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.