inspiration

I love everything about this photo. Call me inspired...

Wallpaper-Graham & Brown Mode Bird Cage, photo from Design Public

i heart giraffes

And I also heart wallpaper, and typography, so naturally, this is the coolest thing ever. Animalia, by sum-design. I'm not sure where I would put this in my house, but it sure is fun! Some other great designs over on the sum website. Check it out!

airport codes are cool

I love love typography, as you may know! These cute journals, note cards and stationery from paper n stitch seller Jet Set Paper are really fun and, although it's after the holiday, a great gift for a friend with a soft spot for a certain city. Enjoy, and welcome back!

nyc

seattle

on the 17th day of christmas...

Here is a little peek of my giftwrap this year! I decided to do a color scheme of brown, red and silver, using a bunch of scrap papers and ribbons that I had laying around. Plus, that's the kraft paper that I potato-stamped last week at craft night! (That piece there was about all I got done...)

on the 16th day of christmas...

Ok! I have been BAD at keeping up with the days of Christmas...shame on me:(  Now that I know people actually look at this thing every day, I've been feeling the pressure to keep it updated!! (Thanks Jennifer and Sydney:) So right now I'm enjoying a little Bing Crosby to get myself in the spirit of things. Stay tuned!!

on the 15th day of christmas...

Watched this last night...it's a classic! Plus the soundtrack is really good too, when you're tired of all the usual Christmas music.

on the 14th day of christmas...

Here is a quick and easy little idea from Martha. She is using it for a placecard, but I'm picturing making a bunch of these, in all different sizes, for your mantle, as a centerpiece, or anywhere else you need a little festive cheer! They would look pretty in all different color schemes too...

on the 13th day of christmas...

This is something I wonder of other people: do you have Christmas bed linens? This is the second year in a row I've seen holiday sheets that I really like, but I can't justify spending that kind of money on something you're only meant to use for a month, maybe a month and a half. But these two are really cute...do any of you have seasonal bed linens?

Above, from Pottery Barn.

Snowburst design from Crate and Barrel.

on the 12th day of christmas...

People are just so darn creative...here are some cool gift tags! I always buy the sticker kind, but this year I think I might make some. Plus, then you can customize them to match the wrapping, or even what present is inside!

Love these tags by etsy seller paperpumpkin. 

These are from alignwithdesign. Very cool! They would also maybe look good hung on the tree...

And everyone knows my love of kraft paper! ...these from 3sisterslove.

on the 11th day of christmas...

Well, you can tell that I'm leaning towards a "home made" christmas this year! Is this my 4th diy post?! Anyway, this is a really simple, really cool little project I found on craftstylish blog the other day. I'm planning on hanging a bunch in front of my sliding glass doors. It's really simple and goes much more quickly than I thought it would. Can you guess what it's made of?? Round label stickers and dental floss! 

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

on the 10th day of chrismas...

It's a very etsy Christmas! I'm including a roundup of awesome Christmas cards, all from etsy today. I set out to find 3 or 4 that I liked, and ended up going a little crazy. I'm finding I really have a love of letterpress. Hope you enjoy!

Beautiful winter watercolor, by Hayward Art 

Delphine Studio - Love the woodsy feeling of this one, very Scandinavian Christmas!

Beautifully simplistic, by Papered Together

I love this one. In my family, we WATCH the 24 hour marathon of Christmas Story. Well maybe not the whole thing, but at least 3 0r 4 times...notice the gun printed on the envelopes. Awesomeness...by Oddball Press

Cute and simple, by Satsumalynn

Great texture and design, a fun vintage-y kind of card, from Sweet Letter Press

on the 9th day of christmas...

I thought I'd share a little crafty idea with you! I bought these styrofoam "trees" last year, and never got around to doing anything with them. So, since I didn't get a chance to make cookies this weekend like I said I would, I at least did some decorating. All I did was cut strips from magazines and loop them, and use really small pins to attach them around the tree.

For this one, I just ripped pieces and pinned them more haphazardly. It was fun coming up with the color schemes for each, and I think metallic paper would be really fun too!

on the 8th day of christmas...

Feeling crafty? Here's a fun, easy little idea for decorations. You could do small ones for the tree, or larger ones like these pictured to hang from the ceiling, window frames, ceiling fans, whatever! I could picture using magazine strips for a glossy look, and there are lots of color combinations you could try: whites and grays for a more elegant look, reds and greens, blue and silver...have fun with it!

