2015 homemade christmas ornament

now that i am working on our ornaments for this year, it seems an appropriate time to share the one that our family made last year.  

our ornament tradition is many years old now, and we have fun choosing and creating ornaments as a family to share with friends, teachers, neighbors, and family.  this little ribbon tree was made on a cinnamon stick so it both looked and  smelled delicious!

the inspiration for this tree came from here. 

 few things warm my soul more than a glowing christmas tree covered with family ornaments!

if you want a peek at our previous year's projects:

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

Stay tuned to see what we came up with this year ;)

#happyholidays

christmas crafting {2014}

i know, i know....you have all been impatiently waiting to get a peek at our 2014 baumgartner christmas ornament, haven't you?!  we did indeed continue our tradition with a homemade ornament, and i love how they turned out!  

our snowflakes were made out of clothespins, and the various steps of taking them apart, gluing them back together, staining them, attaching string and tags all allowed our kiddos the opportunity to participate. 

if you are curious, you can take a peek at our previous year ornaments here:

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

we also did a fun painting project to give to grandparents, and this was a big hit with the kids while making them, and with the grandparents when opening them!

their little thumbprints served as a string of christmas lights.....and i just love that we will be able to look back on how much the've grown as we display these festive decorations! 

oh, and this is how hendrix writes his name these days - 4 years old - i am so proud of him! (though if i don't remind him to start on the left, he wants to start on the right and write the letters backwards.....not sure if that is a product of being a lefty, or if that is just a normal preschool phase.....lol!)

hope your family had a warm holiday season filled with love, projects and fun!  ;)

happy heart day {2014}

my little family celebrated valentine's day for a long time this year!  we got out the heart decorations just as we were putting away the christmas decorations, and they just came down yesterday.

hendrix helped me craft homemade valentines for his friends and family for literally a month.  every. day. he wanted to get out the tape and scissors and make valentines.  this kid loves a theme as much as his mama does....

oh and he loves crafts.....

and baking/cooking......

that made our heart-shaped, pink, rice krispy treats a total hit with this kid.

and they were delicious!

we saved out valentine presents for a special little party in the afternoon with daddy (since he gets off at noon on fridays) which was fun since hendrix got to open all his valentines from his preschool party in the morning, and this way we could drag the celebration out a little longer!

their bags were full of clothing and crafting supplies, with just a few little yummy treats (fruit snacks), and that is the way my kids prefer it ;)

honestly, this artsy boy spends hours coloring, snipping, taping, gluing........

and this little gal is following in his footsteps with her own colors, and stickers ;)

she does have a much shorter attention span, and needed to dip into the treats sooner than he did!  lol

and she got her first purse, which she proudly places things in and carries around.....

complete with her first chapstick.  poor girl is starting that obsession really early!  lol

i love these two little blessings!

our homemade ornament tradition continues

we strayed a tad bit from our norm this year with our homemade holiday ornaments.

while they were all glass balls that we decorated with burlap, lace, twine and ribbon; each one was made unique.

this was a really fun family project, as my 3 year old enjoyed snipping the various cloths and stuffing them inside the balls.  daddy was a big fan of winding and wrapping on the outside, and i did lots of bow tying and label printing.

overall, i am very pleased with the finished product, and absolutely love the shabby-chic feel that they add to my christmas tree.  i kept three (so that we have a family one, and both hendrix and blaire will be able to have one of their own for their future tree someday.)

it seems like the number of ornaments that we make has grown each year....and with the fall being such a busy time of year for my photography business, it was imperative that we make an ornament that was relatively simple.

i think in this case, however, simple is nice ;)

for more crafty inspiration, check out our past baumgartner family ornaments!

2009 - felt wreath

2010 - handprint snowmen

2011 - wooden christmas trees

2012 - button wreaths

i absolutely love placing all the hand-made ornaments on my tree every year (both those that we have made, and those that have been made by our friends and family) and reflecting on all the fond memories associated with them.  

we have much to be thankful for!