Decorative Packaging

Decorative Hangers for all Seasons

These are so cute and a great idea for guest rooms or entry closets where coats go.  They also make great house warming and shower gifts.  Pick your fabric to match the occasion or the décor.  These will help keep dresses that slide off, or slick tops that like to slip off the hanger.  They will encourage your kids to hang up their stuff if you make them hangers from fun fabric.

TO MAKE HANGERS

You will need dishtowels, wooded hangers, needle and thread, poly-fill batting, assorted rickrack and piping, ¾ yard ribbon for each hanger

Hangers

Cut batting into strips 9 inches wide. Wrap each arm of the hanger four thicknesses, baste the batting in place.

Use the template to cut four pieces of fabric, deciding first which directions to run the stripes or patterns, With fabric folded right sides out, cut two pairs of pieced.

To apply piping or rickrack, machine bastes on right sides of two of the pieces along ½ inch seam allowance. If using rick rack, center stitching line along center of rickrack.  If using piping, stitch just to the inside of the cording, making sure that the piping itself is towards the inside of the piece, in either case, apply trim only around the two long, curved sides of the piece, not across the short flat end, which will form the opening.

Lay one piece that has trim attached over one that does not, right sides together, turn pair of pieces over so that the basting side is face up.  Use the basting line as a guide for your seam. Sewing the seam just slightly inside (toward the center of the p9iece) the basting line

Clip seam at curved ends, turn right side out, remove any basting thread that is visible, press

Stuff a 2-inch ball of batting into the end of each half of the hanger cover. Insert batting covered hanger ends into covers, keeping seams straight along top and bottom of hanger. Where the two sides of the cover meet, turn ends inside and slipstitch together by hand.

 Fold ribbon in half and place around neck of hanger with ends hanging in front, pull ribbon around to the back of the hanger an to the top, tie a bow in front, trim ends.

Many of the items you may need to create your own version of this idea can be found on our website by clicking on the link in my post.  

A leprechaun (Irish: leipreachán) is a type of fairy in Irish folklore, usually taking the form of an old man, clad in a red or green coat, who enjoys partaking in mischief. Popular depiction shows them as being no taller than a small child.  

Start with a key chain hook or clip, Plenty of narrow ribbon.  You can cut off what you don’t need.

Leprechaun
Pony Bead Pattern

You need:
–26 Green Pony Beads
–4 Ivory Pony Beads
–7 White Pony Beads
–6 Black Pony Beads
–2 Silver Pony Beads
–4 Feet Satin Cord
–1 Lanyard Hook

Basic Instructions:
Fold your ribbon in half to find the center. Use a half hitch (see detail below) to secure it to lanyard hook. Lace beads using the pattern above right as a guide.

Many of the items you may need to create your own version of this idea can be found on our website by clicking on the link in my post.  

The earliest known reference to the leprechaun appears in the medieval tale known as the (English: Adventure of Fergus son of Léti). The text contains an episode, King of Ulster, falls asleep on the beach and wakes to find himself being dragged into the sea by three lúchorpáin. He captures his abductors, who grant him three wishes in exchange for release.

The leprechaun is said to be a solitary creature, whose principal occupation is making and mending shoes, and who enjoys practical jokes. According to William Butler Yeats, the great wealth of these fairies comes from the “treasure-crocks, of old and buried under rainbows  in war-time”, which they have uncovered and appropriated.

Decorative Trees in the Home

I keep finding wonderfully creative ways to display evergreen trees and decorative ribbon in the home. Of course everyone loves Christmas trees but this goes way beyond just putting up a Christmas tree. Some people have lots of live plants in their home; others use the artificial fig trees with lights for an intimate feel to the room. I have found many examples of decorating with evergreen trees that don’t have to be Christmas trees. This lovely tree is used in a log home dining room. Country ribbon tied into huge bows with long tails embellishes this tree along with pine cones that have a hint of white on them. A coordinating ribbon used as garland winds around the tree from top to bottom. Uniform white twinkle lights glisten through the ribbon and evergreens as if the sun was beaming through ice on a tree in the woods.

