pretty gift topper inspiration

Photo credit: Janet Kwan Photography

Just in case you are still finishing up your holiday gift wrapping today here's a little last minute inspiration to make your gift wrapping a little prettier by using a variety of different gift toppers. I love to add gift toppers to my gift wrapping because it's pretty and because it's like you are giving a bonus gift. And who wouldn't like that?!

This heart shaped bottle opener is both practical and beautiful. I stock up on these to use for hostess gifts all year round.

For the bakers and foodies on your list - add a cookie cutter or an edible cookie ornament! My custom owl cookie ornament was made for me by Mary from Emma's Sweets and you can check out her cookie decorating tutorials here.

This fresh rosemary wreath isn't just pretty, it will make your gift smell good too! I added a round coaster with a holiday message behind the wreath as a gift tag.

 Photo credit: Janet Kwan Photography

Mini wreaths all tied up with ribbon are so simple yet so elegant.

Add a one-of-a-kind hand painted ornament for a personal touch like this one from Jennifer Fryer.

If you shopped at any local holiday markets you might have picked up handmade ornaments like this adorable wood fox by Kiriki Press. You can make your own gift tags using photos .

I've shown you how to make these simple paper bows before and they are a great way to use up your wrapping paper scraps.

Can't find something to use as a gift topper? No problem. You can add a personal touch to plain gift boxes and wrapping paper using markers, stamps and paints. I used a gold metallic pen to draw a design to the top of this gold foil edged gift box.

Happy wrapping and Merry Christsmas.

Sources: All of my gift wrapping supplies were from Creative Bag. 

Floral elements were created by Flower Treasures. 

All photography is my own with the exception of the two photos that were credited to Janet Kwan Photography.

Creating sweet tables has to be one of my favourite things to do during the holidays. 

You don't need to have a lot of different treats to create a holiday sweet table. I used assorted serving dishes, buffalo gift boxes, burlap ribbons, mini trees and lights for my festive set up.

I prefer to put out a little bit of everything in smaller containers and then refill them every once in a while so that the display looks some what full for most of time.

Here's how I set up my little stress free sweet table:

Buffalo plaid gift boxes are both functional and decorative in my set ups. If you don't have gift boxes, you can create a similar look using books covered with wrapping paper "jackets" like I did here.

I have created these snow globe inspired jars filled with cookies as hostess gifts for years. This year I thought that it would be fun to make one for myself and use it as the focal point of my sweet table display. 

 I use coarse sugar to create a snowy base in the glass containers.The mini gingerbread house and cookies are from Mad Batter Bakers. The container is more of a display element so you may want to fill another serving dish with gingerbread cookies for guests to easily take and eat.

I filled a candy dish with custom made sugar cookies from Emma's Sweets. You can add coarse sugar to the bottom of the candy dish so that the cookies will stand up.

Another small candy dish was filled with assorted colours of french macarons from Macaronz and placed on a gift box for height.

Not everything on your sweet table has to be baked goods. I like to fill larger containers with chocolates, popcorn, candy and nuts.

Once the serving dishes have been set up I fill in large spaces with gift boxes tied up with ribbon. I like to use pretty gift boxes in my holiday decor and in January I fill them with Christmas tree decorations for storage.

Finally I add in mini trees and battery operated strings of lights.

Guests may think that your sweet table is too pretty to eat so make sure that you tell them it's okay to help themselves!

Cookie Cutter Projects for the holidays - bake, craft and wrap

Eating cookies and baking cookies are two of my favourite Christmas traditions. I had a few custom cookie cutters made to match the Sweet Life Collection that I designed for Creative Bag. The metal cookie cutters are great for baking, crafting and gift wrapping projects.

Mary from Emma's Sweets made the most adorable custom cookies using the cookie cutters so I could feature them in a holiday themed styled shoot. She decorated the cookies two ways - in full colour and in white with gold details. The white and gold cookies were so unique and inspired me to create my oven baked clay ornaments.

And as you know I love to add special touches to my gift wrapping so the cookie cutters made their way into my holiday gift wrapping as gift toppers.

My oven baked clay ornaments can also be used as gift toppers. 

sources: wrapping papers, gift boxes, ribbons, posecards, cookie cutters

Here's how I created my oven baked cookie ornaments:

Gather your supplies: oven baked clay, cookie cutters, rolling pin, wire, wire cutters, bamboo skewer, paint, paint brush, twine. You'll also need a baking sheet, parchment paper and oven to bake the clay.

1. Soften clay and roll out oven baked clay just as you would regular cookie dough.

2. Cut the cookie shapes and set aside.

3. Wire loops will be used to hang the ornaments. Cut pieces of wire and bend as shown above. 

4. Using the bamboo skewer, make a hole in the top of the clay shapes and insert the wire loop.

5. Place the clay shapes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake as per the instructions on the oven baked clay package.

6. Paint the ornaments with as much or little colour as you want. I gave my ornaments a contemporary look by just adding a few gold details. I used my cookie pattern as a guide. 

