It’s a hard heart that can’t be just a little warmed by the trappings of Christmas. You don’t have to be a confident handcrafter to play a hand in creating your own festive atmosphere, you just have to have a go. Or you can employ the skills of women like Nancy Malay and Staci Ann Lowry who make a living from making Christmas.

Christmas has always been a special time for Nancy Malay who lives in Faribault, Minnesota, USA. “It brings back such fond memories of my childhood growing up in a family of 10,” she says. “I can still visualise all of the wonderful sights and smells that go with it... cookies baking in the oven, Christmas carols being sung and the snowfalls that we always get in Minnesota that time of year.

“My husband and I spent a lot of time carrying on the traditions that were part of our past with our own sons. I guess I just took my love of the holiday and started creating Santas, snowmen and snow bunnies.”

Today Nancy’s work is sold to clients throughout the world but the origins of her business go back to the soft sculpture cloth dolls she first made as gifts and sold through word of mouth and “to a few shops”. “Then, with encouragement and help from her son, she started a website which, she says, has opened up an entirely new market.

Another maker who started off small but is now finding an international market is Staci Ann Lowry, also known as The Ornament Girl. Staci lives in central Florida, USA, where she makes and sells quilted ornaments using basic techniques learned from her Mum. Like Nancy, whose father was a woodworker and mother a skilled seamstress, Staci also comes from a creative family. For several years her parents owned their own business, making and selling handmade wood crafts.

“Also, my mother made nearly every decoration in our house herself,” says Staci. “My sisters and I looked forward to... when she pulled out all of the decorations that she had made in previous years.”

The quilting technique that Staci employs was picked up by her Mum at a local craft shop demonstration. “She came home from the store with big bags of supplies and she, my sister, and I sat around the kitchen table all afternoon and worked... by the time Christmas came around we’d all gotten pretty good at it and had made ourselves quite a collection.”

Staci picked up the habit again when she was first married. “I mostly gave them as gifts but it became a Christmas tradition for me,” she says. Today the ornaments are not limited to Christmas themes. She also designs for Valentine’s Day, weddings, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, even novelty versions.

“My kids have gotten pretty used to the fact that I have to make ornaments all the time,” says Staci. “I keep a mini sewing basket with supplies and I end up carrying it just about everywhere so I can work on an ornament... at the bus stop waiting for my son to come home from school, while I am cooking dinner. I also find myself staying up really late many nights working on other aspects of running the business, like shipping and maintaining my website.”

Nancy’s is not a nine to five life either. “Because I also work at a business that my husband and I have owned for over 30 years, I try to sculpt, sew and paint every chance I get on the weekends or evenings. During the really busy seasons, like Christmas, I will take time off of work to work exclusively on my projects,” she says.

Nancy’s favourite materials are papier-mâché, paperclay, vintage batting, clay and cloth. Staci’s favourite material is Christmas craft ribbon. “The designs are endless and the textures are amazing,” she says. “The ribbons are everything from woven to sheer to shimmering. Some of them are embellished with glitter and sequins... I love glitz and glitter and the effect of layering these types of ribbons to create an ornament is just breathtaking.”

And if money were no object, what kind of ornaments would Staci create? “I’d love to create a spectacular ornament made entirely from vintage fabric, ribbons and trims,” she says. “Embellishments for the ornament might include some heirloom jewellery, perhaps a unique brooch or beads, and any other fabulous and unique trinkets I could find.”

Nancy feels the same... “I’d probably scour the world looking for beautiful fabrics and trims that I couldn’t
normally afford to use. Then I’d use real jewels instead of costume jewellery and I’d find rare, antique pieces to fill my Santa’s bags with... it sure would be fun!” she says.

Find out more

www.nancymalay.com and www.nancymalay.blogspot.com

Staci Ann Lowry
www.theornamentgirl.com

* Both artists ship items overseas.

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