Surprise Packs - Fifth Edition!!

This July marks Omiyage's birthday... our fifth birthday! Which is pretty amazing... and a bit astounding. Time really does fly when you're having fun!

Of course, July also means birthday treats... and the best treat of the year is always our Surprise Packs!

While I'm sheepish to admit that the first edition of these back in 2011 were the result of a careless ordering mistake, they were so popular that I've been mindfully making them every year since. Carefully curating an assortment of cute and colourful things, placing special orders, adding handcrafted details and wrapping it all up with lots of handcrafted love.

No promises or grand proclamations, but a quiet warning that this might be the last year I do them... Five x Joy seems like a good stopping point and while they are well worth the happiness they bring, they take a whole lot of time and energy to assemble. So, this year, to avoid disappointments, I made twice as many as usual. Grab yours while they last.

This year's edition features a trio of tags and a twine tassel. Pretty cute, right?! The Omiyage version of a classic brown paper package, if you will.

Choose your favourite colour for a customized surprise - and don't worry, not everything inside the yellow pack is yellow, colour coding just helps to keep things organized during the packing process and to avoid duplicate items when ordering more than one pack!

Want a peek at a few of the goodies inside? Here we go...

The best tag & twine sets I've ever put together... a great mix of shapes, sizes and materials plus a pair of handcrafted tags in each pack - a little useful inspiration, if you will! And don't forget - the tassel tag on the outside of the package can be reused too.

My new favourite pens direct from Japan - twin tipped and perfect for addressing envelopes and writing colourful letters. The memo pads are pretty sweet too!

I sorted through over 1000 vintage stamps to find the prettiest and most interesting ones to include, then packaged them up with love.

There are also three rolls of washi tape in each pack, cute illustrated stationery items and more... each pack includes 14 (yes, fourteen!) items and is valued at up to $50.

You'll even find clever Snail Mail Forever postcards from Q&A Letterbox... don't forget to look on the back for a special message. One lucky person will win a letterbox from Q&A featuring a curated selection of cards.

I've been offering lots of sneak peeks over on Instagram throughout the process. Pop over there if you'd like to see more.

So far, blue has been by far the most popular colour - which colour would you choose?

Birthday Treats!

Birthday Surprise Packs and Washi Tape Grab Bags are now available! 

This round of Surprise Packs just might be my favourite... if only because I love how the wrapping turned out! How cute are feathers used as gift toppers? Pretty cute if I do say so myself.

If you were following along on Instagram, you might've caught some in-progress shots as I prepped and packed and wrapped. (You might even have snagged some pretty scraps!)

And while Surprise Packs might be my first love, I do have a soft spot for Washi Tape Grab Bags. Usually available just once a year, we pack up all our extra rolls of tape - photo samples, loose rolls, anything extra lying around - add something special (this year it's rolls of mt fab) and sell them off at a really great price!

Hope you love them too!

It's Birthday (Card) Time!

Have you heard? This month Omiyage turns Four! That's four whole years of fun!

Back in 2010, when Omiyage started, we were rather smitten with Japanese masking tape, but we couldn't have predicted that those pretty tapes would turn into the phenomenon that is washi tape (nor that we would hardly be able to find space in the shop for anything else but tape four years down the line!)

So, it only seemed fitting to craft up some washi tape birthday cards to celebrate our fourth birthday!

But before you run off to make your own cards, how about a birthday treat?

Until the end of July, we're offering Free Shipping on orders of $50 or more in the shop. You can see more details in the Shipping Policies section.

Of course, there will be more birthday fun all month long. Keep your eye out for promos, new products and our always popular washi tape grab bags!

Making birthday cards (or cards for any occasion really), is one of my favourite ways to use washi tape. Here are three ideas for you to try!

Writing with washi tape is a fun skill to master and makes for a great-looking card. You can find step-by-step instructions on creating words right here.

Make a simple number or letter design. These look great with a single tape design or in colourful stripes. Here's how.

Celebrate with washi tape candles. This is a classic washi tape design - just apply strips of tape, then top with flames made out of tape and draw on the wicks. Don't want to fuss with flame shapes? Just draw them on too!

Do you make birthday cards with washi tape? I'd love to see them!

Happy crafting!

Happy Third Birthday to Us!

It's Omiyage's third birthday! That's 3 years of crafty blogging, 3 years up to our elbows in cute tape, 3 years of meeting fantastic creative people from around the world. So fun!

We're celebrating the best way we know how - with cute stuff!

