Claire's 2011 Ornament... and the Christmas photos you never received...

Take THAT Hallmark... a cute little handmade ornament by Claire.

First something that DID work out.  I decided Claire would make her gift for her daddy this year.  Hallmark had a cheap looking hand print ornament, but I wanted something more handmade than that (imagine at this point me stamping my foot and raising my fist in some crafty determination).  Thanks to a snooty chick at Hobby Lobby, I came away with bake-able modeling clay in red... I finally got a hand print (it involved heating it with a hairdryer first).  Then I cut it into shape, baked it, and shalacked the heck out of it with modge podge.  I actually had Christmas scrapbooking paper, so I cut a piece for the front to frame it, then put a piece on the back to cover it.  This left about 1/4 inch visible on the sides, so I modge podged a sparkly red ribbon on it.  I thought it was sweet and very pretty (and sturdy!  That's what like ten coats of modge podge gives you).

The OTHER crafty Christmas idea came from this blog post.  We don't have a very light house (small windows, bad locations) so I waited for the best weather and dragged all the equipment to the back deck.  I taped up a sheet and lights (which I've had for years in our light box... I was giddy to actually use them this year, even if it was just taped to a sheet on the back of my house).  Then I decided I needed something for Claire to sit on, so I dragged the ottoman outside, plus blankets, pillows, toys, and books as props.  I got her awesome reindeer pjs all ready and tested the lighting.  Then Claire came home from day care.  In a bad mood. 

I took a lot of pictures, but none of them turned out. 

Matt thankfully helped with Claire's flailing and screaming, but we couldn't get one cute shot. 

So we took her inside and put her down for a nap and I watched the sun set on my project.  Before I pulled everything in, I did take some pictures of the Grinch in Claire's spot.  By this time, the light had faded enough where I didn't get the white out look in the back (my test shots before, with no Grinch, were perfect, just boring).  So.  I got bored tonight and dressed up the Grinch's photo like I would have done Claire's... only I'm sure hers would have been a little more classy. 

 

So.  This is the reason you didn't get a Christmas card from me.  My heart broke with no pictures.  And... I kept holding out for another chance at these pictures, but unfortunately it got rainy, cold, and ugly.  Maybe next year?