The art of gift wrapping

pop up decoration by Justina Blakeney

Presentation is everything. Even if you found the perfect gift for your loved ones don't forget to wrap it in appelling packaging. Here's a collection of brilliant ideas to make your gifts even more special. Your friends will lose their minds wondering what's hiding in such sophisticated packaging. 
The first clever idea for an unexpected packaging is the pop-up decoration above. Lifted over a spring  gives a tridimensional effect to the gift, genius!

Rosemary gift wrap via Laurie Kaiser

This sweet package gives us the suggestion of using aromatic herbs to decorate our gifts, you'll not only delight the eye, but also give a natural scent to the package, a detail that creates an even deeper memory of the moment. The rosemary has a really pleasant scent and its shape is similar to the Christmas tree. Lavender or laurel are also a great choice.

via FGGD

Another natural element used as ornament, a tiny tree branch decorated with two fabric pom poms that look like dandelions, a really delicate choice. As you can see in the packages above, simple kraft paper and cord are enough to make a great elegant and minimal package.

via heart handmade

A lot of package to do and little time to decorate them? No panic, a paper shapers will help you do the job in no time. They're available in a variety of shapes.

via Sweet Paul mag

Wrap it in tartan. Stylish, British and really appropriate for a man's gift.  A real bow-tie instead of a gift bow is the final, elegant touch.

via Ann Magritt

Look at the pink honeycomb paper balls in this pic. They may look complicated to do, but they're not. I've always made them like this: cut circles from tissue paper, fold them in half and put them next to each other like pages of a book, then glue two of them together in two or three spot and continue with every circles to obtain the tridimensional sphere. I didn't know that some shops sell honeycomb paper sheets that make everything even quicker!  These paper balls could be added to the gift bow.

For more gift wrapping ideas see Creative gift wrapping ideas

Party look n° 2

black sequin dress - leopard double ring - black  shoes - love choker - gold quilted bag - black triangular earrings

 The guidelines for a perfect party outfit for the holiday season are simple. The first rule can be summed up in one word: sparkle. Wear one shiny accessory, it can be a sequin dress or a pair of earrings, just don't overdo, wear one sparkly accessory at once. The second rule is : mind the size of the bag. Many of the social events you will attend during the holiday season will take place during the evening or will be formal occasions so wear a small clutch bag. It has to be like a jewel, tiny and precious.

Marvelous Christmas windows in London

Tiffany windows pic via marieclaire

London Christmas windows are a peek into a Christmas fantasy. Dip into these incredible displays and you'll notice who hard is to state which is the most marvelous. Every window is the result of a creative work that goes beyond selling goods, even if that's the goal, these brands created a dreamy vision of Christmas that the viewer will remember. Tiffany didn't make only a doll's house, they reproduced an antire street. Selfridges created a tiny winter landscape with giant reproductions of popular accessories. Harrods display is beyond incredible. It features life size train and each window is a view into compartments, the most luxurious you can imagine. The reproduction is faithful in any tiny detail, in fact looking inside the scene you can see the landscape moving fast inside the train's windows. Those windows are tv screens and it feels as if the train is really traveling.  John Lewis windows are decorated with unusual animals, can you guess what they're made of?

Selfridges windows pic via style diary

Selfridges windows pic via style diary

Selfridges windows pic via style diary

Selfridges windows pic via style diary

Selfridges windows pic via marieclaire

Mulberry windows pic via marieclaire

Harrods lights pic via about.com

Harrods express pic via Dmail online

Harrods windows pic via Dmail online

Harrods windows pic via Dmail online

Harrods windows pic via Dmail online

Marc and Spencer windows  pic via Dmail online

Harvey Nichols windows via Dmail online

John Lewis windows pic via the window display blog

John Lewis windows pic via the window display blog

John Lewis windows pic via the drum

Xmas Dressing Calendar

advent house pic via the green head

slip dress - faux fur stole - tassel necklace - gold clutch - black pumps

There are fifteen days to Christmas and I would like to celebrate the countdown with a revisited version of the advent Calendar, the xmas dressing calendar! Each day, in addition to regular blog posts I'll suggest you a party look suitable for the social events of the holiday season.

Purrfect xmas ornaments

Calico cat pattern ornament

Cats, they just love Christmas or at least Christmas decorations. They have fun climbing up the tree, they take ornaments off and then chase them around the living room. They pretend to be the Godzilla of every nativity reproduction, taking down any little statue. They cheer up our days with their goofiness and adorable silliness. If you just can't have enough of them and want to include them in your Christmas celebrations here's a collection of  Christmas ornaments inspired by cats.
Take inspiration for your handmade Christmas decorations or find here the perfect gift ideas for cat lovers.

