Handmaker of Things: Christmas

Painted Leaf Gift Wrap DIY

I'm sharing one more gift wrap DIY (since Christmas is only a week away, woop, woop!). For this one I wanted to incorporate this awesome vintage fabric. I found it in my grandmother's stash a few years ago, and was waiting for just the right project to use it on. Using it as ribbon on a gift for someone special seemed perfect. This gift wrap, much like the hand stamped version I shared last week, this DIY can be customized to match any theme you want. Just find your desired stencil and paint away!

Here's what you'll need:

White craft paper.
Craft paint.
Stencils. I chose a leaf motif from the Martha Stewart stencil line (at Michaels Arts and Crafts).
Stencil pouncers or paint brush (also Martha).
Vintage fabric, and ribbon
Scissors and tape
A damp sponge for cleaning off your stencil.
Optional: fresh greenery, or you could use silk as well.

Much like the stamped version you could do this project two ways. You could either wrap your gifts first, then paint them, or you could roll out your paper and paint it all at once. Just a note, if you are wrapping your gifts first, make sure you are using thickish craft paper, not thing wrapping paper. Otherwise your paint might bleed through.

Place your stencil onto your gift or rolled out craft paper. Load your pouncer or brush up with paint. Carefully fill in your design. Try to hold your stencil as still as possible.

Don't worry about being perfect, you want that hand made feel. Now let your paint dry completely. With craft paint it will usually only take an hour or two, but for maximum safeness I'd just wait overnight if possible, so you don't get any smears or smudges.

I wanted a rough edged feel for my fabric strips, so I went ahead and tore them instead of cutting them. I think it adds to the vintage/rustic look of the wrapping. I also used black velvet ribbon to compliment the gift tags I was using and colors in the fabric. I think velvet adds a wintery touch.

To make your package extra special, right before you head to your get together add some fresh greens. Evergreen will smell amazing and of course is perfect for the season. I added a sprig of rosemary.

Now it's time for giving! Thank you guys so much for tagging along with me in my little holiday gift wrap series, I hope you loved my ideas and got some inspiration for your own gift giving this year. Happy Holidays everyone!

xo ~ Emily

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Custom Stamped Holiday Gift Wrap DIY

It's yet another holiday gift wrap DIY, and this is one I loved working on because it touches with my roots as a printmaker. This step by step uses brown craft paper (the perfect blank canvas) and spices it up. You can even match it to your holiday cards and gift tags. Yay! Now I know what you might be thinking, "Emily, ain't nobody got time for that". Well I assure you, if I do, you do (it's called wait til the baby is napping). Come on, I'll show you how easy it can be!

Here's what you'll need:

A roll of brown craft paper.
ribbons and twine in your choice of colors. I got the satin ribbon from paper source and the twine from a craft store.
Pencil and Sharpie, and scissors.
Printmaking supplies: Speedball Speedy Carve rubber blocks, relief carving tools, relief ink, and roller. You can buy all of these in the art supply section of the craft store. (I got mine at Michael's Arts and Crafts). Piece of glass, or plexi glass to roll your ink.
Optional: If you are using a color other than white, you could use a stamp pad. Mine didn't work out so great, more on that later. The stamp pad is the easier route.

First we'll make our stamp. You can do any pattern under the sun. I was trying to match mine to the holiday card picture don the right, so I decided to use an aztec print theme. You can free-hand a design, use text (make sure to write it out backward), or find a design or stencil you like and trace it onto your rubber block. Whatever works for you!

Color in the parts of the stamp that you want to remain raised. This is so when you're cutting, you don't ruin your design (I know this from experience). Only cut the un-colored parts.

Begin cutting your design with your relief carving tools. It's pretty self explanatory, but if you need a demo, pop on over to this video. Watch your little fingers,and always cut away from yourself.

Once you're done carving, use rubbing alcohol, or hand sanitizer to clean the sharpie off your stamp. Then it's time to ink your stamp. If you're using a stamp pad, simply press the stamp to the pad, then add the design to your craft paper. I tried a white stamp pad originally, but the color did not show up white, it just made a dark brown, moist impression on the paper. No bueno., so I opted to try the ink. If you're using actual relief print ink, start by squeezing a bit of ink onto your piece of glass. Then spread the ink in a line with a piece of think cardboard, spatula, or a putty knife.

Then take your brayer (roller) and roll your ink out onto your glass until you have a smooth even coverage on your roller. Then roll onto your stamp.

You can either press your stamp onto a pre-wrapped package, or you could roll out your craft paper and apply the stamp to the whole roll. Apply nice even pressure to the stamp, then lift one corner to see how it's transferring.

I remember doing this project with my mom as a kid, and we would roll the paper out in the dining room and stamp all over it, then let it dry, and wrap gifts later. If you are using a stamp pad you will probably only need to let it dry for an hour or two. If you are using relief ink, I'd give it overnight to be safe.