Another image of the beautiful tree with the lights off show that the tree is a warm welcomed decoration in this rustic cabin for any occasion and all the year through. Bring the outside beauty into the inside with out any danger of in climate weather. Have fun decorating.

Many of the items you may need to create your own version of this idea can be found on our website by clicking on the link in my post.

A few well placed ribbon bows such as the one above will easily take your home from Valentines Day to St. Patricks Day. 

Whether or not your ancestors were Irish it’s fun to celebrate St Patrick’s day with the traditional green of Shamrocks, good food, and decorations. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and was believed to have been born in what is now Scotland around 386. He is credited as using the three lobes of the Shamrock to teach the Holy Trinity.

Today the plant is symbolic of the season and the shape can be used as coasters, place cards, place mats, or napkin rings. Use a clover plant as the centerpiece or any favorite greenery. Snakes and toads can also be used as decoration since St Patrick was also credited with driving them out of Ireland.

Many of the items you may need to create your own version of this idea can be found on our website by clicking on the link in my post.  

St Patrick’s Decoration using recycled materials!

Have you ever noticed that a shamrock’s leaves are shaped like little hearts? Well, this St. Patrick’s Decoration is assembled from empty heart-shaped candy boxes left over from Valentine’s Day. It’s the miracle of green paint and the luck o’ the Irish, of course.

One of the fun things about this craft is creatively embellishing it. Make it more festive with rubber stamps, stickers, glitter or whatever you have that is green. We were a little conservative because we liked the look of just the tiny green scallop fringe around the outside. By all means, try paper, ribbon or embroidered fringe around your St Patrick’s Decoration!

Materials for this St Patrick’s Decoration

• Two (2) heart-shaped cardboard candy boxes, 7″ high, 7″ wide, and about 1″ deep.
• Green nubby trim, 96″
• Green ribbon, 36″.
• Spray paint, white primer and flat green
• Craft paint, light green.
• Varnish or polyurethane, liquid or spray.
• Natural sea sponge.
• Wide brush for varnish.
• Tacky craft glue or spray adhesive.
• Hot glue gun.
• Scissors or paper cutter.
• Hole punch (1/4″ hole).

Instructions

1. Start with the two cardboard candy boxes. Empty them carefully, eating quickly and discarding any chocolates you don’t like. Bury the little wrapping papers so no one knows you just ate two boxes of chocolate. If the top trays are embossed, rub the embossing as flat as you can with a bone folder, use spray adhesive to cover the tops with heavy paper, and trim off the excess. You should now have four heart-shaped trays.
2. On one of the trays, draw a line vertically down the center. Measure and draw a line 1″ in from the outside edge, ending at the center line. Cut out this shape, which will be the stem of your shamrock.

1. Lay three trays and the stem face-down on wax paper, with the edges overlapping and the bottom points of the hearts just touching. one by one, glue the edges together with the hot glue gun. Let the glue dry completely.
2. Spray paint both sides of the decoration with white primer, letting it dry between coats.
3. Punch two holes in the top rim of the top tray, for your hanging ribbon.
4. Spray paint both sides of the decoration green, letting it dry between coats (see Tips). Use the sea sponge to dab on a mottled pattern of green craft paint over the entire front surface.
5. Trim the vintage images and arrange them on the decoration. When you like the arrangement, glue them on with spray adhesive or tacky craft glue. Be aware that moist craft glue may buckle the image paper, so you will want to apply even pressure with a flat weight while the glue dries. (Alternatively, you can decoupage the images on with decoupage medium.) Add other flat embellishments, such as stickers or rubber stamps.
6. Brush or spray on several coats of varnish or polyurethane, letting it dry between coats.
7. 
8. Use the hot glue gun to attach the fabric trim around the entire outside edge of the decoration. 9.
9. You’ll have to cut the trim carefully to fit where the shamrock leaves meet.
10. Embellish your St Patrick’s Decoration further with glitter, buttons, bows or all things green.
11. Thread the green ribbon through the holes in the top, add a sprightly bow, and hang your decoration on the front door!

