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Friday Wrap: Upcycled Gift Wrap with Stamping

Want to get a little crafty and save some cash for your wrapping this holiday? Check out this How-to via Etsy incorporating kraft paper bags and easy hand-cut cork stamps. Brilliant! I actually made my own version of this approach using plain kraft paper and stamped dots using the unused eraser end of a pencil.

Happy wrapping!

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DIY Party Animal Candles

This DIY project is right up my alley. Metallic colours, plastic animal figurines, and candles for celebrating? HECK YES!

Check out the full tutorial here.

{images from The Sweetest Occasion}

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Ice Cream Cone Piñata

Ice cream is one of my most favourite desserts, especially in the summertime. But an ice cream cone piñata? Now that’s just gold! Check out the process of how it was made by Sarah Parrott here. It seems relatively simple, actually. Just a lot of newspaper, glue, and craft time. If my birthday wasn’t in February, I would definitely want one.

{images from Sarah Parrott’s blog.}

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Real Event: Cardboard Box Birthday

Inspired by some hilarious antics involving a Huggies box and Paul Rand’s classic Sparkle and Spin book, this cardboard box themed birthday party was anything but ordinary. The craft and construction details were superb, and some special characters were invited too, including Ugly Dolls, ducks, piggies, and dragons… oh my!

{photos from the Hello! Lucky blog}

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Light Bulb Beauties

I have actually had this thought after screwing out out a dead lightbulb: “…but it’s still so pretty. I don’t want to throw it out.” Seriously, who thinks that a expired lightbulb is pretty and still worth hanging on to? Well, apparently I wasn’t the only one…

What Camilla did over at Family Chic is brilliant! I’m so making one of those candle and bulb jars. Re-using is fun and beautiful!

{photos from Family Chic}

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Friday Wrap: Cloth Bread Bag

This Friday Wrap is a little different than most of the others…

This is a cute idea for your kitchen if you love grabbing a fresh loaf of bread on your way home from the local bakery. Wrapping your loaf in towels is a great way to keep it fresh longer, so this tutorial over at Momtastic uses two small kitchen towels sewn together with a drawstring for easy bread storage. Why not make one for yourself as a fun weekend craft? You can use towels you already have, or go out and buy new cheap ones from the dollar store especially for this craft. Happy wrapping… and eating! ;)

{image from Momtastic}

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Friday Wrap: Tie it up

Bad news… Unfortunately I am ill again. I have been down and out with a painful cough and fever since Friday. Luckily the fever has diminished now, but I still have the joint and muscle aches, stuffiness, etc. Doctor’s office… here I come again.

In the meantime though, I owe you a Friday Wrap post from last week. This one focuses on wrapping with string. There are many ways of going about it. You can tie bows, use buttons, wrap it like a parcel, and use a variety of materials, like the yarn used in this Bird & Banner invite.

Here is a short and sweet tutorial on how to bundle up your own favour or invite package using a some string and a button.

1. Grab all your pieces for the package.
2. Cut a 30-40 inch piece of string and hug it around the pieces (front to back) evenly.
3. At the back, cross the strings and wrap them around the pieces vertically, bringing them around to the front again.
4. Now take both ends of the string and slip each under the center (horizontal) string. This will secure the button and bow in the center when you complete the next steps.
5. Take both ends of the string again and feed each into one hole of the button. Use the holes on a diagonal from one another if your button has 4 holes total.
6. Finally, do not tie a knot, but go straight into tying a bow. Before doing so though, make sure the entire string is pulled fairly tight, without bending your pieces of paper, but just so the string isn’t loose and going to slip off. And voila! You have yourself a perfectly tied, and easy to open package.

Happy Wrapping!

{photos from Wedding Bee, Papernstitch, and Bird & Banner}

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Friday Wrap: Stamped Type on Fabric

Happy Friday! Oh, what a busy week I’ve had. But I couldn’t leave you hanging without another Friday Wrap. Next week’s will surely be a special custom one from yours truly, but today I present another fun (yet possibly slightly messy) tutorial from Poppytalk.

Right now fabric wraps seem to be super popular, not only because they’re soft and unique, but because you can reuse the fabric after the gift has been unwrapped. How handy! So head over to the Poppytalk blog if you’re keen to make you’re own custom-stamped wrapping fabric. Have a great weekend everyone! …and try not to make too much of a mess.

{photos from Poppytalk with contributer post by Arounna of Bookhou}

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Friday Wrap: Postage Themed

Today’s featured wrap is a unique theme from Luise in Germany. Her wrapping proves you don’t have to actually send anything in the mail to make it look like beautiful pieces of mail. Luise claims that she didn’t even purchase materials for her wrapping; she used bits and pieces found in her drawers. Take inspiration from her and gather scraps and materials from around the home, but most importantly choose a theme. It will help steer all your wrapping in the same direction and you’ll be left with a cohesive collection of packages. And if you don’t have any scraps lying around, well start collecting! Dedicate a small box to ‘saved pretty things’ for the next time you have to wrap a gift and impress someone. That’s the way I roll.

{images from Luise on Flickr}

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Friday Wrap: Holiday Gift Wrapping Tips

This week’s Friday Wrap is a little different. Instead of focusing on one type of wrapping, I’m going to show you an array of inspiration you can use for all those gifts you’ll be wrapping for the holidays. Here are some of my best tips:

1. Get soft and fuzzy. Pom-poms are easy and a perfect fit for gifts during the winter months. So pick up a few balls of yarn and follow a simple tutorial like this one here. That’s all there is to it.

2. Go metallic. The holidays are pretty much the only time of year when metallics transition from being cheesy to festive. So join in the celebration with shiny golds and silvers, whether it’s bows, wrapping paper, or decorative trims like these. Just remember to balance the metallics by placing them against wrapping materials with minimal or no pattern. Here it is wrapped against kraft paper, but a bold wrap colour like green would look great too.

3. Play around with non-traditional colours. The holidays don’t have to scream red and green. Get creative and try other colour combos. Sometimes pairings like the bright blue, green, and pink shown below are great for shaking things up, and can often feel much more festive at times. Hint: blue hues will give your gifts an “icy” winter feel.

4. Ornaments aren’t just for trees. There are lots of cheap bundles of ornaments out there, in all different shapes, colours and sizes. Why not pick up some for your gift wrapping? You’ll be surprised how much they amp up the look of your gifts. Get an assortment of ornaments and have fun mixing and matching.

5. Spell it out. Not into all those tiny gift tags? Why not spell it out louder by cutting out names from various decorative papers. Choose a favourite typeface from your computer and print out the letters on plain white paper at the right size for your gift boxes. Cut out the letters from the printer paper and use those as tracing stencils on the sheets of newspaper or maps or other fancy papers you might have lying around. No one will accidentally open the wrong gift now.

Happy holiday gift wrapping everyone!

{images from Tea and Toast, Lisa Solomon, Jessica @ Such Pretty Things, CleverIndie, and Bugs & Fishes}

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