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San Diego artist spreads holiday cheer with Norfolk Pine Tree ornaments

Minnie Ruiz hopes you save room on your tree for her new Padres ornament collection.

CORONADO, Calif. — A San Diego artist is hoping your Christmas tree has room for one more ornament. In this Zevely Zone, I went to Coronado where holiday inspiration is falling from the sky.  Money may not grow on trees, but for Minnie Ruiz holiday cheer does. "Oh, I love Christmas, I love Christmas," said Minnie who oozes holiday spirit. "Very festive, bubbly, outgoing I mean I come from New York, so I have that personality," said Minnie.

One Christmas while living in Hawaii, a great idea just fell out of the sky. "The Norfolk Pine, from the Norfolk Pine tree," said Minnie who was on a walk with her husband when they happened upon pine needles.  

Credit: Minnie Ruiz

"I stepped on it, and my husband picked one up and said wow these would make nice bracelets and I started experimenting and through trial and error I created all of these beautiful designs," said Minnie.

Credit: Minnie Ruiz

She was so inspired; Minnie copyrighted her creations in 1998. "These are my angels. These are bracelets, they are really pretty," said Minnie. "This one has a sea urchin; this one says Frozen." Minnie makes many of her ornaments with movie themes. "Last year I did a Jo Jo because she was popular and like Moana, when the movie came out, I did the Moana on here," said Minnie.

Credit: Minnie Ruiz

Starting at three dollars Minnie offers ornaments for the whole family. "For a boy, I put like Mickey Mouse and the little fish and corral and then for the girls I have this one for baby girl because I put pink," said Minnie. "Then for mom, I do the corral and the seashells I put freshwater pearls." Possibly for mom or dad, a collection of ornaments that'll be a real hit. "So, it has a little mitt and bat and the color of the Padres," said Minnie. "Actually, the paint that I bought, it called Padres brown, that is the name of the paint, so I found that funny."

Credit: Minnie Ruiz

Minnie's creations once made the cover of a magazine, where readers were encouraged to avoid the crushing cost of Christmas and look for holiday spirit at their feet. "You can find something in the back yard one of those big pines cones you can make something from it, you could make an angel," said Minnie.

Isaac Newton may have discovered gravity when an apple fell from the sky, but for Minnie Ruiz pine needles gave her the idea of," Making people happy because I am a happy person," said Minnie.

If you'd like to learn more about Minnie's pine tree ornaments, you can find her on Facebook by clicking here or her Instagram page by clicking here.

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