Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

May your day be filled with friendly faces, great food and plenty of cheer.

The Kirigami Project - Week 51 - Angels

I'm pretty smitten with this design... and can you believe it's the second-last one already? Gently festive with its choir of angels yet totally snowflake-y if you sit back and take in the whole design. Perfect for the Christmas season!

To create your own Angel Kirigami, use the template below and the 6-point folding pattern.

Since you might be snowflake-making this week in these last few days before Christmas, I've popped up the printable template a week early. Find it here!

We'd love to see your versions on social media - don't forget to tag your paper cuts with #thekirigamiproject. You can find us on Instagram at @omiyage_ca & @thelanguidlion

The Kirigami Project is collaborative creative project from Marisa Edghill of Omiyage and Geri Jewitt of The Languid Lion. Marisa creates the kirigami designs and Geri turns them into printable templates. Each week in 2014, we will bring you a new kirigami design to fold and cut. Find the treasury of designs here.

Festive Paper Ornaments

I was lucky enough to receive this paper ornament craft kit as a gift last year but tucked it away to make this year. All folded up, the ornaments are just so cute, I couldn't resist sharing!

Designed by illustrator Sam Osborne in the UK, these Scandinavian-inspired ornaments are full of colour and quirky details. You can find the ornament set in Sam's Etsy shop - she offers the ornaments as either a craft kit or as a printable version (which is great if you've got access to a good colour printer and want to get making right away!)

The kit includes 12 unique ornament designs to cut and make. Some are definitely trickier than others. That multi-faceted sphere and I had words. They weren't particularly nice words, but it folded up nicely in the end, so we made up. I'm super pleased with the whole set - they'll look extra-nice on our tree this year.

Start by cutting out the designs, then grab your bone folder and glue or double-sided tape and get crafty!

Pyramids, diamonds, cubes and spheres... do you have a favourite?

Not just decorations, I think these would make the greatest Advent calendar, don't you? Grab the printable version, make two copies on card stock (or reasonably thick paper) and then fill each one with a small treat. Individual chocolates would fit perfectly!

Have you seen or tried any great paper craft kits lately? Please share in the comments.

What Christmas Looked Like - 2013

this year's washi tape tree  / a Christmas Eve Santa snack peppermint inspired pom poms / pretending you love winter is the first step

snow past the tops of our boots / homemade granola gifts 

Japanese treats beneath our tree / all wrapped up in kraft with pom toppersEasing back into the swing of things - and the new year - with a look back at how our Christmas looked. Hope your holidays were full of your favourite people and festive foods!

DIY Clementine Wreaths

'Tis the time of year when, betwixt the piles of butter-and-sugar-laden treats, we are often delighted to discover a pile of that sweetheart of the citrus family - the ever-so-easy-to-eat clementine.

This year, why not share the citrus joy with your friends & neighbours? These clever clementine wreaths are a lovely way to wish the ones you love a happy & healthy holiday season!

To create your own, you'll need clementines, cellophane, clear tape, twine, tags, and washi tape.

Add a strip of colourful washi tape to your blank tags. Here the tape is folded over the edge so that both sides of the tag benefit from the washi treatment.

Cut a piece of cellophane. Line up 8 clementines along the length of your cellophane. Leave a little space between each clementine.

Wrap the cellophane into a tube with the clementines inside. Secure with a few small pieces of clear sticky tape.

Tie a piece of twine between each clementine.

Join the two end pieces of cellophane together so that your clementine tube becomes a ring (or a wreath!). Secure with a piece of baker's twine, add your tag (write your message before attaching!) and tie baker's twine into a bow. If ends of cellophane are too long or uneven, carefully trim.

There you go - a  healthy DIY treat all ready for gifting.Images & project courtesy of Alexis Edghill Whalen. Thanks for sharing!

Send Pretty Mail #51/52/53/54/55 - Christmas

I couldn't let the holiday season pass by without some Christmassy pretty mail. These days, I'm rather smitten with the combo of washi tape and glitter tape. They're just so fun together!

Did you see the ornament & candy cards? Too cute not to slip into decorated envelopes, right?

Gift-inspired envelopes feature washi tape boxes and glitter tape bows - make those boxes big enough to hold the mailing address but small enough to leave space for your stamp(s).

Add some washi tape stripes on the envelope flap for even more fun. This idea works all year round!
 


Are your Christmas cards written, stamped & on their merry way already? The nice thing about these envelopes is that they work just as well for a birthday as they do for Christmas! And those striped flaps would look smashing on any letter you send.

Have you sent or received any pretty mail lately?

DIY Washi Tape Candy Cards & Gift Tags

Did you like the ornament cards? Then I think you'll be a fan of these ones too - turn plain card stock into sweet striped and swirly cards with the help of a little washi and glitter tapes.

Add stripes in varying widths (the plastic backing on the glitter tape makes it easy to cut into slim strips and other shapes.)

Or try adding long triangles of tape to create a swirly candy look.

And don't forget those gift tags - simple card stock circles are elevated into something special with a little bit (or a lot) of tape.Happy crafting!

DIY Washi Tape Ornament Card & Gift Tags

Have you sent out your holiday cards yet? I must admit we're a bit behind over here, but I figure if the cards in question are this cute, no one will mind a little tardiness. Right? Plus, who doesn't want another excuse to use their stash of pretty tapes?!

To create an ornament card, start by folding a piece of cardstock in half lengthwise. Grab a small bowl and a pencil. 

Trace around the bowl, leaving space (about 1/2 inch) at the top by the fold. 

Cover the circle with washi tape. No need to overlap. No need for neat ends.

Add a small strip of metallic tape at the top of the circle, right up to the fold. This tab will turn your circle into an ornament. Bear with me, you'll see what I mean soon.

Cut out the ornament. Make sure to cut just inside the line - you don't want to see any pencil lines on your card. Cut a straight line down each side of the metallic tape tab (as seen above) to shape into top of ornament.

Decorate with glitter tape. If you'd prefer, use patterned washi tape and skip this step altogether. You can see how that looks here. I decorated both sides of my ornament cards - but that's really up to you!

Punch a small hole in the centre of the tab. Feed a twine loop (about 10" long, folded in half and tied) through the hole.

Have fun creating different designs with your tape.

Or, why not craft unique ornament gift tags? Use a roll of washi tape as your circle template, then add a metallic washi tape hanger top to turn a simple circle into an adorable ornament.

Happy crafting!

Simple Christmas Cards

Here's a sweet and simple Christmas card to make - all you need is a blank card and a little decorative tape. I used some of our fun Christmas paper tape, but go ahead and dig into that pile of washi tape!

Simply tear 5 strips of tape, each one a little bigger than the last and build your tree. Make sure to leave a little space between each strip. Top with something a little special - I cut a snowflake out of the tape design - but you could try a star sticker or a star shaped punched out of a piece of glitter tape.

I love that these are easy enough to make with kids, but still fun to make without kids!


Are you making your own holiday cards this year?