't like the hair that was on the pattern, though, so I "stole" some hair from a different pattern. I went to the trouble of making the mortarboard really authentic-looking and 3-D, which was kind of a pain in the butt. But it looks good! I had a rolled up piece of paper tied with a ribbon for a diploma. At the last minute, I got the idea to make a miniature diploma with Lorraine's name on it. It really looks cute! I printed it on cardstock and glued it to a piece of posterboard. Happy graduation, Lorraine!