Miniature cat ornaments gift tags

pic via Cats of Christmas

These painted decorations are my favorite,  I just can't pick one, they are all so adorable.

cat nativity set

Cat inside stockings

Santa cat ornaments

Cat ornaments via catsparella

Good cat stockings

Felt cat decorations by Poppy Seed Cats

cat ornaments via Etsy

via squidoo

Lace up trousers DIY - inspired by Isabel Marant pour H&M

One of my favorite pieces from  Isabel Marant pour H&M collection were the lace up leather trousers so I added that eye-catching detail to a plain pair of black trousers. I added a leather strip from the knee down because in my opinion trousers are more wearable this way. See how I made it below.

DIY parrot shoes tutorial

The inspiration: Isabel Marant pour H&M         

  lace up trousers                           

Isabel Marant for H&M lace up trousers pic via WDUGT

You'll need:

• a pair of trousers
• grommets
• grommet setter
• faux leather
• sewing machine
• scissors

Wear your trousers. Fasten a pin at the knee level.
Rip the inside-leg seam till the knee.

Draw a pattern like the one above. Measures in inches are rounded off for ease. Red edges are seam allowance and they will be hemmed. Circles indicate where grommets will be placed. Extend the pattern for the lenght of the trousers. Place each grommet at 1.4" (3,5 cm) of distance from each other.
My pattern has 12 grommets.

Draw the pattern on the back of your faux leather fabric. You need two strips of faux leather for each leg.   Draw two right sides, then put the pattern on its back and draw two left sides.
Underline the spots where grommets will be placed.

Hem the 0.2"  (0,5 cm) edge and top and bottom of the strips.

Cut a tiny X with scissors. Place a grommet in place and then use the presser.

Place the leather strip at 1" (2,5 cm) of distance from the lateral seam of trousers. Sew it. Do the same with the other side.
Put the trousers inside out and hem the inside-leg seam.

How to make the leather lace:

Cut a strip of faux leather 0,6" wide and 32" long  (1,5x 80 cm), fold it in half and sew it.

Insert the lace into the grommets as shown.  Knot it at the beginning and the the end.
I made a second shorter 14" (35 cm) lace for the bow at the bottom  for comfort.

That's it! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Happy Weekend!

More DIY trousers - More Isabel Marant for H&M inspired DIY - other 150 DIY tutorials

MARS - Not for Your Winter Vacation

Sci-Fi Deak Style
by John Deakins

In our SF tour of the Solar System, Mars holds a prominent spot. It’s our most Earth-like sister planet. There’s actually some water present; temperatures are sometimes above water’s freezing point. If we travel to another planet, it’s the first choice. A human colony could potentially survive there.

We aren’t going: not with current technology. The projected trip is a minimum two years, one way. The astronauts would arrive with ten percent of their brain cells dead and developing cancer, from cosmic radiation. We’d need a perfectly recycling ecosystem onboard that would last five years. We haven’t sustained one on Earth for six months yet.

Though writers have created unusual native Martian life, no Martians will be waiting when/if we land. We’ve tested repeatedly. Martian water was once abundant; the temperature is in the right range. Life just didn’t happen. There’s no Martian life now and no trace of any past life-forms. Though it sometimes hits 25ºC (80ºF) on the Martian equator in summertime, there’s no Mars surface that doesn’t fall below freezing nightly.

Humans would be limited to warmed suits, with oxygen, and sealed bases. Nevertheless, Mars can be terraformed. The polar “ice” caps are mostly frozen CO2, but there’s water, too. We need solar-powered Martian satellites that convert sunlight to microwaves. Microwaves beamed continually at the polar caps would release both water and CO2. We can give Mars a greenhouse atmosphere.

Excess CO2 is Mars’ friend; colonists would still require respirators for possibly centuries to come. Hardy lichens that grow on Antarctica would grow there now. We simply seed the polar areas; photosynthesis begins. Unfortunately, the photosynthesis that ups oxygen content steals the heat-holding CO2. We have to get the water content up, too, to produce more oxygen. Perhaps we could generate another greenhouse gas, such as methane, as we lower the CO2 content.

Good news: There’s plenty of water out there (but not on Mars). We’d need automated ships to the Asteroids. (Some have a high water content). With an attached rocket, a water-bearing asteroid could be crashed into the non-settled side of Mars, raising the temperature and releasing atmospheric H2O. There may be mountain-sized icebergs in Jupiter’s ring; Saturn’s rings are an unlimited supply of ice chunks. We could nuke Europa, blowing icebergs into space, to be steered toward Mars.

You may have been hearing a background sound like rupturing a hippo. We pause while the shrieks of the science purists die down. Would we dare to violate the pristine purity of Mars and/or Europa before they’re studied? You bet your bippy we would.

We’re SF writers. Of course we dare! That’s why we can’t quit writing. If humans are going to the planets, we’ll be going for human reasons. Profitable adventure is ‘way ahead of scientific purity. Those afflicted with the Mt. Everest Syndrome (“Because it’s there.”) aren’t going to wipe their feet before they step out on a new world.

John Deakins, B.A., M.S.T. is a four-decade veteran of the science classroom and lives in Arkansas. As an author, John has fantasy novels in print from the Barrow series.

To read an excerpt from Barrow book one, please click HERE.