Merry Mail Ornament Exchange

{This post is a little late but better late than never :)}

This year was the first year that I have actually been in the Christmasy spirit in at least the last 3 years. A few years ago I lost someone very close to me close to Christmas which has made this festive season hard to deal with since then. For some reason though, this year it felt like I was finally healed and I could enjoy the joy of Christmas. So much so, that I actually decorated our apartment in November!! Yes, crazy person here *waves*

I digress. It was this Christmasy spirit that had me sign up for the Merry Mail Ornament Exchange when I stumbled upon it on Amber's awesome blog And Yes to Joy. Pretty much, anyone who wanted to sign up got paired with other bloggers from around the world. We then had to make our own DIY Christmas ornaments and send them to each other. Talk about a fun and super festive way to spread the love!! I think this will become a regular thing for me if it happens again because I got to meet (virtually) 3 amazing women that are literally, all over the world.

The first ornament that showed up at my home was from Annabel over at Annabel and Alice. And let me tell you, this girl is a craft super hero. The ornaments she sent I immediately fell in love with. Could be because they were full of glitter or could be because she included some candy canes, not sure ;) Here are some photos of the ones she sent. Oh and PS, she's from Australia! How cool is that?!

Glitter glitter glitter!!!!!

These two were SO cute. I especially love the one on the left!

Which is why I had to feature it by itself!!

Annabel, these are absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to unpack them and put them on my Christmas tree for years to come :)

The second ornament to show up at my home was from Molly over at Sundrops and Rainflowers. When I opened this package I literally started tearing up. As you all know, I love yoga. And Molly made her ornament specific for my love of yoga. The below quote is from her blog talking about what she made:

I’ve always admired the benefits of yoga. I have fond memories of watching my mother do yoga poses on her mat in the morning light, doing her controlled breathing, trying her best not to let our cat crawl all over her and disrupt things.I attended a couple classes with my mom a few times once. At the end of the class, we followed the instructor’s lead by putting our hands together and repeating “namaste”. I love the peaceful and spiritual feeling the word gives me, so when I found this tutorial, I wanted to give it a try.

 This girl seriously did her homework and obviously put a lot of thought and love into what she made. The thing I think I like most about this ornament is that I can hang it in my home all year round!! Check it out:

Speechless :)

Molly, this is so beautiful. I can't put into words how much I love this ornament. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And last but not least, the final ornament was from Abby over at Little City Adventures. Abby, not knowingly, made me an ornament that reminds me of my second favorite part of Christmas, snow. I'm not sure how she did it but in person, this ornament looks like a snow storm inside a sphere. I'm assuming it was different kinds of paints or powders/textures, but whatever it is, it's brilliant. It even matched this Christmas since it was the first year in the last 5 years that Halifax had a white Christmas. It was even snowing Christmas morning!!!

It's hard to see the detail in photo but trust me, it's beautiful :)

Abby, thank you so much for this mini snow storm looking ornament. I have always found that snow has a magical element to it and now I can add that magic to my tree every year!!

As for what I sent to the girls..

Salt dough

 I don't think I'm the most crafty of persons. Especially when that craftyness involves baking too. I made a batch of these salt dough ornaments and only a handful of them turned out. So I painted them and bundled them up to go to Abby and Molly. Salt dough is pretty simple to make (go here for a tutorial) but I had the oven too hot (figured that out a few days later) and that's what made some of them come out poorly. If you try this out, make sure to follow the instructions directly!

Instead of trying again on another batch I decided I would make something different for Annabel. Her blog focuses on reviewing books. I found out that she (like myself) is a fan of Harry Potter and I had just saw a pin on pinterest showing how to make a quidditch snitch ornament. Obviously, I had to try making it myself.

The concern I had about the original design is that it is quite long and I figured it would be hard to ship at that length. So instead of having the wings spread like the one below (this one I made for myself afterwards) I had the wings folded in/back. If you're curious about that set up, check out the photo Annabel posted on her blog here.

If you try this one yourself and use glitter, try spraying the wings with hairspray to make sure it doesn't get glitter everywhere!

This was such an awesome experience and I'm so happy to have made some new friends in the blog-o-sphere. I can't wait to do it again next year!!

Did you make any crafts over the holidays?