Wishing you all a very happy holidays and that you have the warm glow of love, friends, family, connection and all that is delightful about this time of year. A little glitter, eggnog, hot chocolate, peppermint candies, How The Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey sprinkled liberally throughout makes mine even better. I'll be back soon, in the mean time:
Something about Christmas always makes me think of red wax seals. Ring the alarm! They've been peppered about the site often but some yet to be seen are these Fjäderbrev styled ones. Using a feather underneath a wax seal was an early AIR MAIL stamp in 18th to early 19th century Sweden. I personally think it adds a Gothic touch to parcels. For how these and many of my quick wax seals are made (hint, no actual sealing wax is used) see the little video below:
Image: MAM for Gave That | VIDEO: Camera work by Magda
These are addictive to make... these Origami star ornaments are the blue Damask velum version of my previous ones (see here). The translucent velum really comes to life when lit from behind via the tree lights. Snowflake punches and tiny gems dot the centers and these work as gift bows as well. For how to make these see my previous post here.
Image: MAM for Gave That | VIDEO: MAM for Gave That
More DIY garland love... they make gift wrapping so much easier! Adding to my past Christmas red wax seal garland, here are a bunch more. Above tiny red mittens cut from felt and attached with equally miniature clothe pins.
Fluffy sparkly green yarn over burgundy organza ribbons.
Snowflake punches in white paper and velum sprinkled over ribbons.
One day while shuffling things around I peeked under the lid of an old cigar box and found it filled with past Origami projects. The one I remember enjoying to do the most were these snowflake, star shaped ornaments. I had to dissect one slightly because the book I had with step by step instructions is with someone else now but these are deceptively easy... to prove this I made a video below... what you'll need:
- 8 sheets of Origami or square pieces of paper (here I'm using miniature origami sheets, next I want to try velum and mulberry papers) - Glue - Glue dots and/or adhesive tape (here I'm using Elmer's glue dots and glue stick) - Decorative edged scissors (here I've used Deckle edged ones) - A sticker, gem, button or something decorative for the center.
Watch this video for how to fold the above Origami gift bow:
Later, although these were in an Origami book, I found another term for this folding technique called Teabag Folding which was more recently created to make use of the fancy packets tea comes in. Clever!
For a while now I've been drooling over the Kuma series of pillows, teddy bears and totes by designer Ross Menuez for NYC based Areaware (also home of the late Tobias Wong and one of my favorite tea set creators Jason Miller). The bears sadly seem to have been phased out and my tote quota for the year seems to have been reached (thank goodness for the new year!) so I scooped up a few pillows in the red dot, fingerprints and tatami patterns. Obviously influenced by Japanese textiles I couldn't help but use the dot one for some Furoshiki Otsukai Tsutsumi style gift wrapping. Works like a charm.
Watch this video to learn how I folded the above gift style:
Image: MAM for Gave That VIDEO: Camera work by Magda
Today I asked someone if I could barrow a few of their gifts on display, gifts that happen to be lumps of coal! Not sure what I think is more fun, giving some or having a bunch proudly displayed. OK, maybe a real basic lump of coal is harsh but the ones carved into shapes catch my eye every time I walk by.
Typing this with slightly blackened fingers and frightening memories of being deep in a pitch black coal mine.
Still not exactly sure what is going on in that first picture but these are unreal! Pillow cases by designers Derek Mosher and Michael Azria that turn everyday boudoir pillows into pieces of panoramic art. Sometimes I feel like I'm neglecting men here on this blog and in an attempt to make amends I give you these (along with the man candle of yore).
The number of gift suggestions coming into my email inbox is unreal right about now but when Amber Chand contacted me about Prosperity Candle, I wanted to share it straight away with everyone. Prosperity Candles are hand created by women who have suffered great losses in life. Using the model of Shared Prosperity each woman has the opportunity to earn well above a living wage, build her own enterprise, and provide employment and leadership in her community.
With their new holiday collection you can directly impact the life of such women. The Vessels of Light candle is created by recently resettled refugees women from Burma and Bhutan who now live in Massachusetts and the Prosperity Pillar Candles are created by women in Baghdad, Iraq, many of whom are war widows. Each and other gift ideas can be purchased at the Prosperity Candle site.
One of the best parts of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend was spending time drenching both ourselves and pine cones collected from the woods in glitter. Yeah, this is going to be a Studio 56 Christmas around here!
Another quick DIY gift idea using pine cones were these scented, wax dipped fire place starters, For the how-to click here.
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