This year I decided to tackle the question of gift tags early, and I’ve found quite a few interesting ideas on the Internet – see the photo gallery below for examples. There’s plenty of Christmas gift cards to be bought “ready-made,” as well as dozens of ideas for home-made ones – you can design them on your computer and simply print out, put them together from scrapbook papers or a number of others creative crafts materials. I believe I’ll go for option 1, but feel free to look for inspiration in the gallery below. And for those who want nice gift tags “fast & easy” I have good news – the pretty page with the tags which you can see in the top-left corner of this post can be downloaded here, for free, in a ready-to-print version :-)
Gift tags you can download The question of gift cards is one that arises practically every year and so far almost every year I’ve been forced to come up with some last-minute solution. Our family tradition is to pool all the presents together the day before Christmas and for me to face that impressive pile with paper, tape and scissors so that it’s ready to appear beneath the Christmas tree on the evening of the 24th, prettily wrapped and decorated. But in this case wrapped and decorated is not enough – the presents need to be “labeled” as well so that the Santa Claus can proceed smoothly with his job. This year I decided to tackle the question of gift tags early, and I’ve found quite a few interesting ideas on the Internet – see the photo gallery below for examples. There’s plenty of Christmas gift cards to be bought “ready-made,” as well as dozens of ideas for home-made ones – you can design them on your computer and simply print out, put them together from scrapbook papers or a number of others creative crafts materials. I believe I’ll go for option 1, but feel free to look for inspiration in the gallery below. And for those who want nice gift tags “fast & easy” I have good news – the pretty page with the tags which you can see in the top-left corner of this post can be downloaded here, for free, in a ready-to-print version :-)
1 Comment
Sock Dogs I came across these photos by accident on the Internet, found them quite intriguing and cute so I tracked them down to the source – which to my surprise turned out to be the Martha Stewart website. And even though I’m not exactly a fan of her and the “perfect pink household” ideas she promotes give me the creeps, I do find the doggy-deer and his companion cute and creative enough not to worry about their origins and to put them on my blog ;-) I’m a bit suspicious about the ‘easy-to-do’ part – it does not look that easy to make, especially if you’re not exactly an expert with a needle, but maybe some of you would be tempted to take on this creative challenge? A step-by-step instructions can be found at www.marthastewart.com. Good luck! PS and if you make one, please make sure to send me a photo!!! Thinking about Christmas is one of the best medicines for the dark depression automatically induced by the even darker Dutch weather – or so I’ve found. And since I’m responsible for quite a few points from the “Christmas to-do-list,” there’s quite some thinking to do. One idea I’m working on at the moment are Christmas place cards to put on the table. Popular in UK and USA, they’re almost unknown in Poland – except for weddings. But there are so many creative and simple ways in which you can make them and use them to decorate the table that I decided to try. Here is a selection of photos I’ve found on the Internet – maybe you’ll find something that’ll inspire you too? Show me a human being of the female persuasion who will not immediately succumb to the charm of the cutest bear in the world – the Tatty Teddy from the Me to You series. Overload with cuteness and irresistible charm, the small grey bear with the blue nose enjoys an international career as a great gift for almost any occasion – from birth, through Christmas to “Honey, I do apologize, can you please forgive me (again)” (and in the last category is definitely very effective – I’m speaking from my own experience here). Tatty Teddy is a great gift idea for friends, children, parents and practically everyone. Even though the small plush toys are the staple Tatty Teddy incarnation, there are also irresistible postcards, pajamas, T-shirts, figurines, stationery, drinking cups and a number of other merchandise – all with the ultra-cute and endearing Teddy drawings. You can see more at www.metoyou.com I’m sure you know someone who would be more than happy to adopt a Tatty Teddy this Christmas! If you’re not satisfied with a traditional Christmas arrangement as your table centerpiece responsible for Christmas atmosphere at home, try this – a paper-made cake which will last for a very long time… I think it’s one of the most creative things I’ve done recently, and it’s a real attention-drawer. ( I must say that this is one definite advantage of living in Holland - thousands of creative tools, materials and ideas readily available in the hobby shops).The cake stand is wooden (you can buy them ready-to-fold), painted in red and decorated with some stickers; cake pieces are made from craft papers. You need a special cut-out design for it (also can be bought in hobby shops), a pencil, scissors, double-sided gluing tape, craft knife and…lots, lots of patience. Making the cake pieces look neat and even requires a lot of precision, but the final result makes it all worth it. How the cake looks like is up