Skip to Content

Designing pretty printable gift tags for readers is a bit of a tradition around here, in part because I love sharing my love of beautiful stationery and in part because I’m personally such a sucker for a well-wrapped gift. I absolutely love how a great gift tag can make even the simplest of packages feel so special and unique, which is a quality I like all of the gifts I give to have. Have you ever noticed how much more excited loved ones get to unwrap a gift that’s all decked out in the perfect ribbons and bows? People can tell when you take a little extra care wrapping their gift, making them feel even more loved, and for me that is what this season is all about. With that spirit in mind, I’ve teamed up with Staples to share the prettiest hand-painted printable gift tags with you! I collaborated with my amazingly talented bestie Erika Firm who took my ramblings about plaid and “traditional but modern” and turned them into a collection of nine seriously stunning gift tags all created by hand just for you.

Read More about Pretty Hand-Painted Printable Holiday Gift Tags

Last year was our first year living in our house and one day in October we came home from running errands to find out we had been booed! The idea behind being “booed” is that someone leaves a basket of goodies at your doorstep on the sly at some point during the Halloween season with a note letting you know you’ve been booed. You’re then supposed to pass along the fun by booing another family, all done anonymously. Today I’ve teamed up with HI-CHEW and the super talented Isabela of La Lu Isa to create these really happy and barely spooky Halloween printables so you can boo all your neighbors and officially be the coolest kid on the block! You can download them here, then just print on card stock and trim. Fashion together a basket or two loaded with your favorite HI-CHEW flavors (mine are mango and strawberry!) and a bunch of fun Halloween paraphernalia and you’ve got all the right moves.

Read More about Trick or Treat! You’ve Been Booed Halloween Printables

When we bought our house last spring, we realized soon after that there was an old flag carefully rolled up in the foyer closet. The first morning that we woke up in the house after moving in following three insane weeks of renovations, the flag came out. We opened up the big double doors onto the front porch, slid the flag pole into place, and with that one simple action we felt completely at home. I’ve become really sentimental about that flag in the months since and it’s actually one of my favorite things about the entire house. Knowing the little old lady who lived here before us put that same flag out on the front porch for however many years gets me every time I think about it. Maybe I’m alone in this, but a well placed flag can bring on the best kind of nostalgia for me, which is why I believe everything should be star spangled and colored red, white and blue this time of year. Bring on these homemade star printed napkins! They’re one of the easiest 4th of July crafts you’ll ever make, but they’ll have such a huge visual impact on your festivities.

Read More about DIY Star Spangled Napkins

For whatever reason Father’s Day (like Mother’s Day) feels like one of those occasions for which homemade gifts are always the best idea. Even if Dad really wants an upgrade to his grill utensil set or has been longing for a new neck tie, chances are he’ll really really appreciate a homemade Father’s Day gift even more. Make him a DIY etched beer mug and pair it with a six pack of his favorite craft beer and he’ll be crazy impressed and feel especially loved. Dad’s not a drinker? No worries! Snag some good root beer and a half gallon of gourmet vanilla ice cream and he’ll still love this one. If you’ve never etched glass before, it’s surprisingly simple, but still seems really impressive so etched glass projects make perfect gifts in that way. You can make a mug in a half hour or less so there’s no major time involved here either. Win-win-win!

Read More about DIY Etched Beer Mugs for Dad

Inspired by Father’s Day and the cute graphic aprons I made over the holidays (which in turn were inspired by Kelly’s cool DIY graphic tees), today we’re making these super fun DIY Father’s Day shirts! Featuring your personal favorite daddy-inspired pun or phrase, you can make these shirts quickly and inexpensively. They’re so easy to make, in fact, that you could easily make a whole bunch for all the fathers in your life that you want to salute, from your own dad to your husband to your brother.

Read More about DIY Graphic Father’s Day Shirts

With Mother’s Day coming up in just a few days, I wanted to put together a few really fun, easy gift boxes packed full of goodies. I love giving and receiving gifts like this, with an assortment of things I might not otherwise buy for myself. For me, I’m all about luxurious bath and body products since I rarely splurge on those treats. That said I wanted to pull together a few different gift box options for all the moms in your life or for yourself!

Read More about Mother’s Day Gift Boxes Three Ways

This time of year I almost always have fresh cut flowers around the house. It’s almost a little crazy just how happy a big bunch of blooms in the center of the dining room table or tucked on the mantle can make me. Now that the snow is finally gone and the screen doors have been opened up, flowers around the house really drives home that spring vibe and they make me insanely happy. I get a lot of questions from friends about how I take care of cut flowers and I’ve shared them before here, but it seemed like a good time to revisit my favorite easy tips for how to keep flowers fresh, alive and perky for as long as possible. Any other tricks you can share with me? Fill me in!

Read More about How to Keep Flowers Fresh for Longer

The brick started kind of a yellowy speckled color that I always knew wouldn’t be long for the living once we were moved in and settled. The chimney is actually the same color and outside I kind of love it, but inside it was doing nothing but taking away from that gorgeous mantle. It instantly grabbed your eye when you waked in the room and definitely not in the good way. It was quite distracting actually. So finally after months of sitting and waiting and being sure I was 100% on the painting train, a few weeks ago I got the job done!

Read More about A DIY Fireplace Makeover for Under $30

Rumor has it that spring is just a couple of weeks out, although truth is we typically don’t see real spring until at least April here in our neck of the woods in the northeast. Even though it has been about 15° every day so far this week (actually not an exaggeration), I am definitely starting to get that spring itch. The one where I want to throw open the windows, scrub every last inch of the house, spend an afternoon arranging plants in little pots, painting a room a fresh new color, changing out all the linens and generally just freshening things up. Basically, I’ve got spring fever.

Read More about 15 DIY Ideas to Cure Spring Fever

This post was sponsored by CVS Photo. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that help make The Sweetest Occasion possible! I always love giving photo gifts for Christmas, especially to my parents, siblings and close friends. This year I wanted to find a really special way to make use of the many amazing images that were …

Read More about DIY Family Photo Wall Hanging