YAMF Holiday Handmade is sponsored by Kollabora, the community for makers.

Here’s an idea for trees you don’t have to water or put a fence around so your kids don’t break the ornaments.

To make your own you’ll need:
- cardboard (I used a science fair display board)
- razor blade
- mini lights

Step One: Trace triangles onto cardboard.
Step Two: Carefully cut triangles out with razor blade.

Step Three: With razor blade or scissors, make holes  just big enough for lights to fit through.
Step Four: Stick lights through holes, plug in and be dazzled.

images by Jennifer Little of Sugar Photography

YAMF Holiday Handmade is sponsored by Kollabora, the community for makers.

The other two projects at the workshop were blind impress letterpress tags and stamped kraft paper sheets. I think they were the most popular because everybody has gifts they need to wrap around the holidays.

For the wrapping we just used sheets of kraft paper (IKEA has some rolls right now) and patterned them up with stamps from Yellow Owl Workshop. I especially love the dala horse set.

For the tags, Lifestyle Crafts was generous enough to donate a couple of their Epic tools that easily made the letterpress impression. I love the look of white on white.

Now do you feel like you actually attended the event? Maybe I could convince them that I need to put this show on the road.

Psst, I gift guide guest posted on the Etsy blog this week!

YAMF Holiday Handmade is sponsored by Kollabora, the community for makers.

Here’s another simple project we worked on at the Anthro event, wood veneer garlands. We used really pliable, thin wood veneer sheets that were easy to cut with scissors and didn’t fray and splinter. There are hundreds of possibilities for this project and no two people did the same thing.

To make your own you’ll need:
- paper backed wood veneer sheets (like this)
- scissors
- small hole punch
- twine

Step One: Decide on the shapes you want to use and cut them out free hand from the wood veneer.
Step Two: Punch holes and string with twine.
Step Three: Hang them up and feel all merry.

YAMF Holiday Handmade is sponsored by Kollabora, the community for makers.


These treat jars were one of the four projects crafted up at the Anthro holiday workshop. They are so easy you could easily make 25 in one sitting then make a big batch of carmel corn and share them with your neighbors. Click here for the full tutorial on Julep.

I used these bottles from Specialty Bottle.

decal design by Kirsten Bingham

A little over a week ago I hosted a holiday workshop at Anthropologie. Here’s a little recap of the fashionable crafting that went on.

I gave an impromptu introduction and was as nervous as I looked. There was a point were people were laughing and I literally thought, “I have no idea what I just said.” The Anthro team looked cute in their matching aprons.

I came up with four different holiday themed projects to work on. We didn’t even need chairs because everybody was standing up and busily working away. I’ll be sharing each of the projects in separate posts, the treat jars are coming up later today.

Lexy and Sarah were among the crafters.

I love the way the way the gold ink looked on the kraft paper.

I decided to personalize bags to hold all the loot. Casey designed this stamp and I ordered it from RubberStamps.net. Since the surface area of the was large, I used block printing ink and a roller to print the image on the bags. Casey also designed cute instruction cards that were set at each table.

An overall success. Thank you to Anthropologie for having me!

images by Jennifer Little of Sugar Photography

YAMF Holiday Handmade is sponsored by Kollabora, the community for makers.

Today’s holiday handmade post is from the talented Alana Davis of Humunuku Shoppe.

So much of the wrapping paper selection at stores is tacky and overpriced. Here’s a way to make your own pretty paper to wrap your holiday gifts in or crank out a stack of sheets and save them for other celebrations.

To make your own you’ll need:
- stamp design (download this pattern here)
- rubber carving block
- pencil
- knife or razor blade
- carving tool
- stamp pad
- fabric and/or paper

Step One: Outline the design with pencil and press it facedown onto the carving block. Then trace the lines with a bone folder.
Step Two: Use a carving tool to make the lines deeper and more defined. Carefully cut out entire shape with a razor or knife.

Step Three: Using a brayer and ink or stamp pad, ink up your stamp. Stamp your design on paper or fabric.

Step Four: Wow all your giftees with your craftiness.


See a lot more pretty from Alana by visiting her website and Etsy shop. I’m especially loving her joyeux noel cards.

Happy Thanksgiving! May it be filled with gratitude and pies. A table full of delicious pies.

YAMF Holiday Handmade is sponsored by Kollabora, the community for makers.

The last advent might just be my favorite but I can’t tell if that’s just because of the yeti.

To make your own mini mountain advent you’ll need:
- kraft card stock
- scissors
- white paint pen
- super glue
- labels (I used some from the Martha Stewart line at Staples)
- toothpicks
- mini trees

Step One: Do an Internet search for triangle box template. Pick a few sizes and print 25 out.
Step Two: Add snowy caps with white pen.
Step Three: Cut and assemble. To get them to stay together, I actually had to use super glue. To make them functional, keep the bottom easy to open.

Step Four: Number 25 labels. Attach to toothpick by folding in half. Insert on top of each mountain.

Step Five: Line up the mountains to create a range and add mini trees, plastic animals or an oversized Yeti. Your call.

First and last photos by Jennifer Little of Sugar Photography

YAMF Holiday Handmade is sponsored by Kollabora, the community for makers.

I have two more advents to share with you this week. Hip, hip!

To make your own pegboard advent you’ll need:
- 25 glassine bags (I like the selection from ClearBags)
- treats
- date stamp
- sewing machine
- clothes pins
- decorative tape
- floral wire
- pegboard

Step One: Stamp your bags with the appropriate dates, fill with treats and stitch closed.
Step Two: Cover the front of the clothespins with tape. Trim wire and string through the hole of each clothespin. Attach to pegboard by putting each end of wire through holes and twisting together on the backside.
Step Three: Attach bags to clothespins.
Step Four: Make more bags to replace the ones that get stolen throughout the day.

Top two images by Jennifer Little of Sugar Photography

I’m a tad bit excited to announce the launch of Julep, a fresh new blog from Minted. I’m excited because it’s written by some of the coolest contributor cats on the block and I snuck into the party. I’ll be sharing a couple diy posts a month. My first one is what I like to call a modern cornucopia which you can read all about here. It’s a foolproof centerpiece for Thanksgiving.

And here are a few more posts I’ve written full of Thanksgiving ideas:
Non-tacky tabletops
Pleasing place cards
Easy diy table runners
Festive-ing up the whole house