by Ellen Byron
I’m a craftsy person. But due to a combination of a short attention span and lack of time, my crafting has zeroed in on one particular type of project. Basically, my drug of choice is Christmas ornaments.
I first started making ornaments when I was in middle school. I experimented with different crafts, including counted cross stitch and embroidery. When my daughter became old enough to craft, we made fuse bead ornaments together. She’s a natural artist and I’m proud to say her creations beat mine by a mile.
I eventually settled on needlepoint as my go-to craft. Nothing calms or relaxes me like stitching a canvas. The canvases are a wonderful way to commemorate special events or places in your life. I stitched mini stockings that represent special aspects of our lives: a Baby’s First Stocking for our daughter; cardinals for my husband, who’s from St. Louis and a fan of the Cardinals baseball team; a stocking commemorating Louisiana, where I attended Tulane University and my Cajun Country and upcoming Vintage Cookbook mysteries are set. In fact, I went on a Louisiana stitching tear…
In the last few years, I’ve ventured out of my needlepoint comfort zone to resurrect another craft from my past: decoupage. I use the craft to make ornaments for all my book covers…
Our Christmas tree is now filled with ornaments I’ve made throughout the decades. This year, I added decoupage ornaments for my Cajun Kiss of Death, my seventh Cajun Country Mystery, and It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder, my third Catering Hall Mystery. I try to make every ornament completely different but I couldn’t resist putting a red bow on both of these.
In celebrating Christmas with an ornament featuring the cover of a book I wrote set at Christmastime, it’s like my hobby has come full circle.
Talk about a festive holiday feeling!
ABOUT ELLEN BYRON
Ellen’s Cajun Country Mysteries have won the Agatha award for Best Contemporary Novel and multiple Lefty awards for Best Humorous Mystery. She writes the Catering Hall Mystery series, under the name Maria DiRico, and will debut the Vintage Cookbook Mysteries (as Ellen) in June 2022. Ellen is an award-winning playwright, and non-award-winning TV writer of comedies like WINGS, JUST SHOOT ME, and FAIRLY ODD PARENTS. She has written over two hundred articles for national magazines but considers her most impressive credit working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. She blogs with Chicks on the Case, is a lifetime member of the Writers Guild of America, and will be the 2023 Left Coast Crime Toastmaster.
For More Information, Visit Ellen’s Website!
