Decembers {Santa's wrapping} "I Love You" Box

WOW, December has come and gone and we are already in our second week of January. I'm just crossing fingers and toes that 2014 doesn't fly by in the same way that 2013 did. There are many exciting things we have planned for the year ahead but before we start celebrating those I wanted to share the contents of our December "I Love you" box with you. Take a little look here

• 1 x Christmas washi tape
• 4 x kraft cards with white screen printed Christmas design 
• 4 x custom envelopes (2 x lined with a pattern + 2 x with pattern printed on the outside of the envelope)
• 1 x LOVE letterpressed card with grey lined envelope
• 5 x plain flat kraft paper bags
• 5 x flat kraft paper bags (each bag stamped with one of our Christmas stamps)
• 2 x To: & From: Kraft tags with eyelet and twine
• 1 x Christmas wooden wrapping paddle
• 5 x variety design Christmas stickers
• 2metres x red and cotton petersham ribbon
• 2 x 'Naughty OR Nice" manilla tags with twine 

We had so many fun and festive washi tapes in store this year, each box had one design included - from gold chevron, grey stripes, red snowflakes to red spots, stripes and stars. They were awesome and so useful when it came to attaching your Christmas cards & tags and wrapping up your parcels in a unique way. 

Our Kraft Christmas cards were hand screen printed here at the Elephantshoe Studio and they were accompanied with an envelope. We included a variety of envelope styles e.g grey or red large spots printed on the outside of the envelope, red or grey striped printed as a liner on the inside of the envelope.  

Each box included 5 plain kraft paper flat bags and 5 kraft bags that were each individually stamped with a variety of our Christmas stamps. 

Looking back on the festive season one of our favorite shoots was our Christmas one. It was wonderful to gather all the products and styling goodies to give the shoot a holly jolly charm. A big thank you to our 2013 intern Kathleen for helping us with all the Christmas preparation and of course to Andre from Blackframe photography. We are blessed to work with such talented and all round GREAT people. 

Don't miss out on our January "I love you" boxes - these are going out to our lovely subscribers on the 15th of January instead of the usual beginning of the month. We will return to delivery in the fist week of the month when we send out the February box. 

Thank you everyone for your "I love you" box orders.

x Love Sam 

Consol Give with Glass this Festive Season - Free Printables

What a magical time! We love all the excitement in the air as everyone begins to unwind and get ready for the holidays. At Elephantshoe we started the Christmas season early, {how lucky are we?} when Consol Glass and Humankind Advertising approached us to do the styling and stationery design for this years "Give with Glass campaign". If we could ever dream up the perfect project to be apart of, it would be this, {Thank you Santa for the early pressie!}. To top it off we got to work with our besties - Blackframe photography. Yipppeeeee!  Follow our post below and you may find yourself getting into some easy Christmas projects this December. 

Although we love to spoil our family and friends all year round, the festive season is the perfect opportunity to have a bit of fun with your giving and to create some unique and special gifts using a few DIY ideas. All you need to do is visit the Consol shop to purchase the glass items that we have used below and simply download our free printables from the bottom of this post and follow our guidelines for each project.

WISHFUL WONDER

A stylish way to put Secret Santa into action this year. Ask your friends and family to fill out their wishlist, roll it up as a scroll and pop it into a large glass jar. Once everyones wishes are in the jar it's time for everyone to pick out one scroll each. The scroll will have the name of the person they should buy one gift for and some ideas of what they are hoping for this Christmas.

ORGANIC INSPIRATION

Create a festive atmosphere by placing your favourite flowers and natural elements in glass bottles and jars. 

Rock Roses planted in rich dark soil and placed in these glass jam jars make for a fun and eco-friendly gift or a striking and low-maintenance alternative for table decor. 

We love the idea of placing sweet smelling bath products into these jars instead of wrapping in the more conventional way. Tie one of our Christmas tags on with a dash of twine and give the gift of relaxation.

TIP : Hang single flowers or sticks of cinnamon in small glass bottles from a wooden wreath for a naturally festive decorative element.

TIP :  Keep your tasty treats, (nuts, biltong, nougat) fresh in Consols new Classic Glass Storageware. Ooooooh I wouldn't mind a set of these for Christmas.

Organic Inspiration- download the printables featured above here. {Gift Tags and Labels}

TIMELESS TRADITION

We at Elephantshoe discovered these absolutely amazing and beautiful Solar Jars, {the lights hanging in the first image above} for the first time while working with Consol, and we wish we knew about them before. They are incredible, they use only the suns rays for energy and last up to 6-8 hours. Perfect for Christmas dinner outside. 

TIP: Wrap lace around glass jars and pop a candle in each to create a warm and lovely atmosphere in your home. {This is a great idea for any time of year}.

TIP: For a unique centerpiece, coat a variety of glass bottles in your favourite paint. This is such a versatile idea as you can really choose any colour you like.

PAINTED GLASS JARS

SHOPPING LIST

1. A variety of different shapes and sizes of Consol Glass jars
2. An enamel primer
3. An enamel paint in your choice of colour

METHOD

• STEP 1: Wash out the empty glass jars with a soapy warm water and allow to dry completely.
• STEP 2: Pour a small quantity of enamel primer into each jar and swirl around the bottle in order to coat the inside of the glass. Pour out any excess and allow to dry.
• STEP 3: Pour your choice of colour enamel paint into one jar at a time and once again swirl around until the inside is coated with paint. Pour out the excess.
• STEP 4: Dry these jars upside down on a paper towel.
• STEP 5: Check on these bottles every now and then and wipe the rim of each jar, as excess paint will collect here.

TIP: Make your own Snow Globes with simple ornaments and glass jars. These are a great table gift or decoration.

