THE WRAPPING (this year)

I love coming up with how I am going to wrap my gifts. This year, I took my inspiration from a few different sources. Brown paper packages and "string" is obviously from The Sound of Music but also from my sister who always uses it to wrap her gifts. The gold on brown paper I borrowed from this pretty paper, but I went with a more speckled polka dot look. And the pom poms, well, they're everywhere this year! I went the bright colors route (imagine that!) and I love them. How are you wrapping your gifts this year? I'd love to see!

if you like ornaments

I have to admit, these ornaments are pretty cool. I especially like the white spikey one.

P.S. Speaking of ornaments, I did a DIY over on Liz's blog this week. Check it out!

pucker up!

Golden mistletoe for your home. Such a brilliant, sweet and magical idea, right? Happy smooching!

p.s. Just as a reminder, there's just a few more days to take advantage of the sale in the shop! Enter "CHRISTMAS" at checkout :)

DIY ombre stocking

As promised, here is another DIY stocking. Last week's stocking was mine, but this one is Elliott's. He doesn't know what it is for or the joy it will bring him in 2.5 weeks, but he thinks it's nice.

I won't bore you all with the instructions on how to dye fabric. But to anyone who may not know how to get the ombre effect, all you do is dip the fabric (stocking in this case) into the prepared dye. Then gradually lift your fabric out of the dye giving a few minutes per "layer". Once you've reached the end, you'll have a gradient/ombre/dip-dye stocking! It's very easy and the outcome is simple and subtle, but pretty. If you need more of a reference, check this DIY out. It's pretty much the same thing but with a table cloth :)

DIY TRIANGLE STOCKING

A few weeks ago I realized that this being our first Christmas by ourselves, we would need some Christmas things around this place. We got the tree and love it, but we needed some other things. Like stockings! I found some plain white stockings for pretty cheap and decided to decorate our own. The first one I'm sharing is my stocking. Of course I went with gold and geometric patterns. I know, I'm so predictable. I'll share the other two soon, but for now, here's how I made mine...

You'll need:
- Freezer paper
- White stocking
- Fabric paint (in this case, gold glitter)
- Foam brush
- Exacto knife
- Iron
- Ruler
-Pencil

Take a piece of freezer paper and use the ruler and pencil to make squares - a grid.

 Cut your triangles! In whatever pattern you'd like.

Place the delicate (some triangles were lost and harmed in the making of this stocking) stencil on the stocking and iron on. Carefully!

 Paint, coat by coat and let dry.

Viola! You've got yourself a custom, perfectly golden and geometric stocking. Merry and bright people, merry and bright!