My favorite {handmade} Christmas Ornament

Every year when we put up our Christmas ornaments I am reminded of my most favorite handmade Christmas ornament. I need to give a bit of backstory first so you’ll truly appreciate the ornament, and explain the crafty-ness of it.

How this handmade Christmas ornament came to be

Back when I was in my late teens and still lived at home and my maternal Grandma was still alive, I decided to make her a sweatshirt for Christmas and put all the names of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren on it. My Grandma was a crafty lady, a DIYer, and a survivor of many hardships throughout her life so I knew she’d appreciate it.

Cutting and ironing hearts

I really don’t remember how I came to decide on a red sweatshirt – most likely Mom helped me – but I chose a red sweatshirt. I penciled a design that spelled out “Grandma” onto a piece of fabric (hearts and geese because that was popular at the time), cut it out, and ironed it onto the sweatshirt. From there I used a heart-shaped template to trace and cut a few dozen hearts to be ironed onto the sweatshirt. A few dozen you say? Yes. My Grandma had 11 kids who made it to adulthood.  Each of them had multiple children, and so you can do the math.

Painting hearts

I randomly ironed on the hearts in no particular fashion, some tilted, some straight, some on the front, and some on the back. Onto each heart I wrote the name of one grandchild or great-grandchild using glitter paint that was made for fabric – anyone else remember glitter paint? Girls were in one color, boys were in a different color, and the few great-grandchildren were in another color.

Each heart was then outlined with the same color in which the name was written. And I even thought far enough ahead to include a few extra hearts for any new babies.

This was a bit of a time consuming process as there was a lot of waiting to let the paint dry.  But finally Christmas came and I gave it to her. I don’t honestly remember her reaction to it, I wish I did, but I know she loved that sweatshirt. What I DO remember is the fact that she wore it ALL.THE.TIME. Isn’t that the best when you put your heart into a crafty creation and the recipient just adores it?!

The memoir of a handmade Christmas ornament

Fast forward several years. My Grandma passes away and in the divvying up of Grandma’s possessions, my mom received the sweatshirt.

At the time I’m not sure she knew what to do with it. I mean who could wear it?? It was all of Grandma’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren. What do you do with it? Being the crafty lady my mom is, she got an idea (are you noticing a crafty gene that’s been past down through generations?)

More cutting of hearts

Mom used a circle template to cut out each of the hearts, essentially dismantling the sweatshirt – oh but wait, it’s such a sweet gesture. Stick with me. She turned each circled heart into a Christmas ornament by backing it with a similar red fabric, stuffing it with a bit of fiberfill, blanket stitching the pieces together, and adding a hanger.

She also created a few new ornaments for grandchildren and great-grandchildren who were born from the time the sweatshirt was created until the day she was dismantling the sweatshirt. And can I just say, Mom also took about dozen pictures of the sweatshirt before she dismantled it! Talk about thinking ahead!

Each grandchild – think 4-5 dozen grandchildren of various ages – was given their ornament, along with a picture of my Grandma wearing it. Do you have goosebumps yet?

Giving us a piece of our Grandmother’s history

What a brilliant way to give a little piece of my Grandma to each grandchild. Several years after that, one of the grandchildren (one of my cousins) asked in a family Facebook group about the the origination of the sweatshirt…who made it, the story behind it, etc…along with a picture of their ornament as a reference.

It was then that I got to share the story of having made it and mom’s story of crafting the ornaments. From there, numerous cousins began posting pictures of their individual ornaments, each with their names on it and how much they loved having it.  I was shocked how many of my cousins still had their ornaments and put them on their tree every year. I can feel Grandma smiling about that.

Final Thoughts on my favorite {handmade} Christmas ornament

I get goosebumps every time I think about that teenage girl making a Christmas gift for her Grandma in the kitchen she grew up in. Never did I imagine it would become the handmade Christmas ornament memoir it has been for all of us. To think that gift ended up being a gift to all of us. What a way to carry on this tradition of a red ornament with glitter paint and the legacy of a woman who was strong, determined, and best of all, a survivor: my Grandma.

Do you have a Christmas ornament that holds special meaning? What is it and what is the story behind it?

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Did you know I also have a series that features new projects I try out from other crafty designers? If you are interested in learning more about my New Project Spotlight series read my New Project Spotlight series welcome article.

I’m always looking for new projects to feature. What is a new project you’ve tried and liked? Would it be a good one to shine the light on in my New Project Spotlight series? Are you an awesome crochet artist with a design you’d like to see featured here? If so, leave me a note in the comments.

In addition to several of my crochet boards on Pinterest, you might also check out my Made It, Did It, Tried It board, chuck full of a random assortment of projects, places, recipes and more that I’ve tried and liked.