Origami Paper Ornaments & Family Tree Display

Last year, a few months before Christmas, I was going through some old Martha Stewart magazines and saw several pictures of vases filled with branches with different things hanging from them. Some were made for Easter with decorated eggs, some were decorated for Christmas with origami paper ornaments, and some had a Family Tree theme. The magazines also had the origami folding instructions included, so I thought I would give it a try.

I decided I would make a door prize for my CTMH Hostess Group using tree branches and the paper ornaments. Fortunately for me, the ladies in my group love homemade things! So I got busy folding, and gluing, and embossing, and cutting.....which took a lot longer than I thought it would. Actually, the hardest part was interpreting the instructions!! I'm a hands-on kind of gal...if you show me how to do it in person, I can figure it out. But trying to translate the instructions of origami folding from reading a piece of paper was a little frustrating at first. Once I figured it out though, the process went a lot faster and smoother. Here are some pictures of last year's project (I didn't put pictures in the frames since I was giving it away):

To say the least, the door prize was a big hit!! I also got a lot of great feedback and compliments from my fellow CTMH consultants (which is always nice). Sometime you never know if you've created something other people will like.

Anyways, I was recently asked by a fellow CTMH consultant in another state if I could make her some of the ornaments for a craft fair she has coming up. To say the least, I am very honored! Here's what I made for her (I hope she likes them!):

To make the ornaments, I used both CTMH Grace and Veranda Paper Packs (I love that CTMH patterned paper is printed on both sides!). The frames are made with Brick Red and Twilight Cardstock. I used the frame stamps from the "Welcome Home" set (D1370) and stamped them on the solid cardstock with Versamark. Then I added clear embossing powder and heat-set it. I cut around the outside of the frame and used a craft knife to cut out the inside. The only things not CTMH are the Pearls which are made by Recollections (I found them at Michaels).

One of these days, I'm hoping to get my own tree display finished! It's amazing how I can knock out stuff for other people pretty quickly, but when it comes to working on my own personal projects, it takes forever!! I still haven't finished my son's baby album and he's now 3 1/2....yeah, I know, I need to get busy!!

Love and best wishes to you all!
Rosemary :)