Holiday Wrapping

quick gift wrapping ideas

Craft holidays: How to make Garlands

 

Garlands made of felt

Flower gift: Kusudama Flower Tutorial

Here is a very helpful tutorial that I used in making my own Kusudama flowers
The Japanese word kusudama comes from two Japanese words kusuri (Medicine) and tama (Ball) They were often used with incense of potpourri. These days they are used more as decorative gifts.

Kusudama origami flowers are generally assembled into a large spherical shape. In today’s lesson we will be making a single flower. If you make another 11 of these, you can assemble them into a traditional kusudama ball. The flowers that make up the kusudama are beautiful in their own right. I was recently commissioned to fold over 200 of these flowers for the Honda stand at the Melbourne motor show. The flowers proved so popular that by the second day of the 14 day event a security guard was required to stop them all from disappearing even thought they were behind a persex shield. Thankfully they are fairly simple to make and I had help from a very good friend making replacements.

Holiday decor: Garland origami boxes

Recycling paper: Ruffled Lotus Lantern

This latest flower project was inspired by stories from my friend Erika, who briefly lived in Seoul Korea about ten years ago. Apparently, every May, the good people of South Korea celebrate Buddah’s birthday with the Lotus Lantern Festival, a time when everyone in town decks the streets with thousands of beautiful paper lanterns. They make them out of paper cups and tissue paper, then hang them from trees and fence posts and exchange them with strangers. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? Can you imagine a whole giant city lit up with paper lanterns? Man, I got to get to South Korea in the Springtime!

Holiday decor: Tree Advent Calendar

Aren't advent calendars fun?  I especially wanted one to put daily Christmas activities on it like Jordan Ferny had suggested.  I'll also be adding a daily scripture too.  My little one is too young to help, but this would be a really great kid project.  Very easy!  They could practice their number writing skills, or cutting, or knot tying!  Yay for Christmas helping develop fine motor skills, hahaha.

Of course part of living simply means I wasn't going to go to the store to pick one up or spend hours (and dollars) making one.  So I looked through my crafting supplies and what did I find?  Green paint samples from Home Depot that I kept when deciding on colors a while back!  Yes!  FREE!!!!! (tutorial below)

Holiday craft: Heart’s from Paper Strips

You only need thin strips of paper to make these heart shapes for hanging.
Another easy paper craft for children, and perfect for Valentines day decorations! You just need some string, a stapler and strips of paper - any width or length is fine - as long as you have two pieces the same length.

Recycling paper:Green Holiday Craft

There are a bazillion fun holiday crafts out there online!  Have you seen them all?  I've been collecting a bunch of ideas on my Pinterest page.  As I complete them, and a fewsome I've dreamed up on my own, I'll share them here.

The first one is a great way to use re-purpose last year's holiday cards.  It's good for the environment, and pretty kid friendly!

Recycling paper: Plum Blossoms tutorial

 Plum Blossoms :

I'm sharing my quilled flowers created to celebrate Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival. I used two of my favourite Best Creation papers where the peonies are just perfect for this festive season. It's my first quilling project and I'm so pleased with the way the flowers turned out.

Instructions :

Paint Swatch Valentine Card Monsters....

Happy Valentine's Day!!  Today we made Valentine's for my son's preschool class, and I have to say, I think they turned out super cute.  I wanted bright, fun cards, and I think we accomplished that.

For the card, I gathered up a bunch of paper paint swatches that I had been collecting each time we repaint a room (because of coarse I didn't throw them away when I was done).  I took two cards and glued them together, pretty sides out.  I started using hot glue, but found that spray adhesive worked better.  It gave a smoother finish.  And since it drys slower than hot glue, it gave me a chance to move the cards around until the were lined up correctly.

Valentine craft

Present for christmas and holiday: Fabric Cootie Catcher Mobile and Garland

fabric cootie catchers to hang as a mobile or garland.

  

First I’ll review how to make the cootie catchers, then I’ll show you how to make the mobile and garland.

