Have you seen the new issue of Gifted Magazine yet? Ez from Creature Comforts has put together this super duper fantastic collection of holiday gift ideas for pretty much anyone that you mind find on your gift list this year, and starting on page 130 you’ll find 8 pages of free printable holiday gift tag designs, including these “Mod”-Century gift tags that I designed exclusively for the magazine. Head on over to Gifted for plenty of great holiday gift ideas and to download all of the fun, printable gift tags, too!

]]> http://www.domestifluff.com/2011/11/gifted-free-printable-holiday-gift-tags/feed/ 7 http://www.domestifluff.com/2011/07/diy-paper-citrus-slices-boxes/ http://www.domestifluff.com/2011/07/diy-paper-citrus-slices-boxes/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:49:26 +0000 Kristen http://www.domestifluff.com/?p=713

Last week on Paper Crave, I shared these fun paper citrus slice and box templates, and I wanted to let you all know about them, too. You can use the citrus slices for a bunch of different types of projects – everything from scrapbooking project embellishments to handmade cards to citrus-themed party details, and I’ve included SVG, GSD, DXF, and Silhouette Studio files (half slices and full slices) for those of you who have digital cutters, as well as a PDF with all of the files if you’ll be cutting the slices out by hand.

Also included in the zip file are SVG, GSD, DXF, and PDF templates for the favor/gift box, and I created a Silhouette Studio template file that includes perforations. PDF files for the striped papers are included, too, so you can make your own striped, citrus slice embellished boxes.

Please read : All files are for personal, non-commercial use only and are © Kristen Magee. You do not have permission to redistribute, resell, or claim any of these files as your own, and you may not use the citrus slices or boxes as elements in products that you will be selling.

Printable Files:

Pink Holiday Gift Tags

Candy Stripe Paper

Chevron Paper

Christmas Trees Paper

Mod Poinsettia Paper

Candy Canes Paper

You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to download and use these files. Download the reader for free here. These templates are for personal, non-commercial use only.

I’ve been working on a pretty ambitious felt tree skirt project this year, and it’s left me with a bunch of leftover ivory felt, so I’ve been trying to come up with some small projects that make use of the felt leftovers. These little ornaments aren’t at all difficult to make, even for beginners at embroidery, and even though they make extensive use of the fancy (and intimidating, so I’ve read) French knot. Trust me, the French knot isn’t difficult at all once you get a few practice knots in, and here’s a a video that takes you through it in real time, so if you’re a visual learner like me you’ll be a French knot pro in no time and will want to use this stitch anywhere that you possibly can.

The only other stitches used in this project are the running stitch and whip stitch. As for the aforementioned tree skirt, I’d love to show you now, but at the rate I’m going it’s probably not going to be done until sometime in 2011, if I’m lucky! Thankfully, these ornaments are much quicker to make. I made each ornament in about 30 to 45 minutes.

Download the templates for this project right here (97Kb PDF file).

You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to download and use the template file. Download the reader for free here. These templates are for personal, non-commercial use only.

1. Print and cut out the ornament templates. Cut a piece of felt that’s twice as long as the ornament template that you’re working with, and position the template on the felt so there’s enough room for you to fold the felt in two when you’re finished tracing the template. Trace around the edge of the template using a water soluble marking pen. To mark where the French knots will go, hold the template and felt against a window so you can see the markings through the felt, and use the water soluble pen to mark where the knots will go.

2. Fold the felt in half and pin together using straight pins. Cut around the edges using pinking shears.

3. Use a damp paper towel to remove any ink that’s left along the edges of the felt. Be sure not to remove the dots that mark where the French knots will go. Unpin the two pieces of felt.

4-5. Make the French knots on the piece of felt with the dot markings, using the dotted side of the felt as the reverse. These images illustrate how to make a French knot, but this video does a much better job of showing you how to create the stitch. I tie off each knot when I’m finished since the felt is ivory and I don’t want the zig zags of embroidery thread to show through.

6. When you’re finished making the knots, match up the two pieces of felt as closely as you can, with the French knots facing outward, and pin together the pieces. Stitch along the edge of the ornament using a running stitch.

