Turning Halloween to Christmas; a Lesson in Personalizing a Design

Jack o’Lanterns, bats, kids in costumes and . . . black cats; all these are things we associate with Halloween. That, I’m afraid can pose a big problem for people like me who own (and love) black cats.

If I had a dime for every black cat canvas that has a Halloween theme, I’d be able to buy a great big canvas. If I had a dime for every black cat canvas that had a Christmas theme, I couldn’t even buy a cup of cheap coffee. I’ve done them both.

As a result I have to personalize the canvases I find for the ornaments I’d like for our trees. Here are the steps I use

1. Make sure the canvas you pick has a cat that isn’t too scary-looking (screaching and overly arched backs are out)
2. Make sure your canvas has a minimum of other Halloween-themed items. Some of these can be redone depending on what and where they are. But remember that changing colors can be easy, turning a pumpkin into a pillow is harder.
3. Change the eye color to a realistic cat eye color. I changed the gray eyes on this cat to olive green.
4. Change orange elements to red, Halloween green to a darker, brighter Christmas green, and look for alternatives to large areas of black other than the cat. Here I changed the orange ribbon to red.
5. Stitch over small elements and replace them with Christmas-themed embellishments. Here the end of the ribbon will hold a tiny star button.
6. If there is space, add names or other personal touches. This ornament is for my daughter to honor her black cat, Iggy, who is just a year old. By adding the letters and heart at the bottom, the design becomes unique.

With a careful choice of canvas and some small changes this Halloween canvas becomes a perfect choice for a Christmas ornament.