Peaceful Ornaments

So, are you ready for Christmas yet?  For the first time since...well, ever(!) I actually feel like I have a handle on things as we speed toward the big day. The house is decorated, the tree is up and I am almost done my shopping...I know...I can't believe it either!!
Last Saturday I held my team Christmas dinner as a small way of saying thank you to the amazing women with whom I have the privilege of sharing my Stampin' Up! journey. I wanted to give them a small keepsake, so I designed these ornaments for them to hang on their Christmas trees...

Christmas ornament featuring the Dove of Peace stamp set and the Christmas Greetings Thinlits.

I had several of these to make, so I needed to keep the design relatively simple. I found these little ornament frames at a local craft store and knew they would be perfect for what I wanted to do. I began by stamping the dove from the Dove of Peace set in Versamark ink and heat embossed it in gold. Then, because the opening in the frame was a 2" circle, I used my 2" Circle punch to punch out a portion of the embossed image. I removed the frame backing from the ornament, leaving only the plastic window. I used some of the long strips of dimensionals I had left over from the To You and Yours Shaker card kit to create a shaker frame for my ornament. I ended up having to cut the strips in half lengthwise so that they would be narrow enough not to show from the front of the ornament. I then added gold and silver sequins and stars from the Metallics Sequin Assortment before sealing my shaker with the punched 2" circles.

I added the die-cut sentiment, which I created using gold foil sheets and the Christmas Greetings Thinlit dies, by looping a piece of silver cording trim through the "p" in peace and then tying a bow. I removed the red ribbon that the ornament frame came with and added another length of silver cording trim with which to hang the ornament on the tree.
I have to say I am quite happy with the way these turned out...and my team were too.  I was so glad I could give them a small keepsake of the amazing year we have all had. Be sure to stop by tomorrow when I'll show you the cute little boxes I made to package and gift these ornaments in.  Till then, have a great day!

Here are the products I used to create this project:

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