To All My Fab Readers...

Well, it's here...ready or not!

"Christmas" starts on Christmas Eve for me...thanks to my Scandinavian heritage.

So...Merry Christmas to all of you!!!

Thank you so much for your support and interest in Brown Paper Packages!

It's been really fun getting to know you over the past few months

and I'm looking forward to getting to know you all even better in 2012!

But until then...best wishes for a happy Christmas weekend to you and your families from myself and my family!

May your hearts and tummies be filled to the brim!

Source: lh4.ggpht.com via Maria on Pinterest

Now I'm off to cross more things off my to do list!!

We're celebrating a pretty important birthday party over here, you know!

Be blessed this Season!

Evie & family

P.S. My most sincere apologies to all of you who have left such kind comments the last couple weeks and have not heard back from me. I love reading your comments - they mean so much to me - but unfortunately I've been rather swamped the last while and have not been able to respond as I would have liked. Just know that I appreciate you all so much!

Also a big ol' welcome to all new BPPackages followers!!

I'm looking forward to hearing more from you in the weeks to come!

Make Your Own Tree Filler Flowers!

Have you ever noticed how those fancy trees in the department stores and boutiques are so amazing?
I know...dumb question.
For years, I would study those trees like nobodies business and try to figure out how to replicate it at home. Well, my trees are a far cry from those beauties, but there was one trick I learned.
Flowers. Big flowers. Lots of big flowers.
(Along with bazillions of other "stuff" but that's beside the point today.)

Back in the day when Hubs and I were a double-income-no-kids unit, buying those big, glittery flowers to fill up our tree wasn't a painful deal.

But now...well, let's just say I wanted the flowers without the price tag and that could only mean one thing...
a DIY project was comin' up!

I wanted some filler flowers for the white tree in our bedroom, so I tried to think of fabrics that would work with that color scheme...silver, grey, blue and white. I remembered a (yet another) stash of black and white plaid fabric I've been hauling around for a couple decades or so and thought I'd give it a go.

After some monkeying around and trying to figure out what would work, I was finally able to come up with a flower that made me smile and fit the style and color scheme of the tree really well.

Yippeee! Gotta love it when things work out.

Here's how you can make your own:

First you will need to make templates. I took a piece of paper and sketched out a simple petal shape, and then drew three more, getting smaller each time. I just used plain old note paper...nothing fancy here peoples, I have to work fast around these parts. The largest petal is roughly about 3.5 inches long and 2 inches wide. Make the petals just a bit smaller as you go. It really isn't too fussy as the shape and size will change with every petal as you go along in your project.

Next, cut out six petals of each size.

Here's what I used:

Six petals of plaid in the largest size,

six petals of fine white netting in the large size

AND six petals of white satin in the same large size,

six petals of plaid in the medium size

AND six petals of fine white netting in the same medium size,

then finally six petals of white satin in the small size.

The main thing you need to remember when choosing your fabric is...it cannot be a natural fiber fabric.

You need fabric that has plastic in it, so that it will melt when heat is applied.

Which brings me to the next point...you will be using an open flame to shape your petals.

Obviously common sense is needed when using fire!

For instance...don't put your petal in the flame then turn away to gaze at your adorable children playing and sharing oh-so-nicely together on the kitchen floor. The petal will catch on fire and things go downhill rather quickly from there. Don't say I didn't warn you.

PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Have I skeered you yet? Good!

Once you have your candle ready, hold your petal in front of the flame and watch it closely. Turn the petal so that heat is applied to all of the edges. The more heat applied, the more the fabric will curl up. It's important to remember to keep the heat coming from the back, as that will make the fabric curl forward as it melts.

Keep in mind that different fabrics will react differently to the heat. In my experience the satin curled and formed the easiest, more heat was needed for the plaid fabric, and the netting would melt extremely quickly. I suggest cutting out sample petals and testing it to see how the fabric will react first.

Here you can see how the satin is starting to curl forward.

Once you get the hang of it, it's really fun!

Lay out your six largest petals as shown in the picture, and glue together at the bottom with hot glue.

My glue gun is one of my best friends, have you noticed?

Then continue on with each layer of petals, making sure the petals are staggered with the layer under them. Make sense? You want the petals on top to be between the petals on the bottom.

