Sunday, December 28, 2014

Handmade Ornaments

I love to decorate for Christmas.

But I prefer to do it very slowly. 

The halls of most American yuletide-loving homes are fully decked by the close of Thanksgiving weekend, but that's when I'm just beginning my process. Armed with bits of paper, tree branches, fishing line, assorted garlands, and twinkle lights, I expect to spread the job out over the next few weeks.

Here, in day-to-day installments, is the story of how my house is getting ready for Christmas.

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Say hello to my 2014 Ornament of the Year.

Each Christmas season, I make a tiny trinket to give to family and friends. I thoroughly enjoy the choosing a design, tinkering my way through the creative process, making a giant mess and in the end, creating something that pleases me. 

In all honesty, I'm shocked by how this one turned out. Because up until somewhere around December 20, I intended to make a completely different design .


But as I moved ahead with my original idea, the whole process felt 

distinctly dissatisfying, 
fairly frustrating and 
utterly unenjoyable.

In other words, wrong.

And if there is one thing I have learned in life, it's that when something feels wrong, it's time to:

Stop.
Regroup.
Figure out a new plan. 

But you know, when it's five days before Christmas and your gut is telling you to throw a perfectly reasonable idea out the window and START COMPLETELY OVER, sometimes you just want to override that critic and push on with Plan A.

Believe me, I was tempted to ignore my creative instincts.

However, it's a well-know fact that there is no satisfaction in selling yourself out.

Deep in my heart, I knew that I would only be happy if I cleared off my work table, rolled up my sleeves and made a fresh start.


So that's what I did. After a bit of soul-searching and a few hours clicking around the internet, I found a new inspiration that took off like a rocket.

And now I'm happy.


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For more Ornament of the Year posts, check these out:

2 comments:

  1. I love how these turned out! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Danelle! We had a joyous noel indeed and I know from your photos that you did, as well. :)

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