All directions here, from design*sponge.

on the 7th day of christmas...

It's time to take a look at ornaments! Here are a few different ones I liked. Above, ornament and tree-topper from Pottery Barn.

These cute birds are from Anthropologie.

Diy idea from Domino. I tried the birds last year, they came out great! Complete directions here.

it's not too late!

Christmas cards are still available at the etsy shop...it's not too late to get them sent out! Impress your friends and family with handmade greetings by rightleft studio:)

on the 6th day of christmas...

Everyone needs a stocking! Here are a few  ideas for different styles:

From Pottery Barn-a Scandinavian motif

Shiny and sequined, for a modern Christmas, from West Elm

Slightly whimsical, my personal favorite of the bunch, from paper source

Kind of like that sweater your grandma gave you when you were 7...from Target

on the 5th day of christmas...

Egg nog, with love. Shea, this one's for you. What is Christmas without eggnog? My brother usually breaks out our old family recipe around Thanksgiving, and makes it oh, 3 or 4 times between then and New Years. While it's not the healthiest of beverages, it sure does taste good, and this time of year is when you're allowed to splurge...

Our family recipe consists of bourbon (lots), milk, 6 eggs (raw), sugar (lots again), and a pint of whipping cream, beaten and layered on top of the rest.

I actually don't know the exact recipe in my head like Shea does, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to give away these family secrets anyway...

on the 4th day of christmas...

Everyone loves a Christmas Tree! But if you're like me, the guilty feeling of knowing all those perfect, beautiful trees are being cut down and eventually thrown away takes a little of the fun away. You could always consider a live tree-although typically a bit more expensive, the benefits are big. In some cities, like Portland, San Francisco, and others, there are services who will deliver your live tree, then pick it up after the holidays and plant it for you in a local park or community space. But anyone can get a live tree, and donate it or plant it themselves. There are some great tips and guidelines here at LivingCristmasTrees.org. 

One more good tip for "recycling": at places like Lowes, where they trim off the bottom branches of trees for customers, there are bins with the leftover cuttings. This is a great way to get FREE! greens to use in your decorating, for wreaths, or on your mantel, or anything else.

on the 3rd day of christmas...

My true love gave to me...Christmas cookies!!

This weekend I'm planning on doing some serious holiday baking. Glancing around for cookie recipes, I found a few fun looking ones. Of course, there's always the standby, the "spritz" cookie. But I found a couple others that sound tasty, and look good too:

Gingerbread Snowflakes from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

Makes 16 cookies

6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup unsulfured molasses
• Royal Icing
• Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl. Set aside.
2. Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4-inch thick. Cut into snowflakes with a 7- inch snowflake-shape cookie cutter. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
4. Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
5. Put icing in a pastry bag fitted with a small plain round tip (such as Ateco #7). Pipe designs on snowflakes; immediately sprinkle with sanding sugar. Let stand 5 minutes; tap off excess sugar. Let icing set completely at room temperature, about 1 hour. Store cookies between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days

Best Cut Out Sugar Cookies from The Kitchen

Ok,  I think these are the ones I'm going to try. I'll let you know this weekend how they turn out!

between 8 and 12 dozen, depending on size

3 cups butter, softened at room temperature for an hour

3 cups sugar

3 eggs

6 ounces cream cheese (3/4 of a standard cream cheese package)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 teaspoons lemon zest

9 cups flour

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and add the sugar. Cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until golden. Add the cream cheese and again beat until well incorporated. Add the flavorings and lemon zest.

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl then add, bit by bit, to the butter/sugar mixture.You will have chosen a large bowl for this particular recipe, I hope - mine was overflowing by this point and I ended up doing the final mix in a large plastic bag.

Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour - preferably overnight.

Heat the oven to 350° F. Divide the dough into smaller balls and roll out 1/4 to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out cookies.

Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes, depending on thickness. The small, thinner ones started browning after about 8 minutes, and I didn't want these brown at all. The larger ones had a slight golden bottom after 11 minutes, which was perfect for my purposes.

Let cool before icing or decorating, and store in a tightly covered container

on the 2nd day of christmas...

I thought I'd do a little feature on gift wrap! One of my most favorite parts of the holiday is wrapping presents. I really do just love it, especially since these days there are tons of beautiful, original designs for wrapping paper. Here are a few online options you might want to check out!!

Photo from Kate's Paperie

A few selections from feel more human

A spin off of classic designs from paper source

gift wrap by heidi