to your imagination – it can be made from one kind or different kinds of paper, with or without embellishments, plus it can be 1,2 or 3-tired – if you’re patient enough and have nimble fingers, you can go for all 3 layers. I was actually planning to stop once I had the first layer done, but I got addicted and I really wanted to use all the pretty Christmas paper I bought. Every cake piece is in fact a separate, re-closable triangular-shaped box, which means you can put small sweets or other favours inside – a piece of cake which does not require a fork to eat it and will certainly surprise your guests! Swarovski is for me a synonym of “creative with crystal” and as such warrants a place on my blog. A world-famous luxury brand with fervent lovers who admire the beauty of the sparkly crystal creations and equally fervent enemies who criticize it for being overpriced and pretentious. Well, I have to agree, cheap it is definitely not, and indeed majority of jewelry pieces are much too big and ostentatious for my taste – and probably for the taste of 90% of the female world population. But the small figurines and hanging decorations (especially Christmas ones) are beautiful and unique and I’m sure will find a special place on the mantelpiece/shelf/desk of every mother/daughter/wife out there. So if you can afford it – and the small figurines do start at 40EUR, so it’s not that extraorbitant a price – this is an idea of a truly exceptional gift for a truly exceptional woman. The few photos below are taken from the www.swarovski.com website – visit to see even more of the crystal creations. How can you decorate your home for Christmas? Well, you can do it the easy way by buying lots of Christmas stuff in the nearest supermarket (they’ve been selling it for at least a month now...) and hanging around the house. Or, you can do it in a more creative and satisfactory way and create some of the decorations by yourself – e.g. Christmas arrangements and centerpieces from evergreens, candles, ribbons, balls etc. Contrary to popular belief, they are not difficult to make, but they sure are fun to work on. And you end up with unique arrangements you can place strategically all around the house and yes, feel that Christmas has finally arrived. And of course they make great gifts! Closer to Christmas I’m planning to publish a short instructions manual for creating a lovely and easy-to-make Christmas centerpiece in an apple; in the meantime, for inspiration, here are a few photos of my arrangements from last year – enjoy! The Pissed-Off Owl It is always in the middle of autumn/winter gloom while that dressing up for work every morning becomes exasperating for me – all those layers and warm sweaters, and the need to look presentable while at the same time not freezing to death. So even though normally I go for clothes with bold contrasts but classy colours such as white/black/red, around November each year I get this urge to buy something outrageously colourful and funny and eye-catching. And this November was no different – I was walking by a shop with teenage fashion when I saw IT – The Pissed-off Owl – and I fell in love at the first sight. Ten minutes later I was leaving the shop with a green T-shirt and a green/purple checkered longsleeve, both with the Owl sending stormy looks to others and making me feel smug. Look at the photo – isn’t she adorable? The brand is called KISS THERAPY and the logo is a cute frog in a crown – unfortunately I haven’t managed to find it on the Internet yet. A fun gift idea for a good friend who’d appreciate it! PS The only downside is that I have to listen to my husband telling me repeatedly that I look…owlishly ;-) Once December knocks on the door here in Holland all the garden centres and flower shops start to offer Christmas arrangements workshops. No wonder – after all this country is the place to go to for all your flower and plant arrangements – and also this time I was far from being disappointed. The piece we created was far from simple, but the effect was amazing – see it for yourself on the photo. Built on a glass plate, with a skeletal structure made from Oasis foam, glass bottle-turned-oil-lamp and three thick pieces of a branch pulled together at one end to form a tripod. The number of kinds of evergreens and leaves we could use was astounding, so filling in the arrangement to form a pyramid was easy. And there is also a stream of tiny lights woven throughout the arrangement – for cozy evening illumination. So if you feel like taking on a real Christmas-centerpieces challenge, this might be an idea for you! The Singing Moose December has finally arrived! No more waiting – now I can finally take out the Christmas decorations and change the autumn pumpkins and leaves lying around the house into moose (my personal favourite), reindeers and read-gold-and-green arrangements. Plus it’s time to seriously start thinking about Christmas gifts, so there will be more entries appearing on my blog with gift ideas – so keep coming back! The picture on the left of a moosy reindeer which for years now signals the beginning of a Christmas period at my parent’s house – it deserves a golden medal for brightening up the atmosphere with its dancing, ringing bells and an energetic rendition of a Christmas carol special – so why not splurge on a moose windowsill performer? |
Categories
All
Archives
August 2012
AuthorA fiery red head, a writer and a photographer in love with beautiful design and all things creative |