ornaments for Izzy & a rant about grief and the holidays

I hope all of my American friends had a good  Thanksgiving! And that if you aren't from the US- I hope you had a great weekend. 

This post has no purpose aside from showing off how I spent my Thanksgiving weekend- making handmade ornaments for our tree. These were so special to me because I made Isabela themed ornaments. 

These were super easy to make. I got the wood slices from either Michael's or Hobby Lobby a while back with a coupon. They were originally purchased to make little risers/ coasters, but I thought they would be perfect as ornaments. 

My printer is broken so it won't print in color, but I was able to print black and white photos of our little girl. I painted the wood slices white, letting them dry completely in between coats. While they were drying, I took a wet makeup sponge and wet the edges around the photos so they would tear off roughly.  I put on a layer of mod podge on the wood round, stuck the photo on, and mod podged the top of it, smoothing out any wrinkles. When everything was dry, I hand lettered captions on to them. I hot glued twine to the back, strung some wooden beads through the twine, and knotted the top to make a hanger. 

It makes me so happy that our tree will have beautiful photos of our baby girl. I figured when Christmas is over and the decorations are all down, we can put these in our car from the rear view mirror or on my tiered tray. I want to make some colored versions of these soon, so I'll have to go to my mom's to print the photos out on her (not-broken) printer. 

This little activity was the perfect way to feel all the feels during Thanksgiving weekend. As a bereaved momma, holidays are so freaking hard without my baby here. It's so easy for me to be angry, jealous, and just overwhelmingly sad that my daughter didn't get the chance to come home with us from the hospital or celebrate the holiday season with us. And I am, honestly. I'm mad. SO mad. It would have been her first Thanksgiving/ Christmas, and I've been dreading this time of year for months. I don't understand why this had to happen to my sweet little girl. It's just not fair. Why do other parents get to bring their babies home and we couldn't? There are so many reminders and triggers and heartbreaking "should be happening" moments that I just haven't felt like being festive or celebrating. It's complete bullshit, to be honest. I hate this. So anyway- this weekend, I allowed myself to feel all the feels and really sit in my grief. I cried it out while making these- because DAMN IT, she should be here physically instead of in a memorial ornament. It was cathartic. 

Anyway, rant aside, I hope this gives you some inspiration to make some handmade ornaments! These would make beautiful gifts or even gift tags this holiday season. They probably cost under $5 to make and are beautiful, personalized pieces to have in your home during (and even after) the holidays. 

Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to mod podge everything in my house :) 

Linking up with Lindsay.