tinkered holiday round-up

Over the years I've had the pleasure of contributing holiday tutorials to Romantic Homes and their Vintage Holiday special issue publications. It's always an absolute treat to see how the words and images I send to them are transformed by their talented team of designers and editors into beautifully designed glossy pages on the newsstand!

By looking at the first pages of each project below you can probably guess how to make them; if you need assistance, just visit me at my tinkeredtreasures page on Facebook and I'm happy to help! All images are click-to-enlarge.

My first holiday "Make It" was Boxing Day where small matchboxes (a favorite project of mine) are decorated with scrapbook paper and printed-and-punched words. This is still one of my all-time favorite features!

Next came New Birds on the Block where birdhouses from the wood craft aisle are fashioned to resemble vintage style putz houses, originally made from paper.

Just Add Salt was a superspecial feature because the mischievous elf landed a spot on the cover!

Yup! There he is in the far-right bubble!

And from this holiday season, Festive Charmers!

In assembling this post I realize that I've done about two dozen tutorials for the Romantic Homes family of magazines! Special thanks to Jacqueline deMontravel, Meryl Schoenbaum, Staci Dumoski, Devlin Smith, Jickie Torres, Elena Oh, and so many more!

Thanks as always for visiting! Wishing you all the best health and happiness this holiday season and beyond!

xo
elyse

clipping catalogs

I actually enjoy receiving piles of catalogs in the mail around Christmastime. Dog-earring glossy pages showcasing petit fours or party dresses, but I'm especially drawn to classic winter gear. With sub-freezing temps right around the corner, my head is easily turned by rich plaids, snowflakes and cable knit.

I decided to get snippy with my stack of catalogs and make a garland/bunting to infuse these festive patterns and colors into my seasonal decor on the cheap! First I created a template using card stock but this step can be skipped.

Fold magazine page in half, crease well and make two snips away from the fold, creating a triangle. Keep cutting folded triangles until you have enough to fill a length of baker's twine or string. If this doesn't make sense, check out this video.

Place each folded triangle over the twine, give a few light swipes of glue stick (leaving space at the crease to re-position along the line as needed), press together and align well, and smooth flat.

I like to attempt a random pattern by simply grabbing each triangle without studying it first.

This doesn't take long to do and can be adapted to any paper you have handy. Take-out menus, old greeting cards, coloring pages, construction paper -- you name it!

Before you clean-up and ditch all the clippings, tinker a few clothespins. These patterned pegs are perfect (say that 3x fast) for hanging mittens, adding tags to gift bags, displaying holiday cards and more!

The best part about using plaids and snowflakes and cable knit is that these decorations can hang around until its time to pull out the spring clothes!

Thank you for reading! Happy December wishes!!!

xo
elyse