7. Add twine, baker's twine, yarn or leather string to hang. 

Note: If you don't want to use wire loops to hang the ornaments, add a small hole in the clay before baking using the bamboo skewer.

Sources for custom cookie cutters: owl, deer, squirrel, bird, fox.

Wishing you a sweet holiday season and I hope that there are lots of cookies!

Sweet DIY: donut display board

I have been waiting for a reason to create a large beautiful donut wall. The problem is that I am not a wedding or party planner and I did not host any large parties this year. I am planning to do some holiday entertaining and I thought that this might be a great opportunity for me to put my own twist on the donut wall concept that is a little more holiday entertaining at home friendly.

 So I came up with the idea of turning these wood market trays into donut display boards. They will hold a dozen mini or regular sized donuts. You can replenish the donuts during the party to keep it looking full. And the trays are not huge so you can easily store them after the event and reuse them again.

 I painted this donut display board white and added gold details to the end of the the wood pegs. Learzi from Autumn Grey Designs added the gold hand lettering and the adorable mini donuts were made by Macaronz. 

 My donut display board is also perfect for displaying decorative cookies with a hole.

Caitlyn from Cakelaine created the festive wreath cookies that were displayed above as well as all of the cakes and sweet treats for our holiday themed party.

Here's how to make these donut display boards yourself:

 1. Gather your supplies: Wood market tray, small wood pegs, kraft paper to work out spacing, ruler, pencil, drill, paint (optional).

2. Use kraft paper to figure out spacing for the holes that you need to drill into the tray. Make sure that you leave enough space around the donuts. Centre the kraft paper on the wood tray and mark where to drill with your pencil. 

3. Select a drill bit that is the same size as the wood pegs. You want the holes to be tight so you will not require glue. Drill holes in the wood tray. 

4. Place wood pegs in the holes. Paint if desired. 

Tip: You can prop the board up against a wall. Or, if you want the display board stand on it's own, I suggest that you super glue a large square vase to the back of the tray. 

If you make one of these for your own party I'd love to see it! Use hashtag #lorrieeverittinspire and follow me on Instagram for more holiday diy inspiration. 

Photo credits:

Donut display set up:

photography  Janet KwanPhotography 

mini donuts Macaronz 

hand lettering  Autumn Grey Designs 

greenery  Flower Treasures      

packaging products Creative Bag

entertaining products Weddingstar

creative direction Lorrie Everitt

Cookie display setup:

photography  Heidi Lau Photography 

hand lettering  Love Lettering   

florals Flowerly 

cake and sweets  Cakelaine   

packaging supplies  Creative Bag  

entertaining supplies Weddingstar

creative direction  Lorrie Everitt  

& the handcrafted artisans:

Milo and Ben  

Little Rose & Co 

Sweetie Pie Design Co 

You can do-it-yourself: confetti poppers

Confetti poppers are very easy to make and can be used at weddings, birthday parties and showers. The wonderful thing about making confetti poppers yourself is that you can fill them with whatever kind and colour of confetti that you wish.

I created the labels for my confetti poppers and I've included it as a download in this post. 

If you want to make your own confetti using scraps of tissue paper, wrapping paper and mylar, like I did for my poppers, you can find my DIY confetti tutorial here. It's simple to make your own confetti and if you are planning on making a large number of confetti poppers it is a fairly cost effective option.

Gather Your Supplies: push pop containers, white paper, confetti, scissors, two-sided tape.

Step 1.  Download the labels and print out on white text paper. Using the crop marks as a guide, cut out the labels.

Step 2.  Assemble the push pop container and position the labels to the containers as shown above. Keep labels in place using two-sided tape.

Step 3.  Remove the lids. Fill the containers with either paper or flower confetti. 

Step 4.  Add lids to seal. Give the container a shake and the confetti will expand into the open space under the lid.

Dried flower petals can be used as confetti if you are looking for something a little more natural and fragrant. If you are getting married just ask your florist if this is something that they can help you with. My flowers were from Petal to the Metal.

To use poppers: Remove the lids before use. Push the stick with one quick movement to release the confetti from the push pop container. The poppers can be refilled and used over and over.

You can see my Facebook live tutorial with Weddingbells to make these here:

Here's one more idea for creating these confetti poppers using stickers instead of my labels.

 Source: Photo by Sara Wilde Photography

I added custom stickers that were designed by Alicia's Infinity. The art on these flower confetti poppers matched Alicia's wedding stationery.

Sources: photo by Sara Wilde Photography, flowers by Petal to the Metal, hand lettering by Prose and Fawns Paperie, custom stationery by Alicia's Infinity, push pops/ribbon from Creative Bag, chalkboard/glass rose gold box from Weddingstar, shoot on location at the Fox and Fawn Antique Shop.

Let's celebrate! If you make your own confetti poppers I'd love to see them. Share your pictures on Instagram using #lorrieeverittsstudio. 

Create. Celebrate. Inspire.