4th Annual Holiday Ornament Swap + Hop

Each year I look forward to making ornaments for friends and family. And for the 4th year, I have enjoyed doing this little ornament swap + hop organized by the lovely Miss Sally Russick.

You can see the ornaments I swapped in the past here:

2011

2012

2013

This year I was delighted to be paired with Miss Lesley Watt. She hails from the UK and makes a delicious assorted of ceramic and PMC beads, components and charms. I love them all! I figured that she would send me something created from one of her regular lines. Imagine my surprise when I got this package...

Cuteness! That sweet little card and the package were wrapped up in brown paper on the outside with the cutest washi tap that I have ever seen with these little birdies on it. The birdies say things like...this cardinal wants french fries on his lunch break... the world needs more skateboarding sandpipers...

...and will you look at the little package decoration! One of Miss Lesley's awesome bronze PMC charms. Swoon!

Now I don't know if Miss Lesley knew this or not, but I sort of have a thing for snowflakes. And snowmen. And cardinals. So I was over the moon excited when I pulled this out of the package

Do you see that little cardinal on this little guy's shoulder?

I love it! So freakin' adorable!

Not the best picture of my living room, but here is the tree. See the mantel with the stockings? I made each one of those with a different felt snowman on them. And the snowflakes all over the mantel art? I made that, too!

Hard to capture in still pictures, but the painting that is lit actually twinkles on and off, like snow falling. It is painted pearl cream on white canvas and reads 'Let it snow' in my own handwriting. On the mantel are assorted mercury glass votives, a forest of tiny bottle brush trees that I bleached (check out my ornament swap post from 2012 for the details), little white glitter putz houses, and even an indoor snowball fight waiting to happen! 

 Here is a closeup of the lighted mantel art. Fuzzy because the lights were twinkling!

I got smart this year and added a remote control box on the top of the mantel (there is an outlet there, I think that is what sold me on the house!) so that all I need to do is flick a button. 

Thank you for sharing in the holiday fun with me. Thank you Miss Lesley for the wonderful gift. I will place it on my tree each year and think of you! Thank you Miss Sally for organizing this each year. Please go and see what the other participants received including what I created and sent to Miss Lesley!

1.  Sally Russick  and Tanya Goodwin
2.  Veralynne Malone  and Sally Russick 

3.  Melissa Trudinger  and Elisabeth Auld

4.  Erin Prais-Hintz  and Lesley Watt 

5.  Jenny Davies-Reazor and Patti Vanderbloemen 

6.  Kim Bender-Hora and Beth and Evie McCord

7.  Becky Pancake and Lynne Bowland 

8.  Therese Frank  and Karen Williams

9.   Melissa Meman  and Linda Hanes 

10.  Sandi Volpe  and Linda Landig 

11. Alicia Marinache  and Susan Kennedy