Once the ink is dry, it's time to add your trims. I used a combo of satin ribbon and twine on my package. I also added a fun little arrow that I DIY'd, or I always love tying an ornament to gifts as a special extra touch.

Now give your gift. Watch your friends ooooh, and ahhhhh, over your incredible gift wrapping skillz. They might not event want to open their present :)

xo ~ Emily

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Casual Friday: Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Having a baby is awesome. There are so many wonderful things about it, but one of my favorite parts of watching Eleanor grow up is experiencing everything for the first time through her eyes, including the holidays. She loves looking at Christmas lights, and everytime she sees ornaments she reaches for them. I know she's too little to remember any of it, but I hope to make this year, her first Christmas, really special. I thought our front steps was the best place to take some pics for our holiday card, and of course we all wore coordinating (but not matching) outfits. Thanks to my brother in law for helping us take these pics!

This pic is so funny, I think Eleanor's face says it all.

I love watching these two together, they have such a sweet father daughter bond.

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DIY Modern Wire and Ornament Wreath

When it comes to hand made projects I'm all about experimenting. I came across a wire wreath form for sale on one of my favorite home decor sites. The form alone was $25, and that didn't include any decor for it. I thought, hey, I'd love to give that a try, so I came up with this DIY modern wire and ornament wreath. I say it was an experiment because before I started, and as I was working, I had no idea how it would turn out, but I have to say, I loved the results. It's a little bit modern, a little bit messy, and a whole lot of colorful. Just my style!

Here's what you'll need:

Wire wreath form $3.99
Aluminum wire (I had some leftover from floral work, but you'll probably need about 20 feet). $3.49 for 3 yards.
Needle nose pliers, and wire cutters. Mine tool was a combo of the two.
Silver spray paint.
One box multicolor lights with white wire. $2.99
25 ornaments. I used silver and clear, in large and small. Got the boxes on sale for $4.50 each, but platic ones would have been even cheaper.

Total cost: about $30

Start by spray painting your wreath form silver. Next it's time to start wiring your ornament. Start by wrapping your aluminum wire twice around the base of your ornament. You want to wrap them tightly, but be careful if you're using glass ornaments not to wrap them too tight or they'll shatter. Or you can go ahead and use acrylic or plastic ornaments and avoid this worry altogether.

Next twist your wire about 3 or 4 inches. Then bend the wire, and do these two steps again. You'll want to keep your wire as one continuous piece if possible. You'll essentially be creating an ornament branch.

Once you have enough of your ornament branches to cover you wreath form, play around with the configuration you'd like to use.

Before you add your ornament branches you'll need to add your lights to your wreath form. This was the part I struggled with the most. First I wrapped the string around and around the wreath form, but it was too much wire, and looked messy. So I decided to wire the lights to the outside edge, and was much happier with the results.

Now add your ornament branches. I clipped pieces of wire about 2.5 inches and bent them into a U shape. Wrap them around your ornament branches, and then twist them to the wreath form.

You may want to bend, and re-arrange some of the ornaments once they're attached to the wreath. Now it's time to plug it in.

As soon as I plugged it in, I think it really came to life. I love how the colorful lights reflect off the silver ornaments. Eleanor loved it too, it might be her favorite decoration in the house. Have fun making your own diy modern wire and ornament wreath. If you give it a try I'd love to see your pics (tag me @emmyray on instagram).

xo ~ Emily

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Modern Black and White Gift Wrap

It's Christmas, woooooooohoooooooo!!!!! Does that accurately describe my excitement for this season? No, not quite, It's one of my favorite times of year. There are so many things I LOVE about it, decorating the house, celebrating with friends and family, but giving gifts is just the best. I really like making special gifts and then wrapping them up for someone to open. I like adding a special touch to my packages too, and each year I pick a different theme for all my gift wrap. I thought it would be fun to share a series of different wrapping DIY's this holiday season, and to kick it off is this modern black and white gift wrap with pops of bright red.

Here's what you'll need:

Black gift wrap
Red masking tape
White card stock
Pencil, scissors, tape, ruler
Red yarn
Black and white bakers twine
Needle with an eye big enough for the bakers twine
Optional: snowflake paper punch

Measure and cut 1.5 inch strips from the card stock. Next measure out triangles with 1.5 inch bases, and then cut them apart.

I got a fun snowflake paper punch from Michaels Arts and Crafts, but this is definitely optional. I punched a bunch of snowflakes out to mix in with the triangles, but I think that this design looks good even without them.

Begin stringing the triangles and snowflakes onto your bakers twine. You can do this per package, but I think its easiest to just make a bunch all at once. Then as you wrap gifts you can cut and add the trim as needed.

Wrap the gift up in the black paper. Next add the black masking tape as a decorative accent. I added mine as if it were a ribbon that I had tied around the package, and then add the triangle trim on top of that.

Next make a pom pom, one of my favorite, easy ways to dress up a gift. Wrap your red yarn around your hand about 20-30 times. Then tie it around the middle and snip the ends. Trim any stray strings so you have a nice even looking ball.