If you look closely, you can see me reflected in one of the ornaments on the tree. It’s a Where’s Waldo holiday edition for you. 🙂
So, Trey and I have a pretty good sized collection of ornaments on our tree already. His parents did a wonderful job of gifting (and then storing) an ornament for him every year as he was growing up. And I have a number of ornaments from my childhood as well. So, I thought it would be fun to create a few handmade ornaments that somehow reflected us to add to our growing collection.
I thought it would be fun to find a way to create ornaments that showcased the states we were born in. I’m a Missouri gal and Trey was born in the great state of Texas. If you can’t tell from the photos, these ornaments are made from leather and yarn. You probably don’t need a whole lot of explanation from me on how to make these, but you might be surprised by some of the tools used. Maybe. Let’s find out.
First, I google searched a few state shapes and printed them out the size I needed. As you can see, I went for images that also showed where the capital was located because I planned to highlight that in my design as well.
I cut out the leather using fabric scissors (using the printed paper states as my template). And then I used a cropodile to add small holes all around the border of the state.
I added stitching with a thin yarn, stitching both ways to create a border around the state. Then I added a little star to the capitals. Both Laura and Trey pointed out (and I LOVED this idea) that you could add the star where the recipient was born, rather than the capital, if you wanted to personalize it just a little bit more.
I love this little star stamp
. So cute and easy to use. Just place the leather on a super hard surface (I used the clean pavement outside) and hammer the design onto the leather. It takes about two seconds but lasts forever.
I realized these could make a fun little gift for friends as well. So I made a few based on where Elsie, Jeremy, Laura, and Todd were all born. You could also change this up and make a country instead of a state if you wanted. Easy, right? These are already hanging on our tree at home. and I love them. Can’t wait to pull them out and hang them again for years and years to come.
Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.
32 Comments
Awww! I love this idea! Especially Texas! That gold and white!
Dannon //
Like The Yogurt
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These look easy enough for anyone to make and are so darn cute! Great idea for friends!
I SEEE YOUUUUU
Oh I love this idea! So great for friends and newlyweds!
Very cute!
So lovely and simple! I can’t wait to make Italy for my dad 🙂
Wow, these look so great! Totally gonna try it someday, AWESOME post! <3
Xxx http://thoughtsintiffanyblue.blogspot.com/
Oh yes! The skill level on this and pretty easy, but they turn out really cute so it’s fun to make. Anyone could have success with these. 🙂
-Emma
Wonderful—Italy has a great shape so that will make a wonderful ornament. 🙂
-Emma
Such a sweet idea! I love anything home-state related, and I think it could be fun to make one for each place that you’ve lived!
Always, Anita
Such a good idea. It’d be a great for couples to great the states where they are from together and hang it on the tree. xx
I didn’t realize Trey was from Texas! Cool. 🙂
these are so cute!
xx nikki
http://www.dream-in-neon.com
Such a great idea. I love it!
These are so lovely! Great idea!
http://www.hayleyeszti.com
I love this idea! Too bad my husband was born in Colorado, a rectangle state. It may look weird to have a random rectangle of leather hanging on our tree.
SO cool. Def making these!
juliettelaura.blogspot.com
It looks like I can see my humble little town, Dodge City, is marked there on Kansas! The trip from Kansas City to Dodge via Highway 50 can be a doozie, but it’s definitely the heart of Kansas. So much prairie!
I hope you enjoyed our little corner of the Midwest!
Ashley
Who’s from Harrisburg area (guessing H-burg based on the star)?! As a Lancaster, PA gal that makes me so happy to find out there’s someone on the ABM team hailing from the same area!
Sarah
thesurznickcommonroom.com
Cute and personal..love it…especially the fact you dont need ot know much to create theses, its everybody’s game 🙂
xo
Hems
agoldentulip.blogspot.com
Love this idea! You could get super creative with the shapes too.
These are so cute, and a great idea for people who love to travel, like all of my family members! The star stamp was a really nice touch too. 🙂
Very cool
Always so original. Thanks for the idea. I love adding personal ornaments in the tree and this is perfect!
http://xfallenmoon.blogspot.com/
Lovely idea.. I’m tempted to do them for each of the countries we’ve visited 🙂
Who’s from where??
Hey, cute idea! So creative!
http://i.imgur.com/xfS69eQ.gif
I love this idea, would be fun to do states/provinces with salt dough or polymer clay as well!
So interesting!
I definitely want to make some of these for next year. <3
Love the creativity of the work you ladies do! Everything is so new and ALWAYS the perfect gift for the occasion! Keep it up!
PS. I stumbled upon a beautiful idea last night that I will for sure be supporting! I think they are brand new, but they make memory jewelry with charms! For every item sold, we get to plant a seed in a cute little planter cup! Oh! and $1 on every sale is donated to charity! http://www.TreeOath.com
All my friends love it so far! Just thought you might want to check it out 🙂
Happy New Year!
Steph