Christmas Wrapping Ideas

By now, I'm sure most of you have checked out Pinterest and I am addicted to it just like everyone else... no shame here! But, I love when I complete a project that I "pin" and add my own take to it! Here are some photos of a few holiday gifts that I wrapped up this weekend when we shared an early Christmas with some out of town family that we won't see in December.

I used the following items:
 - Roll of Kraft paper from Dollar Tree
 - Red & Cream yarn "super saver" from Wal-Mart
 - a book from Dollar Tree
 - Red Tissue paper
 - toilet paper rolls
 - scrapbook paper cut on my cricut for the tags

{for the tags, you can always get a tag punch at Michaels or Hobby Lobby and use alphabet stickers}

Shame on me, when I found the idea for the pinwheels as package bows, I filed it away mentally, but didn't pin it! So sorry! I used book pages for this, and love the way it turned out. If I had red buttons, I would have added those in for the center. (I used hot glue to secure it all)

A pattern for those of you who have never cut a pinwheel before... (I had to look it up to be sure)

For the "candy" I took a toilet paper roll and put the gift inside. In this case it was earrings, a necklace, and a key chain. I rolled the tissue paper around the tube and taped. I then cut a length or ribbon and tied each end. I measured the length of the tube and cut the book page then just rolled and taped again. I added the monogram gift tag at the end with more cream colored yarn.

Voila! Pinterest inspiration below:

Want to see all of the fun ideas I find on pinterest? Click the button below to follow me!

Happy Wrapping! ;)

Linking up to:

The Home Stories of A to Z

Ribbon Flowers {tutorial}

With all of the Burlap Ruffle Wreaths I've been making lately, I've also been working on some embellishments for them! Today, I'll show you how to make the ribbon flower that I added to my latest Christmas wreath.

The materials list for this is super simple (as is the tutorial)

- grosgrain ribbon (less than 1 yd to make one flower)

- hot glue

- scissors

- button or brad for flower center

Step One:

Cut 4 strips of ribbon in approx. 6"-8" lengths.

Step Two:

Bring ends of each strip together and press into a figure 8 shape.

Step Three:

Twist the ribbon into a true figure eight shape and secure with a dot of hot glue.

Step Four:

Repeat four times and glue all together!

Step Five:

Flip over and add button or brad to front.

These are great for hairbows for little girls, or to add to gifts at the holidays!

Check out a few other fun designs of these in my etsy shop too!

Linking up to:

Ohh Baby

Not Just a Housewife

Burlap Ruffle Wreath {tutorial}

Whew! It's been a while since I've posted! Oops! Time flies around the holidays, doesn't it???

I've been working on a few new items for my etsy shop and this is one of them! I thought I would share with you a little "how to" if you'd like to make your own for the holidays!

Materials List:
-foam pipe insulation tube ($0.97 at Lowes)
 {note: get the skinny one, the fat ones don't do as well, you can cut it in half and make two wreaths!}
- 2 1/2 yards of burlap
- duct tape or electrical tape
-hot glue & gun
-ornaments and embellishments
-string or yarn (small piece)

And here's the step-by-step!

Step One

Cut the tube in half and tape the ends together with duct tape.

I start the tape at an angle and wrap it around for about a total of six inches. You want to be careful with this step and work on shaping the tubing to be nice and round or you could end up with an easter egg shaped Christmas wreath! :) 

Step Two

Cut strips of burlap.

First strip is about 4" wide by 2 1/2 yds long, second strip should be more like 6"-7" wide for the ruffle. If you want a denser ruffle, get more yards of fabric, but the 2 1/2 is minimum.

Step Three

Hot glue one end of 4" burlap to wreath form. I like to start where my duct tape is.

Start at an angle and wrap around the entire circle. This may take some trial and error to get it just right, so don't glue as you go. It will stay just fine with glue at each end.

This part doesn't have to be perfect because you don't really see it. The ruffle will cover it eventually.

Step Four

Take the larger strip of burlap, count up about 10 strands and pull one.

Keep working the fabric down the strand until you start to see a ruffle effect. This will also take little trial and error. The strands can break on you, but keep going.

