"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." -Luke 2:8
Last Christmas I decided that I wanted a nativity themed Christmas tree. I also decided that I didn't want to spend tons of money on the decorations for this said tree. So I made a plan on what things I would purchase and what things I would make.
I ended up making one type of ornament last year (2019) in time for Christmas. I made these darling little sheep made out of felt and yarn.
After seeing my sheep my mother decided she wanted some too. My mother already had sheep ornaments but they were made out of paperboard and yarn wrapped around them (my father said they looked like fluff balls on the tree). The black paperboard disappeared into the tree and all you could really see was the thick yarn.
My mother asked me to help her make her sheep look more like sheep, similar to mine. She came up to visit one weekend and brought all her sheep. We removed all the yarn from the paperboard. It was amazing how much yarn was used for one sheep.
We then cut down the sheep to a smaller size and made them look more like sheep. Meaning we gave them necks and smaller legs. Paperboard is difficult to cut with scissors so they were a little crude.
Then to solve the problem of the sheep disappearing into the background, we painted them with tan acrylic paint. We painted both sides of the sheep so no matter which way you saw them the looked fabulous.
Using the same yarn we removed, we hot glued it to the paperboard in a snailshell motion, forming a spiral. This was painful business, my mother and I both ended up with at least one blister.
I had some leftover tan felt from what I used on my sheep and we used it to make ears. We attached those ears using hot glue.
Now my mother has much cuter sheep that didn't cost her a thing! It was very fun to make ornaments with my mom. I am excited that we both will have cute sheep on our tree this Christmas.
For my own tree, I am also putting red and white candy canes near the sheep. These are to symbolize the shepherds and they might be a snack for me throughout December.
The sheep and the candy canes represent the shepherds when Christ was born. It also ties in with Christ as the Good Shepherd who calls each of us home
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