Tips

• We chose the most common heart-shaped Valentine candy box size we could find: 7″ high, 7″ wide, and 1″ deep. The box should be entirely cardboard, not the molded plastic kind. If the top of the box is embossed, add a layer of heavy paper with spray adhesive over the top and trim it.
• Our nubby trim (what Martha Stewart calls Small Scallop-Loop Fringe) came from Jo-Ann’s Fabrics, and it was bright green with tiny balls every 1/4″. You may find something you like better, like gold braid, fringe or sequins. Just keep it small-scale, because it has to get into some very tight places where the shamrock leaves come together. 96″ of trim is just enough to go around the entire perimeter of the four 7″-wide candy boxes. If your boxes are larger, measure around them before you buy your trim.
• White primer spray paint is essential for this St Patrick’s Decoration. The primer is necessary for covering the red and printing on the candy boxes. Also, the primer seals the cardboard so the addition of other paints and glue do not swell or buckle the boxes.
• We chose to spray-paint the decoration a flat medium green because we like the even coverage of spray paint. Once your white primer has dried, you can brush on green craft paint or enamel, if you prefer.
• For your St Patricks Day trivia-trove, “Erin Go Bragh” means “Ireland Forever,” and real shamrocks have three leaves, not four.

Many of the items you may need to create your own version of this idea can be found on our website by clicking on the link in my post.   

Tropical Holiday Cottage

The tropical theme is carried on through out the house with simple yet elegant decorations through out this beach house.  With the natural wood work on the walls and floor only being accented by the white trim wood work, your color pallet is wide open.  The tropical coral wide ribbon that is used to hang the stockings on the stair way is also decoratively splashed onto the front door by the wreath being hung by the same color.  The bow on the wreath is also the beautiful Coral Tropicana color. Using lemons again on the front door along with other tropical fruit is very inviting to the eye.  Traditional red and white colors of Christmas are introduced by adding tropical flowers in a simple vase.  I Love the sea green stockings too that finish off the warm feel of the room. Can’t you almost hear the ukulele playing softly in the back ground?

Many of the items you may need to create your own version of this idea can be found on our website by clicking on the link in my post.  

When Life Give’s you Lemons…

This tropical room displays a hint of yellow with the lemons that are wired on the wreath.  Whether you decide on fresh or artificial, this is a unique approach to hanging a wreath.  It keeps the theme of the room Tropicana and still has the festive holiday feel.  The wreath is beautifully hung with brilliant, wide, gold ribbon to add another accent color.  I love the 4 tails hanging down from the bow. It’s just a two part bow.  Two ends are left long from tying a knot in the loop that hangs the wreath, long tails are also left over from tying a simple but huge bow at the top. 3M makes these great hangers for anywhere you don’t want to make a hole in the woodwork or wall.  They have an adhesive double stick gel pad that attaches to a plastic backing with a hook on the front.  They are incredibly strong too. 

Many of the items you may need to create your own version of this idea can be found on our website by clicking on the link in my post.  

A tassel is a finishing feature in fabric decoration. The tassel is a universal ornament that is seen in varying versions in many cultures around the globe. They are used in many different ways from home decor,equine formal tack, and ceremonial uses and can vary from delicately simple to intricately elaborate.

The word “tassel” comes from the Latin “tassau” which meant a clasp (as for the neck of a garment).

Ceremonial wear

Tassels are also found on mortarboards and at the end of honor cords during university graduation ceremonies and possibly upon the shoes of the graduates at the ceremony. Near the conclusion of the graduation ceremony the tassel that hangs from the graduate’s mortarboard is moved from the right to the left. Typically the entire graduating class does this in unison.

