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Blogging Buffet: O is for Ornament

The theme of my A to Z Challenge posts this year is "Blogging Buffet." In celebration of recently posting my 1000th blog post, I am revisiting posts from the past.  This post originally published on December 18, 2012.

Instead of other gifts, my siblings and I exchange ornaments at Christmas.  (Siblings, spoiler alert! Continue reading only if you don't want to be surprised this year.) Nothing says the ornaments need to be homemade, but I do try to make a new one each year.  I make them not only for my siblings, but also for my children and others. 



This year, I found an idea on Mamie Jane's blog for ornaments made from Scrabble tiles.  I really recommend going to her blog to see her ornaments; they turned out very cute.  Even though I did a few things differently (I was lazy and just working from memory), I still like the end result. 


To make the ornament, you will need a yardstick, old Scrabble tiles or little wooden alphabet tiles (you can find bags of them at the craft store), ribbon, wood stain, and little eye screws (found at a home improvement store). 




Choose what words you would like to spell, then lay them out on the yardstick.  Mark with a pencil where to cut the yardstick.


Using a bandsaw (or, in my case, having my husband use the bandsaw), carefully cut the yardstick into pieces.  With the stain marker, stain the edges and part of the front of the tiles and yardstick pieces.  Cut lengths of ribbon and glue to the yardstick pieces.  When the glue is dry, glue the tiles onto the yardstick.  Screw the screw eyes into the top of the ornament, and string ribbon through to make a hanger. 

That's it!  Simple, cute, and frugal.  Remember to write the year on the back of the ornament, along with any Christmas wishes for the recipient. 




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Thanks for "outside-the-box" ideas, and thanks for memories of playing games, including Scrabble.

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