Turn a magazine into a Christmas paper tree -my Tutorial

Hello dear readers,

I'm still alive... very busy but I can never forget to update my blog when I can because I will never stop creating and inspiring myself and most of all sharing it with people that appreciate it.

With this cold weather and with all the travelling, I ended up with a pile of magazines so this is what I did, not to waste them after a good reading. 

It's so fun and easy to make trees out of them. I hope my tutorial will inspire you to make better ones. Mine was done in less than an hour with just things I could find at home. 

A paint finish, glitters and nicer ribbons could turn then into real beauties that could be given as presents or sold at local markets...so no more talking and let's start:

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Free printable Christmas Gift tags - Elf

I know, I'm a bit late but I couldn't wait to post those free gift tags with my cute little elf on it.
So here they are! ...I'm so sorry that you'll have to use them only next Christmas or maybe if you still need to deliver some presents, they might come handy.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THEM! 8 tags on each page.
I wish you all a happy holiday!

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Merry Christmas 2014 from Mad About Pink

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Christmas inspiration from the web - table setting

Good afternoon everybody,

I'm sorry about my long silence but it's not the best Christmas this year, some sadness around that took my creative mood away but it's not gone forever...I'm just waiting for my happiness to come back so I can share it with the world as it's contagious.
Instead, I went around looking for some great table settings for you and my favorite is this one, especially for those with children like me or those who doesn't want to grow up :-) like me too.

I found it on Simply Sweet Soirees so pop over there for more eye candies!

Have a great week end!
Jess

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How to reuse your wrapping paper leftovers... recycling is good

Because I love recycling, here some ideas on how to use your wrapping paper from Christmas presents.


Create a party banner!

Dress up your Office supplies
Make bookmarks!
Create color coded labels!
Use it as frame background!

Cover your Books!
Make Napkin rings!
Use a hole punch to create many decorations for your packages!

This is just a little list of ideas....but enough to make you think about how easy it can be to use leftovers.
Have a great day!
Jess
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Merry Christmas and Happy 2014 + free printable gift tags

My dear readers and friends,

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and an excellent 2014.

What do I wish for next year? 

More love around me! If we all try, we'll make it happen!

And to thank you for this year, a little freebie for you:

3 design for you to use. Just open a word document and copy those images below and re-size as you please and place as many as you can in a page...come on, save those trees.

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Gingerbread House and Royal Icing recipe

Hello everyone,

Christmas is almost here and today I got given my first present by a special Santa's helper. I got one of those kit from Ikea to make a gingerbread house.
So I decided to share some ideas and at the bottom an easy Royal Icing recipe.

Images via Sweetopia.com

Royal Icing recipe

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Jar Snow Globe - Easy 10 mins DIY tutorial

Here's a quick idea to make with your loved ones! Transform it into a center piece or a decoration. And no need to spend money. I'm sure you'll have some little items to add (toys, baby food jars, old xmas decoration, glitters sitting around the house)

If you make one, please send me a photo and I'll be happy to post it.

I Loooooove Christmas time!

All you need to create your own are jars in assorted sizes, waterproof superglue, trinkets, glycerin (available at crafts stores) but not necessary, you can use water ...Mad About Pink way of doing things :-), and glitter.

Instructions

1.Use glue to adhere your trinket to the inside of the jar lid. Dry about 24 hours.

2.Fill jar with enough water to fully submerge the trinket. Add three to five drops of glycerin and desired amount of glitter.

3.Use glue to adhere lid to the jar's metal screw band. Let dry.

4.Apply glue to the lid's inner edge, and screw onto jar. Let dry completely before shaking.

Have a good week end,

Jess
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Christmas this year....by Eva

 

Hello Mad About Pink readers. I am Eva Stephen. I am so happy to be here. The following post would give you the blend of traditional as well as modern decoration ideas for Christmas. I hope it helps and gives you inspiration for Christmas decoration this year.

Christmas is just around the corner, so let’s get down to creating a plan how to make your home as lovely as possible for this special day. How about doing something a little different this year? I am going to suggest several different decoration ideas and you’ll see which one best matches your home and your sense of style.

Image Credit

Introducing Purple as the Colour of the Year

Christmas colours are usually green, white and red. How about adding a new colour to your decorations? Purple is very rich and festive, and could be a beautiful addition to your décor. Add purple Christmas balls to your tree, purple balloons bouncing around the room and some other purple decorations that we’ll talk about. The colour of your dress or shirt on Christmas Eve could also be purple.

