Go Big or Go Home

with this gift i used a beautiful chartreuse wrap, knowing that a patterned wrap would take away from the gorgeous
green iridescent ribbon and glitter olive green poinsettia .  i sat the poinsettia right in the middle of the bow, so i made sure to make the loops of my bow larger so they could be seen around the edges of the flower. the theme for this gift was greens, browns and hints of gold. 

i just love this paper. this was my second year using it. the theme to this gift was silver, brown with hints of turquoise.  i used some ribbon i had not worked with year but it turned out to be quite easy to use. i liked making the wrap work with the silver sheer ribbon and very glittery pine cone package topper. 

for this gift, i used the chartreuse gift wrap again, knowing again, that the ribbon would be my center piece of the gift. the theme of this gift was chartreuse, light blue and turquoise. the ribbon was glittery with a filigree pattern and i was able to find a matching blue snowflake as a package topper.

i had to go red and white on this gift...she's a badgers fan...it was pretty much a give in! i found the ribbon first, then had to find the wrap. i went back and forth between a couple different wraps, it was finally my sister who said, 'your nuts, pick the polka dots.' i attached two large, light bulb package toppers. the theme for this gift was red, white with hints of silver and brown. 

Sometimes I just over do it....

it finally happened...my brain was so overloaded with creative ideas...i made something ugly. i had what i thought was a brilliant idea, then when it was putting it together....it looked just awful. it was like having writers block, without having to write a thing. this happens sometimes, i have so many projects that require my creative part of my brain that after a while it just stops. when this happens, i have to walk away. i'm not saying i don't think about because it frustrates me to not be able to keep creating without a break or pause. 
then after trying to forget about it, i walked into a store and wandered around...my mind still was like 'what the hell are you thinking sarah?!' then as i'm leaving the store, i had an enlightening moment and in five minutes figured out what i was going to do. 
the project was a center piece of the dining room. i wanted to emulate the napkins we got that had soft colors and pretty ornaments on them. i wanted to work with ornaments in someway. after many failed attempts, i went with what i knew...a wreath. the colors of the christmas china and such are silver and blues. i had been working with blues and greens in my original idea but i should have stuck with what i knew. so after a mad dash of shopping i knew exactly what i wanted to do.
i found frosted blue, large poinsettias, silver glitter pine picks and pearl colored ornaments...i went to work and this is what i came up with...i even added a candle we already had around the house to add more color. 

it sits on a charger to prevent it from scratching the surface of the dining table

I've started wrapping

this is by far one of the favorites i have wrapped this holiday season. i found wrap, ribbon and a topper that matched
beautifully. i wrapped this for someone who likes owls. i noticed owl things are huge this year. i love the colors
in this gift and it looks great under the tree.

lots of glitter for this one, but it turned out great. i used a mint green kraft wrapping paper. i then came across this cream and gold poinsettia wired ribbon. then by some miracle of my wrapping imagination i found a gold poinsettia to attach to the top of the gift. i did not do a bow on this gift, made four tails coming out from under the poinsettia. the poinsettia being the center piece of the gift rather than a huge glittery bow.

this year i bought a lot of red and white wrap. i used the red and white stripes to turn this into a candy
themed present. i used satin ribbon in a double bow. i like to use satin double bows on some gifts because they are easier to undo and if the gift is for someone who i know i appreciate my wrapping but not the time it takes to just remove a bow, this style works a whole lot better. 

Taking it apart and making it new...

i found another wreath that took me quite a while to figure out what to do with....finally i made the decision, it needed to have everything taken off of it (dull berries and pine cones). my mom wanted to keep the pine cones, but if she wanted a nice wreath, they had to go. spent a good hour removing all the pine cones (the wreath pine needles had a hard coating which beat my hands up a lot). we decided to make the colors match the colors of some of the rooms in the house, gold and cranberry. i had the gold magnolia's from a previous wreath and used some cranberry colored ribbon to add a touch of color. this wreath stays inside because it would probably end up ruined if it was hung outside. 

