Ornaments Made from Angel Cross Stitch Patterns

By Prairie School and perfectly lovely addition,
I think, to a Medieval Christmas Tree.

        These little cross stitch angel patterns, created 1993, were based upon Byzantine designs. They were also intended to be produced on black canvas backgrounds. Several years ago my oldest child stitched a couple of these unusual angelic motifs for our family Christmas tree. 

Michael and Gabriel, two archangels

        The Prairie School patterns depict angels in brilliant colors, formally positioned wings and with iconographic portrait features. I've included a sample of Byzantine angels in this post so that you may make your own comparisons.
       During the medieval period senior angels were often clad in every brilliant color, while junior ranks wore white by artists. Early Renaissance painters such as Jan van Eyck and Fra Angelico painted angels with multicolored wings. Depictions of angels came to combine medieval notions of beauty with feminine ideals of grace and beauty, as in da Panicale's 1435 Baptism of Christ.
      The two angels on the right were painted in a 12th Century icon. They are the two archangels, Michael and Gabriel. They wear the loros of the Imperial guards. The loros is one of the most important and distinctive parts of the most formal and ceremonial type of imperial Byzantine costume. It developed out of the trabea triumphalis of the Roman consuls. The loros was a long, narrow and embroidered scarf which was wrapped around the torso and dropped over the left hand. It was embroidered with gold and heavily embellished with gems.
       You can search online to find a wider variety of angels dating from the Medieval Period, 5th century to the 15th, in order to design your own ornaments. Ebay sometimes offers old Prairie School patterns for sale as well.

View and Read About Different Angel Types from The Medieval Period:

• Corsair - Research Resource of the Pierpont Morgan Library
• The Representation of Angels and Angelic Orders from the Late Middle Ages

"A Mistletoe Maid"

A Mistletoe Maid

by Irving

 
I kissed her--yes, I did--beneath

The mystic mistletoe

When Christmas bells were pealing out

Across the drifted snow.

She was a maiden sweet to see

And just my style to boot,

And so upon her ruby lips

I placed a swift salute.

For she had twined the berried

bough

On chandelier and wall,

And wreathed it all around the door,

And draped it in the hall,

And pinned it to the picture frames,

And hung it on the latch,

And tucked it in her hair, and so

I had to toe the scratch.

How To Make a Pine Cone Christmas Tree Ornament

Two versions of the same Christmas pine cone craft. The appearance of this particular ornament may be altered by switching out the materials that you use. School children in American often make this craft using pom poms. However, adults can use the same method to craft a very lovely woodland version of the ornament.

Woodland Pine Cone Christmas Tree Version

Above are detailed photos of the woodland pine cone Christmas tree.
 In this version, I used metallic beads to decorate my miniature tree instead
of the traditional pom poms.

 Supply List:

• pine cones
• a tiny acorn cap
• metallic beads for the ornaments
• hot glue gun 
• white tacky glue
• white school glue
• white cotton batting balls
• twine for hanging the ornament
• glitter (optional)
• pliers and scissors

Step-by-Step Directions:

1. Glue a fluffy white cotton ball to the top of your pine cone and then turn it upside down so that the pine cone resembles a fir tree.
2. Add a bit more of the white school glue to the snowy looking surface and spread this out with your finger tips. Let dry. You may decide to add glitter to the cotton for a extra bit of glamor. 
3. Unravel a couple of white cotton balls and take these apart to form small amounts of fluff for the tips of your pine cone tree. 
4. Add just a small amount of white glue to each scale and glue white cotton into place.
5. Now use a hot glue gun to squirt a bit of the hot glue before gently pushing each metallic bead inside the cone. Work with no more than two squirts of glue and two beads at a time; hot glue dries quickly and will harden before you have had time to position the beads into place.
6. Assemble the pine cone angel by taking apart an additional pine cone with pliers. You may need to cut and trim off the inside edge of each scale before gluing these together again.
7. I used tacky glue to arrange the tiny scales around the tip of my index finger and then glued a piece of cotton batting to the top and inside portion of the skirt to hold everything in place. I then glued an additional teir (or ruffle)  to the angel's skirt. (pictured below)
8. Roll a small amount of white cotton batting into the shape of a tiny head and glue this to the top of the cone shaped angel body. 
9. Glue on a halo made from an acorn cap.
10. Glue a metallic wire to the inside of the pine cone for hanging.

Here you can see me assemble the skirt of the angel tree topper from pine cone scales and a bit of cotton batting. The head is also made from cotton batting. The halo of my angel is made from an acorn cap.

I have glued two pine cone scales together with tacky glue and a wad of cotton batting. After these wings dry, you can then attach them with glue to the back shoulder blades of your angel. You will need to hold them in position until the glue hardens a bit.

Pine Cone Christmas Tree Version with Red Pom Poms
 

Above, I have included detailed photographs of the red pom pom variation of
this pine cone Christmas tree ornament. This version is also topped off with a
tiny turned wooden Santa figure.