Super Simple DIY Twig Luminary (For Tu B'Shevat!)

You can make a gorgeous winter centerpiece with twigs and candlelight and it's so simple! And of course anything using twigs is great for your Tu B'Shevat (the New Year for the trees) table. Add a few branches if you have some available, even from your neighbor's pruning pile, and you've got yourself a great look, especially on an elegant, creme tablecloth! I've used olive branches, which I think are perfect, thanks to some branches I found hanging out on someones sidewalk. So take a nature walk with the kids, or even yourself, collect some little twigs (of course the neighbor's pruning might also be a good source for those too...) and enjoy. If you're snowed in, with no source of twigs in sight, so you can use some wooden skewers, and even paint them brown. Add a few beads for texture, and yours will look lovely too!

Make a Small Gift Bag with Tag

This is a lovely little gift bag that is really easy to make. It can be made out of plain coloured or patterned card, or why not try decorating the card yourself after cutting out the basic shape. Add a gift tag (template provided) and close the bag by folding over the top and sealing with a sticker or tie closed with a piece of ribbon or raffia. These lovely little bags are perfect for small gifts hanging on a Christmas tree.There are two sets of templates for each size, one with the dotted fold lines on (this is great to practice on with a sheet of paper, or if children are making the box), and one with no dotted fold lines (these are harder to use but give a more professional finish).

You will need:

A4 card
Bone folder or craft knife (a great alternative to a bone folder for scoring card is a knitting needle)
Ruler
Scissors
PVA glue
Ribbon
Hole-punch
Decorations

Make a Dancing Santa

You will need:

Card in various colours – red, white, black, green, light & dark pink and gold
Scissors
Pencil
Eraser (rubber)
Glue stick or PVA glue
Felt tip pens or coloured pencils for eyes and mouth
Pricking tool & prick mat or a needle and a lump of plasticine
4 paper fasteners (brads)
Needle and thread
Fine cord or string
A plastic or brass ring

Making Baubles

We made the baubles below using recycled Christmas cards and card sent to us by the excellent Ideas in Paper ; if you want top quality paper and card for your craft projects, that's the place to get it! And if you mention Things to Make and Do when you order, you'll get a 10% discount!

These are great festive decorations, made out of old Christmas cards, but they can also be made out of any coloured card to match your party theme.

Snowflake crochet - crafts for christmas

I was working on a scarf on the way home from work and ran out of yarn last winter. (Had a big stash of yarn at home to finish the project; just didn't realize I was going to get so much done on the train.) Twenty minutes of commute remained, so I had a few choices. I could work on a white snowflake, I could play with my Noro sock leftovers, or I could stare out the window and daydream.

I decided to make good on a threat and make a snowflake with the Noro.

I didn't finish before the train ride ended, and the flake was beginning to take a nice shape. However, when I got home and saw my drying February heart flakes, I decided the pink in the Noro would make a much more effective Valentine flake than what I was designing. So I ripped out what I had done, redid the new flake in white and used the Noro to make a heart flake. Oh, and then I finished the scarf.

I decided to call this my Changling Flake.

You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!

Snowflake Monday

To me, this flake is somewhat reminiscent of Irish crochet. Notice how the largest chain spaces seem to form hearts.

You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell the pattern. Thanks, and Merry Christmas!Finished Size: 6 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 4 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or foil, cellophane tape, glue, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

DIY Gift Ideas # 5:: Fabric covered notebooks...

Believe it or not, but it's only recently that I discovered Vliesofix also known as bondaweb, fusible webbing that sticks on two sides. Also recently, I bought Kasja Wikman's book Scandinavian Stitches. Inspired by the wonderful projects in the book I had to find Vliesofix right away. I was lucky to find some at the mercerie around the corner. The same evening I whipped together a Christmas themed drawstring bag, which didn't make it to the blog because it's simply not me. The girls think it's cute, but I'm not sure I like it.

Yarn Snowballs

Airy snowballs that don't melt