7. You have a few options for attaching the ornament hanger. Tie a 9-10 inch length of red embroidery thread together at the bottom to create the hanger and either 1) sew the hanger in when you come to the top center of the ornament as you’re stitching around (as shown), 2) attach the hanger to the back piece of the ornament before you start stitching the pieces together, or 3) attach the hanger after you’ve finished the ornament.

8. Leave a small opening in one area of the ornament so you can stuff it. You can use cotton balls that have been pulled apart, poly-fill, or leftover trimmings from making pom poms for the stuffing. Push the stuffing into the ornament using a small paintbrush or the end of a pen. After you’ve finished stuffing the ornament, sew it completely closed.

For the Bell Ornament

1. The center star on the bell ornament is made using a long running stitch for each set of points. In order to keep the star in place, make a short running stitch in the center to tack the star in place.

2. To finish the ornament, attach a jingle bell to the center bottom using ivory embroidery thread.

For the Wreath Ornament

1. To cut out the center of the wreath ornament, I like to use an Xacto knife (on a cutting mat) to cut across the diameter of the circle and then use scissors to cut out the center, but you can use scissors to make a hole and cut out from there.

2. Use a whip stitch and ivory embroidery thread to sew together the center edges of the ornament.

3. Stitch together the outer edges of the ornament using a running stitch and ivory embroidery thread. After you’ve stitched about 1 1/2 inches along the edge, stuff the portion that you just stitched using fill and the end of a paintbrush. Stuffing the circle as you go helps prevent gaps in the stuffing.

4. Trace the leaf templates onto green felt, cut out, dab off any remaining ink using a damp paper towel, and sew around the edges of each leaf using a running stitch and green embroidery thread. Attach the leaves to the top center of the wreath ornament.

I had so much fun designing this year’s set of printable holiday gift tags, but I have to admit that I had some trouble finalizing a color scheme because I had about ten different color palettes that I wanted to use. I wanted something sort of retro, subdued, but still festive, and I finally decided on a palette of candy apple red, icy teal blue, mint green, and silvery taupe. Download the free printable gift tags (161Kb PDF).

If you’re looking for more holiday tags, please check out 2009’s wintry holiday gift tags and the colorful, patterned gift tags over at Paper Crave.

You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to download and use this file. Download the reader for free here. These templates are for personal, non-commercial use only.

This craft is part of the 13 Days of Halloween project. Download number templates for the project, as well as the bug template for Day 3, in the tips and supplies post. Links to all of the crafts from this project can be found in the main 13 Days of Halloween post.

This is it, Day 13! This little owl may look menacing, but he’ll be holding Halloween treats for you when you get to the big day. Happy Halloween!

Quick Tip: If you’re pressed for time and want to speed up the process, you can cut 2″ wide x 3/4″ tall pieces of black cardstock and use decorative edging scissors (Fiskars Clouds and Scallop work very well for this) to make the feather ruffles, instead of cutting out the feather ruffle templates.

Supplies Needed

mini owl treat box template (277Kb PDF)

black and orange cardstock

a stylus, ruler, and small cutting mat for scoring the box template (optional)

craft scissors

glue dots and double-sided tape

school glue

a small paintbrush

a paper plate or piece of paper

glitter (I used Martha Stewart Fire Opal)

Instructions

1. Print the templates onto cardstock. Page one of the template contains everything that will need to be printed on black; page two contains the beak and eye center pieces, which are printed on orange. Cut out all of the template pieces and, as shown in the picture, assemble the eyes and attach the beak to the horns using glue dots. Assemble the box according to the instructions found in the template file.

2. As shown in the picture, attach the feather ruffles to the box using glue dots or double-sided tape.

3. Using a small paintbrush and school glue, cover the beak in glue. Immediately sprinkle the glitter over the beak until it’s completely covered, and allow excess glitter to fall onto a paper plate or piece of paper below. Tap off any remaining excess glitter, and set aside to allow the glue to dry completely.

4. Paint the eye center with glue, and use the technique in step 3 to complete the glittering process. Repeat for the second eye.

5. After the glue on the beak and eyes has dried completely, attach the eyes to the beak/horn piece using glue dots or double-sided-tape.

6. Attach the completed face piece to the front flap of the box using glue dots or double-sided tape. Fill with treats, and seal the box shut using glue dots, double-sided tape, or even a small piece of velcro.