Author Archives: Jennifer

How to Decorate Basic White Gift Boxes

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One of the most fashionable things you can do for Christmas 2011 is decorating your own basic black boxes in florescent hues. All you need is scissors, and strong glue plus the white boxes and ribbons. For best results, use a glue gun.

Fluorescent green ribbons, beads and fluffy feathers can be used to decorate round boxes. This has the effect of making them look like giant green striped peppermints. The spearmint green color is very festive and looks fantastic against the white of any box. Find little green round baubles or Christmas balls to decorate the top. If you have any type of lime green stickers fasten them in an attractive pattern along the side. You can also make designs in glue and then roll the white box in glitter or sequins to create designs.

Another contemporary and fashionable Christmas color for 2011 is an intense teal blue. Sheer blue ribbons look nice wrapped around a white box. You can also buy metallic blue ribbon and ribbon speckled with silver dots. Polka dot blue ribbons also make a box look very festive.

Another unusual color that looks great wrapped around a white box is neon pink. Neon pink ribbons come in many pleasing hues that can be combined to create a very unique look. The effect is very “strawberry cream soda.” You can find pink pom poms, balls, sheer ribbbons and ribbons cut in the shape of animals or flower motifs.

Dark purple is another interesting choice for decorating plain white gift boxes. You can get fake violets and fake purple eucalyptus at craft stores that looks very nice attached to the top of the parcel. You can get pin-striped purple ribbon, grape colored purple ribbon and very light fuchsia ribbon that looks very nice later together to make a glamorous striping on the box.

A very modern effect is to wrap the boxes in bright orange ribbon. This is very funky and unusual and perfect to give to someone younger in your life. You can get ribbon in orange and green plaid, bright orange, dull orange, tangerine and pink-orange hues. There is nothing quite so happy looking as a giant bow made out of orange silk ribbon tied to the top of a parcel.

You can do the same to a white box with the traditional tomato red, emerald green and white ribbon colors associated with Christmas but in 2011 most of the hipsters are being a bit more offbeat.

How to Decorate A Room for Christmas in Mid-Century Scandinavian Style

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Decorating a room in mid-century Scandivian style is one of the cheapest ways to go if you want a look that is unique for Christmas. Basically it entails buying almost everything that you need from Ikea and the color scheme is very simple: black and white with touches of red. It is a simple Scandinavian take on the “Tuxedo look.”

Start with a completely white room. Paint everything white including the floor, fixtures and add a faux white fireplace frame to the room. Put a black and white striped carpet on the floor and accent it with black and white vases, freestanding plastic tables and bit black utilitarian look chairs in either black or Christmas red. Lamps can be made of paper and freestanding or pendant style. White candle holders can be set on the mantelpiece for a chic yet cheap effect.

As long as they are all identical little glass tea light olders in black and white lined up along the mantel greatly compliment this look. You can alternate black and white holders or get striped candles.

At Ikea you can get the landmark white pedestal tables designed by Finnish designer Eero Saarinen. His pedestal has a base of cast-aluminum .Originally designed in 1956 it is still fashionable today and gives your room a bit of a space age effect.

Pendant lamps in plastic can also make amazing looking fashion statements. Look for lamps designed by Paul Henningsen. His many layered Snowball pendant swinging lamp has been around since 1924 and is much imitated by many designers. It looks like e a large white pine cone. He also designed another model that looks more like a round artichoke that has had it’s leaves open. Both are very festive in spirit and landmark objects of art that are also very functional.

To complete the look be sure to place big wool Christmas stockings in black and white along the edge of the fake fire mantel. Inside the fireplace feature presents wrapped in all white tissue paper wrapped with red and black ribbons. Above the mantelpiece you can put a giant minimimilast wreath. This can be unnatural or fake but the idea is that it must look as trim and compact as possible to compliment the mid-century Scandinavian look. A company called Fresh Florals makes an all black wreath that is wrapped in black ribbon that is made out of twigs. Make sure that the twig wreath that you choose is quite thick and well twined or it may not suit this style.