Christmas is right around the corner, and we love having an extra reason to get crafty around here! We made these festive Christmas Trees with our double-sided gift wrap for a little extra holiday cheer — they’re a fun DIY project and pretty enough to give as a gift — just be sure to make a few for yourself!

You will need: a cone/tree form (we preferred the cardboard cones, but styrofoam works, too!), paper, scissors, and a hot glue gun. Start by covering your tree form in the paper color of your choice. We used our Merry wrap for this tree. If you purchase a cardboard tree form, these typically have a point on top, but if you use a styrofoam form (like the one shown above), we recommend making a point with the wrap for a sleek look (see below).

After you’ve covered the tree form, you’ll need curls. LOTS of curls. We used our Merry wrap and our Mistletoe wrap for this part for some variety.  To make the curls, cut your paper into thin strips of varying lengths and widths — the variety will help the tree ‘fill in’ nicely. Then, begin curling the strips with scissors the way you would for curling ribbon. When you’ve compiled a decent amount of curls, begin adhering them to your tree with a hot glue gun.

Fill the entire tree form with the paper curls until you’re happy with the look. If you’d like, make a star to adhere to the top or leave it as is — and tada! A very merry (paper) Christmas tree.

We were inspired by these amazing snowflakes on How About Orange and decided to create our own crafty garland with the pretty paper folds instead of snowflakes! It’s really simple and the end result is stunning, and you’ll only need a few items: paper, scissors, and a glue stick! We used our double-sided, eco-friendly Pageant gift wrap — it’s really cheerful & festive!

Cut 10-15 6 inch squares of your favorite Smock gift wrap. We used Pageant.

Fold each square in half diagonally, then fold it in half diagonally a second time.

Use the scissors to make straight cuts on the triangle, and make sure each cut is evenly spaced apart – we created 5 cuts. Be sure to cut into the folded side of the triangle.

Unfold the paper, then begin assembly by bending the tips of the inner-most sections toward each other. Curl with your fingers to give it shape, then glue the pieces together.

Bend the next set of sections around in the opposite direction until they meet. Overlap the ends and secure with a glue stick. Continue this process until each section is combined.

Begin assembling your garland by gluing the ends of the ornaments to one another. Let dry, hang, and enjoy!

How cute is this paper holiday dress!? Jessica Sanders from Salutations in Charlotte is the dress maker extraordinaire behind this beautiful Christmas cocktail dress – made with our double-sided, eco-friendly Mistletoe wrap, this dress has us so excited for the holiday season! Those presents and custom holiday cards are pretty as can be, too — be sure to stop by your local Smock retailer to take advantage of our custom letterpress holiday promotion and stock up on holiday essentials today!

Have you created a masterpiece with our eco-friendly gift wrap? Share it with us! Get in touch with details and photos today!

If you’ve toured the Smock offices recently, you probably saw the amazing bunting some of our team put together a while back (and if you haven’t been on a tour yet, look below!). Today’s DIY project will show you how to make your very own bunting in just a few quick steps – it’s easy! And you’ll only need a few items.

You will need:

• Your favorite Smock gift wraps
• Twine, rope, yarn, or ribbon (we love the way twine looks!)
• Scissors
• An adhesive of some sort — hot glue or double-sided tape

The first step of this DIY is to determine how large you want the little banners on your bunting to be. Ours are about 7.5 inches wide and about 9.5 inches high. If you want yours to be the same size, we created this handy little cutting guide for your convenience! Next, you’ll want to determine how much bunting you’ll need (for 25 feet of bunting, you’ll need around 42 little banners).

Cut your banners out with your favorite Smock gift wraps — we chose to mix it up & use a little bit of everything, but there’s tons of ways to make yours. You could use just one pattern straight across for a uniform look, or alternate the front and back patterns to switch things up while still color coordinating. You can also pick a few to varying wraps like we did for a vibrant, festive look.

Next, you’ll want to secure the bunting to the twine — there are a few ways to go about this. Before securing anything, be sure to give yourself a little extra twine (maybe a foot or two) to be able to hang the bunting. Then, start by making a small fold along the top of the triangle banner (the fold should be somewhere between a 1/4 and 1/2 inch).  Use your adhesive to connect the twine & paper — we used a handy tape gun (pictured above) with double-sided tape to quickly secure the twine to the paper, and this made the process really quick and easy. If you don’t have double-sided tape, a hot-glue gun would work well, too. We haven’t tried this with regular glue, but we’re sure it would work if you use something to hold down the folds while the glue dries. You’ll want to space your banners about 1-2 inches apart.

After you’ve secured your banners to the twine, you’ll notice little triangles that form from folding the paper over (pictured below) — just snip these little overlapping pieces off with your scissors for a clean, even look.