History and use 

In the Western World tassels were originally a series of windings of thread or string around a suspending string until the desired curvature was attained. Decades later, turned wooden moulds, which were either covered in simple wrappings or much more elaborate coverings called “satinings”, were used. This involved an intricate binding of bands of filament silk vertically around the mould by means of an internal “lacing” in the bore of the mould.

The French exported their very artistic work, and at such low prices that no other nation developed a mature “trimmings” industry. Tassels and their associated forms changed style throughout the years, from the small and casual of Renaissance designs, through the medium sizes and more staid designs of the Empire period, and to the Victorian Era with the largest and most elaborate. Some antique designs are returning today from the European and American artisans who may charge a thousand dollars for a single hand-made tassel.

Tassels (also called tufts) were traditionally worn by Oxford and Cambridge University undergraduates on their caps (hence a slang word – tassel for an undergraduate), those wearing gold tassels were titled sons of the peers who had a right of vote in the House of Lords.

Creation

A tassel is made by binding plaited or otherwise gathered threads from which at one end protrudes a cord on which the tassel is hung, and which may have loose, dangling threads at the other end. Tassels are normally decorative elements, and as such one often finds them attached, usually along the bottom hem, to garments, curtains, or other hangings.

A tassel is primarily an ornament, and was at first the casual termination of a cord to prevent unraveling with a knot. Tassels, pompons, and rosettes are point ornaments; the others are linear ornaments. The parts of a tassel are basically, from top to bottom:

Making a tassel from yarn

• Suspending cord;
• Its body, which is usually made up of one or more moulds;
• A skirt of fringe or other ornaments.

Many of the items you may need to create your own version of this idea can be found on our website by clicking on the link in my post.

The charm of pew bows can be created simply with several ribbons in bow combinations, or made more elaborate with the addition of strings of pearls and graceful lengths of tulle flowing from pew to pew.

MATERIALS FOR ONE BOW

4 1/2 yds (4.5m) of
2 5/8-inch wide (6.5cm) brocade merrow-edge wire ribbon in ivory
4 1/2 yds (4.5m) of
1 1/2-inch-wide (4cm) wire-edge sheer ribbon in ivory
1 yd (1m) of 2 5/8-inch wide (6.5cm) wire-edge sheer ribbon in ivory.
2 to 3 branches of ivy
Tacky glue or hot glue

DIRECTIONS

Cut three 1 1/2-yard (1.5m) lengths from the 2 5/8-inch (6.5cm) ivory brocade ribbon. With right sides out, make a 6-inch (15cm) loop at one end of each. Wire all three lengths together and notch ends.
Following the instructions below, make a twelve-loop bow with 16-inch (40.5cm) tails from the 1 1/2-inch (4cm) ivory sheer ribbon. Wire this bow to the loops from step 1.
Following the instructions below, make a fancy pulled rose from the 2 5/8-inch (6.5cm) ivory sheer ribbon. Glue the rose to the center of the ribbon bow.

Glue the ivy to the pew bow.

GENERAL BOW TECHNIQUES

To fasten a bow with wire, fold an 18-inch (50cm) length of wire in half. Place the folded wire underneath the chosen ribbon and wrap the wire around the center, inserting the wire ends through the loop to tighten. Pull the wire ends to secure, bringing one end around center again at back. To tighten, twist the bow — not the wire — a few times.

TWO-LOOP BOW AND VARIATIONS

Cut a length of ribbon as specified in the project instructions. Wrap the ribbon back and forth, forming two loops with tails. Glue a small strip of ribbon around the ribbon loops to hold it in place. Ease the ribbon tail to the back of the bow.
For four-, six-, eight-, ten-, and twelve-loop bows, simply increase the number of loops before securing the center strip.
Note: When using ombre~ ribbon, results will differ depending on which side of the ribbon you work. Experiment with this for interesting color variations.

