Pretember: Ornaments for the Hanging

Another Christmas, another craft spree.  Here's a confession: I have always secretly turned my nose up a bit at the notion of "homemade Christmas."  Not that I didn't appreciate or like getting homemade gifts, but as far as my own gift giving philosophies go, I always balked at the idea, snoot that I am.  Apparently I have changed my tune these last few years because now I think it is really fun to make things and foist them upon people.

This year, I made my family these gingerbread men ornaments:

I looked at a few ideas online but mostly made them up myself.  Looking back, there are some things I wish I'd done a little differently, but for the most part I think they are pretty cute.  I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: Hobby Lobby is a magical place.

Not satisfied with one kind of ornament, I made some hand print ornaments for Boo Boo's grandparents.  I found lots of tutorials online for salt dough ornaments, but then I had the epiphany of using the Crayola model magic stuff, like I did for the snowflakes last year.  It's easy to use, requires no effort on my part and it's light when it dries.  Ideal for an ornament, yes?

I think it will be fun to compare it to his hand next Christmas.  It's not super visible, but I stamped his name and the date at the bottom, using metal stamps.  I could have just written it in with a toothpick, but I guess my nose is still a little turned up after all.

(Pretember: Explanation, Part 2, Part 3)