Washi Tape Gift Tags

Sharing this Christmas season with my 3 1/2 year-old son has brought out the kid in me. Seeing things through his young, innocent eyes makes me appreciate this time so much more.  Last weekend, we were at The Container Store checking out and he was watching the video of his school Christmas program on my phone.  The cashier overheard the singing, and asked him, "Is it somebody's birthday?"  He looked at her matter of factly and said, "It's Jesus' birthday."  I seriously melted and am so humbled. 

The kid in me loves crafty things like paper, washi tape, ribbon, bows, and gift wrap.  I vowed this year not to buy any more wrapping paper because I have more than enough, but when I dumped out my container of bows, I realized I should've also vowed not to buy more of those either.  

I snapped a picture with my phone and then used the Rhonna Designs app to create the typeography art below.  You just use the photo, add the text, then choose "mask" to cover over the rest of the photo.  

So fun all the things you can do with photo apps these days.  Another app that was popular on my Instagram is More Noel, which I used to make the light in the photo of our mistletoe sparkle.  

I was wrapping the teacher gifts and thought I could make the gift tags more personal by creating them myself. 

I used a blank gift tag, wooden stamp and some washi tape to create a gift tag with their name on the back. The wooden stamps were on sale at Michaels for 50% off and came in a pack of several different patterns. 

For a couple of girlfriends, I went with red and gold stamp with coordinating washi tape.  I've purchased most of my washi tape online at cutetape.com or wishywashy.com.

The gift tags came out so cute and the possibilities are really endless if you just have fun and get creative.  Let the kid in you come out to play! 

For the next set of gift tags, I cut some colored craft paper and used a circle punch to make the hole where the ribbon goes colorful instead of white. I also cut patterned paper into the shape of a gift tag for the bottom left tag.  The "Merry & Bright" words were printed from my labeler, but you could easily hand write them.  

Less than a week until Christmas- are you ready?  We're hosting dinner this year and I still have to plan the menu. . . . 

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We have planted 540 550 576 595 618 654 674 trees!  We are getting closer to my 1,000 goal.  Thank you so much!  If you want to plant a tree, all you have to do is click the photo below and "LIKE" New Life Energy on FB. 

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Ghirardelli Caramel Brownies

Today wraps up the final day of our Christmas Cheer Holiday link party, where you can share your favorite holiday recipe with Natasha and Heather. I'm featuring these decadent caramel brownies with Ghirardelli dark caramel chocolate squares layered inside.  

They couldn't be easier to make, since you just add the chocolate caramels in between the brownie batter. 

Being a huge chocolate lover and Ghirardelli fan (they make the best instant hot cocoa mix), I couldn't help but scoop up this cookbook a while ago.

The recipe is pretty basic and easy to assemble.

 See the gooey caramel center?!  They seriously melt in your mouth!  Mmmm . . . .

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Honey We're Home Christmas Home Tour

Decorating our home for Christmas is one of my favorite things to do.  I look forward to it each year and it's fun because you can do different things in each room, trying out color combinations and using old things in new or unexpected ways.  I'm careful each year to put everything away in a neat, organized way so that when I pull out those giant green and red bins, it's like Christmas morning just going through all the things we've collected over the years.  Enough talking, come on in!

In our foyer, two large nutcrackers greet you and a red jingle bell wreath is hanging on a mirror with a command hook. I originally planned to put the nutcrackers at the bottom of our staircase, but a young boy kept playing with them, so I had to put them higher up!

FOYER

DINING ROOM

Our dining room is the first room I decorated and my favorite this year.  I went with aqua, mint, white and metallics.  Those colors mix beautifully and go well with our drapes.  You can read all about it and find the source list HERE. 

CHRISTMAS TREE

As you enter the living room, you'll see our 9 foot faux tree that sits in the curve of the staircase.  I called pink and red for the decor and used a combination of pink ribbon and red wooden stringed berries to wrap the tree.  You can see more trees and link up yours HERE.

LIVING ROOM

The red continues into the living room where just a few simple decorations were added, like red pillows and a red tray on the coffee table.  It looks so much better in here now that I've organized all the toys!

Since our tree is fake, I love to light this inexpensive green Glade candle because it smells just like a real tree, but isn't too overpowering.  Smells like Christmas!

Ornaments fill bowls in the media cabinet, along with a few other fun things. 

KITCHEN

I don't normally put too much effort into the kitchen decor, but this year I wanted to spread the cheer around with more touches of red.   Since we have a white kitchen, the red really stands out.  You can read the full post HERE.  

BREAKFAST ROOM

The breakfast room is just off of the kitchen and I adorned the table with a wreath centerpiece.  It's just a large candle placed inside a smallish wreath. 

And I haven't been able to keep out of the dark chocolate Hershey's kisses.  They were intended as part of my son's Christmas party treats, but . . . The vintage holder was found on Etsy.

HOME OFFICE

My home office is completely "my space" although my son likes to play in there too.  I keep it pretty girly and the first thing I look forward to is turning the page in the Inslee desk calendar my sweet friend Stephanie gave me.  I adorned it with some washi tape. 

I found the decorative initial cup at Target. 

This pastel jingle bell wreath is from Home Goods. 

I added some mini pink and silver ornaments to a small bowl.  

MY TODDLER SON'S ROOM

I adore the snowflakes I cut for my son's room and he does too.  See how I did it HERE.  

We also found this giant red start that lights up at Ikea. 

MASTER SITTING ROOM

The master sitting room is a happy place this year decked out with a more natural feel and green decor.  See all the details HERE. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  

I wish you all a very warm and happy holiday!

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You can enter the Stella & Dot Giveaway HERE.