  Supply List:

• pine cones
• hot glue gun
• wooden spool
• paints and/or decorative paper 
• twine for hanging the ornament
• A tiny ornament or star for the "tree topper"

Step-by-Step Directions:

1. First you will need to decorate your wooden spool. I painted the edges of the one pictured above and then cut a piece of polka dot paper and glued this to the inside of the spool. This step speeds up the process of decorating the ornament.
2. Next, hot glue a pine cone with the top of the spool. The top of the pine cone should be the end that you glue to the spool base so that the pine cone will suggest the triangular shape of a Christmas pine tree.
3. Hot glue your pom poms to the tips of the pine cone scales. If you've turned the pine cone upside down and glued it to the spool correctly, there should be a natural "lip" for the pom pom to nestle inside. This is where you will squirt a bit of the hot glue before gently pushing each pom pom inside the cone. Work with no more than two squirts of glue and two pom poms at a time; hot glue dries quickly and will harden before you have had time to position the pom poms.
4. Now hot glue a tiny "tree topper" to the tip of your pine cone tree if you wish.

More Pine Cone Tree Ornaments:

• Pinecone Christmas Tree Ornaments for kids
• DIY pine cone Christmas trees from the dollar store

Craft Your Own Set of Spun Cotton Icicles

      If you are anything like me, you will be reading this post at 4:30 in the morning while surfing for one last craft to make for your tree. The only difference between us is perhaps that I am looking to teach it and you are looking to receive it. 

       Although I've managed to keep my pocket book under control and I don't spend as much money as most Americans do at Christmas time, I still dream of decorating my home with items that would cost a small fortune in real life. And this dreaming starts about mid June for me, every year, without fail.

       I walk through the rooms of my home and I can't help but fantasize about draping evergreens loaded with tinsel, ice and extravaganza. However, I'm not just thinking about them in my own home, I am also thinking about them in everybody else's and I guess this is what makes me a little strange.

       What is this madness all about? I'm not quite sure but I think it has something to do with my childhood. My father was quite a daydreamer, something like Walter Mitty. He pursued architecture, religion and history throughout his life in that very order. He had the kind of curiosity that only children understand.

       My mother was the opposite, full of common sense and a little restrictive. She had to be as long as he was alive. But, since my father has died, she has become just as romantic as he was. As we age we begin to realize that what others did for us must be repeated in ourselves in order for their memory to remain alive. I think this is why my father cared so much about history. He just wanted to keep repeating the best parts of it so that the people he loved would never be lost or forgotten.

      So here is my next contribution. During the late 1800s through the first World War, cotton batting ornaments were most popular and although you may not be able to purchase a set of these spun cotton icicles realistically, you can handcraft them with just a bit of time and patience.

I handcrafted a set of six cotton batting icicles for my tree.

Supply List:

• Both white cotton batting balls and a white cotton batting sheet
• iridescent glitter
• red holly berries
• faux pin needles (cut an artificial branch)
• masking tape
• wooden skewers
• newsprint
• white school glue
• white tacky glue
• scissors
• wire to shape a hooks

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1.  I purchased wooden skewers for this project from the grocery store and then broke them in half. You may make your own icicles any length that you desire. But, do use a strong stick, pencil or skewer inside the core of your icicles. These will prevent the ornaments from breaking, should these receive a bit of rough handling over time.
2. Crush newsprint and layer masking tape on top of it to shape your icicle's form.
3. I used cotton batting wire to shape hooks on top of each icicle for hanging. Glue and tape these firmly in place before you begin wrapping the icicles with cotton.
4. In this case, I recommend that you wrap the first layer with a sheet of cotton batting and white school glue. Wrap the subsequent layers with unraveled cotton balls.
5. After you have layered both cotton and glue, ending with a light coating of glue always, let the icicles dry thoroughly in a warm area.
6. Poke a hole into the surface of your icicle and fill it with tacky white glue and faux berries/pine needles. Let dry.
7. Unravel white cotton balls and apply glue in a spiral pattern down the length of your icicle. Wrap and twist a last layer of batting to form the pattern demonstrated in the photos below. 
8. Wipe on a final coating of white school glue and sprinkle a generous amount of iridescent glitter onto the wet surface. Let the icicles dry and then hang them on the tree for an impressive winter display!

Pictured above are the wooden skewers wrapped and ready to be turned into something special.

The first layer of batting is made of a cotton sheet, normally this is used to line blankets and quilts with.

After your icicles dry, poke a holes into their surfaces and paste in faux pine needles and berries.

To add the final touches, wrap and twist cotton batting down the length of each icicle with glue. On the far right you can see that I've also sprinkled glitter onto the surfaces of my icicles.