Repeat this process until you’ve created enough bunting for your decorating needs! If you didn’t pre-cut your twine, be sure to leave a little extra on the end to make hanging a breeze. The end result will be a perfectly cheerful strand of bunting!

Making your own bunting?? Share your images with us on Facebook – we’d love to see them!

We’re in fall mode around here, and we thought the best way to kick off the weekend would be a little arts & crafts project. These paper pumpkins are super cute & pretty easy to make — and you only need a few supplies! Here’s what you should have on hand:

• A sheet of your favorite Smock gift wrap (I chose our Crochet wrap, but Koi, Jade, or Veranda would work nicely, too!)
• Scissors
• Brads
• A mini hole punch (or a pen/pencil)
• A stapler (optional)
• Tape or glue (optional)

First things first: you’ll need to cut a bunch of thin strips out of the gift wrap (mine were about 8 or 9 inches). Don’t cut the strips much longer than this, or it will get too heavy and your pumpkin won’t sit upright. I cut about 20 strips of paper, but you can cut more or less depending on how “full” you’d like your pumpkin to be (again, keep in mind that you want the pumpkin to stand up, so try not to weigh things down too much). The thickness can vary, but the length should be the same.

Next, arrange your strips in a circle like so:

From here, there are a few ways to do things. I chose to staple the bottom of my pumpkin together, and gathered about a third of the strips at a time and stapled them in the middle. When I had three little groupings, I stapled all three together to keep things secure. You could also use glue for this part, or if you’d rather, you can hole-punch the ends of the strips and use a brad to secure everything at the bottom. Using a brad will make it easier to adjust the “body” of your pumpkin, but I liked having half of the pumpkin secure and then making adjustments up top.

Next, you’ll need to punch a (small) hole near the end of each strip. After you’ve punched the holes, one by one, push the brad through each hole, and then secure the brad.

Next, you’ll want to make the finishing touches. I cut a medium and a thin strip of paper and wound them up tightly to create the stem and a curly little vine.

I adhered the stem by stapling & folding the paper, and then taped down the vine with a thin strip of tape on top.

And voila! A sweet little paper pumpkin — cute decor for fall AND a fun little DIY project for the weekend — what’s not to love!?  Are you planning on creating a Smock pumpkin patch?? Send us your photos on Twitter — we’d love to see them!

We were SO excited to team up with Antoinette at Paperista for the incredible paper project that we’re about to share. The stationery boutique wanted to create a super-special display for a recent bridal event, so they teamed up with a local college design student to create fashion out of paper. Rika VanHeerde Snyder – a student in the Apparel Design Program at the University of Minnesota and intern at Joynoelle – created the most amazing, one-of-a-kind, letterpress wedding gown and cocktail dress for the display. The dresses were made entirely from recycled Smock stationery and invitations, as well as a bit of our eco-friendly gift wrap. We were completely blown away by the end result — take a look!

Rika worked with hundreds of scraps of bamboo paper to create the dresses.

The corset top on the wedding gown is completely stunning. The gown was crafted with our ivory bamboo paper, and some of the letterpress ink colors that are shown include raspberry, mango and taupe.

The cocktail dress was created with our white bamboo paper and features pretty hints of blue (our Ceylon gift wrap).

A huge thank you to the lovely ladies at Paperista for choosing to work with us on this incredible project!

{Photos by Erica Loeks Photography}

Got the back to school blues? This DIY is an adorable way to spruce up your school books (or any other books, for that matter) and it’s super easy! You will need:

• Your favorite Smock gift wrap (our picks from the left: Pageant, Plume, Jade, April, and Beetle)
• A ruler
• Scissors
• Tape
• A pen or pencil

To start, you’ll need to measure and cut your sheet of gift wrap to fit your book. We recommend giving a 3-4-inch margin on either side of the (open) book, and then a 1-2-inch margin above and below the book.

After you’ve cut your gift wrap, fold up the top and bottom of the sheet. Be sure that the folds are not shorter than the book. Use a few pieces of tape in the middle to keep everything straight.

Next, with the book inside, fold the paper in half, making sure the sides are even. Then, take the top part of the gift wrap and fold it neatly under the book’s cover. Repeat this step on the bottom.

After you’ve made even folds, carefully slip onto the book, securing the book’s cover into the little pockets that the folds create. Secure with tape.

Tada! We are loving the end result. And since our gift wrap is double-sided, you can alternate patterns – perfect for prettying up a set of books to display at home!

In San Fransisco, we had the chance to stop by a few more Smock retailers – first up: Paperwhirl. We spoke with Kitty, one of the owners of the trendy Union Square stationery shop.

What cause do your store support?

Paperwhirl tries to support local artists whenever possible – a lot of the cards and merchandise that we keep in the store comes from local artists in the Bay area.

What about your store are you most proud of?

We’re probably one of  the only independent businesses on Union Square – it’s mostly chains, and we’re one of the few small, privately owned shops in this area. We’re also proud of the fact that we’ve been in business for almost 30 years.

