I love Christmas. I love the lights and the colors and the smells and the spirit of the Christmas season. Last year we were coming off of 2 weddings in October and my mother-in-law's cancer diagnosis (and radical surgery the first of December). I am not so tired this year! (A few days in St. Augustine and my two-a-day Visalus shakes are helping!!!)
As I think about decorating, I am also thinking about my holiday crafts and special gifts for special people in our lives. Trying to decide what I will do this year, I am reminded of ornaments I made for co-workers and friends when I was working at a church. These were some of my favorite gifts to give, as well as one of my favorite craft projects. They turned out beautifully and were very well received. I wish I had taken pictures of them. I took pictures of the beautiful stained glass windows in the church and printed them on transparencies and inserted the pcitures into clear glass ball ornaments. The ornament was embellished with silver and gold cording around the top and finished with ribbons on the top. My next door neighbor was a new preacher at a church in town and made one of the front of his church. 
I have used this project for birthday gifts, as well, by putting a baby picture inside the ornament. A picture of a grandchild, a family photo, an old photo of a deceased loved one, pets, first home, wedding picture, engagement photo, a special event from the year....all make great subjects for the ornament. Also, if there is something that is your "trademark" (my mother's is a red bird, my mother in law's is a hummingbird, my daughter's is a dragonfly, my niece's is a horse.....) those can be rubber stamped onto the transparency and left clear or can be colored. Monograms can also be used.
I do not have pictures of the ones I made, but found some similar to mine on the internet. I will be making these next week. If you would like one, please contact me. You will need to send the photo that you want me to use. If you want to use a rubber stamp, you can email the stamped picture to me or tell me what it is and I probably have a rubber stamp to fill your request.
Ornaments with colored pictures are $15, black and white ones are $10. Mine are more decorative around the top. Allow 10 days.
Also, please let me invite you to join me in a project I am doing in honor of World's Largest Giving Day. I am collecting ziplock bags of toiletry articles for a new home here for women with substance abuse problems. The Harvest House of Hope, Inc., is a non-profit organization, no state funding or grants, entirely reliant on support of the community and caring individuals. The House of Hope is a residential facility dedicated to helping women who have substance abuse issues and have already been detoxed at least 3 days. It is a 6 month to 1 year program, designed to give support for their illness, find God, educate them so they can become self-supporting, restore families, and to teach them no matter what they have or don't have, they can always "give back". Pay it forward. If you would like to contribute, the list of items for the bags are listed on here. If you would prefer to contribute a journal or notebook and pen/pencil instead, please feel free to do so. Please comment on the Event page if you would like to participate.
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