See More Versions of Spun Cotton Icicles:

• Two trees from smile mercantile
• A most unusual bottle brush tree. Spun cotton ornaments too.
• Merry The's Christmas Collection

Fold Victorian Wire Ribbon Rosettes

My Victorian wire ribbon rosettes, three versions.

      Rosettes made with wire ribbon are made to last. They are considerably more durable and more expensive to make than the sample rosette projects that I have posted about in the past.

• Paper Rosette Ornaments and Garlands
• Cut and Paste Victorian Clown Paper Rosette Ornaments

Left, wire edged ribbons. Center accordion fold from above. Right, accordion fold from the side.

       Wire ribbon may also be recycled easily. If you have dated looking bows and trims made with it, these can be taken apart and upcycled into something new. The Victorians often crafted with ribbon rosettes and so rosettes are frequently associated with the Victorian Era Christmas tree.

      Wire rosettes implement the accordion fold. This is the same fold that school children learn in order to shape basic paper craft projects. (video of accordion folding below)

Left, 3 wire, accordion folded rosettes. Center, cutting and pasting metallic paper rosettes. Right, gluing together the rosettes.

Left, back side of a completed rosette. Next, edge of a finished rosette. Center Victorian printed image. Right, pasted acrylic gem.

 Supply List:

• acrylic gems
• 2 to 2 1/2 inch wired ribbon
• metallic cup cake liners
• scissors 
• stapler
• tacky white glue
• hot glue and gun
• Victorian scrap angels
• scrap cardboard
• gold cord for hanging

Directions:

1. Select a ribbon that you like, fold it front to back, on top of itself. I usually work with a length no longer then 20 inches. (pictured above)
2. Pinch and adjust the folds so that these look consistent. Then pinch one end of all the folds together and staple.
3. Now gently fan the unstapled side of the  accordion folded ribbon into the shape of a rosette. Staple together the two side ends of accordion folds. Conceal the stapled edges up inside the accordion folds or make sure that the staples are both on one side of the rosette. These will be less obvious on the back side of your ornament.
4. For the ornaments shown above, I also layered metallic paper rosettes on top of the wired ribbon rosettes. These were made by first cutting the centers out of cup cake liners and then gluing the rippled paper edges back onto a sturdy cardboard round. This round was covered with the same metallic paper discarded from the centers of the cup cake liners. Why not just crush the cup cake liner without cutting it apart you may ask? Because it looks better.
5. Then I used tacky white glue to attach a Victorian scrap angel to the center of the layered rosettes and pasted an acrylic gem to her halo.
6. Fold an additional metallic paper rosette for the back side of your ornament. 
7. Glue a gold cord between the layers of rosettes on the back side of your Victorian ornament and hang it on the tree.

Video by wonder studios.

 Folding More Christmas Rosettes:

• Christmas Rosette Wreath
• A Star Wall Hanging or Tree Topper trimmed with rosettes

Craft a Shabby Chic Pink Silk Bauble

Many people would look at this handcrafted bauble and think that it is Victorian but it's not; it is most definitely Shabby Chic. Why? you may ask? The Victorians were actually sticklers for symmetry. Those who are Shabby Chic fanatics sometimes love Victorian designs and hang these on their Christmas trees. But true Victorian Christmas collectors would never mistaken one for the other. In either case, both are over-the-top if you ask me!

      This pink silk bauble is extravagantly bodacious or eccentrically glamorous or just maybe a really ridiculous ornament. It was made by a Shabby Chic zealot and designed especially for a Shabby Chic Christmas tree. All you actually need to know is how to use a hot glue gun without burning yourself, in order to craft a similar project. I still burn myself after twenty years of using hot glue guns. 

       You may need to scour a few resale shops to find the silk covered baubles. Some years these are sold through drug store outlets, hobby and craft or dollar store, but this year these seem to be a bit scarce. 

       Glue the braid onto the sides of your bauble first so that it will be easier to position the broaches in the center of each half of the ornament. The egg shaped baubles are more versatile because they may be used for both Christmas and Easter decorating.

Supply List:

• buff pink velvet ribbon
• egg shaped ivory silk bauble
• an old broach and an old pearl earring
• heavy metallic braid, silver or gold
• hot glue gun
• both pearl head and plain pins

How to make Shabby Chic angel ornaments

Calvary Episcopal's Famous Church Bazaar

      Ready to wait in line? Calvary Episcopal's Annual St. Nickolas Advent Bazaar in Columbia Missouri is so famous that folks have to stand in line in order to get the chance to purchase one of their church mice ornaments! Ladies of Calvary Episcopal have been making these little critters for charity since the 1970s and, boy, they are cute. They also hold raffles for larger quilted crafts and serve a fine hot breakfast for visitors. After all, if you've got to wait in the cold to buy an ornament, you will surely need breakfast to warm you up afterwards.

 

See More Church Mice & Handmade Church Craft Ladies:

• The Jurby church mice exhibition
• Church Ladies Craft Fair from Good Day Sacramento