the green gal

Waving goodbye to 2011

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Did you have a spendid Christmas? I do hope so. Ours was the usual rushing around lots of houses visiting family and friends – it's not a restful time but we get fed, watered and exchange presents everywhere we go so it's good fun! 

Christmas is a poignant time for my family, as it is for many people, and this year was even more so for my extended family. It makes me value my gorgeous loved ones even more, and makes me thankful for everything I have and experience in life. 2011 has been an exciting year for me and I'm going to strive to enjoy every moment of 2012, grab any opportunities that come my way, find a positive in every situtation and generally have a rip-roaring time next year! That goes for my business, the green gables, and my home life.

See you in 2012, onwards and forwards!

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PS I should also remind you that the winter sale continues at my online shop, check out thegreengables.co.uk for savings on everything!

The sale is on!

Palette pingpong no41 + printables

Feeling festive? Ready to spend a few days eating more than you normally do in a week and watching feel-good kids' movies? Well, before you pootle off to watch Mary Poppins and crack open a tin of chocs, we've just time to squeeze in the last palette pingpong of the year!

You can see the cheerful snap that Kirsty challenged me with over on her blog, ginger and george. And this is the fetching palette I pulled from the pic:

Nice, eh? Reminds me a little of the TV test screen (remember from ye olde teevee days?). Anyhow, what have I done with such a vivid palette you may ask? Well, a couple of things, all freebie printables for you! (Just in case you're not quite sorted with your gift wrap yet, not that I'm saying you're a disorganised bunch!)

I've taken a few of the colours and created two sheets of rectangular and circular tags. These can be used as gift tags or place names at the Christmas dinner table – I've left them suitably blank so you can use them in as many ways as you like. 

And because I love the stripy palette I am also giving you a couple of stripy sheets for you to print out and use however you choose! Perhaps as wrapping paper for a small gift or as additional tags (trace round another tag's outline and cut out the shape).

Download Christmas tags & paper

You can download the pdfs and print them on A4 recycled paper or card as many time as you like. All I ask is that you use them for yourself, not for commercial ideas, and if you want to tell others about these printables that you link back to this blog post, rather than just the pdfs.

And before I let you go I just want to say thank you very much. 2011 has been a very exciting year for me and my business, the green gables, and I so appreciate your support, your comments and your general loveliness!

So, have a very merry Christmas!

xx

Gift wrap is not just for wrapping

As you probably already know I sell eco-friendly wrapping paper, tags and decorative tapes featuring my star and heart bunting designs. Their main purpose in life is to wrap up your presents and make them look gorgeous. But, that's not all gift wrap is good for, here are a few ideas of what else you can do with a humble sheet of wrapping paper…

Paper chains – this a great way to use up leftover scraps of paper, you can make the links as thin or fat as you like and the chains as long as your home can take!

Envelopes – this can make a great alternative to the plain envelopes you get with gift cards and they're super easy to make.

Gift bags – a fab solution to wrapping an awkward shaped gift, or lots of little presents, is to put it in a gift bag. Making your own is a doddle and it means your bags and boxes can co-ordinate for perfect presentation!

And if you want to keep your gift wrapping super simple this year try covering presents in tissue paper or brown paper and finish off with decorative tape and baker's twine or ribbon. Happy wrapping!

Too beautiful for scissors

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Paper cuts make me marvel and the king of all paper cutting, in my opinion, is Rob Ryan. It's not just the intricacy of the actual cutting, it's the romance, wistfulness and downright gorgeousness of his work that makes me feel positively swoony when gazing at his work. Just beautiful.

Pantone's colour of 2012

So, Pantone has announced its colour of 2012 is tangerine tango! Or Pantone 17-1463 to be precise. What do you think? Are you already a fan of orange shades or are you horrified by such a colour being awarded a year of its own? 

I think it's more of a pinky tangerine than a yellow tangerine and I have to say it's not my most favourite shade in the world. Having said that, the day before I discovered Pantone's 2012 colour I created some new stationery designs featuring a coraly, pinky, orangey tint! So maybe I'm more of a fan than I realised… 

In celebration of Pantone's ruling I have found a few images in THE colour of next year (and no actual tangerines in sight), enjoy…

fabric, sunset, texture, yarn, butterfly, doors

Shiny pretty thing

Every year I buy a new decoration for the Christmas tree and a few days ago I bought this gorgeous bird ornament from my favourite shop in my local town – The Corner House. The shop is full of gorgeous and different homewares and decorations, when I win the lottery (ha!) I shall have a serious spending spree!

I'm looking forward to hanging it on my tree (I know, I'm a bit of a slow coach on the seasonal decorating front), until then it can sit on my mantelpiece looking pretty. 

Too beautiful to mind getting wet

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Isn't this an incredible shot of rain? If rain looked this beautiful to the naked eye I don't think I'd mind having to go out in it nearly as much. I'll try to remember that next time I'm squelching through puddles…

Palette pingpong no40

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Now, you might recognise this stamp bunting adorned cake. Yep, that's because you saw it a little while ago on this post. Well, because I was so taken with this decorated treat, and because this is our 40th palette pingpong post (our Ruby PPP if you will) I decided to challenge Kirsty with the image. And, being the spirited gal that she is, she grabbed the cake and ran with it! Metaphorically of course.

To see the palette Kirsty has pulled come with me to her blog, ginger and george, and all will be revealed…

Season's greetings

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Happy 1st December, everyone!