Handmade Holiday Ornament Exchange

Beginning in 2012, my sister and I decided to exchange handmade ornaments based on the list of traditional and/or modern wedding anniversary gift suggestions. I am busy working on this year’s ornament but I thought I would do a Flashback of the three previous ornaments first.

The first year’s theme was Paper {traditional} or Clock {modern}. I created a Tim Holtz Cuckoo Clock ornament die cut out of paper.

I began by covering a small box with vintage sheet music, this created the base. The music I chose happened to be from The Nutcracker Suite which seem suitable for the Christmas theme. Before I sealed up the box I punched two small holes in the bottom and ran a small chain through, leaving both ends hanging out of the bottom. I then sealed up the box and used Distress inks to age the paper edges.

I die cut two Sizzix Tattered Pinecones to use as the “weights” beneath the clock. I added some snowy glitter and hot-glued them to the ends of the chain.

{Unfortunately the Sizzix House 3D die that I used to create the clock is discontinued at this time.} To add texture to the sides, I used the Woodgrain Texture Fade and Distress inks to highlight the raised surfaces. I cut an opening near the top arch and attached a small die cut Cardinal {more festive than a Cuckoo Bird}.

I die cut the Weathered Clock and first applied Tea Dye Distress ink as a background color. Next, I used Perfect Medium with an all-over stamp pattern and applied Perfect Pearls in Heirloom Gold. This created a random, worn metallic look to the clock face. Before assembling the clock/house, I placed the clock face on the front to determine where the clock hands would be attached. I used a small brad to attach the hands then set the clock face aside while I worked on the next steps. The clock face has to be attached after the house is attached to the base in the final step.

The assembled the clock/house had a plain top of the house but I wanted to add a more ornate roof. I cut and folded a piece of brown cardstock and ran both sides through my Vagabond die cutting machine using the Snow Flurries Texture Fade. I sanded the raised surface to give it more texture. I also added a small piece of die cut Vintage Lace along the front edge of the roof. It is cut from more old sheet music. I thought it added a nice gingerbread roof line. I used a large needle to punch two holes through the roof and top of the house. I glued the roof to the house then strung a piece of vintage ribbon through the holes to hang it.

I hot glued the house to the bottom box. I glued the clock face to both the front of the house and the base. On the left side of the clock I added a small bottlebrush tree. On the right side I glued a small die cut Reindeer.