How to make Snowflake Ornaments by Janice Lynn

I can't believe Christmas is almost here. I mean, wasn't it just Thanksgiving last week? No? Sure seems as if it was. Last night, we had Christmas at my parents. I love Christmas at my parents. I guess most people do. The food, the people, the laughter, the way my mom has her house Christmasfied, all of it. As I walked through her house tonight, I snapped pictures of some of her trees, of her Christmas village, of some of her wall hangings, etc. My mom has it going on, y'all. Like, seriously, Hallmark should hire her to decorate their sets. She loves Christmas almost as much as Sarah Smith does in my Hallmark Publishing sweet romance, Wrapped Up in Christmas. And, like Sarah, my mom has been busy making snowflakes this Christmas. She and the ladies in her ladies' class at church do a Dorcas Project and this past month they made snowflakes to give out to widows and at the nursing home. Even my 85 year old grandmother got in on the snowflake making. The snowflakes they're making are the same ones Sarah & the Butterflies make in Wrapped Up in Christmas and are the same ones I made with Cameron Mathison on the Hallmark Channel's Home & Family show in November. I've had a lot of people ask me about them. Some have sent photos of ones they've made. I love, love, love seeing them. I thought it would be fun to do a how to make the snowflakes post.

1.) Start with a sheet of plastic canvas. You'll cut a 19 squares by 19 squares block.

2.) Next you'll cut this pattern out from your block. To achieve this, you'll go over 5 blocks, down 2 blocks, over 2 blocks, down 3 blocks, then over 5 blocks, then up 3 blocks, over 2 blocks, up 2 blocks, then over 5 blocks. At that point, you should be at the corner of your square. You'll repeat this process for each side. Sounds complicated, I know, but once you do it a time or two, it's actually pretty simple.

3.) At this point, I take yarn and sew around the edges of the pattern. I usually make a design with the yarn. You'll need 2 cut pieces for each snowflake. The center of 2 piece will be covered by the other piece so you will only need to sew/decorate the center of 1 of 2 pieces.              

4.) I've included a few pictures to try to show you how the 2 pieces snap together by you pushing the corners of one piece through to the back of the second piece. Doing this gives your snowflake a 3-dimensional look and really adds to the beauty of the ornament. 

4.) Time to add some sparkle. On this, get creative. I have glitter, sequins, & beads shown here, but you can use anything to bling up your snowflake.

You can add a hook and hang on your tree or you can sit them around on trays or on tables. I've used them to decorate presents in the past--which a character in Wrapped Up in Christmas mentions doing also. The most important things to remember, though, is to keep in mind that every snowflake is different & unique in real life, so yours will be, too, and to have fun. 

 If any of you have made plastic canvas snowflakes, I'd love to see photos of some of the ones you've made. I'll post a photo in the comments of one my niece made using colored glitter glue. I've been making these since I was a teen, but I love seeing what other people come up with in their designs. :)

Do you have any fun holiday crafts that you make? Or that you've seen and think are cool?