christmas wrapping

The past few days have included lots of wrapping, photographing, and mailing (though sadly only a few of the gifts I've made will be getting to their destinations before Christmas--oops!). For some of the gifts I'm giving, I've opted to wrap them in fabric, rather than paper, and top them with handmade ribbon flowers. Little fabric bags like these are super quick and easy to make and are totally reusable.

salty oat web cards!

I've always been a big fan of Avie Designs (I have a growing collection of the company's stationery), so when I started looking for a "business card" for this blog--to hand out to fellow crafters and to include in swap and gift packages--the Atlanta-based company was my first choice. Not only does Avie Designs do custom invitations, bookplates, and traditional business cards, but they also do web cards--mini business cards which feature only web addresses. 

 

I loved the simple design, reasonable price, and small size (each one is 2.68 x 1.25 inches) of the web cards, so I browsed through the available designs and selected three. I love each card and have already started including them in packages.

gift tags

 

For Christmas, birthday, and just-for-fun presents, I decided to make some gift tags. 

Using an old calendar featuring panoramic views of Big Sur, I got to work tracing an actual tag onto the back of each calendar image. I cut each tag out by hand, and using my trusty three-hole puncher, punched holes into the top of each one.

   

I have to admit, this project took forever. In hindsight, I probably could have saved time (and avoided hand pain) by purchasing a tag puncher. Maybe next time...

 

Check out the tags in action here and here.