Priceless

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

It's been a loooong time since I've participated in Kelli's Show & Tell, but in the midst of the mess of fixing yet another water problem, I've decided to spend a few minutes contemplating some lovely things.

We have some sweet Christmas ornaments and my youngest son still enjoys decorating the tree with me and reminiscing over each one as it's unwrapped. Here are just some of my favorite ornaments (some are hand-made, some old and precious - and some are both!)


This star ornament is from Greg's childhood. Waaay back when those big lights were all anyone had, this ornament was to be hung just above one of them and the heat rising from the bulb would cause the whirly-gig inside to turn. Cute.




And this beaded ornament is also from Greg's childhood. It honestly looks like something someone might make today.





This Victorian-looking ornament was made by yours truly nearly 20 years ago.




I needle pointed this bird many, many years ago -- probably 25 or more. Memory fades.





This was stitched up (along with several others) in the early 80's -- when candlewicking made a come-back. Does anyone do candlewicking anymore?  Does anyone know why it's called candlewicking?




And here is a sample of some crewel work that I used to love to do. Again, over 20 years ago. I'm not sure I have the eyesight or the patience to do this kind of work today, but I do love it.




And I made a number of these sweet little cross-stitched, sampler ornaments...oh, about 15 years ago, I'd guess.



I stitched up a bunch of these bears almost 20 years ago (using a variety of Christmas prints) when a friend and I decided to sell some hand-made goodies at a craft show. I've given so many of these away -- I wonder where they have all ended up. ;^)




This was one of the first ornaments the boys and I did together (it's older than it looks).  We made several.  We simply took an old jigsaw puzzle, glued the pieces together, spray painted it green, added a bell and a bow and voila! A cute little wreath.




And the boys and I made these a couple years ago. Just a white feather and some white/clear sparkles in a glass ball. Very simple.  Kind of elegant.


And I've saved my favorites for last:


These two store-bought balls are probably from the 60's. I'm amazed they have been preserved so well.
 





And this geo-ball (below) was ahead of its time. It was made lovingly by Greg's mother many years ago out of old Christmas cards - and I'm glad she passed a couple of these along to us. I want to try my hand at making one someday. I found this tutorial on-line and it doesn't look too hard, but I like ours better. I think the different-textured gold cards make this one look beautiful.




Hope you enjoyed a small sampling of ornaments from our tree. Visit Kelli at There's No Place Like Home to see what others have decided to show and tell this time around.

Taking Stock

Ben has one 4-H project for next year done already! I think that might just be a record - for this family. This stock car model with many, many decals is the hardest model he's worked on to date.

That little guy is Tony Stewart, in case you wondered (or if you're like me and didn't have a clue who #20 was.)

The big guy is Ben - who's pretty pleased with a job well done!