LDS Keepsake Ornaments

So, next in the "I'm sooo busy I forget to breathe" category is...

It's a long story so I'll try to make it short as possible...

Every Christmas I always buy a new ornament for each of my kids. I try to find ones that go along with what they are doing in their lives. Like, for example, Matt is at BYU Hawaii and he bought a surfboard and learned to surf. So I found a cute surfboard ornament for him. I have done this each year since they were born and put them on the "kid" tree in the family room. Someday when they get married I will give them all their own ornaments and hopefully they will continue the tradition with their kids. Of course, this will never happen if they DON'T HURRY UP AND GET MARRIED!!! Okay... I'm getting sidetracked... So since I've had sons out serving missions for the last 5 Christmases I wanted to find a missionary ornament! And do you think I could find one searching all the millions of Mormon websites out there??? Not one decent one out there! So as I'm at the mall looking at ornaments, there is one that has a boy in shorts on a bike...hmmm... I think to myself... with a change of clothes to a white shirt and tie and dark pants and a black name tag, he would look like a missionary! So for several months I sketched several missionary designs and searched for an ornament company that would be willing to work with me to produce these custom polyresin (clay-looking) ornaments. I contracted with a company in Massachusetts and the process began. I worked with the owner of the company and her son... I started with 5 missionary designs and after further inspiration decided to add several Temple marriage designs... couldn't find any of those kind of ornaments either which is amazing considering there is almost 14 million of us Mormons out there! Now the other little obstacle I had to overcome was the fact that the people helping me make the designs and molds had barely ever even heard of a Mormon! So I directed them to our church website and helped them become a little more familiar with what a temple is and what a missionary does and looks like.

So after months of collaborating and working on the marketing, the ornaments are being mass produced in a factory in China and should be arriving in the next couple of weeks! I hope! Deseret Book is going to sell them in their stores and online!! (That's another whole story in itself.) A local store in Mesa will carry them. And if I ever get around to getting a website done, they'll be available there, too. I was hoping they would arrive in time for my boutique, but alas, no...

They are being featured in LDS Living Magazine (November edition) in the Gift Guide Section. Facebook friends have already seen the previews... but I think they are much cuter and better looking in person. They will come in boxes and will be personalizable (is that a word??). So buy them for your missionaries that are out or have even come home! Or for future farewell gifts. The temple marriage ones are nice for wedding gifts or gift toppers... and one of the hearts is a picture frame... Valentine gifts, too!

I have about a dozen more designs in various stages of production that will be out next year including "Babies are a Blessing" and family ones. So cherish the milestones in life with an LDS Keepsake Ornament!!