A Silver Anniversary Christmas Ornament

I have a hard time wrapping my head around the date of this day. I loved being a Christmas bride, and 25 years ago I married the hubs. We are thankfully still going strong and are so blessed. I cannot even fathom life without him, and truly look forward to the next 25, God willing. Instead of a card this year, I thought the silver milestone called for something a little different. I made him an ornament with lots of symbolism, which cannot even express my love and our years together of course, but hopefully he likes it...even if it is a little bit cheesy. :0)

A wood plank, a wood dowel, a ritzy frame, wired rhinestones, glittered 25 (not just for Christmas anymore hehe), gold and silver Tim Holtz Idea-ology trimming, metal ribbons and  story stick Idea-ology, lace left over from my wedding dress, and a cocktail napkin left over from then too, is all what I started with.

I painted over the wood panel with one coat of Brushed Pewter Distress Paint from Tim and Ranger. Once dried, I inked the edges of it with Hickory Smoke Archival and heat embossed it with Silver Super Fine Embossing Powder. Then I lightly inked in some of the words from the Valentine Layering Stencil from Tim and Stamper's Anonymous...the hubs birthday is Valentine's Day too by the way.

I printed out a wedding photo of us in black and white, placed it in the frame, and took off the easel on the frame so it would lay flat when I adhered it down on the panel with Multi Medium. I began tying 25 ribbons to the wood dowel, staggering them into a Christmas tree shape, each ribbon signifying a year of our marriage. The three burgundy (a color in my wedding) signify when a child was born, and the strips of lace from my wedding dress scraps mark a 5 year interval. I was tempted to throw in a few black ribbons for less than stellar years, but I figured those years shaped us into who we are so I left the pattern alone...gold, silver, ivory. Once I tied all the ribbon, I wired in the rhinestones, and painted the ends of the dowel silver. I adhered the tree with Multi Medium and added the glittered 25 to the top. I also collaged the sentiment from the napkins onto cardstock, and matted it into a small tag.

I used Currant and Crimson Alcohol Inks to color in the ribbons and story stick. I added the large ribbon and story stick to the frame so it looks like a present, and the smaller under the 25. I drilled holes in the panel for the hanging part, which was more rhinestone wire.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll be back Monday for sure with my last project for this Christmas and for the year, but hopefully I'll finish my huge Christmas project by the end of the weekend, however, it's not looking good and might have to wait until next year. We will see. Thanks for stopping by, and I truly hope all of you are well.

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!