I had big plans this year for the really cute pincushion ornaments I was going to make my son's teachers for Christmas. I started planning them months ago. The thing is, I should have started SEWING them months ago. As it was, I barely finished them in time for the last day of school before Christmas break.
These ornaments were for his art, music and Spanish teachers. They are made with bottlecaps that were about 2 inches in diameter.
For his art teacher, I did a color mixing theme - blue plus yellow equals green. The side of the ornament has a red heart and the word "ART" embroideried. I also used blue and yellow buttons on the back to hide the ribbon.
My son had a book about mice mixing paint when he was little that he just LOVED and that's where I got the idea. Plus his art teacher is really cool and I thought she'd get a kick out of it.
For his music teacher, I did a big musical note - sorry the first pic is so blurry. I thought I had gotten good pics of these. The side has hearts sewn on and music notes embroideried.
For his Spanish teacher, I did poinsettia's inspired by the Mexican Christmas story "The Legend of the Poinsettia". I cut out the 'petals' and sewed them on with seed beads in the middle. I was pretty excited about this one because I thought it was clever. I embroideried the word "hola" on the side.
For his regular teachers, I made each of them an ornament similar to these in this post here. Plus, we gave them gift cards to the bookstore. Here is one of the ones I made:
How about that? It matches the box :)
I had intended to make each of them 2-3 ornaments but ran out of time.
They all seemed to like them - or at least I hope they did. His teachers are all really good and I know they work really hard.
It's time for the East Texas State Fair! Doesn't that name sound grand? I think that's why they use it.
My little family and I (plus my husband's friend) trudged out to the fair on Saturday night. I forced them to go that night because the Bellamy Brothers were in concert on the "big" stage at 8 pm. I've loved the Bellamy Brothers since I was about 12 and heard them in concert at Fan Fair (a country music festival in Nashville, TN) way back in the early 80's. They were really funny and entertaining back then and they still are. Plus, they're songs are fun and catchy.
Our first stop was the Arts and Crafts building so that I could see my pincushions and see what ribbons I got, if any. Excitement! My "Flower Garden" set got a blue ribbon! YAY! First place!
And my Christmas ornament set got third place. yay! I was not as excited about that but I do realize they could have been better. I'm going to start working on more and I'm going to take Nancy's suggestion that I put the ribbons on the outside with decorative buttons. Thanks for the suggestion, Nancy!! I'll let you all know how that turns out.
Then of course, we gorged ourselves on foot long corn dogs and batter fried brownies. We got pie to go and brought it home. The food is actually the best part of our fair. We have tons of food booths that are owned by local churches and restaurants, so it's not the usualy carny food. It's yummy!! And fair food calories don't count!!
At 8 pm, I ditched the family (they went to watch my son ride on the rides and play the games - he won a stuffed penguin) and I went to the concert. It was awesome! They've just gotten better with age. Still fun on stage and I still love their songs.
