two little trees

Finally! My little christmas tree ornaments are ready to be posted to their new homes. Just in time too to make that end of November deadline for the ornament swap. I can breathe a little sigh of relief now.

I can't say it was an easy challenge for me, but it was enjoyable all the same. I had two bloggers to make ornaments for and luckily there were no specifications on colour or medium preference. Last night I sat down and looked through their photos, and I was more than a little blown away by their beautiful hand crafted work. Perhaps it was better that I didn't take more than a peek before making them. So I am quite a bit nervous to be sending my humble little christmas trees off. But one thing I know is that plenty of love went into making them. I do hope they like them.

I do love the fact that this swap has shown me the extent of creativity among the other bloggers. I've discovered many new blogs, and been inspired by new ideas. Thank you Christina for putting in so much time into organizing this swap.

I used Cottage Garden threads, both variegated shades, for the trees. The white one I have christened the Rainbow tree and the second grey one, the Bush Christmas tree (named after the shade of thread I used with it's subtle shades of golden brown and coppery pink). Both are embroidered on hand dyed wool felt and backed with some Liberty cotton Lawn that I had about. I always love to add a touch of Liberty when I can.

There is a certain bit of wonkiness to them and they are far from perfect. But they do put a smile on my face when I see them, which makes me think that the emotional connection is what crafting is really about. It's not about striving for the look of perfection, as there's plenty of characterless made in China items about if you want that. But its the little quirks that set handmade apart.

Don't you think?