UPDATE: Ornament swap is closed now (as of July 6, 2010). Thanks for the interest!

Go to this link for the Flickr Group for this ornament swap.

Who wants to swap ornaments? This is it, the ornament swap I’ve been thinking about since last December! I am a very “in the moment” kind of person, so I usually think of gifts I want to make the week of the actual holiday. This year, I thought it would be fun to host an ornament exchange in July.

I changed the button a little to make it more holiday-neutral. (i.e., for those who may not celebrate the Christmas holiday but still like ornaments)

Here is the code for the button if you want to put this on your blog to help spread the word:

<center><a href=”https://terrisnotebook.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/christmas-in-july-ornament-swap-planning///”><img border=”0″ src=”https://terrisnotebook.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/july-ornament-swap3.jpg”/></a></center&gt;

(NOTE: I am html-challenged so I will try to get that code working if you’re having trouble with it!)

I love making ornaments! I used to exchange handmade ornaments every single December.

I used to belong to a group of 12 women that would exchange ornaments and holiday decorations, which meant we each had to make 12 of something and bring our goods to a holiday party to exchange. It was a fun experience, but I got burned out on making assembly-line ornaments.

Last year, I participated in one ornament exchange with Rebecka which was quite fun. She sent me this beautiful fabric cracker ornament, which I use as a little candy dish at my desk. She also included the prettiest patchwork card and fabulous chocolates. The best part of our exchange was becoming friends.

I also asked my friend Cheryl to exchange ornaments. She sent me this adorable set of bears she made, along with a stationary pad, winter fabric, a kitty magnet, and a bag of chocolates.

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If you are looking for ideas and suggestions for an ornament to make, I included some pictures above of a variety I have made over the years. You could also do a search on Google or Flickr for handmade ornaments. Freshly Blended has a couple flickr pools from years past that you could browse through.

May I make a couple suggestions?

If you knit, you could make mini stockings or sweaters (see photo above). These are my all-time favorite ornaments to make. The mini mittens are from an old magazine, and the stocking and sweater are from Joelle’s book Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

If you crochet, you could make snowflakes or stars.

If you sew, you could make a mini 9-patch quilt (see photo above), a mini present or a mini stocking.

If you like to work with felt, you could use a cookie cutter to cut out two matching shapes, embellish as desired, sandwich the two sides, and do a blanket stitch around the edges to hide the backsides (see gingerbread man and cardinal above). You could also embellish a pretty bird or felt stars with beads.

If you are a paper crafter, you could make a little wintery house or a pretty tree.

If you are a photographer, you could mount a mini scene onto cardstock and frame with rick-rack or ribbons or yarn.

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Feel free to include a little something special, whether that is stationary, a notepad, sewing notions, a pincushion, a piece of fabric, some favorite recipes, some candies, tea light candles, whatever you think your partner might fancy (examples pictured above). You can definitely include a store bought item or a handmade item. Think of something you might like to receive.
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If you would like to participate:

Send me an email  to tadawilhelm [at] hotmail [dot] com with your mailing address (and your blog address, if you have one, so your partner can get to know you). Let me know if you are opposed to sending your ornament internationally. Otherwise, I will put everyone in one group and draw partners. I will try my very best to email your partner name within a week after the swap closes. Your partner won’t know you have their name, and you won’t know who has your name until you receive your ornament in the mail.

Sign-ups will close Sunday, July 4. I hope to send your partner’s info to you by Saturday, July 10. That should give you about three weeks to make your ornament and send it to your partner, along with a little something special.