A fun little project: transforming purchased ornaments

 

 So I was in Walmart to purchase a few components for a gift I put together for a gift exchange.  I had a lovely Advent devotional and some holiday teas but wanted to make it into more of a gift basket.  I wish I had gotten a photo, but I failed to.  I got some Christmasy napkins, added in some nice mugs found in Walmart, a bag of  the recipient's favorite Christmas cookies and I can't even recall what else.  To use as a container for the gift, I found in the regular housewares section a bright red bowl with a white colander (both plastic) nestled inside it.  It looked pretty and festive and yet was highly practical and could be used in the kitchen later.  I lined it with a Christmasy dish towel (also Walmart) and made a set of four coasters sort of like this one 

 to go with it.  

On a whim, I also ventured into the mini ornament area to find something small and simple for a package tie-on.  I chose these because they had a fun country look with those wood beads.

And I ended up using one of the "Merry Christmas" ones.  I might have used the "Holly Jolly" one too, but ... 

Can you guess why I didn't?  Look close now!  Or maybe you won't have to look that closely.

Yes, they say "Holy Jolly".  What a stupid mistake!  

Still, I felt they were salvageable, so when the grandkids were over for their crafting spree, I asked Josiah to have a go at transforming them.  I felt that all it would really take was to cut a small, suitable size scene from a Christmas card and glue it over the top of what was there.  

And he did that for two ornaments, the one at the top of the post and the one just below:

 

But then he really outdid himself and made one more! You see it at lower left below:

See what he did here?  He cut a piece of green foil gift wrap to cover the saying.  Then he took a piece of gold metallic cord, curved it into a Christmas tree and added a star sequin at the top.  Next he glued a mini grapevine wreath ato it and added a bit of greenery and berries.  Stunning!

I love watching the creativity of kids and teens!  Josiah and all three of his siblings have creativity in abundance.  I'm almost glad the out-of-country craftsman messed up "Holly Jolly".  Now I have a one-of-a-kind handcrafted ornament to add to my tree.