Throwback Thursday - 2006 Part 16

Besides all the needlework projects I completed in 2006, I also made some craft projects. Several of them followed my 2006 theme, Year of the Ornament. I do wish the photos were better. I no longer own most of these projects.







.
.
Beaded Snowflake Ornaments

In July, I took some time to put together a dozen beaded snowflake ornaments. These came as a kit from Mary Maxim and were quite easy to put together. They used five sizes of clear beads, chenille stems, silver braid and a tiny bit of glue. The kit had clear instructions and plenty of supplies.

Crazy Chick

In August, I was introduced to the Kleines Flitze-Huhn website where I found a pattern for these nutty, fun birds. I used Google translator (a new internet tool, at the time) to read the German directions. The birds were quite simple to make.

I used some twisted cord for the legs on this one, but I've seen them made with chenille stem legs, too. That way the legs can be easily posed.

He's about the size of a golf ball. The birds were fun to make and only took about an hour, so I made several.

To fit my Year of the Ornament theme, I suppose I could turn them into partridges in pear trees. Or I could dress them up for Christmas with funny elf hats and pointy shoes. I could add a fancy plume for a tail or make them in bright jewel tones with gleaming beaded eyes and embroidered wings. The possibilities are endless! Seeing this funny guy again after all these years gets me itching to make a whole flock.

Ashlee's Memorial

In the Fall of 2006, we had a sadness hit our family. Jodie's cat, Ashlee, died. Julie and I made this memorial shadow box for Jodie. It contains several photos from various stages of his life, some of his fur, his collar and tag, and some toys he liked to play with.

This is the first shadow box I'd ever put together. I mounted some of the photos on various thicknesses of foam core so that they stand in the box at different levels.

The collar and fur are mounted on scrapbook paper that looks like watercolor. The same paper was used to cut out the letters of his name. All the pieces are held in place with velcro dots and strips.

On the back of the memorial, we wrote several paragraphs about the kitty we all loved.

Pom Pom Candy Cane Ornaments

Inspired by images on the internet, I designed this candy cane ornament. I made a couple dozen of them to give as gifts to the women in my quilt group.

The candy cane combines pompoms, fabric greenery, chenille stems, ribbon, and beads, giving the ornament a bit of glitz. They look very pretty when the light catches them. They are fairly light, so don't drag down Christmas tree branches.

Christmas Wreath

On Christmas Eve in 2006, I made this wreath for our front porch. It's a combination of real and silk greens attached to a straw wreath base.

My daughter helped me gather fallen branches from our pine trees in the yard. I used floral pins to attach them to the perimeter of the wreath.

I then used some silk ivy sprays that were left over from my daughter Julie's prom party  decorations. Those were attached with floral pins to the front of the wreath form.

I used bells in pretty jewel colors of red, green, blue and a glittered blue. I tucked them into the greenery wherever they looked good, and pinned them to the straw base with floral pins.

The bow is made of wide ribbon that had the same pretty jewel tones as the bells. The ribbon has a very pretty sheen, and a wired metallic edge. The bow is attached to the top of the wreath with floral wire.

Finally, I made a hanger from a short strip of floral wire which I braided and attached to the back of the wreath with floral pins.

That's it for 2006! 

In 2007, my goal was to complete a bunch of unfinished abandoned projects, works in slow progress, and projects that I'd gathered the materials for, but hadn't begun. I do believe that when I moved to Oregon in 2019, some of those same projects were still looking for attention! 

I'm fairly sure I became distracted with new projects and shiny objects rather than picking up items in my stash. We shall see.

There were over 50 finishes in 2007!