SNOW GLOBES

SHOPPING LIST

1. Any CONSOL Glass Jar with a screw on lid
2. Small Christmas decorations and trinkets, (N.B - check that they can fit into the jar comfortably)
3. Oil based enamel paint
4. Distilled water
5. Glycerin
6. White glitter flakes
7. Super Glue

METHOD

• STEP 1: You have the option to either paint both your Christmas trinket and the lid of the jar in your choice of enamel paint and wait for them to dry completely. Or if you like their original colour leave them as they are.
• STEP 2: Stick your small Christmas decoration to the inside of the screw on lid with super glue and allow for this to dry.
• STEP 3: Fill your glass jar with distilled water, aprox 2 cm from the top.
• STEP 4: Add a pinch of white glitter flakes to the distilled water, (Just a pinch – not too much).
• STEP 5: Add a dash of Glycerin, (this helps the glitter flakes to fall slowly).
• STEP 6: Screw the lid with the small Christmas decoration attached onto the jar and make sure it is secured tightly.
• STEP 7. Turn the glass jar over and shake gently and watch those flakes fall.

 SWEET SURRENDER

Embrace this season and it's spirit of guilt-free indulgence, as you snack on tasty treats and delectable delights while sharing special moments with friends and family. Add a new dimension to these treats by wrapping them in glass and giving them as gifts. A delicious present with versatile packaging that is sure to last much longer than the snacks that it holds.

We adore these glass cake stands and bell jars - select your favourite style and size from the Consol shop and fill it with mouthwatering, delicious toffee apples or Christmas cake. YUM! Bring on the Christmas feast.

TIP: Fill bell jars with coloured baubles and pine cones and place them around the house for a fun festive decoration.

TIP: Spray paint Mason jars with white spray paint and fill with Candy Canes.

TIP: Fill simple long drinking glasses with your choice of coloured macaroons.

We had a great amount of fun making all of these goodies and we hope you do to. Please send us pictures if you use any of the ideas in this post, it would be lovely to see how you have personalised your gifts this year.

Happy glass shopping!

love Sam 

from the "Elephant factory"

 {DOWNLOAD WISHFUL WONDER PRINTABLES HERE}  - {Festive Wish Label and Wishing Cards} 

 {DOWNLOAD ORGANIC INSPIRATION PRINTABLES HERE}   - {Gift Tags and Labels}

 {DOWNLOAD TIMELESS TRADITION PRINTABLES HERE}  -  {Place Seating tags and Straw Flags}

{DOWNLOAD SWEET SURRENDER PRINTABLES HERE}  -  {Gift Tags and Dessert Table Labels}

"Naughty or Nice? My Christmas Spoil & Hint List"

Our Thursday DIY post on the prettyblog today. Thank you to Nicola and Christine for all of their support this year. What a wonderful opportunity to be apart of their DIY team.

The party's on. The feelings here. That only comes this time of year. Simply having a wonderful Christmas time!!! 

We're getting into the Christmas spirit here at Elephantshoe and we thought it would be great to share some Printables with you to help make this Festive Season less of a frenzy and much more merry.

Little is greater than the feeling of sharing. 

I love to visit markets and stores to hunt and find the little bits and bobs that I know my friends and family would simply love to receive for Christmas. It isn't always that easy though, we can spend hours trying to work out the perfect gift for each special person. To give you an example my brother has sent me a couple of messages this week that go a little something like this, "What do you think dad would like for Christmas?", "What should I buy James for Christmas?", "What would you like for Christmas?", and I find myself sending out similar e-mails and sms's.

So I was thinking why not ask everyone to fIll out a stocking stuffer survey.That way you will know what people like and don't like, need and don't need. It makes things so much easier and it is also fun. 

Download our free Stocking Stuffer Dream List at the bottom of this post. Simply print, trim and hand these out to the lucky folk in your life.

Now for some organised fun. Compile a master list from these cards by downloading our "My Christmas Spoil List" at the bottom of this post. This will make your time in the stores a tiny bit easier while everyone else is dashing in a shopping mania. 

O.k so you now know what to get to bless everyone but what about those earrings and those shoes that you have been hoping and dreaming about all year round? Download our handy hint card at the bottom of this post and leave "Santa" a little reminder of some of the items you may like to receive.

It is close to Christmas but it also happens to be my Birthday today, yipppppeeeeeee! So we have come up with a small give away and you have the opportunity to WIN WIN WIN!! 

Simply "LIKE" both the Elephantshoe and the Blackframe facebook pages. Send your photographs of any of the DIY/Printable Elephantshoe projects that you have downloaded and used from theprettyblog this year with a short description on how it has made your life a little easier to sam@elephantshoelove.com. We will post them on facebook and announce the winner in the second week of January. 

 O.k O.k - so what do I win? 

Win a customised/personalised addressing stamp with your name, telephone number, address, e-mail and web address (if you have one) - designed by Elephantshoe just for you . Plus a stamp pad. This is really handy and serves as a letterhead on any stationery. I use mine on the letters I send out, my packaging and as a business card. 

Looking forward to hearing from everyone!!

Blackframe photography - we love you and we love the photography you have kindly taken of our Festive Season Printables. Thank you. Everyone head over to their blog. If you are planning a wedding in the New Year you know who to go to. 

Have a VERY MERRY Christmas and don't forget the real reason we celebrate.

Fa la la la la la la la la.

Happy List making!

love Sam 

from the "Elephant factory"

{DOWNLOAD YOUR STOCKING STUFFER DREAM LIST PDF HERE} 

{DOWNLOAD YOUR CHRISTMAS SPOIL LIST PDF HERE}  

{DOWNLOAD YOUR HAND HINT CARD PDF HERE}