Amanda Lebel............working in fine circles

Easter Parade by Amanda Lebel

As soon as I saw this wedding topper on Martha Stewart, the style reminded me of someones unique design style. And I was right, it is the exquisite paper work of my old blogger friend Amanda Lebel of the blog Over The Top Studios. I thought of her recently because I was cleaning my desk where I keep the lovely little trinket gift she had sent me a few years back. I hadn't seen many posts recently and now I know why. It seems the her gorgeous wedding cake toppers and fanciful party hats caught the attention of Martha Stewart here which directs you right to the doors of Amanda's Etsy shop. 

Let Them Eat Cake, a party hat in Marie Antoinette style...........doesn't that just bring some fun to the birthday girls celebration? At any age. The fanciful party hat is available in several sizes as are many of her wedding cake toppers. 

Amanda uses German Glass Glitter, vintage music sheets, silk flowers and ribbon and unusual images to style her uniquely handcrafted and popular wedding toppers which are carefully wrapped and shipped to brides anywhere.

Amanda's pastel and glitter Easter Cones, I can't think of a prettier way to say Happy Easter!

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Speaking of being noticed by Martha Stewart, if any of you missed the Martha Stewart show featuring fellow blogger and floral paper artist Noel Solomon of Fanciful Designs, you can click here to see the tutorial and video for making her large paper flowers. These fabulous creations are big enough to give "a hug" as you shall see on the video.








Photos 1 to 5 - Over the Top Studios/ Bottom photo by Robert Tannenbaum for Martha Stewart

Something pretty for Mother's Day

Sometimes when I see a craft, often from Martha Stewart, I wish I was good at crafty creations. Wish I was patient and precise and could painstakingly work until the craft at hand was perfect and finished. But I am not a crafty gal and believe me I have tried. All manner of sewing, glueing, cutting, and I never finished one darn thing. I am too impatient for results and I lose interest quickly but I will spend hours and hours gift wrapping a gift...........so go figure.  But if I really was a clever crafty gal I think I would challenge myself with these beautiful jewelry boxes I found on Martha Stewart here with a full tutorial. I think they are quite lovely all nestled together. If you go at a nice leisurely pace, you have just about enough time to get this elegant set of velvet-lined keepsake boxes done for Mother's Day. You clever craft gals have my full admiration. And won't your mother be impressed?




photo via Martha Stewart Living.

Yummy Treats at Summer Camp

These delectable notebooks caught my eye while spending a few humid minutes browsing a new blog named Simply Seleta. Actually it was way longer than that, you must go visit her charming blog that I found via the aqua-infused blog House of Turquoise. I loved the colours and simplicity of these personalized notebooks from Paperwink that were featured in a past post at Simply Seleta, wouldn't they make a lovely summer hostess gift? At $15.00 for a set of 3, I thought this personal gift treat was almost as satisfying as eating gelato in these delicious flavours. So yummy that it inspired another summer camp post of simple gift wrapping. Did I tell you that I had some pistachio gelato in Chicago on the holiday weekend? It wasn't as good as the huge scoop I had in Rome last fall, but I could live on that stuff right now. Especially today with the temp at 110. That is the Feels Like temp, but at that point I don't think it matters much..........it is just plain hot. Bring on the gelato.

It is all about the technique and this is a pretty simple and affordable presentation. Any solid gift wrap, a yard of satin seam binding ribbon, and two of the 8 Martha Stewart flower stickers. I showed you the same flowers in the bright tones the other day when I embellished the Kate Spade box. The 2 remaining white ones bring a fresh summer look to this gelato palette. 

While I was playing around, I also tried just a few other applications. Moved the flower around a bit. You could use this gift card to write a personal gift message. If I was a better camp leader I would suggest drying and pressing real flowers from your summer garden for a future embellishment. But buying them is about 100 times easier and summer camp is supposed to be kind of lazy.

I took an hour break from camp and headed over to my embellished world where more is always better (I did tell you I am a lousy camp leader). Since it is so cool here in my studio I wrapped up a trio of green paper flowers in satin binding ribbon just to see how they would look on this ribbon striped gift.

More can be better in my world....... flower on top and then another flower on the gift card.

Todays camp tools.

These Paperwink notebooks are also available in several other delectable colour combinations.

