11/12/2025
A Labor of Love!!
Shannon's Fun Finds has kept me busy this week! I created 65 ornaments to give away at the reception honoring the Veteran families of our Crabapple Lane students!
So many people complimented them and asked how they were made, so I thought I would share the steps.
I started by painting the wood, a whitewashing for the background of the stars and silver for the dog tags. After that, I hopped on the computer, adjusted the file to the appropriate size, and personalized the dog tags for our "CLES family".
Then, it was off to the laser engraver and boy did that little work horse do its job! 💪
Once they were all burned, I cleaned each piece and then waited for them to dry.
I debated painting the layers but the design was pretty detailed so I decided on a Sharpie craft marker instead. (They cover beautifully!)
After the paint dried, I carefully glued the layers together and followed that up with a layer of modge podge on top so that I could add the finest glitter to give them the perfect Christmas sparkle. ✨
Finally I attached the layered stars to the dog tags strategically using the appropriate sized jump rings. (Since there were 65 and 3 jump rings each- and with time running short- this is where I got my awesome husband involved.) 😊
Finally we attached the hangers and carefully packaged each one.
For an added touch of gratitude, I found the sweetest tribute to veterans poem and added a secret message page to LivingfortheWin.com --and then dropped a QR code into the little bag so our celebrated veterans would find their little hidden gem message.
Yes it was an enormous amount of work -and Yes I loved every minute of it!
Shout out to the greatest husband in the world (also a veteran) that jumped in to help after we got 15 last minute RSVP's!
To all of our Veterans, let me say THANK YOU for your service! I hope you felt appreciated and celebrated yesterday. My prayer is that you feel that each and every day!
