Elizabeth Cole Hallmark Ornament
- wingedmermaid
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
One of my favorite collaborations American Girl has ever done is their "The American Girls Collection" with Hallmark. This collection was released in the early 2000's and included a variety of fun items, including bookends, charms, stationary, and (appropriately) ornaments! The ornaments depicted the main historical girls (Kaya, Felicity, Josefina, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, Kit, and Molly) in their meet outfits, birthday outfits, and holiday outfits. My parents got me three of the birthday outfit ornaments a few years ago for my own birthday and they are absolutely beautiful.
I've often wished that Hallmark would make a new series of American Girl ornaments -- or at the very least, maybe a doll in a box ornament similar to some of the nostalgic toy ornaments they've been producing lately (see: Luke Skywalker). Maybe we'll see something next year as American Girl celebrates its 40th anniversary.
But one ornament I know we'll never see is one depicting my favorite American Girl, Elizabeth Cole. American Girl doesn't seem to like mentioning any of the "best friend" characters, and with Felicity's storyline being kind of problematic, they're not as eager to mention her, either. For me, I just really, REALLY love the look of 18th century fashions. I love the style of dresses (though I love early 1800s dresses, too), I love the coats and capes, and OMG I LOVE a good tricorn hat. One of the reasons why I want to make a Captain Redd costume someday. But I digress...
One day, while looking at listings for some of the Hallmark AG items, I came across a used Felicity ornament for a pretty good price, and got the idea of turning her into an Elizabeth ornament. Felicity's holiday dress has the same silhouette as Elizabeth's meet dress, and I had success adding a little bit of paint to the birthday ornaments, so surely it would be easy enough to repaint an entire ornament... Right?
Well...
As you might've guessed, covering the deep cobalt blue of Felicity's dress and her shiny black shoes was not a simple process. For starters, I didn't have an easy way to prime the ornament for painting, so I just painted right over the original paint. I feel like even now, after painting and sealing the ornament, if I were to accidentally scratch it, it might show the blue underneath. So, if you're attempting something similar and have the means to do so, don't skip priming. Paint-wise, I used acrylic paint (probably not the highest quality at that), and it took several coats to cover Felicity's dress and shoes. Her hair even took a couple of coats to turn blonde. I want to say I did maybe 4 or 5 coats of pink, but at some point, I kind of zoned out and lost track lol. For awhile, I was afraid the paint would never fully coat and that I'd potentially just ruined a really cute ornament, but I stuck with it and the ornament finally came together the way I hoped.
Once I was happy with the pink coverage, I added another layer that was more of a coral pink, and then a final layer with an iridescent orange glaze. I tried to get as close to the shimmer of Elizabeth's meet dress as possible. Next, I added a cream middle section to the skirt to mimic Elizabeth's and then added a few dashes and criss-crossing lines to evoke the look of her brocade. Finally, I carefully added the tiny details of her trim and ribbons, then sealed the whole thing.
Elizabeth just needed one more finishing touch, and that was to add a dab of super glue to her loose metal ring. I still don't trust it fully, so I actually have her seated on a sturdy branch for extra safety.
Overall, I'm really happy with how she turned out! I did get a little bit of clear coat on her forehead, which you can definitely see from some angles, but she looks perfect from far away! Part of me wants to get a second Felicity ornament, so they'll look like they're performing at the Governor's ball, just like in the movie. 😁 But for now, Elizabeth can represent my love of American Girl on our tree.
You can never have too much fandom on your tree lol...