Red, Chartreuse and Glitter

our christmas wreaths were starting to look a little sad...so it was time for an upgrade. after looking at all the colors and sizes available, my mom and i loved the combination of red and chartreuse green. we mixed different sizes and shapes of ornaments, making sure I got some that would sparkle in the sun. we also chose some 'picks'...berries for the smaller wreath, red glitter poinsettias for the large wreaths. i made three red and chartreuse wreaths, two large and one small, which took 3 and half hours...if you include the shopping around, they took just over five hours to conceptualize and make. i was very happy with the results and so was my mom!

Christmas Candies

i wrapped my first christmas gift this week! i've been looking at wrap with stripes and polka dots, preferably in red and white. i found some great candy themed ribbon and a cute, sparkly candy package topper. 

To top it off...I'm starting to get ready for Christmas!

I knew it was coming....Christmas. I love this holiday and this is the holiday when I get to go all out with my wrapping. I start brain storming wrapping ideas the moment I see Christmas stuff being put out in stores. I usually do an inventory of when I have left over from last year, particularly ribbon and package toppers. I've completed my inventory and now it's time to keep my eyes open. I plan my wrapping projects based on the personalities of family and friends, who I buy gifts for. It takes me forever to think of what to get people and how I'm going to wrap. I always...always...always make sure I can put it in a box. Nothing is more frustrating then wrapping something that doesn't have nice clean edges. I know it's not very green to want to use more stuff to wrap but I like clean, neat corners. I like using conventional colors, unconventional colors. The color I'm seeing a lot of for Christmas wrap and ribbon is turquoise and purple, which I haven't used so far...I'm in the middle of trying to figure out how I can used this jewel tone colors. 

Easy Goes It this Halloween!

I used to love Halloween as a kid, getting dressed up and knocking on doors for the night getting a pillow case full of candy. Now that I'm older and wiser, I like Halloween for the decorations and fun treats people come up with for parties. However, this year I kept it simple...after working all weekend I was content to sit and watch Halloween movies instead. The effort I did make, was quite easy. For my lil' visitors who were hanging around I made sugar cookies and confetti cupcakes, iced in my favorite Halloween colors: orange, purple and green. With a knife and a piping bag...I made a fun, easy array of sweet treats for the ghouls and ghost haunting around the house. 

You can tie them in a knot, you can tie them in a bow...

this evening, i had the great pleasure of meeting some of the ladies of my local city garden club. as a part of their annual ribbon sale during christmas, they host a bow-making get together to make the bows. this year, i was invited to do a presentation on how to make different types of bows. i went through a variety of bow designs, with the help of my display boards and sample wrapped packages, i demonstrated the various techniques used to make a rose bow, double loop bow and the full bow.

Spade Birthday Breakfast

For a friend's birthday, I decided to take on the theme of 'Kate Spade'. I wrapped one gift in the style of a Spade gift box, with bright orange and pink with a stripe of gold. I made the spade gift tag by layering pink and orange cover stock. I wrote my message in gold paint pen. The other gift was done in a white with black polka dot wrap with KS green with side white stitched ribbon. I then cut up a rose thank you note make a gift tag. 


I decided to make table settings to look like KS plates. KS currently has a design of a gold layered ribbon as a theme in her jewelry this year, so I took that design and made my own gold ribbon accent on the place setting. 

Candyland!

i had ALWAYS wanted to do a candy bar for an event. this particular bridal weekend was a great opportunity. all of us ladies have a sweet tooth and thought this would be so much fun and i could see how much i could 'flex' my creative muscles. i started planning this in may (the event was at the end of august). like the crazy planner i am, i did research....a lot of research! i had to figure out what candy would be loved by everyone, i had to think of a color theme, i had to think of how to set it up and be a surprise, where to buy everything. i took notes, kept my out for sales and great deals. 


the theme of this particular candy bar was inspired by my one of my favorite designers, kate spade. i had a box of stationery made by ks with red and hot pink polka dots on it, it was called 'confetti'....and i knew i had my colors. from then on, all i saw was red and pink, my mind was set to find anything and everything in those colors.  i went everywhere for the candy. i used two sizes of clear cello bags for the girls to put the candy in. i incorporated the napkins into this table knowing we would eat the cookies and amazing brownies (made by my friends mum) right away. the one thing i thought would be the easiest to find, ended up being the hardest...the table clothe. in the end, i went and bought two yards of hot pink satin and it worked wonders, it traveled well...didn't wrinkle. i couldn't have been more happy with the way it turned out!

