Country Living shared easy holiday snowflake craft projects that triggered the idea to deck your guest room. I never deck a bedroom but since your guest room is the private living quarter of your guests during their stay, why not add a winter touch to their decor?  The snowflake pillows are cute. Do not forget to add some shiny touches. The silver lampshade is a superb idea to achieve it.

Since your guests may be hungry when they arrive, leave on their room a coconut frosted cupcakes with its beaded snowflake topper. You simply need long and short clear beads and some wire to make your own topper.

+ photos: Country Living

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The countdown to Christmas is a fun activity when you live with young kids. You have all November to craft your own. In fact, if you wish to get the advent house or the bucket advent calendar you have no other choice than making your own since they are out of stock at John Lewis. They may get more since you can leave your email but I would not count of that.

For the house, you could start with a paper or a wood house model. Get a good supply of card boards and foam core to add details to the house. Use paint, gift wrapping paper,and small ornaments to decorate every window. It could be a fun weekend project for the family.

The bucket pennants is easier to reproduce than the advent house. Sadly, I am not sure that you will save money by making your own. To make your own, shop for 25 small decorative buckets, look at scrapbooking items to craft the date tags, and find a festive large ribbon.

Feel free to send me pictures of your advent calenders. Do you follow the advent calendar custom? If you follow it, do you put a toy, a treat or an act/goal to your kids?

SOURCING:
+ Christmas Advent House £30
+ East of India Bucket Advent Calendar £25

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If you are looking for eye catching ideas to dress up your Halloween tabletop or buffet table, you must check these 3 craft projects realized by Eddie Ross. The guy is impressive when it comes to styling. The experience he acquired working for Martha Stewart serves him well. His craft project explanations are simple and easy to follow.

I browsed all the posts Eddie Ross for Halloween. These are the cream of the cream as far as I am concerned.

1. Sinister Centerpiece

The sinister centerpiece is the focal point of this elegant Halloween table. Attention to details adds to the theatrical feel. I love it. Besides the skull centerpiece, the rest of tabletop should take no time to assemble. All you need is spiders from the toys store and to secure a ribbon border on solid grey table runners or tête à tête.

2. Spider Web Doilies

The spider web doilies fit as well in a kids party or an event for grown ups. Make them in several sizes to fit the container that you will put on top. Get the instructions on how to make your own glittered spider web doilies on Eddie Ross.

3. Batkin Rings

The simple Batkin Rings are hand cut with black felt. We seen it before with Martha Stewart Halloween scenes, but I never get tired of small branches used as sticks for caramel apples. The glass black platter is one of several black glass tableware pieces that you can find at Eddie’s etsy shop.

MORE:
+ Sinister centerpiece craft project
+ Spider web doilies craft project
+ Batkin Rings craft project
+ Halloween party
+ Glass black platter $45 USD on etsy
+ photos via Eddie Ross

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On my agenda today is shopping for ink stamps and rice paper at my local stores. I need that for my husband’s birthday party. I bought 100 tiny clothespins, 250 French fries bags, food boxes and natural paper sandwich bags in bulk yesterday at Distribution Alimentaire Aubut.

Find everything on the same roof saves us time. This is the purpose of a new online shop founded by Ez Pudewa (creator and editor of leading design & style blog Creature Comforts) and Marichelle Burdman (creator and editor of Heart Handmade, the home of independent design). They described Nice Package as the creative approach to living. To do not miss to look at the photos of their products as they provide ideas on how to use them for your parties.

+ Baker’s Twine + Mini Clothespins $3.75 for pack of 10
+ Woodland Mushroom Gift Bag Kits $19 for 3
+ photos: Nice Package
+ via Modish

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Cutting and building a paper model is a great activity that you can do with the kids. There are a lot of free patterns on the Web. You may wish to stop first at a printer for a better printing job on cardboard. Keep an extra copy in case you ruin a piece while building your haunted house paper model.

