It's Tuesday, and time marches on . . .

Here, as promised, are some photos of the project 

that kept me busy (and covered in glitter) last week.  

I belong to an ornament exchange with my daughters, my sister and my nieces, so every year we each come up with an idea and produce 9 ornaments.

We have a great time with this project and look forward to it!  My sister's family claims that they stress about it because the Hinckleys are so good at making things.  We maintain that we stress about it because my sister not only taught me everything I know about making things, but also passed her exceptional skills on to all of her daughters.

It's good-natured stress all around, and the best kind of crafting adventure because it's just for fun. And such a nice way for all these young girls with their new families to begin amassing the kinds of memory-laden baubles that make decorating the tree each year just like a party with old friends.

I had started with a plan for an ornament that I called "Baby Jesus in a pie tin" (working title!) and I assembled a prototype, using a vintage tart tin for the manger, some vintage tinsel for sparkle, and a stitched wool baby with a gold scrap crown.  HOWEVER . . .

for some reason, after I had the first ornament finished I sort of lost momentum and it just didn't turn my crank the way I had hoped it would.  Of course I had already cut materials for 9 babies . . . so now I know I have a "kit" ready to go for a future year!  (We'll see how I feel about it next time.)

But my desk was still littered with vintage tart tins in a variety of sizes and shapes, so I wondered what else I could do with them.

When in doubt, one can never go wrong with Aunt Lillie's old Christmas cards (they've served me so well over the years!), so I pulled out some glass pieces, grabbed a hefty bottle of glitter and some glue, and went to work . . .

 

I'm so pleased with the results!  They're sparkly and fun, required just the right amount of work and have a little bit of family nostalgia in the mix.

Now I just have to decide who gets which one, come up with some clever packaging . . .

I know . . . it's the worst photo but it might be the cutest ornament.  
I won't even bother to apologize once again for my inability to take a decent photo.  
Love me, love my blurriness.

and of course, figure out a way to get the glitter out of every single crack and crevice of my entire studio (not to mention the pesky piece in my eye!)   Did you know wool REALLY attracts glitter?

Oh well . . . things are supposed to sparkle, right?  

 

It's Christmas!