Time for "You"

It's New Year's Eve tonight and I want to wish you all a bubbly, sparkly and memorable evening! As the new year beckons, I hope you will find ways to...

Life does becomes hectic but I do hope that you will have more time for yourself and for all things that matter most to you.

A Season of Hope

Thanks for stopping by today! There are no craft projects this week, just a few Tada! wishes that I want to send out to you for 2010.

This photo was taken in Brooklyn, New York. Even if the photo is a little dark, I know it's a street we all want to live in: Hope Street. This year was quite a challenging one for many of us and we all want things to get better. I wish you hope that the best things are yet to come!

Lots of Love

Hi there and thanks for stopping by! This week, instead of crafting, I'm sending you off with a few wishes and I hope you'll carry them with you in the new year.

Today, I wish you lots of love! Love that is freely expressed by family & friends. A romantic kind of love that arrives at your doorstep. A deep love for what you do, whether it's a job, a commitment or something you're passionately doing without asking for anything in return. I hope you will feel loved and be able to give love away!

Year End Wishes

Happy Monday Everyone! There will be no crafting this week, I'm afraid. I'd like to take it easy and look back on the year that's about to end. The first thing that comes to mind is:

One of the highlights of my year was starting this blog! I want to say THANKS to you, my dear visitors & regular readers! THANKS for your time, interest and for cheering me on with your comments. I certainly hope you'll continue to visit me when the new year arrives.

I wish all of you many, many more reasons to say THANKS!

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Day and today I'm sharing some photos taken during the Martha Stewart Craft Fair held in New York City. At the same time, I want to wish you a Christmas that's...

Sweet

Colorful

Shiny

Filled with music

and extra-ordinary!

Have a truly Tada! Christmas!

Christmas Clutch

Hello and thank you for stopping by! Are your gifts wrapped and waiting under the Christmas tree or are you still shopping and wrapping like a mad woman? If you said yes to the latter, I've got an easy gift wrap solution for you.

Reassess those bags from all the shopping you've done
and turn a blah into a Tada!

Once a plastic sack, now a gift bag!

I intentionally made it to look like an evening clutch, cutting the top part of the bag and folding it over (then sealed with tape). It can contain a shawl or shirt for my very good gal pals.

The ribbon "brooch" is fashioned from the handles plus strips from the part that I had cut off. These are held together by staples and more tape.

This makes gift packaging faster, more fashionable and you get to recycle, too!

Fancy Boxes

Gift wrapping is a pleasure for a lot of people. But when you have to wrap too many gifts before the stroke of midnight, the pleasure turns into pain. So I've got a suggestion:

Save these blah food boxes, cut off the box top and
wrap the box in festive paper.

Tada! You've got yourself a fabulous gift container!

Because it's essentially a box, it works well for odd-shaped gifts. The ribbon handles makes the gift easy to carry. Make these gift boxes throughout the year for birthdays and Christmas so that gift wrapping will always be a pleasure!

Bake and Take

When Christmas comes around, a lot of us don our aprons, baking sheets and transform our kitchens into cookie factories! Here's a gift that clearly says "handmade with love" -- baked goods!

This Christmas, instead of not so eco-friendly packaging (ex. Styrofoam plates & disposable plastic), why not use containers that can be used even after the holidays are over? I'm thinking canning jars, biscuit tins or reusable plastic food containers like this:

I purchased these from Ikea -- three containers for on $1.99!

I cleaned the containers before lining them with this napkin
(doilies or parchment paper can be used, too).

Then I filled it with homemade brownies!

I put on the cover (don't you love this shade of blue?!) and
decorated with a tree ornament.

Three gifts in one -- the brownies, container and ornament!

You may also add a copy of the recipe and a greeting card to
complete the package.

Happy baking!

Gift Wrapping Ideas

Happy Monday Everyone! Last minute shopping and wrapping presents are occupying most of our time these days...Christmas is just a few winks away! This week, I'll be sharing some gift packaging ideas that are not only pretty for the recipients but pretty for Mother Earth, too!

