New from our Everyday 2015 collection, our Photo Booth Tote does double duty at your next party! It’s perfect for gift giving and then creating some memorable photos – for kids and adults alike. We love this concept! Here’s how quick and easy it is to make fun photo props.

After the present has been opened cut the front and/or back face and find some wooden dowels.

Cut out the individual icons inside the dotted lines. Don’t forget to also cut the inside of the glasses!

Adhere the paper props to the top of a dowel with some hot glue.

And voila you have instant photo props!

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As Spring is approaching we’re jumping the gun with some pretty blooms! These paper dahlias make great decorations for a party or merchandising decor. You could even make a small one to put on top of a gift!

How to:

Step 1: Gather supplies. We used Jillson & Roberts tissue in Blue (FT05) and spray mounted it to both sides of some card-stock. Print out This Template and cut out it’s shapes. This template makes a finished flower that is approximately 10″ in diameter. Scale up or down for larger or smaller.

Step 2: Cut the shapes from the template out of your blue card-stock. We used 14 of the largest and medium petals, and 11 of the smallest.

Step 3: Fold the two bottom corners of each petal into the bottom center and use a glue gun to hold them in place.

Step 4-5: Glue the largest petals around the outer perimeter of the circle you cut from the template. Follow with a row of the medium sized and then the smallest.

Step 6: Cut 2-3 circles from the blue card-stock each a little smaller than the last. Use scissors to cut fringe on the edges and adhere to the center of your flower. We used card-stock that matched the petals for two of our inner circles and a slightly darker piece for the middle.

And now you have a beautiful paper dahlia! You can repeat in different colors and sizes to make a paper flower garden. As you can see below we used them for props in our last Everyday photo-shoot!

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Tassels are a big party trend right now. Beyond just decorating a room they can also make great embellishments for a gift – and luckily they are a breeze to create! To make ours we used J&R Paper Raffia in Silver (PR14) and Lime (PR41). Wrapping paper is R380.

Step 1: Gather your Supplies.

Step 2: Cut a piece of cardboard or thick paper to the length you want the finished tassel to be. Ours was about 4″ tall. Wrap the ribbon around it until it is as thick as you’d like. Ours was wrapped 14 full times around.

Step 3: Pull the ribbon off the card and tie a separate piece of ribbon through the top loops to hold them all together. Tie another piece of ribbon around the outside of the tassel about 1″ down from the top.

Step 4: Trim the bottom of the tassel to open the looped ends and even out the bottom. Repeat to make as many tassels as you want! Use different colors or even lengths to add variety.

Step 5: Use the strings on the top to attach the tassels to your present.

This is a great way to make your gifts even more memorable! Happy Gifting!
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Our easy to make pumpkin tote starts with 1. A J&R black kraft tote (MK921) 2. A piece of J&R solid orange wrap (R927) and 3. A print out of our pumpkin template (download here)

Print and cut the template then use it to trace and cut a pumpkin from the orange paper. Use adhesive on the back and adhere to the front of your tote. The template is scaled for a medium tote so print larger or smaller for different sizes. Use it for trick-or-treating or any seasonal gift giving. Have a Happy Halloween!

P.S. The treat bags in the photo above were made from two pieces of wrapping paper. One 4″ x 6″ and one 4.5″ x 6.5″. The edges on the larger were folded in .25″ on the sides and .5″ on the bottom. The smaller piece was inserted under the folded sides and the folds were taped down onto it. Perfect for sharing Halloween treats!

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Step 1: Cut 4″ squares from the wrap of your choice – we used Royal 916, Red Gloss 909, and Royal/Silver R996. Then fold the squares in half diagonally to create triangles.

Step 2: Take scissors and cut from the bottom toward the tip of the triangle. As you cut from each side toward the middle leave about 1/2 inch uncut so the cuts never reach each other and the square stays in one piece. Unfold back to flat square.

Step 3: Using a glue gun pull the corners of the first row of slits towards each other, blue side out and use a drop of glue on the top corner to hold them together. Flip and do the same on the other side for the next row and flip/repeat for the last row.

Step 4: When you have five individual pieces, arrange them in a star shape and use a glue gun to attach middle tips to one another. We then cut out stars from coordinating papers and used the glue gun to attach them in the middle of each.