You can stop at assembling the model. But you will get a bigger Wow factor if you do a few extra steps. Look at the impressive carving job of Ray Keim. He added moss to key places on did his Skoolhouse. For the piece de resistance, Ray carved several Potka Pods as decorative pumpkins. You do not have to carve them. Simply, putting a few Potka Pods will elevate the results. You could also deposit on the floor small pieces of hay and hang spider webs.

Ray Keim produced many paper models. His latest addition is the Bates House Paper Model. Visit Haunted Dimensions for downloading the kits and getting inspirations on how Ray and other people have decorated their paper models.

Cute but simpler

Another model that I like is the Haunted Church with cemetery by Paper Models. This one is for sale. They give you the choice of downloading their model or opting for a printed kit that they will ship to you. The Printed Kit is available in 3 dimensions.

WHERE TO GET IT:
+ The Skoolhouse Paper Model Kit by Ray Keim
+ Haunted House Paper Model $9.95 – $24.95

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Fall officially arrived. In a few weeks, the cottage on the lake season will close for many of us that live North. Wood slice trays are nothing new but I still like them. Plus, using handcrafted organic elements to contrast modern pieces is one of the 4 trends for Christmas 2009 (more on that later).

Wood slices are beloved because they are versatile. Tree slices fit in from a shack style to the modern rustic. You can use them to serve savory pies, or as a natural cheese board.  They can also support your floral centerpieces as you can see on this charming table by the crafty Anna of Rifle Design. Anna took that picture as part of her DIY menu wheel craft project.

Rustic Tree Cake Stands

What I like the most is how you can transform a tree slice and a short thick branch into your own cake stands. Make a least three stands. Ideally, you wish to vary their heights and surface size. They are not complicated to make. See the instructions of Laurie Cinotto. Remember to put a paper between the food and the tree slice, unless you applied a food-safe wood sealer.

If crafting is not your thing, go to Hens in Daisies’ Etsy shop to find large and extra large cake stands. They are ready to use. Simply wipe clean with damp cloth these food-safe sealed cake plates.

MORE:
+ DIY Tree Pedestal Cake Stand by Laurie Cinotto on Once Wed
+ DIY Wedding Menu Wheel on Design*Sponge
+ Large Rustic Cake Stand by Hens in Daisies $45 USD on Etsy
+ Extra Large Rustic Cake Stand by Hens in Daisies $75 USD on Etsy

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Carving pumpkins is great but we do not all have the talent of making complex design. And if you have young kids at home, they will prefer simpler images.

What you need our a few printable carving templates and stencils. You do not have to carve the pumpkins, you can simply paint a silhouette or do both.Then, you create a vignette to give life to your theme.

I selected on Better Homes and Gardens 4 pumpkin decorating projects that anyone could do it without passing all day on the project. These cute pumpkins will not give nightmares to young kids. If you put your painted pumpkins outside, apply a varnish to protect the painted silhouette from the outdoor elements.

+ The Haunted Mansion pumpkin was realized by chiseling the windows of the painted mansion. Then, they added a moon behind. Get the haunted mansion template.

+ This is the happiest pumpkin. This interpretation of the cat pumpkin is girlie. Add a bow and ears to your drawing. Print first the Feline Stencil.

+ The creepy crow is a classic. Tufts of garden moss or ornamental grass help keep the pumpkin stable inside the birdbath. You can punch the eye of the black crow stencil.

+ I like the simplicity of the Spooky Spider Stencil with its luminous web. The lines of the web are carved just deep enough to let the glow of the candle shine through the pumpkin walls. pumpkin photo

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Stamps and craft punches are great tools for making gift tags, buffet tags, place cards, and to decorate your goodies bags. The possibilities are endless.

I spotted on Art vs Craft the hand-carved work of TC Witchcraft Factory. They sell their stamps on etsy. These are produced by T&C, an Asian couple living in Twin Cities area in MN, USA. From the cute little witch, the Happy Halloween sign to the Nightmare before Christmas, their stamps are awesome.

I looked for more inspirations since I believe in the mix and match. Michaels is a sure bet to find crafts supplies. Plus, they carry many Martha Stewart Crafts products, including her craft punches. If you are looking for adorable Halloween stamps, check out the individual inkpads and the wood stamp sets for Halloween by Hero Arts.

