12 Days of Home for the Holidays Welcomes Ken Oliver

Before my next guest, Ken Oliver, shares his family traditions I want to say "Thank you to each and everyone of the readers and commenters of 12 Days of Home for the Holidays. I would ask that you come back tomorrow for information on the giveaway. Teresa's giveaway will be announced tomorrow and the grand prize giveaway will be announced on Monday. See you tomorrow. dll
 Ken Oliver

Hello blog friends and welcome to day 12 of D's Paper Studio's, 12 Days of Home for the Holidays. It’s been really cool reading all about the traditions of each of the artists who participated this year.

Handmade gifts are from the heart, and there’s no better way to share your love and joy for the season than to give something that you’ve made by hand. In our family we have a longstanding tradition of handmade Christmas ornaments. Hand-stitched felt teddy bears, painted wooden ornaments, handmade photo ornaments, some nearly 50 years old hang on our Christmas trees, and every year when we get them out to hang them, it’s an opportunity to share and re-live the memories of Christmas’ past.

This year, since we were all together at Thanksgiving, I took the opportunity to share our tradition with some of the younger members of our family. We created Christmas rosettes that are beautiful enough to hang as ornaments, but could also be used as Christmas banners, present toppers or even clustered together as wreaths.

I knew there would be some teaching opportunities with the younger ones. We got to learn about cutting, measuring, and folding, and my nieces even mastered the scoreboard.

Our Christmas rosette ornaments turned out beautifully...and once we got started, everyone created more than one. We kept our craft table set up and going all throughout Thanksgiving weekend. The kids were so excited; they made them for their friends, for their teachers and lots of their own tree at home.

And, when we discovered that we could use die cut photos to decorate the Christmas rosettes, the ornaments became another way that we could share memories of holidays past.

Creating Christmas rosettes was really one of the most fun ornament projects we've ever done in our family. We ended up with lots of new ornaments to share and lots of new ornaments for our own Christmas trees. And, together, we created some Christmas memories that we can treasure forever.

Our Thanksgiving weekend was really special this year, we had everyone from our generation of Olivers together at one place at the same time...it was something that had not happened in over 15 years...so we were very blessed to share the family time together and to continue our family tradition of handmade Christmas ornaments with cousins and younger members of our family.

 Thank you for letting me share our Oliver family tradition of making Christmas ornaments. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season this year, and make some time to create and give something handmade. It's a wonderful tradition that is from the heart and will bring joy to everyone for years to come. Make sure to learn about all the other family traditions from the other artists of 12 Days of Home for the Holidays, you will be amazed and inspired!

 Thank you again and 
Merry Christmas to you and your family, 
Ken 
Blog
 
http://tabithasafdi.com/blog/


Photo Tip of the Day

Break all the (photography) rules.

Photography is an art. The photos you take are only as good as you make them. So, get out there and practice. Find your style and have fun. And don’t’ forget to break a few of those photography rules. If you still want more knowledge join a photography forum. There are tons. Personally I’m a member of Clickin’ Moms. They are a great community offering tips and classes. Clickin’ Moms

Sponsored Giveaway 
-Leave a comment for our guest, Ken Oliver .
-Choose at least one of Ken's social media/blog outlets and follow (you can do more than one.)
 -Leave a comment on Tabitha Safdi's Blog.
-Bring a friend.
-"Like" and leave a comment on our sponsors Facebook page. (LINKS) (only once for the entire giveaway)
-Leave separate comments of each item you accomplish.
Note: May Arts Ribbon is for 3 rolls of your choice.
There will be a random drawing on December 13 for the entire sponsored giveaway. For details CLICK here.
*All giveaways are open to USA residents only.

Happy Holidays!

Comments

  1. Wow, love seeing the photos of everyone making rosette ornaments! I love making rosettes and made them for our tree last year!

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  2. Following Ken on Twitter!

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  3. Commented on Tabitha's awesome blog!

