Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a successful and prosperous 2015!

Christmas Wrapping has Started...

My obsession this year was brown paper & bronze leaf for Christmas wrapping but I was thwarted by my own planning. Being unable to find bronze leaf close to me, the shipping on what I could find would push my preparations so I changed tack.

Buttons & stencils have formed the basis of my wrapping this year. Brown paper, bright twine and buttons look simple and pretty

BUTTONS & TWINE

CLOSE UP

STENCILLED TAGS

CLOSE UP

I also added some silver jingle bells to tags to add that Christmassy feel

MULTI-COLOURED TWINE 

ADDED JINGLE BELLS!

More Christmas Cards

I've managed to make a few more cards which I will post below

Christmas Cards

It has been a very long time since my last post. My job (s) have kept me busy in the past few months and it has been hard to find time to blog.

I did manage to take some time off this week and focus on making some Christmas cards. I've really enjoyed this and I hope to make some more in the coming weeks.

The origins of these card designs were from a pin on Pinterest plus I found this excellent box of card stock & envelopes in TKMaxx

CARD STOCK

I picked up some packs of buttons in a local craft shop and I was away!

INITIAL CARD

LOVE THE WAVY RED BUTTON ON THE RIGHT

SOME ARE MORE CHRISTMASSY THAN OTHERS

I am looking to expand on this more in the future but I hope everyone who gets one likes it!

Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright....

A few years ago I stumbled across a shop called Tiger in Glasgow and I couldn't believe the store wasn't everywhere. I have been to about 8 shops now around Europe and each time I come away with a hoard of cool little items.

The great thing is each store is slightly different in its stock so you are always finding something new on each visit.

The press have recently been profiling the stores and building the profile as a brand on the High Street. Google 'Tiger Stores' in the news section and you can read a number of articles about the store.

If you are lucky enough to live near one - go, visit, shop and find out how much of a bargain it is!!

Below is just a small range of items purchased on my last visit to the Cardiff store. I have so many plans for the items so look out for some new postings soon

Included in this selection:

Blank jigsaw puzzles

Moustache cake pegs

Satchel gift bag

Cool cocktail sticks

Decorating paper

Visit www.tigerstores.co.uk for more information and go! Visit Tiger and enjoy!!

Colour Co-ordination

I was recently asked to buy a leaving gift for someone I didn't know very well. After finding the appropriate gift I struggled with how to wrap with is gift and keep it quite neutral.

I managed to find a neutral gift bag in my collection and took my cue from this. Brown paper and washi tape fitted the brief perfectly.

THE GIFT BAG

WRAPPED & WASHI TAPED

WASHI TAPE PATTERNS

The great thing about brown paper & washi tape it can really work well for nearly all themes and gifts. The patterns of washi tape don't need to match the gift bag either

Inspirations - April 2014

It has been a while since my last post - as usual work and other commitments have kept me away from creating great wrappings but I thought I would post some fabulous things I've seen lately to serve as some inspirations

Oliver Bonas

This may be my favourite new store. They have locations throughout the UK and you can order online via www.oliverbonas.com. These are just some of the great things I've seen in store:

MAP WRAPPING PAPER (Slight obsession with maps at the moment)

WRAP

WOOD & CARDBOARD ANIMAL HEADS

BAUBLES

WHEELS OF RIBBON

Climb Every Mountain

It's been a while since I have manged to get creative. I've been lucky enough to find a new job, move cities and explore new places with new friends. It has left my wrapping in shocking state of overly stocked but underused! I'm hoping to return to fortnightly posting from now on.

Too often we rely on using an item for it's given function and not looking at other uses for it. I get my inspiration from taking ordinary items and using them in a gift wrapping capacity.

This wrapping was inspired by some bungee cords which I picked up in Tiger. A great piece of wrapping paper with a map of mountain ranges would work well with this but I improvised with home decorated wrapping - adding a personal touch.

BUNGEE CORD RIBBON

HAND DECORATED WRAPPING

BUNGEE CORDS - TIGER STORES

It almost makes me want to go climb some mountains! Almost.

Not a Gift Wrap Example But a Gift Example

This Christmas I wanted to give my brother a slightly different gift. I found some amazing wooden 'reindeer' table scatters in neon colours from Paperchase and I had an idea to use these on a photo frame. 

To put some context on this, my brother is known to some as 'Moose' and, in my option the 'reindeer' looked less like reindeer and more like moose. While not particularly sentimental, I thought a framed picture of my brother, his son and my dad that they had taken on holiday may be a nice memento.

I picked up a plain wooden photo frame from Clas Olsen and used a mix of all purpose glue and superglue on the 'reindeer'. It was very quick and simple. Plus, I think my brother liked it!

'REINDEER' PHOTO FRAME