Some of Our First Ornaments

I shared about how our family has chosen to decorate our Christmas tree with ornaments that are important to our celebration of the birth of Christ, and I have shared how I made some of the ornaments that we added to our collection last year.  Today, I thought I would share some of the first ornaments that I made when our tree became a Jesus tree.

We first decided that we wanted to make a change to the way we had been decorating our tree the year our oldest son, Jonathan, was born.  At the time, I had to pretty much settle for whatever supplies I could find at Wal-Mart.  There was one other little store that had some craft supplies, but there wasn't a whole lot of choices when it came to shopping in our town.

This was also before I had access to the internet at home and all the beautiful ideas that are shared out there now.  Because of these things, most of the ornaments I made that year used basic supplies and a bit of creativity.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son...

The original world ornaments that I made involved covering styrofoam balls with some sort of paste to make them easier to paint, painting them blue, and then painting the land masses on them.  I definitely think the new version is easier and prettier.  I just hope they hold up better, too.

Jesus is the light of the world.

I used quite a bit of felt between the suns and the hearts.  For the suns, I first painted wooden circles in various sizes yellow.  Then I cut the felt into rough squares.  I hot glued one color at a time onto the back and then cut the triangles out around the wooden center.  No measuring makes for a quick and easy project.  Then I added a piece of twine to the back for it to hang on the tree.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but
that he loved us and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.
(1 John 4:10 ESV)

 For the hearts, I used my very basic sewing skills.  I made a template from something relatively thick like card stock or poster board.  Then I traced and cut out two hearts for each ornament from the red felt.  I used yarn and a tapestry needle to stitch around the edges, and just before I closed each one up all the way I added a fistful of stuffing inside to make them puffy.

Our super simple crosses were made with sticks from our yard and a bit of twine.  I think I probably used a bit of hot glue to hold the sticks together while I wrapped the twine around the center.  

Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

These doves were prefect just the way they are, so we just wrap their little wired feet around a branch, and they sit nicely in the tree.

“Where is he who has been born king of the
Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and
have come to worship him.”
(Matthew 2:2 ESV)

And finally, you can see that the stars are nothing more than a glittery pipe cleaner and a piece of ribbon.  I just shaped the pipe cleaner into a star and tied the ribbon on.  I actually think that I may have used a cookie cutter to get the star shape started.

Most of these ornaments are still used on our tree today, so they do hold up pretty well.  I know that everyone has different tastes in decorations, but my goal was to keep it simple at first.  Although, I do tend to be a fan of rustic and handmade when it comes to decorating the tree.

Do you have a great idea for a handmade ornament for a Jesus tree?