Step 5: Arrange however you like. We punched a hole on the top of some and strung them from twine to make a hanging garland and also just laid some on the table to accessorize. Then sit back and enjoy some fireworks! Happy 4th!
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Step 1: Start with circles cut from your favorite wrap. We used Rose Bud R143 and made it two sided by spray mounting two pieces together before trimming. Then cut a swirl into the circle starting anywhere on the edge and spiraling into the center. It works best if you make the spiral thicker towards the center and thinner on the outer edge. Leave a bit in the middle of the spiral so you will have an area to glue the rose down onto itself in step 3.

Step 2: Starting at the outer edge start to wrap your spiral tightly around a pencil. Roll all the way to the middle and then pull out the pencil allowing the rose to unfurl to the desired look.

Step 3: Using a glue gun, glue the spiral layers onto the middle of the circle. Then cut leaf shapes from green paper. We used Green Matte 913, and again made it double sided with some handy spray mount!

Step 4: Stick a wooden dowel through the paper in the middle bottom of the flower and drip some glue from a glue gun into the middle to hold it in place. Crease the middle of the leaves to give them some dimension and glue them to the edges however looks best.

Step 5: Arrange in a pot or other container and enjoy. We also embellished with some of our Natural Raffia NR18. Voilá you have a beautiful and unique spring bouquet!

Step 1: We used spray mount adhesive to make double sided paper (using Jillson & Roberts Lovely Lovely R454 paired with Magenta 910, Rose Bud R143 paired with Gold 915, and Delicate Peacock R240 paired with Glitter Dot Pink R472). We then cut the paper into pinwheel shapes using this Printable Template. If you don’t want to use a template you can always just cut a square and then cut at 45degree angles from each corner until about half inch from the center.

Step 2: For the multi-blade pinwheel line up all the larger corners – right at the bottom of the bumpy side. Then one by one fold the other punched hole edges in to the middle. For the one piece template simple fold the outer punched corners into the middle, matching all the punched holes up. Once they are all folded in use a brad to put through all the holes to hold them in place.

Step 3: Using a glue gun attach the correct height of stick on the back of each.

Step 4: Add any extra embellishments such as rhinestones to the front middle.

Step 5: Arrange in a pot or other container and enjoy. These also work nicely sticking out of a tote as an additional embellishment!
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Step 1: Gather supplies. We used a clear letter sized clipboard, scissors, exacto knife, tape, and Jillson & Roberts Sparkleflake Red wrap (XJ683) cut ~1″ larger than the size of the clipboard all around.

Step 2: Fold wrap along the bottom edge of the clipboard and tape down to secure.

Step 3: Fold wrap over the front of the clipboard and under the metal clip. Crease paper along the edge of the clip. Unfold. Mark lines along the fold and cut with exacto. Cut 2 small notches along both outer edges, along with one full cut line perpendicular from the crease line to the wrap edge.

Step 4: Fold wrap over the front again, but now lift up the clip and tuck in the wrap under and around the edges of the attached clip (your cuts should allow it to easily lay flat around the clip). Trim wrap along the edges of the attached clip. Fold wrap along and around the top edge of the clipboard and secure with tape. Flip Clipboard over to its back, and smooth. Wrap along and over the sides of the Clipboard, securing with tape as you go – as if wrapping a gift.

Step 5: Admire! We use these around our office and change up the wrap based on mood or season! They are a great DIY gift to help someone stay stylishly organized in the new year.

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Step 1: Gather supplies. We used Jillson & Roberts Holiday Spectacular Tote (XMT740) with Lime (FT41), Green (FT13), and Red (FT09) tissue. We also used a ruler, scissors, and double sided tape for this project

Step 2: Cut tissue into rectangles approximately 7″x10″.

Step 3: Take one rectangle of each color you are using and layer them – make sure they are at angles to each other so the different colors will all show in the end. Take the pile of three pieces and grab the middle, twisting it to a point on the bottom until the sheets form a cone shape. You can tape around the bottom point to hold it together if they seem to be untwisting while making the others!

Step 4: Put some double sided tape on the inside collar of the tote and stick your tissue pieces onto it. Start in one corner on the front and continue around until it has the desired fullness. How closely you space the tissue will determine how dense it is. We used 6 tissue clusters for the front and 6 for the back.

Step 5: Add gift to tote and share! Happy gifting!

*Note: We used three different colors of tissue, you can use more or less sheets and/or colors depending on the desired result. You can also change the order of colors for some clusters to get a more colorful look!

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