Hello, Crafts and Designs

If you have children, or even if you don’t, it could be a lot of fun to organize a day well ahead of Christmas to make some interesting decorations. Don’t rely on stuff that you can buy, but try to create something new and original. Some fresh ideas you can consider are:

1) A life-size Santa made out of cardboard and placed next to the Christmas tree, in a position as if he’s putting presents under the tree.

2) Sparkly stars sewn to the curtains, falling from the ceiling (hanging from a think piece of thread) or stuck to walls, doors, etc. You should have some purple stars, too.

 Image Credit

3) Balloons everywhere! Check out Christmas balloons from Party Box.

4) Fake presents – though you’ll have real presents underneath the tree, you can have boxes in shiny paper and of different sizes appearing from unexpected places – when you open a cupboard to get something, from underneath the bed or sofa, peering from underneath the pillow, etc. You can also play a game titled: “Guess which fake present is not really fake?” which you could play towards the end of the evening and have a race who’ll find the real gift among the “false” ones.

5) Place anything shiny around the house on the floor so that it will sparkle in an unusual way (pieces of fake jewellery, glass, stones, etc.)

You can also try to find new ideas online or in magazines and introduce a new look to your home for Christmas.

Image Credit

Don’t Overdo It

It is very important not to get caught up with decorating and lose track of what’s within the limits of good taste. Naturally, Christmas is all about having a glowing house full of ornaments and lights, which would look funny any other ordinary day of the year. But there’s still something called “too much Christmas decoration”. So, if you’re decorating your front porch, make it subtle and pleasant to the eye, rather than chaotic.

Decorate Every Room

You want your whole house to enjoy the holiday. Don’t let the bedroom furniture feel left out. Check out latest stock from this website. Bring in decorations to your study room, kitchen and bathroom as well. Use covers, blankets and pillows that look a little more festive than the ones you regularly use, if you have any. Have fresh flowers in vases in every room. Music is also very important contributor to the Christmas mood; it would be nice if you could hear it from almost any part of the house, even if just slightly.

Now that you have everything ready – sparkle, merry colours, good lighting, music, Santa handing out gifts – you’re ready for celebration.

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Finnish star tutorial

This is a great tutorial that can be done in paper as shown on Craft Ideas but I'd also give it a go with fabric and felt. (Yes, I'm still in love with fabric and buttons!)

Enjoy!

 1. Have your stick glue and paper clips ready...

2. Place 3 strips of paper vertically on the table before you. Weave the first horizontal strip over the right strip, under the middle strip and over the left strip. Make sure this strip is in the exact center.

Also, leave about a 3 millimeter gap between the strips. It is important for the appearance that the strip distance is accurate.

Glue this strip in place.

3. Now weave a strip under the first center strip, also leaving a 3 millmeter gap to the strip above it (the center horizonal one). This time, weave the strip under the right vertical strip, then over the middle vertical strip and then under the left vertical strip. Glue it in place.

4. Now for the last strip... place it over the center strip and weave it just like you did the one in step 3. Glue the strip in place.

Let the glue dry a little before continuing.

5. Turn the paper so that it looks like an “x” in front of you. Turn the top right (vertical) strip to the back so that the backside of it is facing you. At the same time, turn the top left (horizontal) strip also towards the vertical strip and glue its front side to the (visible) backside of the vertical strip. See the picture for guidance.

6. You may want or need to use paper clips to hold the strips together while the glue is drying.

Turn the “x” clockwise so that the next two strips are on top and repeat using the same procedure as in step 5. Repeat two more times.

7. Now your star should be looking like this.

8. It is time for the backside. This particular star uses 2 different papers which helps in this tutorial to differentiate between the front side and the back side. You can of course use one color for your star.

9. With the remaining 6 strips repeat steps 1-7 again. You will then have 2 halves that are ready to be put together.

10. Place the 2 halves over each other with the rounded (curved) sides to the inside and each of the loops are positioned over a strip from the other half. Paper clip these in place for the moment to hold the star together.

11. Adjust your paper strips if necessary so that the opposite curves are taut and a little buckling.

12. Make sure that the point of the curve is also centered over the strip.

13. One by one, glue the strips in place and hold together with paper clips.

14. Once the glue is dry, you can remove the paper clips and cut away the excess strip pieces underneath the curved point. Use the curved point as a cutting guide.

15. This is how the finished star looks.

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