Today's blah...these empty pint-size ice cream containers.

Tada! Washed clean and wrapped with colorful paper!
Finish off with a ribbon handle...

... or a delicate tassel.

Fill it with candies. Or stuff it with small gifts like cologne, warm socks and handmade jewelry. Then use this exceptional gift box again!

A Great Gift Bag

Hooray it's Friday! Can you believe that it'll be Christmas next Friday? Today, we'll end the week with a final paper bag project.

Today's blah...a plain paper bag.

Here's another blah...a printed paper bag.

Here's the Tada!...an all-occasion gift bag!

I transferred the handles from the printed paper bag to the plain paper bag (attached with hot glue) and decorated it with a cut-out whale (or whatever character you like). The whale is made of scrapbook paper (gift wrap remnants may be used too) and the whale's eye came from the bag of scrap. Alternatively, you can use a button or adhesive googly eyes if you have them.

Now this bag is ready of any celebration! Have a fun weekend lovelies!

Stamp of Approval

Happy Thursday! Today I have another paper bag project that's easy to do with the kids.

This paper bag contained some Chinese take-out from the other night. It didn't have any greasy stains on it so why not turn it into a Tada!?

Time to take out the rubber stamps & ink pad and stamp away!

Tada! Just by cutting around the image & punching a hole,
you have yourself a Christmas-themed gift tag.

An intricate stamp produces this gift tag
that you can use for any present.

Experiment with different ink colors and stamp designs for one of a kind gift tags that you can't buy in any store.

Bag of Tricks

This week on blah to Tada!, we're giving new life to paper bags -- plain, printed, old, new, big or small!

I love Whole Foods because they really encourage shoppers to carry reusable bags. If you happen to forget to bring your own, they have bags (made from recycled water bottles) for sale for $0.99. But if you don't wish to pay, they have these paper bags. This holiday version is particularly cute!

Too cute that I wanted see how many Tadas!
I could get out of one bag.

Tada! No. 1: A little gift bag for jewelry, make-up or
even a small device like an MP3 player!

Tada! No. 2: Festive gift tags.

Won't it look adorable on a present wrapped with
recycled things like packaging paper & old ribbon?

Tada! No. 3: Mini cards with matching envelopes.

Tada! No. 4: A decorative envelope that can hold a gift card!

Tada! No. 5: Gift bag decorations.

Even Martha Stewart will agree that this is a "good thing".

Add this to a fabric gift bag to encourage the recipient
to use the bag again.

Suggest ways to reuse it by writing on the tag: "Reuse this bag for your jewelry" or "Reuse this bag for your school lunch".

Tada! No. 6: Turn it into a cone for food gifts.

Add goodies like popcorn, truffles, peppermints
& small cookies!

This Package Says Party!

We're finding the different ways to reuse paper bags. Yesterday, it was all about plain paper bags.

What about the printed ones?

Tada! Turn them into envelopes for holiday invitations,
greeting cards or thank you notes!

Paper Bags

Happy Monday Everybody! I'm pretty sure your days are getting busier as Christmas approaches and I want to say thank you for still finding the time to visit my blog!

This paper bag from Starbucks is a real Tada!

It talks to you, in fact it orders you around --
in a good way of course!
I love the lines "So reuse it. Reincarnate it. Re-imagine it."
The future of this bag rests in your hands!

Don't reuse it once. Reuse it again and again!

It was this bag that inspired me to do a week's theme
of "paper bags".

Here are some plain paper bags that were used
to wrap my purchases from recent craft fairs.

I whipped out my funky stamp and ink pad to
decorate the otherwise blah paper bag.

Tada! It's now a gift bag!

Simply slip in a gift, add a tag & ribbon
and you've got an instant package!

And another piece of good news: this bag, ribbon
and gift tag can be used again & again!