Stamped Leaf DIY

Guest post by Aimee Strickland of Made in the Fold

This idea was made for a fall wedding to leave at each individual place setting so guests could take away a small favor but could easily be translated for a holiday place setting or any entertaining idea.  Use a custom made stamp (like i make here) or a favorite, perhaps from a local craft store. Instructions after the jump!

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5 Minute Gift Tag DIY + Wrap Inspiration

This DIY post is sponsored by Elmer's and X-ACTO

Yesterday I mentioned I was going to show you how I made these gift tags - and well here it is as promised. It's super easy and really not a DIY but maybe more on the idea/inspiration side of things? Making a gift tag is fairly simple, in fact I've been known to just freehand cut one when I'm in a pinch, but if you'd like to make one that looks a little more special –grabbing a template and some nice card stock is a good little trick and one I used for my Mom's gift this year. I never really thought about templates until recently and now I'm wondering what I did without them.

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The Art of the Holiday Display: Walrus

Walrus is one of my favorite shops here in Vancouver, located near the corner of Cambie and 18th Avenue (my old stomping grounds), owners Daniel and Caroline are a wealth of design information and carry handmade and one-of-a-kind housewares, jewelry and accessories in this must-see store.  They are huge supporters of local talent, and regularly hold exhibits featuring them.  Currently Alex Henderson's (hendersondrygoods.com) work is being featured –a beautiful collection of hand crafted jewellery (for both women and men), art, and other treasures. Check out their website and blog and if you're in town, be sure to drop in and say hi (they're super nice)!  Also if you aren't in town and see something you like on their blog, they ship. Just  drop them an email or give them a ring! Photos by Janis Nicolay.  (See more after the jump)!  Update! Window display by Amanda Huynh.

Walrus
3408 Cambie Street
Vancouver, B.C.,
Twitter

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Weekend Project: Winter Scene Mason Jars

Guest post by Leanna Maksymiuk



We invited Leanna Maksymiuk to show us how how she made that adorable winter scene mason jar we all noticed in our post on Spruce's Holiday Display recently. She kindly accepted and so we thought it would be a fun weekend project idea.  They don't take too long to make, and so fun! I want to make a stack of them (like above)!  Also visit Leanna's Etsy shop Hello Fletcher where she makes some stunning fabric bracelets and necklaces (I love them)! Stay tuned for her new blog coming soon where you can keep up to date on her classes she will be giving at Spruce along with her DIYs and Etsy shop! Thanks Leanna. ~ Jan

Guest post by Leanna Maksymiuk

I have wanted to do a tutorial for so long! at last I have found a simple yet effective Christmas craft that I want to share. It is super simple and if you want to make a few they are reasonably cheap!

Step 1: My bristle brush trees had a ugly white plastic base that I didn't want on top of my car. So I pulled it off and rolled up a little piece of brown felt to make the tree trunk and secured it with hot glue.

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Yellow Owl Workshop's New Holiday Stamps

Hey friends! It's time for some holiday gift making, present wrapping, and card making, so today we're kicking off this week with some fun images of Yellow Owl Workshop's new holiday stamps in action! Christine always makes the best stamps and I've been eyeing her Dala Horse set since I first saw it earlier this season.  Everyone loves handmade wrapped presents and cards and how about stamped tissue paper and inside envelopes too!  Lots of stamping goodness everywhere.  See more inspiration below and check out more at Yellow Owl Workshop's website.

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DIY: Holiday Origami

Photo  and layout by Nicole Phillips of Visual Heart

As promised, today we're back with our second origami how-to that we did for the Holi-DIY event at Anthropologie last week.  I love this origami fold, called the spinner - as you can actually spin it when it's done.  We used the smaller 3" origami papers in the multi-coloured foils.  Using different colors also makes it easier to make. As the instructions are rather complicated to explain using words, we thought a video of how to make it would be more helpful, so Earl set things up yesterday and uploaded it to YouTube.  You can slow it down frame by frame if need be, and hopefully you'll find it pretty straight forward.  (Thanks to Nicole Phillips of Visual Heart who attended our live session for supplying us with the above photo - and beautiful graphic layout of the finished piece).

For this project you'll need:
6 - 3"or 6" origami foil or paper squares (Earl is using the 6" as it's easier to demo)
Gold string or sisal rope to pull through the top
1 needle or skewer to poke a hole at the top once finished to pull the string through
Optional: driftwood stick - to hang your ornaments at different lengths

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Succulent Holiday Heaven at Flora Grubb Gardens

If I were to be ever stranded on a desert island one day I would hope it would be like Flora Grubb Gardens. I think I could be very very happy there for the rest of my life floating about all the greenery of succulents, air plants and the containers they live in.  And today I'm super-stoked to be sharing with you her holiday gift collection for 2012. From aerium ornaments to gorgeous succulent wreaths, Flora Grubb has created a beautiful and unique selection of greenery home decor options for the holidays.  Check out a sneak peek of a few faves below and visit her online shop at floragrubb.com.

floragrubb.com

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Weekend Project: Origami Ornament

Holi-DIY nite at Anthropologie

We had a fun crafty evening last nite at Anthropologie for our Holi-DIY event –it was so fun to finally meet many of you and some new friends too!  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's projects! A huge thanks to Beaucoup Bakery for providing the tasty treats! Yum!

