Ornament Exchange

So I might be a few weeks late in posting this, but I wanted to share with you the new tradition that began with a few of my girlfriends this winter: the ornament exchange. It was my friend Danielle's idea that we each buy or create an ornament (4 of them) and send one to each girl, and keep one for yourself. This way each year we are getting 4 new ornaments for our trees. I love this idea because as a young adult I am expecting that sometime in the near future I am going to have to decorate a whole tree and I have so few decorations that are mine. In this post I am going to share with you the beautiful ornaments I received and also give you a quick DIY for how I created my ornaments. 

Above are the lovely ornaments I received from the girls!

Left to Right: Danielle, Meagan, Alyssa

Danielle's and Alyssa's came while I was still here in PA so they went on my tiny baby Christmas tree- but Meagan's went to MA- so that made it to the family tree. I was so happy each time I received a package with a fun little Christmas Ornament inside! 

When i was thinking about how I wanted to create one i looked around online for awhile. I found some inspiration on Pinterest- where else? I liked this look (below) of a white ceramic globe with paint pen detailing. So off to Micheal's I went. I returned home with 4 white globe ornaments and black and gold paint pens. 

Before I actually did the designs right on the ornament I grabbed a sheet of white construction paper and tried a bunch of things out there. I liked the design in the inspiration picture, but I didn't want to totally rip it off. Finally I settled on a simple black silhouette of a Christmas tree. Then I had the idea to embellish each tree with slightly different designs. Here is what I came up with! 

I couldn't tell you which of these is my favorite- I really loved how all of them turned out. I deliberated a lot over who to give each ornament to and here is what I decided: Top Left: Meagan, Top Right: Danielle, Bottom Left: Alyssa, Bottom Right: Me.

The process was so simple. After coming up with a design you simply draw it out onto the ornament and let it dry completely before adding another color pen or another layer. (follow drying directions on the markers).

After they were all dry and ready to go, I wrapped them up with some bubble wrap, tissue paper, and extrememly glittery ribbon (below left), added a simple homemade Christmas card (below right), and shipped them off to Florida, New York, and Texas!

This project was so much fun, fairly simple, and very cheap. I hope we can keep up with this new tradition for many holidays to come! I loved it so much!

(Here is my 4th ornament on the tree)

Maggie got tired helping and took a nap on the wrapping supplies. Typical cat. :) 

Happy belated Holidays! 

Thanks again to my beautiful friends for starting this exchange! I hope it may have inspired some of you with a few ideas for next Christmas!