bugbites...: ornaments

Hello friends,
I'm excited to join hundreds of other crafters/stampers from around the world today as we show our love of the almighty Coffee! Today, we're sharing projects with you and hope to inspire you to grab a cuppa joe, some beans, some mojo and get crafting!

This Holiday Coffee Lover's hop will begin on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 6 AM PST/9 AM EST. The hop will end Sunday, Dec 14th. This will allow you...and me...time to visit each and every blog and enjoy some fabulous projects (and leave a little love behind). It is always appreciated when our crafty friends take the time to stop by and check out our blogs, and even more exciting when we get to read comments about our posts/projects. To join the fun, please visit Amy's page HERE and link up your project.

*****I'm offering a tasty coffee treat to one lucky visitor. Just leave a comment for me about my projects...The winner will be announced no later than December 20 right here on my blog.

Special thanks to Amy Tsuruta for organizing this hop. Thanks also to all the other sponsors who are offering up prizes to the participants of this hop. We crafters sooo appreciate your generosity and your dedication to crafters worldwide.

One evening, I set up the ironing board near the twinkling lights of the tree and proceded to glue coffee beans together one by one. These beans would be used to create hanging ornaments for the tree. Burned my fingers a bit, but it was a labor of love. ;)

Now...On with my show and tell...

For some reason, I've had a bit of a Bah-Humbug feeling about decorating for Christmas this year. I haven't felt the urge to head to my storage building down the street and get out the billions of boxes that hold my trees, decorations, garlands, knick-knacks and stockings...I knew I had to do something to whip myself into the spirit, so I decided to stop and pick up a tree...my first EVER live tree...It's a small tree about four feet tall, and I've placed it on an old trunk. My plan was to spend the next few weeks before Christmas decorating it with homemade ornaments. Yes, I knew it would take me several weeks to get the tree decorated as I would be making the ornaments one by one, and mostly on the weekends and in the evenings after work.

One weekend, I spent some time cutting some precious fabric I had saved from my dearly departed grandma's stash. This fabric was recycled by my grandma before, so I knew it would make perfect ornaments for my tree. I cut the fabric (and added some batting), then dipped the fabric in some coffee to give it an aged look. I made four heart ornaments and each one would be decorated differently.

I decided to glue coffee beans to the outside edge of the front and back of this heart. I included some ribbon, jingle bells and a little bit of a tree branch to finish it off.

That same night, I glued some coffee beans into a cross shape and added a little plaid bow. Some gold cording was added to the top beans so that it would hang nicely from the branches.

The next evening, I sat down and ate some baby food...YES, I ate some baby food. Not that I particularly like babyfood...I wanted the jar! LOL. Beechnut baby food jars make beautiful luminaries!!! So this is one of the luminaries I made (and included a little flickering faux candle on the inside).

The next ornament created was a little coffee bean wreath. By this time, the whole living room was filled with the aroma of coffee beans, cinnamon (the pinecones on my tree) and pine...Such a heavenly combination!!! My hands smelled like I had bathed in coffee for days! AHHHH...sounds devine, huh?!

And this coffee loving hop wouldn't be complete with a little bit of stamping now would it? I pulled out some of my OLD favorites...Yep, brought back the memories...justjohanna elf in a mug, a fun sentiment from bossyJoscie, and some Copics...WAHOO!!! A little gift bag for the tree-filled with some yummy coffee samples...the perfect little tree stuffer!

Filled to the brim with yummy goodness!!!

I LOVE this stamp at Christmastime!!!

I can know say that Mr. Bah Humbug has been kicked to the curb. HELLOOOOOOO Jingle Spirit!

I hope you have enjoyed my projects today. Thank you for stopping by. Please visit the other blogs on the hop and I hope you have a very, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Happy Holidays to all!!!

Thank you to all the sponsors of this hop who are so graciously offering prizes to lucky hop participants!!!


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