If one strand breaks, the one next to it pulls much easier!

Step Five

Lay out the ruffle on the wreath and make sure it will go all the way around.

You may need to adjust your ruffle a little at this point to make sure you have enough to cover the wreath and make the ends meet. Hot glue the ruffle to the wreath form.

Step Six

Glue (or sew) the ends together.

Step Seven

Cut a small piece of rope and glue to the back of the wreath for hanging.

I like to take a small scrap of burlap and glue over it to finish it.

Step Eight

Hang the wreath and glue the ornaments and embellishments on wherever you'd like!

(if you are going to add something hanging in the center, it is much easier to glue this on while the wreath is hanging versus laying on a flat surface)

P.S. Check back soon for a tutorial on that ribbon flower in the top left!

Enjoy!

Linking up to:

Ohh Baby

Not Just a Housewife

Book Page Canvas {tutorial} and Fabric Pom Necklace

Well, I have been nuts over Pinterest lately (who hasn't?) and I wanted to actually make a few things I had seen on there! So, first was the book page canvas, which is everywhere so I decided to just make my own tute on that...

Supplies:

Pre-stretched canvas in size of your choosing (Michaels or Hobby Lobby)

Book with nice thick pages and good-looking typography (Dollar Tree)

Spray Adhesive Modge Podge & chip brush

X-acto knife

Metal ruler with cork back

cutting mat

ok, so the last three are really not necessary if you have a pair of scissors, but I am so anal about cutting straight lines I can't help myself. Plus, I already own all of this stuff. No need to purchase just for this project!

Step 1: Tear out a bunch of pages one at a time and trim off rough edges and white spaces.

 

I chose this book at Dollar Tree because there were a few places in it with different fonts and I knew that I wanted to make some sort of collage with it.

Step 2:

Start to place your pages on the canvas, folding the edges over to cover the staples on the side. Move pages around every which way and then cut smaller pieces to fill in gaps and just add to the overall aesthetic of the collage.

Step 3:

Modge Podge the heck out of it! Use it to tack everything down, then brush a thin coat over it so that all the edges and corners lay flat.

For the necklace, I found it via Pinterest at littlemissmomma.com and you can find the tute here.

As usual I modified it a little and made my pom in the center large then had it get gradually smaller. I like it and I think I'll wear it this week! Some fun little thrifty tips for you:

I found the chain at Wal-Mart for $3 and I should be able to make 3 necklaces with it.

I used a flour sack from Dollar Tree for the white cotton fabric on mine and used less than half!

Oh and this book page canvas will definately be part of my Christmas decor! I think I'm going to skip Thanksgiving decorating (we are going to be out of town anyways) and go straight for the Christmas stuff as soon as Halloween is officially over tomorrow night! Ha! Stay tuned for all of my fun projects!

linking up this week to:

Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle

Halloween Porch and Pumpkin Carving!

Well, the porch has been decorated for a little over a week now, but we just got around to carving pumpkins tonight. The mums in the planter on the chair are pretty sad, but they are coming back and I hate to toss them!

The BOO hanging is something I made last year that I found on Thrifty Decor Chick. They are chipboard letters covered in scrapbook paper and hung together with grosgrain ribbon. They hung inside last year, so I didn't modge-podge them, but I probably should have!

I thought the one pumpkin wasn't enough, so I added a few more and a makeshift crate to help with stacking the pumpkins. Now, it's a little busy, but once we carved them, it looks great!

I found this straw broom and it already had orange accents and was perfect! I added the ribbon flower with the epoxy brad (you can see more of these in my etsy shop) and a ribbon tassel with sparkly black cat. I wrapped orange, black and purple ribbon around the handle to make it extra fun.

The "Trick or Treat" banner was a fun addition! Black burlap pennants with orange stenciled letters and sisal twine.

Now, onto the pumpkin carving fun! I know that this is sooo two years ago, but I still love the way it looks, and its super easy! I tend to use power tools any chance I get, so why not on pumpkins?

 I'm loving the owl craze right now!

Nolan wanted a mean face pumpkin. Now this is really a jack-o-lantern!

Happy Halloween!