November 18th, 2011
Howdy all! I don’t know about you, but it has sure been a busy week for me.
I am definitely looking forward to heading to the farm for 4 days for Thanksgiving next week. 
I thought I’d wrap up this week with some gift wrapping ideas.
When I came up with my topic idea,
maybe it was wishful thinking that I’d have all my gifts purchased.
Oops! I have 1 gift, with a few more to get yet. Which means nothing wrapped!
Oh well, you’ll get the idea.
A few years ago, I believe I got the idea from Martha Stewart
to wrap my gifts in brown or white paper,
and then finish it off with ribbon {which can be reused}
or other accessories/tags/doilies/etc.
Since I have made the change from regular wrapping paper to brown and white paper,
I have seen lots of fun ideas.
Your options are endless!
Ribbon, bakers twine, scrapbook paper, lace, doilies, decorative tape, balloons,
material scraps, rubber stamps, paint chips, buttons, paper bags, newspaper,
pages of old books, and whatever else you find that you like.
Of course you will need some tags. So go back to Karen’s post and make some of your own!
Once you have your presents purchased, have some more fun wrapping up the gifts.
And there’s no need to stop at wrapping gifts like this for Christmas!
Think: birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, new neighbors, baby showers, etc.
Be the one at the party where your gift makes a statement before they ever see your gift.
{All the images above were found via Pinterest.}
If would like some more inspiration, head over to my Make It Look Pretty board,
or just search Pinterest or the internet in general.
And a side note….if you are looking for a delicious coffee cake for Thanksgiving morning
or sometime over the weekend, head over to the Tasty Kitchen
and check out the Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze.
It is DELICIOUS!!!
I jazzed mine up a bit by adding butterscotch chips and toffee pieces to the topping,
instead of walnuts, before I baked it. {Not a fan of walnuts.}
And it is OH. SO. GOOD!
November 17th, 2011
Anyone on your gift list can use a new kitchen towel, I promise! Let’s face it, kitchen towels are extremely functional, but have constant turn over… so, why not make them fabulous too? Hi, Janell here for another idea for a quick and thoughtful gift–make one for your own home while you are at it.
I am sewing with Jen Allyson’s fabulous Christmas fabric line: Holly Jolly from Riley Blake.
Materials:
- Fabric for decorating towels
- Towels to be embellished
(helpful hint: when possible pre-wash and dry your fabric, especially when using dark colors to prevent them from bleeding color onto your towels)
- Additional trim such as ribbon, lace or rick rac
- Scissors, sewing machine, measuring tape, thread and straight pins
Steps:
- Measure the width of the towel. Cut the fabric strips the width of the towel, plus one inch. I like to layout my towel with the fabric and trim so I can see what the over-all effect will be.
- Measure trim the width of the towel plus 1/2 inch and cut.
- Turn under 1/2” on each long edge and press with your iron. Turn under 1/2” on each short edge and press.
- Load your bobbin with thread that is the same color as your towel and the top thread the closest color to your trim and fabrics. You may need to switch colors for the same towel, but keep the bobbin thread consistent.
- Pin your fabric and additional trims with straight pins onto your towel. Now you are ready to sew!
- Start with the fabric and edge-stitch along front pressed edges of strip, through all thicknesses.
- Decorate with more fabric strips and embellish with coordinating ribbons, lace, or ric-rac.
Pair your finished towel with your favorite bottle of hand soap and you have a wonderful gift that you’ll be proud of giving and the receiver will be pleased to get!
November 14th, 2011
Karen from The Bald Dragonfly here, and I happen to think that nobody describes the iconic holiday image better than Clement Clarke Moore from his poem, The Night Before Christmas. The image portrayed in Lost & Found Christmas is the spitting image of what is written…”…He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf…” It became a great focal point to my hand crafted holiday gift tags and ornament holder. The beautiful textures and patterns from the Lost & Found: Christmas line offer a nice vintage vibe, while the red glittered accents add a touch of sophistication and glam.
To make the tag/ornament holder, I started with an upcycled package from my boys’ toys. After washing and cleaning the inside and out, I carefully measured the Santa paper and cut to fit inside the packaging. After rounding the corners, I simply added a bit of repositional adhesive in strategic locations to secure the image to the clear packaging. I repeated for the back side of the packaging as well with the same sheet of paper. Then I wrapped some jute twine around the outside of the packaging, having secured that with hot glue.
The tags were created from various designs from the Lost & Found: Christmas collection and scrapbooking/cardmaking tools such as corner rounders, label die cuts, twine and fasteners. I found a bit of red, glittery ribbon that had been recycled from my mother-in-laws holiday arrangement from last year that was a perfect match to the red glitter accents! I simply added a strip of the lighter patterned paper to the back of the tags as a place for the address of the gifts.
Once the person that I gift this to has used up all the tags, the decorated box remains as a perfect place to store precious and delicate ornaments. It’s is like two gifts in one! The possibilities are endless for tag-making with this line. Mix and match patterns and shapes to add variety to your tag line-up or let your tags become more vintage by including such things as lace and buttons.
November 7th, 2011
Thanksgiving will be here before we know it and if you plan on hosting overnight guests it can be a lot of work. Stay organized by using my Holiday House Guest Planner. I divided this planner into 4 sections: preparations, accomodations, meals, and activities. Then along the bottom there is a 1 week schedule where you can write in the days of the week leading up to and including your guest’s visit.
(Click on the image to begin PDF download)
Click on the form image above to download a PDF version of my printable Holiday House Guest Planner. The downloadable PDF in this article (and across my entire site) are free for personal use only. If you would like to blog about this free download, please accompany and images from my site with a credit and link back to this article. As a courtesy please do not link directly to a downloadable file but rather to this page. At this time, no customizations of this or any of my forms are available. Forms are a free download AS IS, no customization or changes can be made.
October 31st, 2011
If you’re like me, you have tons of storage bins for your holiday decorations. And they are probably unlabeled. So when a holiday comes your husband has to take ALL of the bins from the top shelf and you have to go through every single one until you find all of the bins for any given holiday. Or is it just me? Well hopefully this awesome seasonal storage container index will take some time and grief away from your holiday bin storage. And since you’re about to pack up your Halloween decorations, there is no time like the present to get organizing!
Click image below to begin download.
This is how the index is filled out:
And then you cut the label out on the right and attach it to your storage bin:
The remainder of the sheet becomes your index and you 3-hole punch it and put it in your holiday binder for quick reference when you need to take out your holiday decorations next year!
Click on the form images above to download a PDF version of my printable seasonal storage container index. The downloadable PDFs in this article (and across my entire site) are free for personal use only. If you would like to blog about this free download, please accompany and images from my site with a credit and link back to this article. As a courtesy please do not link directly to a downloadable file but rather to this page. At this time, no customizations of this or any of my forms are available. Forms are a free download AS IS.