Art vs Craft is the blog of Fanie, a Montreal based illustrator & graphic designer. I discovered Art vs Craft because Fanie watched the live streaming videos of my sessions at PodCamp Montreal 2009.

SOURCING:
+ Hand Carved Halloween Stamp, Cute Little Witch by TC Witchcraft Factory $16 USD
+ Pumpkin Head Scarecrow, Hand Carved Halloween Stamp by TC Witchcraft Factory $16 USD
+ Nightmare before Christmas Stamp on the blog of TC Witchcraft Factory
+ Halloween Fence Edge Punch by Martha Stewart Crafts
+ Flying Witch Craft Punch by Martha Stewart Crafts
+ Happy Bird Witch by Hero Arts

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I recalled how many of you looked for pumpkin-carving ideas last year. Do not worry, I will bring you more inspirations until Halloween starting with these wonderful pumpkins that I found on Martha Stewart. The key is to decide on a theme. You get an extra WOW when you create a vignette.

One thing that Martha taught us is to not simply rely on pumpkins. Gourds and squashes fit the occasion as well. One detail is to carve the gourds and pumpkins from the bottom. This way it keeps the stems intact. Mixing sizes and forms is another design lesson when you are planning your vignette.

Variations

The Arise for the Dead pumpkin was carved by a reader of Martha. Jacquie W. used photos of New England headstones as templates. You can shape animals (see top collage) by cleverly assembling several pumpkins together. Or roll lino ink over the silhouette to add a sophisticated touch to your carved pumpkins.

The headless horseman and the skeleton rider pumpkins were created by a master carver named Tomas Gonzales. Tomas is an artist.

GET THE LOOK:
+ Pumpkin Alligator and Snail
+ Birdbath Family
+ Pumpkin Raccoon Bandit
+ Spooky Silhouette Designs
+ Spider Squash

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These two items were to cute for not mentioning them. First, the cutest pincushions I have seen. Renilde was inspired by a small fishing village theme to create this series. Her needlework plays with basic forms in red, white and blue. The pincushions are available at Mieke Willems, a small shop in Belgium. Renilde has a blog called At Swim-two-birds.

The wood bowling set is a creation of Little Sapling Toys on etsy. They plant a tree through Trees for the Future for every toy sold. They use a local beeswax and organic jojoba oil finish to bring out the natural beauty of the woods. The organic SKITTLES include 10 6-inch tall profile blocks and 2 hardwood balls.

I discovered Mieke Williams through the beautiful blog of Jane of Simple Pretty that I followed on Twitter.

SOURCING:
+ Mieke Willens’ blog
+ organic SKITTLES – 10 pin retro wooden bowling developmental set $26 USD on etsy
+ Via

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When I saw this store window yesterday decorated with corrugated cardboard rolls, I grabbed my iPhone to take pictures. This is something that you can reproduce at home.

I immediately imagined a twist for the hat making activity that is so popular in Alice in Wonderland theme party. After all, why not set the theme in a different environment? Your guests can paint, draw and glue decorations. You will set up a wall to exhibit their creations.

It can also form the backdrop of a tasting of Asian tea service. It is a creative decor that is simple to do.

Corrugated cardboard rolls are easy to find at packaging supply stores. You can use A, B or C flute sizes but look for 6-inch thick rolls.

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Available in 3 color palettes, Amy Butler’s new desktop collection will hit the stores in September. The range includes folders, organizers, binders, journals and much more!

In the meantime, you can browse her collection of paper craft and eco-line gift wrapping supplies. Her gift wrap collection comprises 100% post-consumer recycled gift wraps, bags, and giftcard boxes. The gift bags are sold in set of 4 with 100% recycled/biodegradable tissue paper.

MORE:
+ Belle & Sola Crafts and Scrapbooking materials
+ Petal Gift Wrap Rolls by Amy Butler $12.75 USD for 3 rolls
+ Petal Bags by Amy Butler for the Gift Wrap Company $18 USD for set of 4 bags

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