Celebrating Friendship {and sharing a give-away…}

Good friends are something to celebrate, to cherish, and above all, to enjoy. This year has been a whirlwind of activity and change, joy and pain, trouble and bliss. Through it all I’ve deepened my bonds with some special friends as well as enjoyed making new friends.

One such group of new friends are the ladies I am joining as one of Ella’s new ‘best friends’. We’ll be sharing ideas on the Ella blog, contributing, and generally spreading Ella Publishing love (as you’ve already seen here with a few give-aways!). I love all the great things Ella does and the e-zines and books they put out, so I’m thrilled to be a part of this group. Today if you hop around to my fellow team members you’ll find projects, ideas, and maybe even some give-aways today. Yep – it’s celebrating friendship with Ella’s Best Friends.

This month is an exceptionally wild and crazy one for me, but there is one thing that I am working away on, and that is Christmas. From gifts to making decor to writing up my cards – November is my month of preparations. I plan on sharing my ideas here with you on my blog, starting today with a great find I got at the Fossil outlet:

I love these – so pretty and a great price too!! They came in pretty boxes, so I wondered if I could use it to add special gift wrapping as well. Friends, I have a few tips when it comes to sharing some holiday spirit with friends this year:

1. Keep it simple. The message is that you care about and appreciate the person, don’t make it complicated.

2. Go ahead and start now! Pre-planning is great, but you also don’t need a reason to give something to a friend, so think about doing fun stuff anytime.

3. Use what you have. Sometimes you already have stuff or the packaging on a gift can be used to turn a simple gift into a semi-homemade something special…

I like the box these necklaces came in, so I decided to work around the “gifted” word on the front. I tied a strand of fake pearls (available at craft stores/fabric stores) and wrapped with some Crafty Power Tape.

Then I added “to” as well as a die cut heart…

Then I added a jewel, and some Kaiser Craft stamps (using staz-on ink), and finished off with some silver leafing pen and fired brick stickles

Now just a few minutes later I’ve got my gift all dressed up and ready to give. What could make it better? Well friends, I made this for one of you! Inside is the necklace shown on the far right. Would you like it? A gift from me to you, one of my lovely blog readers? Just leave a comment here and I’ll select a winner next week.

I’ll be back to share loads more holiday gift ideas (homemade and semi-homemade), but in the meantime I encourage you to visit Ella’s other best friends at their blogs:



Have a beautiful Friday!

70 thoughts on “Celebrating Friendship {and sharing a give-away…}”

  1. Oh to be so organised! I did make my christmas cards months ago but that is as much as i have done. Your boxes look wonderful, elegant and very classy. Cant wait to see whats next.
    Linda in Aus

  2. How fun – I wonder if we have a Fossil outlet around here? I keep thinking about startng my Christmas prep but it hasn’t quite happened yet.

  3. I have seen the Fossil necklaces before, and they are absolutely adorable! What a super fun way to dress up the tins! Thanks for sharing such great inspiration!

  5. What a lovely idea for a gift. I love the simple but so effective decoration you have added here. I too, keep thinking about thinking about getting organised. But you know, life just gets in the way!

  6. I try to make the outsides pretty too. Pretty boxes , even if it’s just a little sumpin sumping. I even try to make envies special on cards I send. It doesn’t always happen , but I do try.

    Those are some great necklaces! Thanks May..loving your work still.

  10. Happy Friday May! Thanks for the cute packaging idea and the encouraging words to get a jump on our holiday projects. Love the way you decorated these boxes. Am planning on checking the other girl’s blogs. Thanks for all you do to inspire your online friends! Will look forward to what you share next!!

  13. You are so very generous! I am very particular to the tree pendant as the Tree of Life is a very special symbol to me and my greater family. Thanks for being you and for giving us a wonderful gift in your talents!!

  20. Oh these are beautiful. Working on my homemade gifts as well. And I need to get some scrapping done 🙂

  29. Thanks for sharing. I’m so impressed with you for being so organized. I start out organized, feel like I have a grip on things and then realize that I’m way behind!! Maybe I’ll spend some time this weekend doing more Christmas cards!!

  33. Gorgeous box and gorgeous necklace. Thanks for a chance to win an early Christmas present. So fun.

  35. May, this is gorgeous! It is a totally vintage look 🙂 Didn’t even think about stamping an image on top…Hmmm, got me some craftin’ to do now! Thanks 🙂

  36. What a great idea! I’m terrible at using my scrappy supplies for anything but my albums but I love seeing what other people come up with. Well done!

  37. Your creativity is amazing! I love all the layers of the stamping, the heart, pearls…what a lovely gift and lovely wrapping!

  39. I haven’t even begun to think about Christmas…very original project! Can you tell us more about the pen you used? Love the simple upcycled idea.

  40. What a cute little necklace. I too bought some beautiful Fossil gifts yesterday!
    Thanks for the ideas on the gift-packaging and all the ongoing inspiration you deliver with every blog post 🙂

  42. Wow you turned this into a real piece of art. I always try to make the packaging as special as the gift – nothing better than opening a really well wrapped gift.

  50. I have started my Xmas gifting process: I am paper covering large metal stars I snagged at Target! And it’s my birthday month, so pick me, pick me! Love the look of your gift box and the beauty of the necklace! Thanks, May. Good luck catching up with your newly revived computer! – Penny{scraps}

  51. Hi May, no need to enter me into the giveaway. Just wanted to say that those necklaces are so cute! And I love how you worked with the packaging to make something really special.

  54. What a beautiful wrapping idea for gifts. It’s so pretty that it’s almost a shame to open it! Thanks for the opportunity.

  55. Oh I wish I was a prepared, I’m starting to scramble around now as I’m seeing the holidays quickly approach.

    What a great idea for dressing up the packaging, Thanks May!

  58. I love how you made it your own! I’m not organized at all but I love the idea of using my scrap supplies to decorate with!

  59. What a great idea to decorate the existing packaging – I’m inspired to do something similar for some of the gifts I’ve got for Christmas giving. Thanks!
    Thanks too for the giveaway- I’m sure whoever wins will love it!

  61. Those necklaces are beautiful! They look so delicate. I might have to see if there is a Fossil outlet around here!!

  63. oh, these are lovely! love how you used simple stuff to dress up the outside to match the inside. thanks for the chance to win!

  64. Those are all beautiful and I like how you’ve shown us a nice way to decorate the box it came in. I like how it’s so pretty but also totally doable!

  65. Beautiful packaging. It’s like a beautifully plated meal – it always tastes better! I think 2011 might be the year for me of using what I have and random gifting.

  69. Beautiful! I’ve also gotten caught up in the Christmas spirit, and gotten a head start on gifts this year.

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