What is Pink, Satin and Sparkly all over?

this is a gift i wrapped for a bridal shower i attended. the gift started with the large wedding ring and the design went from there. i had a roll of gorgeous pink wrap and some sparkly pink wrap left over from another project. i also had access to this stunning white satin ribbon. it was a crate and barrel box, which meant i had to really tape down the handle that i asked them not to put on there. i think the pink sparkle paper on top made the gift really pop and fun! it looked great on the gift table!

Final Fling before the Ring

I had the privilege to work with a great group of gals in planning a bachelorette and bridal weekend for our friend getting married in the fall. Our theme for the weekend was 'Final Fling'. I bought strawberry and cherry ring pops and bought small clear ring boxes. I added a bit of flare to the place setting at the bachelorette dinner by placing the favor on a hot pink napkin I designed with brushed gold typesetting and ring design to have it match the ring boxes. 

Blossoms for Boo

after a lot of planning and prep work, i finally made my sister's birthday cake. as usual i kept changing my mind about how i wanted to approach this project, second guessed colors i was using...i decided to stay with my original plan because i find most of the time in my creative adventures my first idea was probably my best.

i had the chocolate cake made the week before and placed it in the freezer until i needed it. it tasted amazing, even after being the freezer. i used one and a half tubs of fondant, three different color fondant dyes, three different color shimmer and color dusts. i tripled a vanilla buttercream frosting recipe so i could fill three layers and cover the top and sides. my sister helped me, even then the project...just to cover and decorate the cake took 4 hours...but the final reward was seeing my idea completed. i give you my cherry blossom cake.

 this is a gift i wrapped up for a friend of mine who is on her way to michigan state university. i filled a clear acrylic paint bucket with green and white candies and fun stuff for her to wear tailgating during football season. i wrapped other gifts within the box in different shades of green and white. i attached tags inspired by one of my favorite designers, kate spade. i was also lucky enough to find michigan state fleece and emerald fleece to make her a knot blanket.

Do you Lilac?

this is a gift i wrapped for my friend's birthday. i used chartreuse wrap and two different types of ribbon, little purple and glitter purple. the ribbon didn't have any wire, which made it difficult to bow up, however with some patience and concentration, i was able to make it work.  i then got a purple peony. i like to make the flower fit the size of the gift. i try not to pick a flower that will get lost or over power the gift. to prevent sharp edges, i curl the end of the flower up.

 while i was playing with frosting, i also decided to buy some fondant and try out my new cherry blossom mold. it worked wonders. i decided to make a box for my friend's birthday. i made white and pink cherry blossoms, and covered the tops of the cupcakes with fondant as well, in either blue or pink. i did a crumble layer of frosting on top, so i could get a smooth finish when i put the fondant on.  i then used some pearlized dust to give the cupcakes some sparkle.

 

Coming up Roses

i decided to try my hand at making roses from frosting....my first attempt was embarrassing. i used just pilsbury vanilla frosting with some rose pink color gel. the mixture was too soft, so my rose just looked like a blob of pink. i added some confectioners sugar to the mix to make it thicker, that seemed to help. however if i attempt it again, i will make my own frosting, possibly try royal icing. i made the rose directly on the cupcake instead of using a flower stand. i've seen rotating stands for cupcakes, i think that would have been helpful in this situation.

To the drawing board



 when it comes to baking elaborate cakes, i like to draw it out. that way i can figure out what color combinations look good and what designs to use. this is a cake design i've been working on for my sister's birthday cake. she asked for cherry blossoms.