For those who missed out we have a fun DIY today using one of the same designs we used last night inspired by Rob of saltlabs.  Her DIY from last year on Poppytalk was so much fun we invited her to join us again sharing a new version of the origami balloon to make a tree ornament (this time with a constellation twist). Make a tree ornament, a garland or a string of lights (like we did last night)! So many different ways you can use this design.

And then stay tuned - for next week we'll also be posting another DIY from our other ornament we made last nite - it's a little tricky so we need to show you via video.  In the meantime - Rob's tree ornament which includes not only downloadable instructions but also a printable constellation map paper you can use to make it, is inspired by her stunning pillows she sells in her shop here and at our market this month at Poppytalk Handmade.  (Thanks Rob)!
~Jan

Guest post DIY origami ornament by saltlabs

Origami offers so many wonderful shapes for creating unique ornaments. Check out Bloomize’s origami tutorial for the many-shaped stars you can make for your own galaxy-festooned christmas tree. You can also take your creation a step further –personalizing your ornament by using customized paper. Follow my globe-garland DIY for creating a ballon origami – but switch out the paper and use NASA-inspired nebula or galaxy images. NASA offers an easy, three-step process for downloading images from their collection of eye-popping, galactic photos and computer renderings.

There’s a general fascination with our heavens these days. Astronomy has never been this cool since the days of the lunar landing. In that spirit, go forth and explore the universe in all its wonder (via the NASA gallery) and bring home a cluster of origami stars and orbits to illuminate your holiday festivities this season.

Helpful suggestions:

Download the copyright-free constellation image PDF HERE. It’s been sized as a 6-inch square, a perfect origami paper size for the ballon ornament.

Or choose from the NASA gallery. “Infant Stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud” (the very last image at the bottom of the page) is a good representation. Download the 8x10 image size in order to cut a 6” x 6” origami paper.

Galaxy images might use a large amount of ink if printing on a home computer. If you plan to make a garland, you might consider printing at your local photo or print store.

Choose the lightest weight paper available when printing to make the origami folding easier.

Follow the simple instructions of the balloon origami quick guide below and download the PDF HERE for future reference.

A picture of the string of lights garland Poppytalk made for Anthropologie's Holi-DIY event

Copyright-free constellation image PDF HERE.
Balloon origami quick guide below and download the PDF HERE

Visit saltlabs online -
salt-labs.com
saltlabs.bigcartel.com
Poppytalk Handmade.

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DIY Shipping Tag Advent Calendar

Guest post by Marisa of Omiyage

I love Advent – a little bit of Christmas joy every day in December helps to keep the season alive during the busiest of days. This Advent calendar is for those of you who prefer to mark these days with a festive experience rather than a sweet treat / trinket.

I came across this tutorial for printing on tags over on Design Editor and knew it was the perfect technique to use for an Advent calendar! No need for fancy graphic design skills here – these tags were created in a regular old Word document.

Materials:
24 x shipping tags
baker’s twine
24 x mini wooden clips

Tools needed:
printer
tape (I used washi tape)
standard printer paper

Here’s how:

Prepare a tag template as per the instructions found here. You basically measure your tags and create a box for each tag using those measurements. Print out the template and use repositionable tape to stick the tags to the template.

Type the numbers 1-24 into the text boxes in your Word file. I used Numberpile by Typodermic Fonts. Play with positioning and sizing until you are happy. Print onto tags.

TIP: If you created your tag template in Word, ensure that you make the outer line of the text box invisible before printing or the lines of the text box will print onto your tags. Not so pretty!

Flip the tags over, restick onto the template and print your 24 activities onto the backsides of the tags. The great part about creating your own Advent calendar is that you can choose activities that match your family’s interests.

Use the mini wooden clips to attach the tags to your length of twine. Hang, admire and enjoy!

Here are some Advent ideas to get you started:

• Watch a Christmas movie.
• Make paper snowflakes.
• Decorate a gingerbread house.
• Go ice skating.
• Put up the Christmas tree.
• Turn on the outside lights.
• Drink peppermint hot chocolate.
• Bake Christmas cookies.

Still on the hunt for the perfect DIY Advent Calendar? You can find more here, here and here!

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The Art of the Holiday Display: Trohv

Today we're visiting Trohv all the way on the eastern side of the U.S.  They have shops in both DC and Baltimore and were kind enough to share some photo's of their holiday displays this year.  I love their inspiration which is a camping/Boy & Girl Scout theme. All the banners were handmade and sewn in-house by their staff. As proprieter Carmen Brock explained to us, "We wanted the banners to be reminiscent of boy/girl scout badges. And we were really drawn to the idea of being outdoors in the winter, cutting down your own tree, and feeling a sense of warmth & nostalgia for our earlier years. The idea is that each banner represents a holiday section in the shop; the candy cane banner showcases our candy section, the hohoho banner showcases the holiday card section, and the package banner showcases our holiday wrap section. Not included here, but we also have banners for the baby section, women's, men's, entertaining, bath, and dining.

"The next set of photos show our jewelry displays. We found some vintage toy cars and trucks and put Christmas trees in them."

"The last photo shows our storefront at the Baltimore location. We painted on the windows....white trees and a vintage, red Wagoneer with a Christmas tree on top with the sentiment "Over the river and through the woods" in the center. We wrapped approximately 100 boxes with kraft paper, red ribbon, and pine cones and placed them in the window seats."

Thank you Carmen! Visit Trohv online:

trohvshop.com
facebook.com/trohv
twitter.com/trohv
pinterest.com/trohv

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