Hmm...pictures are worth a thousand words...!

So to recap: Plaid petals, netting petals, satin petals, plaid petals, netting petals, satin petals.

Then hot glue a sparkly gemstone in the middle!

You could leave the flower as is now...or you could add a little glue the bottom layer of petals to bring it all together...

Like so...dab a little glue along the edge of the petal, pinch it to the petal beside it and...

Voila! The glue brings the bottom layer "up" and the flower will not be as floppy.

Stuff the flowers in the tree, then sit back and enjoy the customized prettiness!

These flowers cost somewhere around fifty cents each in supplies.

That sounds a lot better to me than $8 or more a stem! And I love that the black and white works so well with the tree style and our room!

Now...go forth and make some flowers!

Just...don't take your eyes off that flame!

: )

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To see the other great parties I'm linking up to, click HERE!

Christmas 2011 Outdoor Decor

Hello again, friends!

Are you all happy and tired from touring all the great homes in blogland this week?

What a lot of inspiration out there!

Well, I'm happy to finally be showing you the outside decorating we've done around here.

To be honest, I was kind of stumped on what to do. I just didn't seem to be getting any good ideas at all...until I realized there really isn't anything wrong with reverting to "old faithful"...that is, the same style of outdoor decorating I have done for a few years now.

I have enjoyed putting out a garden bench of some sort by our front door and decorating it up with lots of greenery, lights and outdoorsy "stuff". I've always loved it. So why stop now?

As you probably already know, this Christmas we have a new house...and a new garden bench!

Those of you who have been following along since earlier last summer might remember the cute little story about this twig bench, from my garden tour post in July.

I thought it might add a nice rustic touch in the front for Christmas, so we dragged it around...and I say "we" rather loosely, because it wasn't "we" at all...it was all the male half of "we" that dragged it around front. And he wasn't particularly impressed with the female half of "we" either when I suggested it, since he'd been shoveling off all the snow on our deck onto the bench below for several weeks.

Well, he's a good man and didn't grumble too much...and now it sits in the front.

In our neck of the woods (I love saying that), you can buy a permit at the town office and cut down up to three trees in certain designated of the countryside...so we packed up the kids, a sled, some snacks and off we went to find our trees.

This beautiful tree was one of our lovely finds. I think it adds a bit of a woodsy feel, and I love that. 

I cut off some pine and spruce branches to line the bench and then wove lights around the branches for a bit of added twinkle at night.

I've had this old lantern for so long, I don't even remember where I got it!

One of the glass panels is broken out now, but it's still a much loved addition to our outdoor accessories.

In the summertime, these cast iron pots are filled with overflowing flowers and vines, but in the winter we like to fill them with more greenery, lights and a twiggy lit up tree.

Another tree stuffed into another cast iron pot by the front door.

This tree required a bit of a haircut to fit into the entryway! This is the first year I've put a live tree into a pot, and I will admit I'm really happy with the look...I believe it might be a permanent addition to the "old faithful" decor every year now!

Hubs found this big lantern at Home Sense several years ago and convinced me to buy it...not that it really took too much rubber arm twisting... *wink*

And last, but not least, more greenery on the door.

I could not come up with any ideas for a wreath for the door and even considered just leaving the door empty...until I remembered this old wall hangy thingie that I had spray painted black last summer.

Duh! It worked great and all it needed was some more pine branches!

It doesn't get any easier than that.

Now c'mon in while I take you through the house to the deck off the kitchen...

If you missed touring the rest of the house earlier this week, you can go here.

Again - usually this is filled with my favorite red geraniums in the summertime, but now it's filled with more pine and spruce, sticks, lights and lit up twiggy branches.

We enjoy seeing the twinkly lights through the window at night while we're eating dinner together!

Thanks again for visiting!

I'll be sharing a fun tutorial for a tree filler flower in the next couple days, so I hope you'll be back to check that out! Although...for your sake...I hope you've finished your tree decorating by now so that you can sit back and enjoy it for a while!

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To see the other great parties I'm linking up to, click HERE!

Christmas Home Tour 2011

I'm so happy to finally be finished my Christmas decorating so I can invite you in for a little tour!

Don't ask for any cookies though...that's still on my to-do list.

