Today’s handmade holiday idea is all about creating a simple hostess gift. I purchased a few different sizes of  wooden spoons, and taped off stripes at various intervals with painter’s tape, and then painted in the lines with black paint. After the paint thoroughly dried, I peeled back the tape to reveal the pretty stripes. Make sure you add a matte coat of clear finish over the top so that they’re safe to hand-wash.  And of course, presentation is everything — I wrapped the set up in a  shiny silk ribbon to make them gift-giving-ready!

DIY Spoon Set 1 DIY Spoon Set 2 DIY Spoon Set 3 DIY Spoon Set 4

Looking for more DIY present ideas? Check them out here.

Ready for another simple handmade holiday gift? This is another under-5-minutes DIY — glittery rhinestone filled ornaments. To make these, I purchased clear ornaments from my local craft store, and filled them up with rhinestones in various colors, shapes and sizes. Then I added a bright pink silk ribbon to the top for hanging. While I sort of want to keep these shiny little decorations for myself, I think they’d make a great gift for your girlfriends, customized in colors to match their style. Or tie a few onto a wrapped present as a special decoration that the recipient can add to their tree!

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Looking for more DIY present ideas? Check them out here.

I am slowly recovering from my long weekend of feasting and am ready to kick-off some holiday-talk this week! Last year I had so much fun sharing DIY gift ideas, so I thought I would share a few new ideas this season too. This mulling spice kit is a super simple idea that would be great for hostess or teachers gifts — and it’ll take you only about 5-minutes to put together.  I purchased some stacking organizers from the Container Store and in each layer added in a different spice — cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, anise, allspice, are all common mulling spices you could use here — pick the ones you like best! After all of the containers were filled, I stacked them back up and tied some whole cinnamon sticks to the container with a festive red ribbon. Consider pairing these with a bottle of red wine, some spice-bags, and a little handwritten note with your favorite mulled-wine recipe!

Mulling Spice Kit 1 Mulling Spice Kit 2 Mulling Spice Kit 3 Mulling Spice Kit 4

Looking for more DIY present ideas? Check them out here.

Next week I have a few fun DIY ideas for handmade holiday gifts — but in the meantime I thought I would share a few of my favorite DIY gifts from last year to get you in the crafting-mood! My favorite of these is the festive bottle stoppers, I gave them out as gifts last year and they were a hit — plus I still have a few hanging around that I plan on using for holiday entertaining! Do you have any plans for homemade gifts this year?

Festive Bottle Stoppers | Cookie Mix Jars | Glitter Hangers | Polka Dot Candle Holder | Monogrammed Coffee Mugs

DIY Holiday Gifts - Ornament Bottler Stopper

I think is going to be my first post where I claim the ‘holiday season is upon us’ — because I officially saw them rolling out the roasting pan displays and racks of Christmas decorations at Target last night!  I did a little DIY project a few weeks back to create a custom chalkboard and I think this idea is perfect for adding a little rustic touch to your holiday decorating. It’s as simple as this: I found the tree stump slices at Michael’s and painted them freehand with black chalkboard paint, leaving a little border around the edge to show some of the wood. I think they would be just perfect for writing out your holiday dinner menu on, sharing your signature cocktail recipe (like I did below) or even a thoughtful note about what you’re thankful for at Thanksgiving.

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Photography (Image 2) by Bring to Light Photography and Florals by Little Flower Cottage

I got such a rush of happiness this evening when I walked outside my office building and it was warm and still light outside! I popped on my sunglasses and might have actually skipped to the subway. Spring is in the air people, so I’m sharing a crafty little DIY to get you in the spirit. No drink is complete without a festive adornment so I whipped up some mini-pinwheel cocktail stirrers to have on hand for my weekend libations. Making them is super easy: first cut decorative paper into 2″ squares; next cut small incisions into the corner of the squares and roll the edges around a pencil. Finally, layer the four points towards the center and pin them (I use map-tacks) and tack the pinwheel onto a small stirrer. Voila! Now you just need to mix yourself a drink and cheers to spring!

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Sometimes there’s wrapping paper that’s too cute to rip into and discard. Such was the case with this absolutely adorable hot pink zebra paper that wrapped up one of my birthday gifts, I just had to do something with it to keep it around. I used the top of a wooden box to create a small tray and with some paint and a little decoupage I can enjoy the paper every day now.  (I liked the paper so much,  I even went back to the store to get some more! You can find it here: Paper-Source).

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A poor selection of flowers at my local Trader Joes this week inspired me to whip up a sparkly centerpiece for our annual New Year’s Eve party. I hit the Christmas sale section at the craft store and gathered up some tinsel garland and metallic tissue papers. With a hot glue gun in hand I wrapped some tinsel garlands around foam cones to create two tree-like pieces. With the silver and gold mylar tissue paper I layered strips of hand-cut fringe around the third cone. I topped all three with sparkly drink stirrers that I also found in the Christmas clearance bin at Target to finish them off!

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NYE Tinsel TreesTINSEL TREE

And of course I couldn’t pass up all of that discounted tinsel, so I used the extra pieces to outline some cardboard cut-outs of 2013 and strung them up on the wall — it’ll be a perfect backdrop for some festive photo-ops!

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I’m off to New York today to wrap up the year and head home for the holidays, so I have a festive little guest post to share with you from Navya of The Little Flower Cottage:

When Kate mentioned that she wanted to do a guest post on gift wrap styling,  I jumped at the chance to share what I’ve been whipping up in my own little workshop this season! I don’t know about you, but for me, receiving a beautifully wrapped package is almost as exciting as what’s inside.  This year I went with some simple polka dot kraft wrapping paper (a TJMaxx score!)  that I embellished with sprigs of pine, cinnamon sticks and gold glitter. I didn’t feel like the white dots were festive enough so I brushed on a thin layer of glue and dusted away with some Martha Stewart glitter. Presto!  An instant touch of glam to otherwise rustic packaging.  I can’t wait to hand them off to friends and family next week!

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Ready for the last installment of Handmade Holidays? There is no sweeter gift than homemade treats! 

Remember when I said this was the easiest DIY holiday present? I lied — it gets easier! Grab a package of Tollhouse chocolate chips from the grocery store and using the recipe on the back measure out all of the dry ingredients, layering them one by one in a mason jar. Next, write the recipe out on a pretty piece of paper and stick it on top of the jar, and finally, adorn the front with a personalized message and some ribbon (I printed my message out on Martha Stewart Avery Labels). How easy was that? Don’t forget to check out the rest of the Handmade Holidays Gift ideas here, here, here, and here!

 
 
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