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  4. Awww, such sweet photos and traditions. Love the photos of the grandkids making rosettes. :)

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  5. Awesome traditions. I love the rosettes photo ornaments. I have made this rosettes for gift decoration & Layouts but never as an ornaments with photo. What a wonderful idea to try with the kids! Thank you and Happy Hollidays!

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  6. Such an awesome tradtion! Thank you for sharing, and thanks to D's for a heartwarming, inspiring blog hop - I've added this blog to my daily reading list!

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  7. Such gorgeous ornaments and what a wonderful tradition!

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  8. I follow Ken on twitter

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  9. I follow Ken on Instagram

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  10. I subscribe to Ken's blog

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  11. Left a comment for Tabitha

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  12. thanks for sharing your tradition I love making ornaments with my children.

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  13. I just LOVE this tradition! Beautiful ornaments! I think I need to put that on my "list" of upcoming traditions. Thanks so much for sharing! This has been a fabulous 12 days and I've enjoyed all the blog posts, photo tips and ideas! Thanks Debbie!

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  14. Anonymous9:46 AM

    A great tradition and glad to see that it's being carried on. The rosettes are so pretty and such a keepsake. Thanks for sharing.

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  15. WOW! I loved seeing the youngsters using the Scor-pal! It is so much fun teaching the next generation of crafters how to use all the cool tools!
    I always make an ornament for my kids and grandchildren to have for when they grow up and move out on their own. When my oldest son moved out the tree had lots of empty spots so I got to work making more for hubby and I to have for our tree when we are empty nesters. That day is soon to arrive!
    Thank you for sharing your family traditions with me! It is nice getting a peek inside other's traditions! Merry Christmas Ken!

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  16. I am following Ken on FB and left him some love!

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  17. I am following Ken on twitter!

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  18. I am following Ken's blog and I left some love for him on his blog!

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  19. I am already a friend and follower of Ken's, thanks for sharing your holiday traditions with us and I agree it is fun sharing with younger generations the creative aspect of gift giving and decorating.

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  20. Gloria L.10:49 AM

    Diecuts, of course! Ken, you did good! Thanks for sharing!

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  21. Those rosette ornaments are wonderful!

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  22. Michelle Salazar11:33 AM

    Love Ken glad to see him here! I already follow him and zany ways!

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  23. Jen Berbrich12:33 PM

    Ken - you totally inspire me! Once I am done making the Christmas cards I am going to do some rosette surprises for the tree! Everyone will be so surprised Christmas morning!!
    j dot berb at Hotmail dot com

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  24. I had planned on doing a rosette just like that for one of our Fiskateer friends!I love that all the kids got to help.It makes the ornaments real treasures.Ken's inspiration never fails to delight.

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  25. I lost Ken when Google reader went away-now I'm following him again by e-mail!

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  26. I'm following Ken on Twitter.

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  27. I'm following Ken on Pinterest-why didn't I think of that before. A cornucopia of incredible inspiration.

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  28. I have always been Ken's friend on FB.

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  29. I told Tabitha thank you for all her tips. The forum link isn't working and I would love to check it out.

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  30. Oh I love the idea of the rosettes. How special to get the whole family involved.

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  31. Following on Facebook = sent friend request

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  32. Love the rosettes and that you got the whole family involved-wonderful!!!

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  33. Hello Ken, what a fun surprise to see you on Debbie's blog today. I loved reading about your family tradition...so special to see all the children partaking. They will carry that memory with them always!

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  34. I am already a friend of ken's on FB and Pinterest....so I started following him on Twitter.

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  35. I signed up to follow Ken's blog.

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  36. Dear Debbie....I have had so much fun visiting your blog this week and meeting all the talented designers that have been your guests this week... Thank you so much...
    Sincerely,
    Mylissa

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  37. Loved this! I want to make these rossetts!

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  38. Nice to create memories with the family to keep the traditions & memories going for generations! Ken is a memory maker through to the core.
    He is also a wonderful artist! Thanks for sharing!

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  39. Great Christmas idea with the rosettes :)

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  40. I have to admit, I think this have been my favorite so far. Love the handmade ornaments. :) Plus the fact that it was what they do each year. Fantastic.

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