Coffee, however, I will happily brew for you and join you with a cup!

Come on it! We love company!

I think you'll catch on pretty quickly that Hubs and I are just a leetle Christmas crazy. I decorate the inside and he looks after the outside (which he loves...aren't I lucky?!). You'll find that I can't decide on what style of decorating I like best, so this year I just incorporated it all into different rooms in the house. Sounds crazy, right? It might be...but we like it! The main theme that ties everything together is trees, trees and more trees of all heights, colors and styles!

Here are four lil cuties to start with.

Some may find it plain, but I really like the look of trees with only twinkly white lights.  

Especially when they are paired up with black lanterns and flickering candlelight.

(What I really don't like, however, is the not-at-all-attractive paint job on the stairway spindles! We haven't had a chance to change them yet, so please squint as you walk by!)

At the top of the stairs, I hung the chalkboard I made for the garden.

It happily states the reason we celebrate this wonderful season!

I didn't do much decorating in the living room...this little vignette on the dresser is all, but I have some big plans for next year!

I was so excited to find these aqua/white/silver/brown ornaments on sale this last summer, since the colors tie in so perfectly with the feature wall behind them! I love my white trees too, in case you haven't picked up on that yet from previous posts! *wink*

My mom gave me a box of chandelier crystals last winter and I'm nuts about the sparkle and glam they add to the tree! The silver and opalescent netting adds even more glitter, and you all know I love my glitter/sparkle/glam!

These faux mercury glass candle holders were a fun find last summer at a Christmas in July sale!

Another beautiful floral piece passed on from my mother's collection of Christmas decor...

I've already written a zillion posts on the kitchen, so I won't go into that here,

 but if you missed them...you can go here, here, here and here to read up!

Next stop is our bedroom!

You might notice a slight departure in style here. This is the one room we've managed to mostly renovate and make "us" so far...so needless to say...the Christmas decor in here is probably my favorite.

Yes...it's a bit of a tight squeeze to get past that tree, but it's okay...

it's on my side of the room and I'm willing to put up with it!

I normally use this heavy urn as a base for my night table, but come Christmas time it turns into a stand for this tree! I've been using it as a stand for years and I really enjoy the pretty touch it adds.

The ornaments for this tree were such happy purchases...all of them were either seriously discounted

post-Christmas finds, given to me or handmade. And funny enough...everything but the flowers were purchased before moving into this house and choosing final paint colors! Gotta love it when that happens!

The black and white flowers are handmade and I'll be posting the tutorial on those next week.

Make sure to check back!

The rest of the decor is fairly minimal but sparkle to the max!

This crystal bowl was a beautiful wedding gift and I love how it enhances the twinkling white lights.

(yes that's me in the silver ball...hi!)

Another dollar store clearance find...

Next stop is my daughter's candyland vignette.

Okay, maybe this one is my favorite! Hmmm...no...I think it's a tie.

You can find the tutorial for the glittery lollipops here.

Yum!

Now we're going to head downstairs to the family room.

I set up our big green tree down here for a couple different reasons. We're not down here too much, so the ornaments are mostly "out of sight, out of mind" for our toddlers, which means there is a lot less "don't touch that!" going on. Secondly, the ornaments work perfectly with the wall color down here (also not my choice but I'm glad the ornaments work!). I'm almost a little embarrassed to show you this room because it's a bit of a mish mash of furniture that we don't know where else to put. Ah well...keeping it real as they say!

This is hubs favorite tree...he especially likes the warm, cozy shades of gold, bronze and cream.

A bronzy leaf wreath hangs on our big Ikea mirror over the sofa.

I love it's simple elegance.

Garlands hang over the two windows and the ornaments and vines echo the warm neutral tones on the tree.

A few candle clusters fill up some empty areas in the other parts of the room...

The last stop is the guest room! I couldn't leave that undecorated, now could I?

I love a rustic style decor too, and I thought this trio of alpine trees fit pretty nicely in between the antique wooden sofa and the antique gate leg table.

I hope our guests will enjoy the pine cones, red berries and twinkling lights during their stay with us.

Thanks so much for coming over! 

I'll be showing you our outside decor this week, so I hope you'll be sure to come by again! 

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To see the other great parties I'm linking up to, click HERE!