Custom Houston New Home Ornament - Newlywed Ornament - Houston Ornament - New House Ornament

I designed this ornament while I was in graduate school at UH to commemorate my time in the city. I lived there during Harvey and grew to love the city and people, and I can't wait to visit again now that I've moved! The map shown is centered on Houston but if you are in the suburbs I'd be happy to expand the map a bit to cover the Woodlands or Galveston or other nearby suburbs.

The ornament is made from solid cherry wood. I personally process rough-from-the-sawmill cherry lumber into laser-ready wood through a series of planing, jointing, and resawing steps in my wood shop in Oklahoma, and then I laser engrave and cut the wood at my residence in Houston. While it is labor intensive to process solid cherry into wood that can be laser cut, the effort is definitely worth it. The appearance of a solid hardwood is far better than something like birch plywood or alder wood, and additionally cherry wood is noted for it's deepening color over time; while it starts out light, cherry eventually will darken into a warm orange color. Additionally, the cherry wood is sourced from a sawmill in western Michigan that produces lumber exclusively using street trees that have been removed due to construction or storm damage. I strongly believe in what they do and my dream is to open a similar operation myself!

The writing shown is merely a suggestion and can be customized however you like. Other ideas could be: an ornament simply stating "Houston Trip 2017" to commemorate a memorable vacation there, or an ornament celebrating a marriage or a graduation. The cutout shown is a heart but it could be another shape like a star, or nothing at all if you prefer that. Also I'd change the location of the text box if it happens to be situated on top of the location being commemorated.

When ordering, please leave a detailed description of the writing that you would like, along with the desired location and shape of cutout if one is desired. If you would like to have the text box moved, also please let me know.

The wood measures 3 inches from top to bottom and it comes at no extra charge in a gift box as shown in the pictures, which also is useful for keeping the ornament safely stored until the holidays roll around again. The wood is protected with a food safe hand rubbed oil finish.

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Utilizing yard trees for wood is one of the most eco-friendly and sustainable ways to source lumber as it does not contribute to deforestation or environmental destruction. It also gives a positive outcome for trees that are lost due to disease, pests, or construction, and gives additional positive value to the urban forest. Making a conscious decision to purchase products made from urban wood is a way of showing support for the urban forest and local craftsman.