Three of my nieces love to swim and this year the youngest asked if I would make her something for her "Good Lucks" to give the other participants. I have done this in years past but this year I made Christmas Tree Ornaments with a swim theme. So while I wish her the best of luck in getting great times as well as the other swimmers in her group, here is how I made these, there are ten in total:
I started with a piece of wood I purchased at Michael's then had my husband cut it down into slices and drill holes into the tops for hangers. I then took the Hero Arts set Coloring Layering Goldfish and stamped the base layer direct onto the wood circles in Hero Arts Shadow Ink in Butter Bar, the next layer was stamped in Hero Arts Ombre Butter to Orange ink and then did the eye/mouth detail in Versa Fine Onyx Black. I then stamped the three air bubbles in Hero Arts Ombre Tide Pool to Navy ink and filled them in with the Spectrum Noir Glitter pen and coated them with Glossy Accents. I found an old stamp set in my craft room with smaller numbers and stamped the year in Hero Arts Ombre Tide Pool to Navy ink near the top. I then took the sentiment from the Hero Arts set and cut it apart..... which is only the second or third time I have ever done that, and while I know it does not hurt the stamps it is just so against my normal behavior that I still flinch when I do it, even if it makes it easier for me in the long run. I started by laying out the word "swimming" and curving it slightly so it would fit at the bottom of the ornament, then I stamped it onto the ten wood slices in Versa Fine Onyx Black ink, once they were dry I then took the "Just Keep" part of the sentiment and cut it apart and stamped the "Keep" in Versa Fine Onyx Black ink over the "swimming" then I used some of the green sea grass and stamped them at the bottom in Hero Arts Shadow Ink in Green Hills and coated them with the Spectrum Noir Glitter pen for some added shine. On the back I used some letter stamps from my stash and stamped out WAGs in Hero Arts Ombre Tide Pool to Navy. I then found some pretty blue silky cord and attached two small jingle bells and then tied them off.
My niece called after giving the other participants and coaches their ornaments and gifts and they were a hit. One of the coaches even put his on his Christmas tree right away and sent a picture. And since this post had not gone live, my niece did really well with her times and brought her A game to WAGs, dropping seconds in almost all of her events. I am so proud of her, as I am with all my nieces and nephews. Hope you enjoyed seeing my newest project and I will see you all soon!