i just love creative holiday packaging. these pieces were designed by piet houtenbos for bumble and bumble. i love the combination of functional hair products with pretty design. click here for more information.

i’m not normally a perfume person but lately i’ve become obsessed with finding a signature scent. mostly because i’m a big believer in aromatherapy and the cost of small perfumes can more often than not be totally affordable. one of the brands i’m loving right now is sweet anthem perfumes. these handcrafted perfumes are made by meredith tucker in seattle (using locally brewed ingredients) and smell positively divine. and the simple, but cute, packaging is perfect for gifts- just tie a pretty bow around them and make someone’s day with a special scent. click here for more information and to shop online (perfumes range from $1.50-$4.00).

since i won’t be posting on thursday (but i will be posting tomorrow) i thought i’d share some great before & afters today. this beautiful chair makeover comes from d*s reader pamela- she found tihs old office chair at a local antiques store 5 years ago. she loved the lines but was daunted by the thought of recovering it. so last weekend she and her mom decided to tackle the project using amy butler’s bright buds fabric in aqua. they made a tight slip cover and then stapled it in place under the cushion- 2 hours later they were “pleased as punch” with the results- and i have to agree. great work, pamela!

I have always enjoyed wrapping gifts. I remember loving it as a kid and at Christmas time helping my mom wrap my father’s gifts, my father wrap my mother’s gifts and my brother wrap gifts for my parents { and probably some of his own gifts to me, he is smart like that}.

Certainly, not every box under the tree need be gussied up, especially if you have children that will be tearing into them, barely registering if it even has their name on it. For some gifts though, wrapping for presentation makes them a tad more special. Special, but not precious – even with the embellishments, I will never be comfortable with gingerly removing gift wrap. I firmly believe that presents should be ripped into.

It is possible that I may be more adept at finding things to top gifts than finding the gift itself. I like to keep an eye out for vintage items to repurpose, like this initial for my husband or the silver house number paired with a chipboard letter coated in glass glitter.

Brown kraft paper is so versatile. To wrap smaller boxes, I reuse larger single seam flat bags from stores as well as the kraft paper sheets the art store rolls my printing paper in.

For this monogrammed gift, first determine the center for the design by wrapping the paper around the box and creasing the edges. On the inside of the front panel I drew a simple wreath, scoring the center line of each leaf and cutting around the edges, leaving them attached at the base. Cut a small slit at the bottom curve of the wreath a bit wider than the ribbon.

From the correct side, reverse the folds of each leaf and stamp or draw a monogram. Next, insert a loop of ribbon, securing it with a small piece of tape, then tape a square of coordinating paper over the entire design on the inside { I used some gold crepe paper}.

Office supplies are inexpensive and plentiful. Three different sizes of metal rim tags create a minimalist snowman, attached with glue dots. Black circular labels, cut into different sizes with craft punches embellish plain paper. The letterpress paper gift buckle with ribbon is from my product line.

I love playing around with crepe paper. The gift above is going to be filled with a cellophane bag of homemade sweets come Christmas time. A strip of silver crepe paper is attached to the inside of the cup with double stick adhesive and cinched closed with a velvet ribbon. Small tins can be found online; although this particular tin cup is from Trader Joes, the plant that was in it was not long for this world, but the cup came in handy. I use carpenter’s glue to adhere the glass glitter, the hold is great.

Red crepe paper makes for a fun pom pom. Fold two long strips of crepe paper into quarters and mark the center line of the width. With each, cut through all four layers, fringing both sides of the strip and stopping just short of the marked line. Unfold each strip and bundle them together, cinching the center with thin wire. Fluff out the pom pom and trim the shape as needed.

For more gift packaging ideas I have a regular feature on my blog. In addition, I am having a giveaway this week- an assortment of 6 of my letterpress gift buckles – you can enter here.

since we’re so close to the holidays i thought i’d kick off today with some gift-themed design. i’m loving these beautiful new cards from eva at sycamore street press (click here to shop) and these great gift wrapping ideas from denise over at the d*s guest blog. click here to check them out…

our next sneak peek comes to us from reader susanna carrillo, owner paper scissors oranges art studio for kids in darien, connecticut. i love how she describes her home, set against a clean white canvas, as “very much influenced by the children’s art work and the paint I mix daily.” the great, bold pops of color really make the home come alive. click here to see more. [thanks, susanna!] -anne

when it comes to styling, sandbox studios knows where it’s at. the same is true for the home of senior director of interactive, chad maltby and his freelance-maven, girlfriend heather mcdonald. they’re about to say goodbye to their brooklyn place (a converted firehouse) to move to newburgh, ny, so we’re so pleased we can share their place with a proper sneak peek send off. click here for more images. [thanks heather and chad!] -anne

[Above: Living room: The moose head was a gift from a friend. He bought it at The Frozen Fountain (an incredible design store) in Amsterdam. The curtains are from Ikea – nowhere else can you find curtains of this length for this price. We’ve had them in three apartments so far, and they also work as fantastic room dividers. The striped chair is from a wonderful little shop in our neighborhood called Fabrica. The rattan ottoman is Franco Albini – an ebay find. My mom had one that she turned upside down and used as my toy box, so I was happy to have it back in my life. The bright pink felt doily was something we picked up at Eden & Eden in San Francisco. (We have two and I move them around all the time.) The yellow and white chair I found on the street and refurbished with a coat of white lacquer. I found the 60’s yellow fabric at reprodepot.com and recovered the cushion.]

The paper assemblage was made by a friend as a housewarming gift. He is the owner of a gallery called Untitled in Sausalito, CA. The table we found on craigslist and Chad refinished it. The chairs were an ebay find.

I used cork tiles to create the bedroom collage of old photos and vintage postcards. It gets rearranged now and again, but I love being able to show so much in a contained area. And this way, we don’t have to decide on a permanent place for everything.

I did this painting for my best friend as a wedding gift, but we lived with it for a while above the bed until I was satisfied it was done…Our little dust mop.

The airplane painting is a very generous loan from a friend in LA. “Legs”, as we like to call the photo below, we found in a vintage mall outside of Portland.

We spend a lot of time in the kitchen.