Happy Memorial Day! (and a sale to celebrate...)

Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone, especially to veterans and active duty military. Thank you for your service and sacrifice!!

It seems the weekend wouldn't be complete without a SALE, and seeing how I completely missed out on having a sale for my 2-year anniversary of the shop (on May 22), I'm offering three different coupons good only until May 28.

Use code Memorial10 to save 10% off orders of $30 or more (before shipping). Use code Memorial15 to save 15% off orders of $50 or more, or use code Memorial25 to save 25% off orders of $100 or more. These coupons are good in the Etsy shop of Paper and Present, because that shop still has the best selection of items. If you do make a purchase this weekend, please write in the notes to seller if you or someone you know is a veteran or active duty military. :D

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Hello!

As you might have guessed by now, things have been busy. I just found out a bit of news and thought to myself, "Wow! I need to put this on the blog!" And then I looked at this here little blog and realized just how long it's been. Sorry about that!

I've been busy adding lots of new stuff to Paper and Present, and buying lots of other new stuff to add to the shop once I get the chance. And then there's that whole building-a-whole-new-website-by-myself thing. On top of the he's-a-wild-and-crazy-two-year-old thing. Plus a second house still under renovation, and an assistant who left to move back closer to her family. And general life.

But I have it in my mind to get back here more often. So I will be seeing you again soon.

Oh, and that bit of news? My safari animal paper was recently featured on Apartment Therapy, which was quite a thrill for me.

Hope you all are doing well, and I will be back here again soon with lots of updates and news and photos of all the fun new things going on around here.

XO,
Melissa

Paper and Present on Joss and Main today

Hi all. Just a quick note to let you know that Paper and Present is featured on Joss and Main today. Only our gift wrap, gift bags and packaging kits are offered in the sale, and they are in limited quantities. You can get a particularly great deal on the wrapping papers, but they are going fast, so act soon if you would like some for yourself! The sale started today and runs for 72 hours, while supplies last.

In other news, I am dreaming about packing boxes these days. I took 84 packages to the post office on Tuesday. Definitely a new record for me!

Construction progress

I haven't been out to the other house much lately, so Capable Guy just sent a few photos over. Looks like a lot of progress to me! Yay!

We're in Real Simple magazine!!

A couple of months ago I told you that I had a request from a magazine to feature one of my items in their magazine. We went back and forth on the colors, and in the end I created a packaging and gift wrap kit specifically for them. And then I held my breath, and hoped like heck that it made the final cut after the stylist and photographers had their way with it.

So I am THRILLED beyond belief to finally be able to tell you that my humble little shop and one of our gift wrap kits is featured in the December 2012 issue of Real Simple magazine!! I can still hardly believe it.

The great news for everyone out there is that it's included in their "Discounts and Deals" section, which means it is a discounted deal!!

The magazine will be on news stands November 19, or perhaps you already subscribe to it and will see the issue in person. Or, you could always check it out on their website and see it in all its glory. Well, almost. There are about 160 items in the kit, and only a tiny fraction of them are shown in the image online. It also made my day to see them describe it as "So fetching, it could be a gift in itself."

You can see the online version here.

And even though the magazine suggests that the discount code is good only for this product, here's a little secret: the code is good for your entire purchase on everything in the shop that you may also want to buy.

Framing

Our Capable Guy has been hard at work at the other house. The carport is almost completely framed in to convert it to a playroom/office/den/bonus room.

The two separate out buildings have also been opened up. The back part of this space will be the new laundry room with a huge amount of extra space to be used as a craft room, pantry, mud room, or all of the above. We get to keep the pitched ceilings, which makes me very happy.

We ordered the new windows and exterior doors for the entire house (the husband cried as I wrote that check...), and one huge decision was made with the selection of the front door. Because we are basically redoing the entire house, the style of it could have gone ranch or it could go craftsman, and the front door is 100% craftsman. At least that's one less decision left to make!

Capable Guy will work this week to enclose the new framing so that we can get Mr. Stucco out there to give the exterior of the house a new lease on life. So excited, but so scared to have to pick the stucco color soon!

Crafting at warp speed

Wow. This week has been filled with an overwhelming list of things to do to get ready for the holidays. Nobody will buy my awesome wrapping papers if they can't see what they look like. And it's one thing to see a single box wrapped up pretty, but it's another thing to see all sorts of fun (and I hope original and unique) ways to use it to decorate packages. That means I have to create all those examples of fun (and I hope original and unique) ways to use it to decorate packages. And when you have to do that for five different wrapping papers, it tends to require some really late nights.

Then I had to decorate for the photos, stage the photos, rush to take the photos during Lachlan's naps, and then edit the photos. I'm also rushing to set up a new website, and that of course has its own specifications for the photos. And I'm rushing to complete a set of photos for something special that is coming up the middle of this month. I'll tell you all about that next week, because it's a deal that you will. not. want. to. miss. Weee!  But I digress...

I'm still working on editing all of the photos, but here's a little peek at one of the collections, red birds and berries. I had this gift bag in the shop last season and it was really popular, so I added the wrapping paper this year and it is already the top seller.

This was the first paper I used for my crafting, and I had a ball thinking of different ways to use it. Every year when I'm wrapping presents, I try to save every tiny scrap because one day I might have a tiny present to wrap. In the end, all those scraps go into the recycle bin and I feel so wasteful. So the idea behind what I'm doing this year is that you can wrap a present or two with the paper, but then use the scraps of paper to decorate a whole host of different, very simple items. Of course, everything I'm using is available for sale in the shop (and the new website, details coming soon!), but people can also use these ideas with simple things they may already have in their own home. It's a nice way to come up with a beautifully coordinated set of gifts that each have something special about them.

Here's the complete set I came up with, in two photos.

Over the next few days I'll show you some closeups of each item, along with the details of how to get the other products in the photos so you can "get the look" for yourself. In the meantime, here are some pictures of my two favorites from this set.

 

 

I'd love to hear any other suggestions you have for fun ways to use leftover bits of wrapping paper to decorate packages.

Christmas decorations

I'm the person who walks into a store in October and becomes almost overwhelmed by my irritation with the number of Christmas decorations already in the stores. And yet, here I am today, decorating my house for a photo shoot I'm planning for my Christmas items. Crazy! And what's worse is that I'm waaaay behind on doing this. Ack.

The past few days have been spent in a major crafting frenzy as I decorate packages in (what I hope is) unique and creative ways using the wrapping papers and other items in the shop.

I hope to show people how to stretch their dollars this year by using regular old tissue and wrapping paper in fun and unexpected ways. I'm pretty delighted with some of the things we've come up with, and I can't wait to show them to you!

In the meantime, here's how things are starting to look.
Stage 1. Pinecone garland:
Stage 2. Berry garland addition:
Now it's back to work on the setup!

Big tree, small boy

We spent the most perfect fall afternoon at the park. I've been there a bazillion times but never noticed this cool tree until today.

It's big. And he's small. :)

Cat face spider

It's almost Halloween, and I guess that means it's time for the creepy crawly things to come out of hiding.

We found this tonight on the carpet in the living room, among Lachlan's legos. While he was playing with them...

She's a cat face spider, so named because of the shape and coloring of her abdomen, which is supposed to resemble a cat's face (looks more like the face of a rat or weasel to me).

They are supposed to be harmless to humans and an extremely beneficial enemy of many garden insects. So she'll be left to live another day. But in another location on this property.