thankful tuesday

It's Tuesday!

Time for another thankful post.

calico cat print by gingiber and superhero print by ashleyg

I am thankful for:
*a happy and healthy Christmas
*day-after-Christmas half-off sales at 2 of my favorite thrift stores
*finding frames for a couple of my Christmas presents (prints from Etsy)
*finally donating a couple of boxes of books and baby clothes ( a big step for me ! I'm a bit of a hoarder!)
*a few (relatively) stress-free hours at the library with the family
*quick and quiet lunch out (with BOGO coupon to boot)
*bumping into neighbors when you're out and about
*chocolate-covered crystallized ginger from TJs

happy holidays!



Our Christmas Card

I made our Christmas cards again this year. Now that I have scaled back my digital scrapbooking since I opened my shop, it was nice to fiddle around with Photoshop again. This card is basically a 4 x 8 print  (I used Winkflash). The digital journaling card and banner are by Paislee Press and all the photos were taken by me.

Did you make your own Christmas card this year? I'd love to see it. Please leave a link in the comments.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

DIY: simply "krafty" holiday wrap + teachers' gifts

Hello! I just wanted to pop in with a mini-tutorial (really, a show and tell) of how I wrapped some of my Christmas gifts this year.

Kraft paper is one my favorite supplies to work with. It's widely available. Goes with everything. Easy to run through your printer. It's a must-have in my craft room.

But it's a little stiff to wrap presents. When I saw this idea on the Little Lovelies blog, I knew it would be the best way to go. Like Allison, I planned to use shipping paper and yarn (as well as baker's twine), but I also wanted to add some felt flowers as a gift topper.

Materials:

*Roll of shipping paper (I got mine at Target for $6 each.)
*Felt, vintage button, embroidery thread/needle to make felt flowers (see my felt-flower-making tutorial here)
*Pretty yarn
*Baker's twine (I got mine here)
*Kraft paper, 8.5 x 11, available at Joanns or Michaels in the scrapbooking section
*Your favorite printable (and free) gift tags (I used these from EatDrinkChic).
*Tape

How-to:
1. Wrap your present with the shipping paper. The paper is a little stiffer and heavier than regular wrapping paper, so be generous with the tape. (Next year, I might try Japanese washi tape!)

2. Wrap with baker's twine and tie a bow.

3. Add your felt flowers (mine is a fringed flower with a vintage button). Don't forget to go here to view my tutorial on making the flowers). I wanted my flower to be reusable and detachable from the present, so I just used a loop of scotch tape to attach it. You could also use a glue dot.

4. For the tag, I printed out these free printable tags by EatDrinkChic onto 8.5 x 11 kraft paper, trimmed them to size and tucked it under the baker's twine. (You could also punch a hole in the tag and thread it through the baker's twine before tying the bow.)

***

 For the next present, the nubby, multi-colored yarn is the star.

The same steps as above, just use your favorite yarn instead of baker's twine. Felt flower optional. These were little gifties for my youngest daughters's toddlers class teachers.

And in case you're wondering what's inside, here's a peek and quick how-to.

I bought a trio of bejeweled tin boxes from Pier 1 (on sale!). Instead of filling them with candy, I decided to do a little something krafty. I grabbed some of my paper punches and the kraft-colored packaging that came with the boxes themselves. (yay! no need to dig into my kraft paper stash)

I punched some hearts and butterflies out of the packaging. On one heart, I wrote "Happy Holidays from Zara"  on one side and let Zara personalize it with her purple scribble.  I threw in some more blank punched hearts and some punched butterflies and a few ruby-red rolled felt flowers.

 A quick and easy gift, for sure.

Well, I hope you liked my quick krafty tutorials. Happy Wrapping!

thankful tuesdays

I am thankful for:
-neighbors who deliver home-baked Christmas cookies (got two deliveries on Sunday!)
-friends who introduce me to new foods (one of my besties gave me a jar of Korean citrus marmalade that you can mix with hot water to make a tea or spread on your toast. yum!)
-sisters who love each other and give each other lots of hugs
-free printable Christmas tags everywhere on the Internet (these are my fave: this, this and this
-simple Christmas packaging (I'll show you a couple of ideas tomorrow!)
-finding new thrifty blogs like this, this and this

thank you card I made for one of our neighbors.

Still looking for a stocking stuffer or two?

If you're like me and leave the stocking stuffers until the last minute, you might have a few people on your gift list that aren't checked off yet.

Most of the items in my shop would fit in the proverbial Christmas stocking. And better yet, most are under $15 and super-cute to boot. Two of my hoop arts even made it onto Papernstitch's Most Awesome Stocking Stuff Gift Guide!

The first one has your name on it! (literally.) It's a personalized oval felt hoop with a wee little bunting on it. And comes in 2 color choices. The hoop can fit up to 8 letters.

personalized oval embroidery hoop yarn wrapped with mini-bunting

The second one that made the gift guide also has a bunting. It's pink and grey. Love that color combo!


 

felt bunting embroidery hoop art pink and grey

And don't forget to use your holiday coupon code to get 25% off!

If you order by December 15, not only will you get the 25% off (if you enter the coupon code), I'll guarantee shipment by December 24. (I use priority shipping). Happy shopping!

our charlie brown tree

Have you gotten your Christmas tree yet? We went to a tree farm about 20 minutes from us and cut down this little guy. Sofia picked it out and we all agreed that is the cutest tree we ever had! And who can beat the $11 price tag! (We got a discount for paying in cash.)

The tree is so small it even fit in our trunk. And it was a snap to string it with lights!

The tree is only half-decorated in this shot. I put up the lights and a few ornaments including some red and green pom poms that I made and just tied to the limbs. Sofia and I decided we should definitely get a star for the top.

December 4, 2011

Before we even cut down our tree, we sat by the firepit and chowed down on kettle corn and sipped the complimentary hot cocoa. It's really a fun place to go if you're in the area! We went for the first time two years ago, the last time we celebrated Christmas at home. And look at the photo I dug up!

December 5, 2009: Yup! That's Zara all bundled up on my chest.

Now Zara wears that pink flower coat and we all got bangs. What a difference two years makes! Anyway, that's our little tree this year.

p.s. I wanted to share my latest wreath that I made. Zara was kind enough to hold it for me to take photos. This is the third one I've made in this design. The first one is on my front door. The second and third were orders from my etsy shop. If you want one, you can order one here :)