DO IT YOURSELF GREYHOUND ORNAMENTS

Every holiday season I think about how I'd love to include at least one of these ornaments as a little thank you gift in each order we ship out. But with multiple businesses to run (that are busiest just before the holidays) and 25-30 dogs to take care of, there's just never time to do it. So this year I decided to share the idea so you could make your own if you like.

The instructions look long, but they're really simple. When I made mine several years ago, I spent Sunday afternoon of Thanksgiving weekend at the kitchen table. It was sleeting outside, but there was spiced cider simmering on the stove and a fire crackling in the fireplace. Carols were playing on the kitchen radio, vying with the sounds of football coming from the family room. Occasionally a cold needle nose nudged my elbow for attention, and by supper time some of the dogs and I were wearing generous amounts of glitter. It was a good day. I hope you get to enjoy that kind of afternoon with your family or maybe some members of your adoption group.

Racing hound garland: This is SO simple and looks cute with these eight colorful racers galloping around your tree. Each hound is about 5" long.

First, click on the graphic on the right to get the full sized version. Right click on the graphic to save it to your computer.

Set your printer to the landscape orientation and the size to "fit to page". Print one copy on regular paper to make sure you've got it right, then put a sheet of heavy card stock in your printer and print again.

Next, very carefully cut out each dog and lay them out in whatever order you want. I did mine in numerical order, but feel free to think outside the box. If you like, you can add some decoration with glitter or whatever.

Spread out your ribbon or cord (I used gold cord) and tape it securely to the back of each dog, spacing them evenly. You can either leave a few inches on each end for tying to your tree branches, or tie an ornament hook to each end.

Greyhound head garland: This garland is smaller (each head is about 2" wide), but takes longer to make because it has more pieces. But it's worth the trouble because it's adorable!

First, click on the first graphic on the right to get the full sized version. Right click on the graphic to save it to your computer.

Next, very carefully cut out each dog from one sheet and lay them out in whatever order you want. I alternated mine by color, but feel free to think outside the box.

Then cut out the other sheet and pair each head with a mirror image from the other sheet. These heads tend to turn and flip over, so they need to be two-sided. You can either match red to red and green to green, or mix and match, though you will have 13 green heads and 12 red ones, so it won't come out even if you want to mix all of them. I think it's the most fun to have some of them mixed and some of them matched. Anyway...

Lay out half of the heads in the order you want them. They don't all have to be facing in the same direction. Whatever tickles your fancy.

Now turn them over so that the unprinted side is up. Get your ribbon or cord handy (if you use ribbon, it should be very narrow).

Spread out your ribbon or cord (I used gold cord) and use your glue stick to secure it to the back of each head, spacing them evenly (about 4-6" apart). Allow to dry for a few minutes.

Then use your glue stick (liberally!) to attach the backs over the cord/ribbon, being careful to match up the edges as exactly as possible.

Allow to dry completely. It's a very good idea to lay it out flat on a hard surface and put heavy books or something on top so that they don't curl or pucker as they dry.

If your edges didn't match up perfectly (and they seldom will), you can do one or both of two things... carefully trim with tiny scissors, and/or use liquid fabric paint (I used the gold glitter kind) around the edges. I like the paint idea better, but be careful not to use too much because it's wet and can make the card stock pucker. If you use this, find a place before you start where you can leave your garland undisturbed for several hours to dry. If you've got plenty of time, it's safest to paint one head and then let it dry for at least an hour or so before you try to do the next one. I messed up a bunch of them before I figured that out.

You can either leave a few inches of cord/ribbon on each end for tying to your tree branches, or tie an ornament hook to each end.

Greyhound ornaments: I made bunches of these several years ago. They still look good and I get a kick out of them every year. The patterns don't show up well here, so please click on the graphics to see the larger version. The red is a patchwork design and the green has holly and candycanes.

Materials:

heavy card stock
narrow ribbon or cord
glue stick
gold (or whatever color you want) fabric paint

First, click on the any graphic on the right to get the full sized version. Right click on the graphic to save it to your computer.

Set your printer to the portrait orientation and the size to "fit to page". Print one copy on regular paper to make sure you've got it right, then put a sheet of heavy card stock in your printer and print again.

Then repeat that process with the reverse graphic. Each sheet will print one side of 4 ornaments, so you need to print 2 sheets do make 4 complete ornaments.

These are made pretty much like the Greyhound head garland above, except that instead of gluing all of them on one long piece of ribbon/cord, you'll cut an 8-10" piece for each ornament and glue the ends between the layers of card stock so that it forms a loop at the top to hang the ornament with. Make sure you get about 3/4" of ribbon/cord glued in so they won't be likely to pull out later. If they pull out, getting them back in is almost impossible.

I really had fun with these, putting gold collars on some of them with the fabric paint.

The runner ornaments are about 7½" long. The head ornaments are about 4½" wide x 3" high.