Ornament Exchange

On first thought, I would have told you that I am not an active member of the blogging community. I would have said this because I don't know any bloggers personally. As in, I don't hang out with or talk about blog stuff with any other bloggers. And the fact that my blog is small makes me feel somewhat...inadequate (which is silly, I realize.)

However, I started to think about what a community is along with how blogging has affected my life, and I discovered plenty of examples of how I have, indeed, been a participant.

community noun - a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists

[source]

In fact, several people that I went to high school with are now bloggers. And even though we've rarely seen each other since graduating in 2000, I feel more connected to them because of this shared hobby.

• Annie writes about the life's lovely little pleasures over at Amusing Pursuits.
• Jill and her sister host the blog The Daily Crave to keep us updated on the latest "must haves".
• Kim has a blog to showcase her beautiful letterpress business, Paper Lovely.
• Anyone else I know out there that now has a blog??

And I have done things with/for other healthy living bloggers that would usually be reserved for close friends and family!

• I attended the Healthy Living Summit without having met another blogger face-to-face. I even got directions to the hotel from Heather via Twitter!
• I donated to Caitlin's Team in Training effort and was inspired to train for a marathon of my own.
• I purchased a Bondi Band as part of Callie's effort to raise money for her aunt who was struggling to pay for her cancer treatments.
• I participated in a Blog Bake Sale as part of Tina's Team in Training fundraising.
• I posted notes inspired by Caitlin's Operation Beautiful movement. And I purchased her book! I was so excited to see it on the shelf and support her.
• I desperately wanted to participate in Heather's 'Macaroon Monday' - I even borrowed a ravioli press from my Dad! - but just couldn't find the time that week.
• I participated in Angela's Shop 4 A Cause 2 by donating a customizable 2-week vegetarian meal plan which brought in $55 for the Canadian Cancer Society. The whole auction raised over $3110! (By the way, it was a LOT more work than I was expecting! But it was still fun. )
• When the Marie Claire article 'Hunger Diaries' came out, I felt comfortable enough to reach out to each of the women involved...because it felt like someone was picking on my friends.
• I represented Nebraska in Guerrilla Gourmet's Cornucopia Project.
• I voted for participants during the FoodBuzz Project Food Blog contest.

I had the chance to meet many of these women at the Healthy Living Summit, but most of my interactions with them have been through email and our blogs. I am a fairly shy person if I don't you, so it surprises me that a community built around virtually no 'face time' has felt so comfortable to me!

I think the key is that I was able to find so many people with similar interests and ideals. They are all creative individuals that can challenge the way I think, teach me something new, and inspire me. And I don't think it would be wrong of me to say that they cherish this unique community as much as I do. (But correct me if I'm wrong!)

On that note, I wanted to share with you the latest thing I participated in...Heather's 'Homemade Christmas Ornament Swap'! Each participant was asked to make or decorate a Christmas ornament and then send it to another participant. In exchange, you would receive one from someone else. Such a fun and festive exchange!

I stewed over what to make for a long time. I'd say that I am crafty but not very artistic. I am killer at Pictionary, but no one is framing my work. So I tried to think of a clever way to turn regular ornaments into something unexpected.

Enter: The Hot Air Balloon

Seriously, it's so simple that I'm a little embarrassed to show you. But I think the result was so cute that it's worth it.

In fact, you only need 2 things. I threw in a 3rd to "fancy" it up.

• standard ornament globe/ball
• wire mesh netting/ribbon
• paint pen (optional)

If you would like to decorate the globe or add a name/date, do so first with the paint pen. Keep in mind that the globe won't be completely visible due to the mesh overlay.

I decided to decorate the globe with a reminder of where this ornament came from. (2010 THS Ornament Swap...where THS = Then Heather Said)

I used a plastic bottle cap to hold the globe steady/give it a place to dry.

I'm sure each netting will be different, but this worked for me: Cut a section that is 12 inches long and about 5 inches wide when it is stretched.

Center the mesh over the top of the globe.

With the mesh stretched so the openings are widest, wrap it down over the globe, gathering the excess in the middle. Bend/pinch the mesh so it is snug around the globe.

Cut another strip of the mesh that is about 10 inches long. Scrunch it up width-wise so it is one long strip.

Wrap this tightly around the base of the mesh on the globe. This will connect the ends of the mesh as well as serve as the 'basket' of the hot air balloon, so there should be some girth.

I had to fidget with it a little bit to get it to look 'clean'. Luckily, the wiring made it easy to pinch into position.

Ta-da! What do you think? I think it's pretty darn cute for a 5 minute, 3-ingredient project.

Unfortunately, I never received an ornament. I was holding out to publish this post so I could show you both ornaments at once, but I'm afraid this is it. Maybe it was lost in the mail. Maybe something came up and the participant had to back out last minute. Maybe my neighbor got it by accident and thought it was from a 'secret santa'. Or maybe my ornament was made out of something tasty that the squirrels got to before me!

Ah well. I still had fun making this one! Thanks again to Heather for organizing such a fun exchange!

And don't worry, I wasn't completely ornament-less this year...my Mom got me these sneakers to commemorate my 2010 marathon!