She sells sea shells



last year, i took on the task of making my sister's birthday cake. it was my first time using fondant and working with a lot of cake and frosting. i studied up...i watched tv shows...i read recipe books...watched videos. after finding out my sister chose a beach theme, i tried to keep it a simple design, since i was a bit inexperienced. i used a chocolate cake recipe from one my mum's cookbooks from england. i used vanilla buttercream frosting between the layers and covering the outside of the cake. i bought already-made fondant by duff- ace of cakes host. i bought white fondant then bought wilton cake dyes to make the fondant the color i wanted to achieve. i made the seashells from white and milk chocolate using a wilton candy shell tray. for the sand, i dabbed a bit of frosting on top of the cake and sprinkled brown sugar on top. i dusted the bottom, edge fondant accents with pearl dust, which can be eaten. it was a great learning experience making a cake with fondant.



the two items i loved using for cake decorating were the cake spinner and the frosting spatula. i was able to get a clean, smooth finish when covering the cake with the wilton cake spatula. the spinner made everything so much easier than dancing around the kitchen counter trying to make sure the sides and top of the cake were even.



Can you do me a Favor?

i did these favors for a baby shower. i used blossom polka dot pillow boxes from the paper source. i then made the tags by using a vintage carriage rubber stamp with brown ink and clear embossing powder. i printed the date and name of the mum to be on the back of the card. the 'le bebe' ribbon is made by midori. inside of the boxes were chocolate covered oreos and a chocolate pacifier.

The Pens had the Blues...

 this invitation was for a girls weekend. we decided to go to watch a hockey game. while i cheered for my pittsburgh penguins, my friend cheered for her st. louis blues. while it was a valiant battle all night, the pens lost in over time... much to my chagrin and to my friends joy.
i kept this invitation quite simple in terms of incorporating the theme of hockey. i designed the tickets on the front of the invitation to look like the game tickets. the copy and layout inside the invitation, i kept very low key in terms of the design element. i thought the tickets on the front of the invitation was the major design element. since i create 3-4 invitations a year for the girls weekend events. i do like to add the year and location it was held at. it's very helpful when it comes to scrap booking the event.

Orange you glad...

 this is my favorite shade of orange, it's called poppy. aqua and poppy are fun and cheerful. i made my bows from tulle and satin, glitter ribbon. i like using solid color wrap and then using patterned ribbon and elaborate package toppers. for this occasion, i used my friends favorite color, orange. i will sometimes mimic the colors of the gift in the wrap, or follow the theme of the gift into the package topper. for birthdays, i will usually use wrap and ribbon associated with the recipient's favorite color.

Sparkling Butterflies

 when i see a package topper i like...i usually buy a bunch of them. i know will always use them later. i like making the butterfly look like it's sitting on the bows i make. i tend to like the butterflies that are covered with glitter so they sparkle on top of the gift. i've found a lot of people save the butterfly since it's too pretty to throw away. i usually suggest they reuse it in their own gift wrapping adventures.

Badgers & Bows

 i designed this gift wrap for a fellow art history friend for her graduation. i usually like to use the school colors with graduation gifts. i wrapped the main gift and all the little gifts inside. i made a topper by using the university mascot, in this case a badger, and attached it to a tag i designed on my computer.

Cherry Blossoms for Mum

Here are some of my recently wrapped gifts. These were for my Mum for Mother's Day. I love using flowers for package toppers. I found these Cherry Blossoms at Pottery Barn. These are some of my favorite color combinations, particularly pink and chartreuse. 

Start from the Beginning....

Tonight, I decided to start my blog. I hope to be able to share my creative adventures with you all. I've realized that not everyone gets to see what I can do and thought this was the easiest and most effective way to accomplish such a task. At the moment, I am juggling many projects, my desk is currently covered in pink glitter, I've found double-stick tape in my hair and my notebook is stacked to the brim with ideas and notes. I hope to soon start posting some of my completed projects for your viewing pleasure. However for your enjoyment, I will share some of my previous projects so you may get a taste of what's to come!