Ornament Exchange

I was asked by a fellow ICADian to participate in a handmade ornament exchange this year and decided to go for it.  It was going to be a one-to-one exchange so no multiples were needed.  The hardest part was deciding what to create.  I've made many ornaments over the years and fell back on a variation of an ornament I painted many, many years ago on a heart-shaped disc of the holy family.  I was originally going to go with a simple snowman as seen here but my exchange partner lives in Arizona and I wasn't sure if a snowman would be appropriate for that climate (although a friend did suggest adding a cactus would help) so I decided on this.  I still have a dozen or so wooden slices so I adapted the pattern to the round shape of it.  I added a plain wooden bead to some suede cording for the hanger.  (For reference, that tree is 9" tip to bottom of base.)

I found a box small enough to repurpose for sending the ornament and few other goodies including some fuzzy socks, candy, hot chocolate, flavored tea, and holiday tissues.  And of course, one of my handmade cards to go along with some info about me and my family.   The ornament had to be in the mail by November 15th and it was and scheduled for a 11/19 delivery.

It was on 11/19 that a package arrived here from my exchange partner in Arizona and in it was.......

A beautiful Christmas lighthouse that stands about 10 1/2 inches tall.  I love the black and white checked ribbon and the polka dotted wreaths with the little ornaments hanging from them.  And look at the lights at the top of the beacon.  Such wonderful attention to detail.  I'm definitely going to enjoy putting this out for the holidays and I'm going to have to remember not to pack it away with the decorations so I can take it to the condo in case we have a Christmas in July party again.  Thank you so much Heidi and thanks to Debbie for organizing this.