christmas birdies!

finally! the birdy post! so when thinking back to my childhood, i always remember our sad christmas tree. all the ornaments were the same and were store bought in bulk, and the tree just looked blah. then as my mom started working at my school, she started getting ornaments each year from her coworkers. to this day, whenever i go home and help put up the tree, i love to think back to when we got each ornament and what was the story behind them.

so, i decided that i would put matters into my own hands and i would make different ornaments for my friends and family each year. it would be a way for them to remember me, and and and and, slowly but surely i would have total domination over their tree! muhahahhaah! this year's ornament: a christmas birdy! i decided each would have a patterned back and a coordinating solid colored belly. i got the pattern from the spool sewing blog and shrank it to 75% so that each ornament would not drag down the branch. total birdies made: 27! yes, i do have more than 27 friends. however, i decided that couples had to share an ornament, so that i wasn't making 40 or more of these suckers. here are the 6 different kinds:bottoms up!i made a gift tag for each with the gift tag craft punch i scored from joann's during thanksgiving break! the little angel is from another craft punch i got a while back at the dollar store. and the tags themselves are made from sample paint chips from hardware stores. hehe. i was helping my parents select colors for their bedroom and dining room and helped myself to many many extras in a wide variety of colors!and last night, in keeping with the holiday spirit, i made spiced chocolate raspberry and nut cupcakes! they were way more spiced than anticipated (cloves will do that to ya), but i like the chocolatey flavor. here they are frosted (sorry, still suck at spreading the frosting)...