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Subtitle: When All Else Fails, Get Your Siblings Drunk!

You remember the extreme limitations imposed upon my family gift-giving this year, don’t you? After trying and failing at a few different ideas for my siblings and their SOs, our highly scientific thought process went something like this:

Without further ado, our Crafty Christmas:

To set the theme, I made booklets for each couple that were printed on cardstock, hole-punched, and tied with holiday ribbon. I forgot to take a photo of the finished products, but here are the jpgs. Read them vertically, and click for a larger version.

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I love getting Christmas cards in the mail. Photo Christmas cards are my ultimate faves and of course, anything handmade makes me squeal in excitement. So I decided that as long as I can muster up the energy, I will be hand making our cards each year. So far so good. Next year, with a 9 month old? Not so sure it will happen. But for now it’s one of my favorite projects each year.

In 2007, the year of our wedding, I had to use a wedding picture. What newlywed couple wouldn’t love to showcase a photo to family and friends once more? If you are a newlywed I say go for it….even if you think everyone is sick of seeing your wedding pictures, they probably aren’t:)

So I picked one black and white picture, then chose a bunch of fun Christmas printed paper and went to town:

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Not going to lie, this next craft is a labor of love.  It’s a bit time consuming, but it’s a great thing to keep your hands busy on a cold night in front of the fireplace!  These hand-embroidered cards make a great gift for friends (I made them for our holiday swap…hope you enjoy them, Cyd!) , not to mention that they are far cheaper than purchasing them in the store…

Materials needed:
-Kraft paper cards and envelopes (Michaels or other craft store), about $8 total for 20
-Embroidery thread (about $0.49 per color, which will be more than enough to make 10-20 cards)
-Crafting needles (found in sewing aisle)–try to find one that is long-ish and thin, with a big enough head to thread embroidery through
-Whatever you’d like to stamp the envelopes with. I used clear embossing powder to emboss them with a subtle evergreen stamp.

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Insider trading scandals and snarky commnts aside, I do have a not-so-secret crush on Martha Stewart.  Maybe she doesn’t have the most heartwarming personality, but come on…that woman can craft up a storm!  Even before the Martha empire was born and contributing to the masses of ideas coming from her camp, she had some brilliant stuff going on for herself.  I lead with this paragraph because I must admit, not all of my craftmas ideas are originals.  I stumbled upon this one on MS’s website and simply had to make these little craft paper trees.

They’re adorable, unique, and if I may say so, pretty eco-friendly. These guys usea lot less packaging and materials than decor you buy from your local Target!  However, the instructions on the web site are less than clear, so here’s the step-by-step.  This is SUCH an affordable and cute decoration, I just can’t get over it!  I bought scrapbooking paper at Michael’s for $.25 a sheet (using an average of one sheet per tree), bells for $2, and thread spools for $3.  A $6 craft?  Love.

Materials:
-wooden skewers
-thread spools, either recycled or purchased from craft store
-tiny beads to put on top of trees (or bells as used here)
-different shades of craft paper (you could even use cute patterns for more whimsical trees)
-glue gun and glue sticks

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Many years ago, my Father was transferred to California for work. He took with him his wife and three daughters who were 6, 3 & 1. We moved from our home in the Home Counties of England to just south-east of San Francisco. There were many cultural differences between the USA and the UK, not least the celebration of Halloween.

To go to school in one’s Halloween costume was not something that I had ever encountered in England. In fact, costumes were more for school discos or parties rather than school events. I had not even *heard* of trick or treating, let alone experienced it. And as for school Principals who dressed up as Big Bird and then led a school costume parade around the football field, well, let’s just say I was a little surprised.

Fast forward over 20 years, for it is, I realised 21 years since we moved to California {and 20 since the earthquake I was able to write about first hand in a school Geography lesson a decade later back in England} and Halloween is far more widely celebrated in England than ever before. Traditionally, UK autumnal celebrations centre around Bonfire Night/5th November/Guy Fawkes night {which I will tell you all about next week} but in recent years we have celebrated Halloween ourselves as well.

So, on Saturday afternoon I carved our pumpkin (turning the fleshy part into puree which I froze to use as part of the food for our bonfire night party) and hung the decorations I made last year up with some fairy lights in our kitchen window. Turns out paper pumpkins, witches hats and bats illuminated in the window at about 6.30pm declares that you “are open” for trick or treaters. Who knew?!

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My nephew recently turned two, and as he now lives halfway across the country, I relished my time with him while he and his mom were in town for a quick visit recently.  Over lunch, my sister reminded me of a certain disaster surrounding the baby shower I helped host for her and who am I to withhold a self-deprecating story from you ladies?

For those of you who know me, you know I like to farm out my brilliant ideas to people who can make them happen and then all is well with the world.  In prepping for my sister’s baby shower, however, I was going to need to do some of the projects myself.  Isn’t that the way it always seems to go?

First up, these ultra-cute tissue pom poms featured on Martha Stewart. She claims they are joyous bursts of color dancing above the table. And really, everyone needs some joyous bursts in their life . . . how could I resist? So I set to work to see just how easy these color-bursts were for us non-crafty people.

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photo by Zvone Lavric, Slovenia

I’ve been on the hunt for social calling cards. Before you say that I can buy them at my local corner store, I’m not looking for those kind of cards. I’m looking for what is also known as a visiting card. In Victorian times, they were were used when making introductions and home visits. They had their own set of rules and etiquette. It’s actually quite fascinating.  You can read about them here and here.

Essentially, social calling cards are just like business cards except they don’t “state your business”. They simply have your name and contact information. I am interested in them because frankly I’m tired of scribbling my name and personal email address for people. I could use my business cards, but there are instances where I’d like to give people my personal contact information and keep my business separate. Social calling cards are also useful while traveling. You can meet some wonderful people during your journeys and they make it very easy to exchange personal information. For Newlyweds, they are a great way to share your new name (if you went that route) and/or your new address. Because there are no rules for today’s social calling cards, they are great avenues of self-expression. These can be less serious than your business card.

Most calling cards have some, but not all of the following information:

• Name
• Phone Number
• Address
• Email address
• Blog or website address
• Twitter username
• Facebook or Myspace name (if it’s different than the one on the card)
• Instant message name
• Blackberry PIN

Here are some examples of social calling cards.

from Etsy Seller Armato Design

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Miss me?! After a two week break for vacation, I’m back and ready to create.

I saw an article about art journals on decor8 that hit a chord in me. One of the areas I’ve struggled with is keeping memories alive through my journals and writings. I’ve tried my hand at scrapbooking, but the supplies can be incredibly expensive. Art journals are more informal and organic. I can use whatever objects strike my fancy, and I don’t have to worry about everything matching.

This art journal is by Patty Von Dorin.

A decor8 reader left a comment with a link to the website of Matt Mallams. I was completely absorbed by this male perspective on journaling and art.

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Aren’t these Printable Apple Note Flats adorable? One of my favorite design bloggers, Ez at Creature Comforts, created them and is generously offering them as a free download to her readers.

You can find directions and the free downloadable file here.

Have put these rubber stamps by Paperwink (via Green Wedding Shoes) on my list of must purchases.