I am going to share another very typical Norwegian Christmas tree ornament with you, the Woven Christmas Heart Basket:
The Woven Christmas Heart is believed to originate in Denmark, with Hans Christian Andersen around 1850. The Danes make these only in red and white, solid colors. The tradition has been in Norway at least since my grandparents were children. In Norway they are made in many different color combinations, but combinations of two solid colors is most usual also here.
Around the turn of the century, it was not customary with Christmas gifts in Norway, but when the Christmas tree was introduced and quickly became popular, it was common to decorate it with fruits and nuts and the occasional treat. So the vowen heart baskets were also serving a double function of being containers for the little treats. The children were allowed to “harvest” the tree at the end of Christmas.
Groing up, this was the very first ornament we learned to make ourselves. As I grew older I learned many different, advanced ways of weaving these hearts, but as I got even older, I have returned to the more simplistic heart basket, and prefer to use patterned paper to make these. So I came up with a version utilizing some vintage paper, and turning them into easy printables to share with you 🙂 Thus, this is my personal twist on a very traditional ornament 🙂
Here is the first large Vowen Christmas Heart Basket out of 6:
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Print on regular printer paper (I used 80g paper)
- Cut out the handle
- Score on the middle line of the two heart pieces
- Fold in half on the scored line
- Cut out the heart pieces
- Cut out the slits on each heart piece
- Weave one heart piece into the other
- Attach the handle, either with glue, or you can use brads like I did
In Norway these are mostly used to decorate the Christmas Tree, but you can also see them in windows, or strung as bunting. I used mine to create a wall Christmas Tree in my office 😀
The files are free for your personal use and enjoyment. Go to the download folder below to grab your high quality copies 🙂
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I used elements from the following source for this design:
Christmas Candy, W. F. Pearson – Boston Public Library on Flickr
Vintage Paper – Vintage Printable
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