I know, I know, it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, right? No worries, I’m not trying to usher in an early Christmas or anything, I just wanted to share a little something to whet your appetite for Christmas crafting in the soon-to-come future!

And there’s no better way to do that than by participating in the 2015 Ornament Exchange! 

Today is actually day nine of this year’s festivities, and with more than 80 bloggers participating, it’s been a blast so far, and there’s even more fun to come! Bottom line: if this is the year you’re finally going to hand-craft some ornaments for family, friends, or even your own tree, you shall not lack inspiration! 

Here’s how it works: all participating bloggers have been paired up with a partner. We’ve all been in contact with each other, and were allowed a budget of $10 to create or buy an ornament to exchange!

Oh, and that’s not all! ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, A FABULOUS LINK-UP WILL GO LIVE WHERE ALL OF YOU CAN LINK UP YOUR OWN ORNAMENT TUTORIALS! Stop back by for that!

I was partnered with the talented Emily from Simply Home Love (check out her blog if you’re not a regular over there already – you’ll love it!) and after chatting a bit, she shared with me that she likes clean lines and red, gray and white. Perfect! My plan was to head for Michael’s with the intention of crafting an ornament, but if I couldn’t make that work, I knew I could use the ornament exchange’s fall-back of purchasing a pre-made one! Fortunately, the crafting powers that be were working in my favor!

I knew I couldn’t be as flashy as my normal taste would be because she preferred clean lines. And I really wanted to make an ornament to celebrate her blog! If you know anything about women bloggers (especially moms like Emily) we juggle SO much to keep our blogs alive and well! Our blogs are a HUGE part of our daily life, and yet, although I have ornaments that celebrate various other parts of my daily life, I have nothing that celebrates my blog – and I was betting on the fact that Emily didn’t, either.

So…allow me to present: A Keepsake Ornament Tutorial!

What you need:

• Pre-made wooden ornament
• Paint pen
• Ribbon
• Coordinating floral pick(s)
• Spray paint (not pictured)

1. First things first, I spray-painted the pre-made wooden ornament white (I always have a can of white spray paint on hand at my house!)

2. Next, I grabbed Emily’s blog logo and printed it out.

3. I knew I needed to trace it, so I used the oldest trick in the book:

    Right? Turned out perfect!

4. I used my paint pen to write over the tracing.

 I was going to write the “Making Our House a Home” tagline underneath, as well, but I  thought it might be too “smudgy” because of the smallness of the letters,  and besides – I liked the clean look I ended up with. 

5. Next, I added the ribbon.

6. At that point, I liked it, but I knew it needed just a bit more. Here’s where the floral picks came into play!

And ta-da!

There you have it!

I love how it turned out!!! It has a good mixture of the simplicity Emily loves, the colors she likes most, and I hope it represents her blog well!

What do YOU think?!

But wait, there’s more! There are FIVE OTHER BLOGGERS who are also posting their own ornament posts today! I know they would love for you to check theirs out, too!

Craving Some Creativity

Vikalpah

C’mon Get Crafty

Raising Fairies & Knights

Blue Willow House

OH! And if you’d like to see ALL of the ornaments as they are posted, be sure to visit the lovely Erlene over at My Pinterventures! Just CLICK HERE to see all the fun!

Don’t forget to stop back by! ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, A FABULOUS LINK-UP WILL GO LIVE WHERE ALL OF YOU CAN LINK UP YOUR OWN ORNAMENT TUTORIALS!

So what do you think of the Keepsake Ornament? Will you be making any hand-made ornaments this year?

Due to the amount of comments from all of my wonderful readers, it is not always possible for me to respond to each one. However, I absolutely do read them all, and if you’d like to address something specific, or have a question for me, please don’t hesitate to email me at Kristen@theroadtodomestication.com. I will respond to your email as soon as possible! Thank you for visiting the blog!