Roquefort

Each year, I do a mouse for my mother.  This is the 2013 addition to her collection.  I think the mice are my favorite of Carolyn's ornaments.  This little guy is REALLY cute with his paper clip ice skates.  I think my mom will love him!

Soldier Boy

I made this little guy to have on hand in case I need a quick gift this Christmas.  If I'm honest, he's not my favorite.  His arms are a little long for my taste.  Sometimes the ornaments are cuter on paper and I think this is one of them.  The faces sometimes look nice and round and then once you get them stitched and stuffed, the bottom of the face pulls down into the neck.  I added the buttons to give him a little bling.

Maybe not my favorite . . . . but still pretty cute!!

Angelic Duet

Here's my latest.  I've been making angels for my friend's daughter each year since she was born.  Last year, she got a new baby sister.  I already had her ornament made and didn't have this pattern yet.  (Janet shared it with me earlier this year.)  As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it for her!  I didn't like the big angel's hair on the pattern.  It was super short, like the little angel's hair.  I searched through my patterns and "borrowed" some hair from somewhere else.

I added some decorative stitching to the bottoms of the dresses because I thought they were a little plain and boring otherwise.  I did the faces according to the pattern, but might change them if I make this one again.  Hope you like them!

The Graduates

I was just clearing off the memory card for my camera and found an ornament stowaway!  I got so busy with Christmas that I guess I forgot to post this one.  I did him for our friend, Dave, who just finished with his Bachelor's Degree.

As if this omission wasn't bad enough . . . . I went to find the blog post where I'd written about the female graduate I did a few years ago and couldn't find it!  Apparently, I'd never posted that one, either.  EPIC FAIL!  This was for one of my church kids, Lorraine, and she graduated back in 2010.  Oh well . . . better late than never, right???

I made the little diplomas in Print Shop Deluxe.  The next time I do one of these, I'll do a tutorial.  That mortarboard requires a bit of engineering!  This makes a GREAT personalized gift and is totally worth the effort.

African Rubber Neck

Here's my first ornament of 2013!  This is for Caleb, the recipient of the eagle I made to look like his college's mascot.  I ran out of time to make Caleb an ornament in 2012 -- the horror! -- so I put him at the top of the list for this year.  He has a thing for giraffes (I don't know why) and his favorite color is purple . . . . so here we have this version of African Rubber Neck.

He really went together pretty quickly.  Those little things on the top of his head . . . the giraffe antennae, for lack of a better word . . . are stuffed with pipe cleaners.  I just don't have the patience to shove a tiny wad of stuffing up there!  I made a little coil at the end of the pipe cleaner so it wound up being the shape of the felt piece.  Worked like a charm!

And let me just say . . . . you THINK you know what color a giraffe is until you start looking through your felt.  Some were too tan and some were too orange or gold.  This is a little peachier than I'd like the more I look at it, but it'll just have to do!

Have you started your 2013 ornaments yet???

Ornaments from Readers

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I hope the recipients of your ornaments were thrilled with their gifts.  Mine were certainly well received.  Mary loved her mermaid and couldn't stop remarking about the individual sequins that were sewn on.  Luke really liked his Steelers player and couldn't believe I actually stitched the word STEELERS on it.  My piano students really loved their Eskimo girls and sled dog.  It's funny -- my students are two girls and one boy.  Taylor and Ethan are siblings.  They opened their ornaments when they got home and quickly realized that the Eskimo girl and dog were a set.  Ethan said, "I wonder if Brittany got a sled???"  LOL!!  Naomi really loved the miniature version of Tucker and was particularly impressed that I designed it especially for her.

Several of you have been gracious enough to send me pictures of your ornaments and I wanted to share those with the rest of you.

Anna is from Australia, but is currently living in the states. She makes felt ornaments each year for gifts and contacted me specifically looking for a kangaroo pattern.  She did a beautiful version of Mom Hopper, putting candy canes in the pouch.

Janet has been making Carolyn DeAngelis ornaments for over 40 years.  She and some ladies at her church get together all year long to work on ornaments to sell at their annual bazaar.  I'm envious -- I'd love to belong to a group like that!  Here's a set of Cinderella ornaments they made.

Here's a really cute Mary Poppins they designed.

And THIS picture, I could look at all day long!

Look at all those ornaments they made!!!

Kathy is new to felt ornaments and hasn't tackled the Carolyn DeAngelis patterns yet.  She made these ornaments from other sources for Christmas.  Beautiful!  I particularly love the detail on the stocking.

 

Barb, another reader, has done a TON of self-designed ornaments including a whole set of Harry Potter ones.

She also did these "head shots" of favorite Sesame Street characters.  Adorable!!

I'm in Florida now, so you'll have to live in suspense until I get home in February!  I brought down pieces for twelve ornaments and I've already started stitching.  Twelve ornaments in six weeks . . . think I can make it????