DIY gift topper inspiration for the holidays

I often add something extra to my gift wrapping and I call them "gift toppers".
They make my gift wrapping look a little more unique and sometimes the gift toppers are an additional gift.

Sources: kraft gift boxes, ribbon, clear ornaments

Take for example these ornaments. Once the kraft gift boxes have been unwrapped, the ornaments can be enjoyed longer by being added to the Christmas tree.

You can purchase ornaments to be used in your gift wrapping or you can create your own.

I embellished these clear disc ornaments using paint markers. I used a Sharpie water based paint marker which is not permanent but I found it easier to use and make changes because I am not a professional hand lettering artist.  

Source: gift card holder, ribbon

If you are like me and like to give gift cards or cash as gifts, I always try to add a gift topper my gift wrapping. It might not seem like I put a lot of thought into the gift but the gift wrapping gives a great first impression and lets the recipient know that I spent some time on this gift.

I shared how to make these clay ornaments using cookie cutters in this post. These ornaments are really easy to make & paint and something that you can do with the kids in an afternoon. Who wouldn't want to receive a gift with an ornament attached as a gift topper like this?!

If you like the faux lettering that was added to this plain kraft bag you can find my DIY how to post here. 

 

Gift toppers can also be photos and fresh foliage ... or both! Here I added photos that were printed on cardstock to a magnetic closure gift box and a simple kraft paper shopper.

If you look at the close up details below you can see that I 

1. cut slits into the photo to slide a ribbon through it so it could be attached to the box

2. added fresh foliage using two sided tape that was covered up with decorative washi tape

3. used two-sided foam tape to give the photo a lift on the paper shopper that I decorated with a white paint pen.

I hope that these gift topper ideas inspire you to add some to your holiday gift wrapping.

You can see more of my holiday gift wrapping and decorating ideas on Instagram.

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!

Gift wrapping inspiration using your wrapping paper scraps

What kind of holiday gift wrapper are you? Do you wait until the very last minute to wrap everything? Or are you like me and start wrapping as soon as the Christmas tree is up? I spend a lot of time trying to make every gift look beautiful so I can't wait to start putting them under the tree right away. I consider the gifts to be part of my holiday home decor. 

When I use wrapping paper during the holidays, I try to select a minimum of three different papers in the same colour story. One is usually holiday themed - like the gold and white hand lettered print above. One will be have a simple everyday graphic like the confetti dot paper. My third wrapping paper is always a solid colour. 

After wrapping my boxes, I am left with a pile of wrapping paper scraps that I turn into small elements to embellish my gifts.

Create your own mini envelopes to hold little notes. Use complimentary wrapping papers to make your envelopes. Open a mini envelope to use as a template and simply trace the pattern onto wrapping paper scraps, fold and tape it together.

I have been making paper bows for a number of years. They are so easy and fun to make and it's possible to make them using wrapping paper. Simply trace the pattern for the paper bow and follow my DIY tutorial here. You can download my paper bow template here. 

You may have noticed that I used wrapping paper to decorate just the lid of this box. This is a great idea to use up your scraps and because the wrapping paper does not have to be torn off the box to open it, the box can be reused many times. I attached the box on the side of the lid so that this gift can easily be stacked under the tree.

I love to take photos and I always try to add a few to my gifts to work as gift tags. This accordian folded paper pop is a great way to use up small scraps of paper.  You can find my tutorial for making these paper pops here.

A band of wrapping paper was used to decorate a plain white gift box. Using bands of wrapping paper on boxes like this not only save you time but you save money by not having to use as much paper. I created another mini envelope for this gift using the printed wrapping paper.

Here's one more gift with a wrapping paper band and a mini envelope. I am totally in love with the "happy holidays" Posecard that I tucked into this gift ... 

the Posecard becomes a extra gift and can be used to take selfies and family group pictures during the holidays. 

I hope that you will save your wrapping paper scraps and try some of these simple DIY gift wrapping projects. You can find more of my wrapping paper ideas for you holiday home decor here.

Mingle Magazine feature - Boho styled wedding

I am so happy to finally post about a styled boho wedding shoot I did earlier this year with a talented team of local wedding vendors. The styled shoot is currently featured in the autumn 2016 Mingle Magazine.

Mingle is full of creative ideas for unique gatherings. I'm all over the fall and holiday party ideas - there's a ladies wrap night and flower arranging lunch, cookie swap party, holiday prep party, santa's workshop party and hot chocolate and ice skating party. Oh my, I wish I was at all of these gatherings! 

Our Boho wedding was featured on 7 pages (yeah!) but there are so many more photos and details that were not shown in the magazine that I'd like to share. So here you go ...

Our photographer, Kat Williams from Attakat did such an amazing job. We were at The Warehouse Event Venue in Downsview Park. The white walls and polished concrete floor at the venue were like a blank canvas just waiting for us to make it our own. Toni from Confetti and Bows rents her huge 8' by 8' wall of handmade paper flowers and we used it to create the most amazing photo booth area.

Doris from Love Lettering created the mirror/sign for the photo booth. Doris found the mirror in the trash and rescued it from a landfill. Doris is also the creative genius and maker behind PosecardsTM  - our awesome photo props.

All of the wedding cakes and sweets were created by Caitlin from Cakelaine. Doris did the custom hand lettering on the chalkboard.  And if you are looking for guidance on how to easily add hand lettering onto chalkboards you can find my DIY tutorial here. 

The paper lanterns, balloons, chalkboards, cake stands and cake topper were all from Creative Bag. I added the gold details to the "best day ever" cake topper and you can find my DIY tutorial here.

These adorable Sugargirlee latex balloons from Creative Bag and are not only cute they are made in Canada and earth-friendly. The balloons will decompose as fast as an oak leaf in your backyard. I added white and gold tassels to one of the large hellium filled balloons.

The paper goods were all created by Alicia from Alicia's Infinity. Alicia's beautiful watercolour illustrations were the inspiration behind all of the wedding details.

The Perfect Table supplied all of our vintage and specialty tabletop and accent pieces. You can find the lace table runners here.

Alicia also designs and creates custom wedding jewellery. I love this necklace that she created featuring one of her watercolour illustrations that match the wedding stationery. The necklace was packaged in a kraft jewellery box that was hand lettered by Doris for a Bridesmaid proposal gift.

Our gift table set up featured a clear wishing well that Doris embellished with her beautiful hand lettering and illustrations.

I created this vignette beside the wishing well with a something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue theme. A vintage bride and groom where placed inside a new glass apothecary container. And a borrowed family wedding photo were embellished with a blue ribbon and displayed in this new vintage inspired card holder.

All of our beautiful floral arrangements were created by Jessica from Periwinkle Flowers. I added gold paint to white hobnail milk glass vases from Creative Bag. 

I also have to thank my daughter Haley for being our "hand model" for the shoot and agreeing to wear whatever I put on her for the photo styling. This is the only picture that you can see more than her hands. 

I keep seeing the Autumn Mingle magazine in Michael's, Indigo and Whole Foods and I have to admit it makes me smile every time I see it!