In the shop, you'll find Omiyage Birthday Surprise Packs, Washi Tape Grab Bags and Lucky Dip Grab Bags. Plus there will be more fun promotions and celebrations all month long!

3 kinds of surprise fun - we do love surprises - for our third birthday!

There's tape, more tape, a bit more tape and cute stationery, crafty goods and other special stuff packed lovingly into well-decorated bags.

Hope you'll join us in the fun! We appreciate your support, both here on the blog and over in the shop, over the past 3 years. Cheers to many more years full of cute, clever and crafty adventures!

Birthday Preparations

Yesterday was a busy one - full of prep for Omiyage's third birthday.

We'll be celebrating in our favourite way - with special items and other fun promos all July long!

Of course, we are doing our Birthday Surprise Packs again this year. These Omiyage-exclusive bags full of fun are always super popular - and only are available twice a year. January and July.

There will also be some Washi Tape Grab Bags up for grabs. But only 12 of them... and this year they have cute little tape dispensers. Want one? You'll have to set a reminder for Tuesday, July 2nd at noon est. Last time we offered these, they sold out in one hour.

And for extra fun, we're offering $3 Lucky Dip bags. One small sweet surprise... okay, so it's mainly washi tape, but there are a few other cute things in there too!

A few bullet points to get us through the long weekend:

• Birthday Surprise Packs, Washi Tape Grab Bags & Lucky Dips will be available on Tuesday, July 2nd at noon est.
• I'm sure you all know that Google Reader is going away - anyone else terribly sad about it? Anyway, we'd love it if you'd continue to follow us via Bloglovin, Feedly or the reader of your choice. 
• Next week, we'll be running a special promo to raise funds for the relief work in flood-stricken Calgary. $3.00 from every purchase made between July 1-3 will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross. I hope you'll help us support their efforts.
• Happy Canada Day to all our fellow Canadians! This will be Elias' first Canada Day as a Canadian citizen - so we'll be sure to eat a few extra butter tarts / nanaimo bars / servings of poutine to make it extra-special!

DIYU - School For Crafting Misfits

DIY U - School For Crafting Misfits is now in session. DIY University is a blog series created by eco-fabulous Jenelle of TrashN2Tees which aims to teach craft & DIY basics to those of you who exclaim "but I'm just not crafty!" Today's lesson is my tutorial for a Washi Tape Birthday Card and matching envelope. Hope you'll join me over there!

DIY Washi Tape Birthday Cards

One of the sweetest ways to use washi tape is to craft up your own birthday cards (or cards for any occasion.) Simply grab a few designs of washi tape, some card stock and a pair of scissors, then stick to your heart's content.

We looked at a few birthday card designs last year, and here are some more to inspire you to get birthday crafty with your washi tape collection.

Want to make your own washi tape cards? Here are some helpful hints for washi tape card making success:

Use clean, sharp scissors - especially when cutting small shapes - any guck (technical term) on the blades will transfer to your tape and dull blades generally result in jagged edges.

Not sure where to start? Washi tape makes awesome layer cakes, candles and stripes - and these are pretty simple to create!

Simple designs, like candles, stripes or layer cakes, usually can be created freehand - no paper backing required. When creating a complicated washi shape or design, lay your tape strips onto a piece of paper and then cut out the desired shape. Way less tape-stuck-to-your-fingers frustration!

While washi tape strips peel easily off most papers, when it comes to removing small or intricate shapes things can get a little sticky tricky. Try using parchment paper or waxed paper when cutting washi tape shapes - the slick surface makes peeling tape off much easier.

Want to create a specific image, shape or letter? Draw or print out the image you want to make and then lay your tape strips over it. But, remember, washi tape can lift ink off the page, so you'll want to cut on the inside of the printed lines to prevent ink lines being visible on your tape. Or draw/print on one side and tape on the other - this is especially easy with parchment paper which is translucent.

When creating an image out of multiple strips of tape, make sure to overlap each strip slightly. Then, when you carefully peel the tape off of your backing paper, start with the bottom-most strip. This should ensure that your washi tape shape peels off in one piece (and prevents you from having to painstakingly line up edges and reassemble on your card).

For a fun look, try including other materials. This may mean simply outlining your design with a thin marker, adding some twine to your design like the balloon card in the image above, or even layering different materials. The real fun is in the process!

Do you have any tried and true tips for crafting with washi tape? We'd love to hear them in the comments!

If you do craft up some washi tape cards, we'd love to see them. Post pictures to our Facebook page, tweet us about it or even leave links in the comment section below!