PULLED OR GATHERED ROSE

Cut ribbon to desired length. Knot one end, and pull knot firmly toward end to secure. From opposite side, gently pull one wire, slowly gathering ribbon along that edge. Continue gathering until entire side is completely ruffled and curling naturally. Wrap gathered ribbon around knotted end, forming a bud. Continue wrapping lightly so ribbon flares out and acquires an open rose effect. Tie wires together and trim. Adjust shape by fluffing or crumpling.

 ADD TULLE TO THE BACK OF THE BOW

First you need to determine how long you want the tails so you can figure out how much tulle you will need.  Play around with the tulle to make sure you end up with a tulle puff bow that is slightly larger than the ribbon bow and the tails are slightly longer than the ribbon tails.  Start in the center of the tulle, pull up loops and hold like a bouquet until you have reached the desired size, at least 10 loops can be secured with wire like a bouquet leaving the two long tails hanging free.  Once you have the loops secured, pull them out to each side to make a circle.  Do not flatten, it should resemble a flower with out a center, the ribbon bow can be attached to the center of the tulle circle by feeding the wire you used to fasten the ribbon together through the center of the flower.  Just play with it so that it lies right with the ribbon.  It can be as large and full as you desire.

 HINT

Allow plenty of time to play with the tulle because it can be difficult to arrange and it slips and slides but once you have it secure, it will stay.  Hang the bows from a hanger, don’t lay them flat or it will be hard to fluff them back.

Snowmen Slippers

Now you can be dressed from head to toe for the holidays.  You can give the old pair of slippers a make over since you will probably get a new pair for Christmas. This pattern can easily be modified for any time of year you would wear slippers.  You could use a white print or plain fabric and make felt hearts for Valentines Day.  You could use fall colors and put a turkey or a cornucopia on the top for Thanksgiving. Snowmen will work from autumn through to spring when its time to break out the flip flops!  Be creative and Have fun!

House slippers

¼ yard red plaid flannel

2 (71/2) pieces 3/8”-wide hunter green decorative braid

Shank buttons: 2 (7/16) round red, 4 (1/8) round black (or 6/0 black beads)

Pink ink pad

Felt: black, 4”x3” pieces each plush antique white

Hunter green ribbon

Fabric adhesive

6-strand embroidery floss: black, red

Sewing thread” red, hunter green

Sewing and embroidery needles

Cut fabric: cut two slipper tops from red plaid flannel.  Cut two hat brims and face backings and two tops of hat from black felt. Cut two faces from antique white felt. Cut scarf  from green ribbon left slipper,  cut one  for right slipper.  Cut two patches from green felt.

Using needle and thread sew a gathering stitch along toe of each flannel piece as indicated by dash lines on pattern. 

Fold under edges of one piece of flannel to wrong side all the way around approximately 1/2” from edge to fit over actual slipper; hold felt in place along seam with pins.

Center one piece of braid along top opening edge, pinning in place. Tuck ends of braid under flannel so that braid ends are between flannel and actual slipper; pin

On outside of slipper, stitch flannel to slipper top along seam using tiny whip-stitches with needle and matching thread; stitch braid to slipper using small whip-stitches and stitching through all thicknesses of fabric.

Repeat steps 3-5 for second slipper.

Felt Snowmen

Using generous amounts of adhesive, glue fact to fit onto hat brim, Glue top of hat to overlap behind brim; glue patch to top of hat long brim.

Stitch red button to center of face for nose; stitch black buttons in place for eyes.  Using 3 strands black floss, add straight-stitch eyebrows and back stitch mouth.  Stitch patch onto hat using 3 strands red floss.

Rub your fingertip onto ink-pad and apply blush to snowman’s cheeks.

Glue snowman to flannel slipper top below braid; glue ribbon for scarf 3/4 of the way across, leaving enough to fold over for the tail, glue tail down.

Many of the items you may need to create your own version of this idea can be found on our website by clicking on the link in my post.