In the meantime, I may not be anywhere near marriage, but I've said before just how much I adore Southern Weddings magazine. And they've updated their site since the last time I wrote about them, so make sure you visit!
Anyway, they host an ornament swap for their readers every year, so I sent in my info back in November so I could participate. Then, one of the editors sent me the names of three other girls to whom I should send ornaments, and they would each also send me one! How awesome is that, considering this is my first year having my very own Christmas tree? I knew I wanted the ones I sent to be crafty and personal, so since the girls I had were from Texas, New Jersey, and Virginia, here's what I came up with!
The heart was placed over each girl's hometown.
Southern Weddings is based in Chapel Hill, so I sent them a North Carolina ornament for their tree!
I also sent each recipient a card with some holly berries glued to the back for a cute little touch.
I made sure I sent one to my family, and I sent a Georgia-shaped one to Bekah, and a Florida-shaped one to Tricia!
If you're wondering how I made these, they really weren't that hard. I bought some red and green felt at Michael's and drew each state backwards on the back of the green felt (just so the black marker outline wouldn't be visible from the front). Once I cut them out, I also cut out some red hearts and super glued them on the states. Then, I filled each ornament with some fake snow and a few artificial holly berries. Next, I sewed some transparent thread through the top center of each state and the two holes in the top of each ornament's hook, keeping the ends together by securing them with a crimp bead. Then, the states were able to stand up by themselves! In order to get the states in the ornaments, I had to roll them up like burritos and push them through the top, but once they were through, I used a pencil to push them against the sides of the ornament and flatten them back out.
Here are the ornaments I received from the other girls!
From Angelica in Austin, TX...
From Southern Weddings (a snowflake made out of one of their magazine pages!)
From Janice in Falls Church, VA...
...and from Stacey in Midland Park, NJ!
Aren't they all just so cute?!? It has been so fun getting so many packages in the mail, and now our tree feels even more homey!
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