Events/2020/Holiday

Due to COVID, Hacksburg's annual Holiday Ornament Class was entirely online, with kits and cards made available to order in advance. Following are information on and instructions for the various items available. All designs are original creations by Hacksburg members, produced at Hacksburg using our 80W CO2 laser cutter, and assembled by Hacksburg volunteers.

2020 Custom Laser-Cut Wooden Card

Laser-cut wood snowflake card and ornament Copyright ©️ James R. Dunson 2018-2020. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, with specific additional permissions granted to Hacksburg to use for fundraising. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0

The bottom "Hacksburg and Friends" text would be replaced with the user-specified custom name or message. Card and ornament fits in most standard 4" x 6" envelopes; additional postage may be required (e.g. surcharge for "rigid" mail pieces).

Gingerbread Person or Reindeer Felt Ornament Kit

Laser-cut felt Gingerbread Person or Reindeer ornament Copyright ©️ James R. Dunson 2018-2020. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, with specific additional permissions granted to Hacksburg to use for fundraising. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0

The typical 2020 Gingerbread Person / Reindeer kit includes:

• 2x laser-cut tan felt gingerbread person shapes, with lacing holes
• yarn for lacing (may have choice of colors, typically a matching tan and at least one contrast color)
• assorted laser-cut felt decor items in various colors
• safety plastic lacing needle
• craft sticks to aid in gluing and stuffing
• cotton balls for stuffing
• kid-safe, washable glue (may not be included in mailed kits; Tacky Glue or ordinary white school glue is recommended)

Basic instructions for either option:

• Set up a work space for gluing; with old cardboard, newspapers, wax paper, or something to avoid getting glue on the furniture
• Carefully separate out the various parts from the bag
• Place the two tan pieces on top of each other, lining up the holes
  • (Note: they should be identical, and symmetrical, so it doesn't matter which way they go. In case they slightly vary, consider the larger one to be the "front".)
• Thread the yarn onto the needle.
• If using the Gingerbread Person option, place the "head" pointing upward; if using the Reindeer option, place the "head" pointing downward
• Starting at the topmost hole (top of head, or between legs/antlers), thread the yarn through both pieces; leave about 1.5" out the top to help form a hanging loop in the end.
• Lace (or "stitch") down one side of the head, one arm, one leg, then a bit over halfway around the other leg
• Take a cotton ball, and unroll it to be more of a strip, and/or pull it into smaller bits
• Use the craft stick to tuck the cotton between the pieces to stuff the ornament, starting with the limbs
• Repeat with additional cotton balls until desired stuffed look is achieved. This is typically 5-7 balls worth; you will typically have a bit extra.
• Finish lacing up the remaining side, and then go through the topmost hole again on the last stitch
• Tie a knot at the top
• Using the excess yarn, form a hanging loop, and tie a knot to finish it off. Trim any excess yarn.

• Decorate by gluing on the various colors and shapes of laser-cut felt as you see fit. See the picture below for ideas. You may want to lay out your design to test it out before gluing.

Christmas Tree Kit

Laser-cut felt Christmas Tree ornament Copyright ©️ James R. Dunson 2018-2020. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, with specific additional permissions granted to Hacksburg to use for fundraising. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0

The typical 2020 Christmas Tree Felt Ornament kit includes:

• 2x laser-cut dark green felt tree shapes, with lacing holes
• dark green yarn for lacing
• assorted laser-cut felt decor items in various colors
• safety plastic lacing needle
• craft sticks to aid in gluing and stuffing
• cotton balls for stuffing
• kid-safe, washable glue (may not be included in mailed kits; Tacky Glue or ordinary white school glue is recommended)

Basic instructions for the default look, a decorated Christmas tree:

• Set up a work space for gluing; with old cardboard, newspapers, wax paper, or something to avoid getting glue on the furniture
• Carefully separate out the various parts from the bag
• Place the two tree pieces on top of each other, lining up the holes
  • (Note: they should be identical, and symmetrical, so it doesn't matter which way they go. In case they slightly vary, consider the larger one to be the "front".)
• Thread the yarn onto the needle.
• Starting at the topmost hole, thread the yarn through both pieces; leave about 1.5" out the top to help form a hanging loop in the end.
• Lace (or "stitch") down one side and across the bottom of the tree, then about two holes up the other side
• Take a cotton ball, and unroll it to be more of a strip, and/or pull it into smaller bits
• Use the craft stick to tuck the cotton between the trees to stuff the ornament, starting with the furthest corner
• Repeat with additional cotton balls until desired stuffed look is achieved. This is typically 4-6 balls worth; you will typically have a bit extra.
• Finish lacing up the remaining side, and then go through the topmost hole again on the last stitch
• Tie a knot at the top
• Using the excess yarn, form a hanging loop, and tie a knot to finish it off. Trim any excess yarn.

• Decorate by gluing on the various colors and shapes of laser-cut felt as you see fit. See the picture(s) below for ideas. You may want to lay out your design to test it out before gluing.
  • (Note: pictured trees are from a previous year's kit, and may be decorated with different parts and/or colors than are available in the current kit.)

Wreath Kit

Laser-cut felt Wreath Copyright ©️ James R. Dunson 2018-2020. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, with specific additional permissions granted to Hacksburg to use for fundraising. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0

The typical 2020 Wreath kit includes:

• 3x laser-cut green felt rings, with integral slot for wreath hangar
• at least 32x laser-cut green felt holly leaves
• at least 8x laser-cut red felt holly berries
• laser-cut red felt "bow" shape
• craft sticks to aid in gluing
• kid-safe, washable glue (may not be included in mailed kits; Tacky Glue or ordinary white school glue is recommended)

Basic instructions for the default look, a fairly symmetrical holly wreath:

• Set up a work space for gluing; with old cardboard, newspapers, wax paper, or something to avoid getting glue on the furniture
• Carefully separate out the various parts from the bag
• Glue the 3 rings on top of each other to produce a 3-layer laminated ring, lining up the slot to match, and being generous with the glue.
  • If using white glue, put a thin bead around just inside the inside and and outside edge of the ring, and then a zigzag of glue between them
  • (Note: optionally, spray-type craft adhesive (not supplied) may be used to laminate the rings; follow instructions on can, with adult supervision and a well-ventilated working area required)
• (Consider the top with the slot to be "North" for purposes of the following directions)
• Take 4 leaves, and glue them on top of the ring, at N, S, E, W points, with the longer axis of the leaves pointing radially, and roughly centered on the ring. Make sure the N leaf is not glued in such a way as to cover the hanging slot.

• Take 4 more leaves, and glue them on top of the ring in between the first set, at NE, NW, SE, SW points

• Take 8 more leaves, and glue them on top of the ring in between the previous leaves. You should have mostly covered the ring with leaves at this point.

• Take 16 more leaves, and glue them on top of the previous leaves, in between. You may wish to offset them a bit to the outside.

• Take the bow shape, and glue it on top of the leaves on the bottom (the "South" position), with the arms hanging below

• Take 7 berries, and glue them on top of the leaves at the N, NE, E, SE, SW, W, NW positions

Previous Years

2019 Holiday Ornaments