If someone is visiting your store, what’s another essential stop in your neighborhood?

I love this shop called Downtown – it’s got some really edgy, organic clothing.

What’s the hottest color palette out there right now?

We’ve been seeing lots of bright, happy colors lately – oranges, corals, and pinks have been really popular for summer.

Our next stop was to Cherish – a sweet shop with lots of paper love. They had a great studio set up that’s perfect for parties – we got to see one getting started during our visit! This particular party was a birthday and scrap-booking event, and looked like so much fun! There were tons of beautiful papers to be found throughout the shop – we couldn’t get enough.

Ryan from Cherish filled us in on the shop – check out our interview with him!

What cause does your store believe in? How does this impact the store?

We give lots of donations to auctions that benefit local schools throughout the city – we tend to do a lot of gift certificates for parties and studio space usage, so we donate a lot of our services.

What about your store are you most proud of? What makes you unique?

We’ve narrowed down our store image to be more about local artists – we have a lot of items in the shop that are made locally, and some we make ourselves. It’s a win-win – we love offering a selection of local goods, and it provides an opportunity for the artists to get exposure, too.

What do you predict will be the biggest wedding or stationery trend for 2012?

I’ve noticed lately that  a lot of brides are more mindful about the environment when it comes to their wedding stationery, and I think that trend is going to grow even more in 2012. They’re scaling back, trying to waste less paper, and making their selections extra special – choosing quality over quantity.

Thanks so much to Paperwhirl and Cherish for welcoming us with open arms! Be sure to stop in to these fabulous shops if you’re in the San Francisco Bay area!

We’re so happy to be able to share more photos and highlights of our West Coast travels! It was such a treat to be able to visit Sugar Paper when we were in LA  – it’s the most adorable stationery boutique with so much style and charm. Chelsea from Sugar Paper gave us the scoop on what’s trending, what they love & how they’re making the world a better place.

Is there a cause or charity your store supports? Tell us all about it:

Sugar Paper donates to a myriad of charities throughout the year.  Our clients are very philanthropic and we support their causes through donations.  This year, however, we have chosen pediatric cancer as our personal cause.  Jamie and I are both new mothers and a close friend recently lost her baby to a rare form of cancer.  Her battle was a tough fight and loss of baby Quinn has left a mark on our hearts.

What about your store are you most proud of? What makes you unique?

We’re proud of the Sugar Paper team.  The invitation business is driven by deadlines and our days can be very busy.  We feel lucky to work with a group of creative people who work extremely hard and make us laugh every day.  Laughter seems to make the load lighter.

What do you predict will be the biggest wedding or stationery trend for 2012?

Hottest color palette right now?

If someone is visiting your store, what’s another essential stop in your neighborhood?

If you’re visiting our original location on Ensley Avenue, Clementine Bakery is a MUST.  The chocolate chip cookies are gooey in the middle and crisp on the edge – our favorite kind.  If you visit our Brentwood Country Mart location, the Mart is a destination in and of itself.  Caffe Luxxe serves artisanal coffee and Sweet Rose Creamery makes homemade ice cream that will knock your socks off.  The salted caramel is our personal favorite.

A huge thanks goes out to Chelsea for filling us in on everything Sugar Paper – if you’re in LA, be sure to stop in!!

**Be like Sugar Paper and support research for pediatric cancer by visiting any of the following foundations:

Pediatric Cancer Foundation

Alex’s Lemonade Stand

Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation

St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital

During our West Coast travels, Lindsy and I had the chance to stop in and visit lots of our LA dealers – we were thrilled to be able to stop in to the shops and meet our lovely retailers in person! Today we’re highlighting some images of two of the stores we visited during our trip – we’ll start with Presence Studio City, a stationery and gift shop in Studio City. Presence offers a carefully curated selection of unique gifts – including some gorgeous hardcover books, one-of-a-kind jewelry, home decor, fragrant candles, and more.

We chatted with Kaila from Presence – she was kind enough to tell us more about this sweet boutique!

What about the store are you most proud of?

We try to showcase unique yet affordable gifts that people won’t find anywhere else. We also pride ourselves on our customer service – many of our stationery and gift customers come back on return visits because they were so happy with their experience.

What’s the hottest color palette right now?

We’ve been seeing a lot of blues right now – cool tones of blue paired with silver, lots of navy, some turquoise here and there too. Blue is definitely a popular color right now.

One of our other stops in LA was to Landis Gifts & Stationery – a shop that truly has something special for everyone. Located on Larchmont Boulevard – an area that got its start in the early 1920′s – the shop is nestled into one of the most historic areas in LA and is surrounded by a wonderful mix of boutiques and restaurants.

Edie shared some thoughts about some of our latest products – check out her interview with Lindsy!