Photos 2, 3, 4 5, and 6 by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

Simple Kraft Boxes.........embellished

I am staying in the coolest part of our house right now. Temps are at 100 plus and as we all know you simply cannot put a 56 year old woman in that kind of heat and not have her display an awkward melt-down. I am cool as an English cucumber and playing with my collection of Martha Stewart scrapbook embellishments, continuing the summer camp of gift wrapping I talked about in my last post. In the summer spirit of keeping gift wrapping simple and easy, I also picked up a collection of basic Kraft boxes to illustrate that gift giving doesn't always have to be a overly-embellished affair. I have deliberately left the boxes unadorned, no gift wrap. Sometimes it is best to keep the presentation simple but thoughtful. When? giving a simple just thinking of you gift. a homemade gift. when you don't know the recipient well. if they live a green life. if an over-embellished gift would make them uncomfortable. when it feels right. when your gift message is simple. when you are sensitive to their reciprocal gift budget.

A special novelty ribbon can elevate even the most humble of gift boxes as seen with this bird nest stamped satin ribbon from Midori Ribbon. The contrast of materials, humble and luxurious, makes for a beautifully understated presentation. The secret to successfully wrapping simple gift presentations is understating the presentation but in a novel way. It shows thought behind the effort even when using the most humble of gift wrapping materials.

For the XO (Kiss Hug) box I used a small jewelry box in Kraft, recycled the brown ribbon from my Kate Spade store box and then added two silver letters from Martha Stewart. As there is no alphabet repeats in the set, you may have to get license plate clever with the words you use. Which can make it all the more fun and novel.

Nothing like a little sparkle to jazz up this larger Kraft box. I thought these Glitter Chrysanthemum stickers from Martha Stewart were a colourful embellishment and you could use a single mum or go colour crazy with multiples as I have shown in this photo. I like the stickers cascading over the box edge but a single glitter mum as seen in a section of the third photo (just brown and silver) works well too.

The MS letter stickers are slightly embossed which gives them an interesting dimension when used in such a simple application. You could also use their initials as a monogram or.............ooh, I just had an idea that would take care of single letters most efficiently(another summer camp post). Next post is the orange and white scrolls you see to the left. Isn't summer camp fun?




All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life


Please Note: Due to the technical difficulties that Blogger was experiencing with comment moderation today, many comments that were received today were not posted. I was able to enjoy them by email. It appears the problem is fixed as the last comment received is now showing.  Hopefully, comments will be back to normal now. SC

Kate Spade............meet Martha Stewart

It is not that I planned a blog break, it just happened. Lots of personal catch-up, a bit of a new e-reader addiction to sort through, and time to form a lasting relationship with my new Mac desktop. To get myself back into the blog groove I spent an afternoon at Michaels craft store to see what I could come up with in the way of gift wrapping ideas. First I must state I am not a scrapbooker, but I can see the appeal. All those little packages of pretty little things. Before that little shopping expedition, I spent a day at Somerset Mall in Michigan where I indulged in a bit of Kate Spade so I did have this pretty box to play with...................Kate Spade meet Martha Stewart. You two look good together.

Since I am not a "craft" person so to speak, I wasn't really aware of the scope of scrapbook supplies or that Martha Stewart was in the game too (I am just not getting out enough). This is probably just as well judging by my lack of fiscal restraint when it comes to little packages of pretty little things and the way I see it, whoever does scrapbook must have lots of fun little embellishment leftovers that can be used up in other ways so I thought that is what I would show you in the next few weeks. Gift wrap ideas that use up these pretty little scrapbook things, easily and simply. Sort of like craft day at summer camp, only the grown-up kind.

To make this frou frou feminine type of gift box I simply took two packages of Martha Stewart Crafts stickers in two types of paper floral styles using 7 of the 12 pieces. Each package has 6 flowers and here in Canada was $8.49 per package though I am certain that it is less in the US. I changed the grommet-tied store ribbon to a narrow melon colour bringing it to the front instead of the top where it looked way too busy. This idea could work on a plain white or craft box too, in fact I think I will have a few to show you.

To the 1,000 followers of A Gift Wrapped Life................Thank you!

You have made my life more beautiful in the most remarkable of ways.

Simple Mothers Day Gift Wrap

Tomorrow is Tax Day here in Canada and our sons birthday so a quick post today but one to remember for a simple but touching Mothers Day gift wrapping idea that I had in my file from Martha Stewart. Mom will love this idea, a gift wrapped with photos of her favorite children or grandchildren.........she is going to get all teary eyed when you pass along your love with this idea. Just remember the cut ends of the ribbon go under the photo so the bottom stays nice and flat.

Photo from Martha Stewart