Page 6C
East Oregonian
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Put together a DIY Christmas package
For crafty gifts,
pair how-to books
with supplies
By HOLLY RAMER
Associated Press
C
ONCORD, N.H. —
Santa has his crew of
crafty elves, but those
of us living south of the North
Pole could use a little help.
Sure, your creative friends
and loved ones will appre-
ciate a how-to book full of
new projects for an existing
hobby, or ideas that could
spark a new one. But con-
sider going the extra mile by
putting together a DIY kit
with supplies that allow them
to dive right in. Want to really
make it special? Make one of
the projects yourself and tuck
it in with the book and sup-
plies as inspiration.
I’ve been lucky enough to
be on the receiving end of this
idea. Admittedly, I was per-
plexed when I tore away the
wrapping paper and found a
stack of used books with no
discernable theme — a novel,
a biography, a collection of
famous quotations and a pic-
ture book. My confusion dis-
appeared when I opened the
second parcel my friend pre-
sented to me: a book about
making crafts with recycled
books.
“Book Art: Creative
Ideas to Transform Your
Books into Decorations,
Stationery, Display Scenes
and More” by Clare Youngs
(CICO
Books,
2018)
includes nearly three dozen
projects ranging from simple
cards to elaborate three-di-
mensional sculptures. Rather
than have your recipient
AP Photo/Holly Ramer
A book about embroidery paired with hoops, floss, scissors and other stitching supplies.
rooting around in her home
library, hit up some yard sales
or thrift stores and pick out
a few hefty hardcovers. Ide-
ally, offer a mix of newer vol-
umes and well-worn tomes,
some with dense text and
some with colorful illustra-
tions. Consider including a
craft knife, an awl for punch-
ing holes and a glue stick.
A small, self-healing cut-
ting mat also would come in
handy, as would some tracing
paper for transferring designs
to book pages. If you’re
lucky, you might get a hand-
made thank-you card featur-
ing one of the projects!
If you have any knitters
AP Photo/Holly Ramer
This book features adorable pom pom animals. Tuck it
in a basket full of yarn and pom pom makers. Knitters
on your holiday list might appreciate a gift that pro-
vides ideas on using up leftover yarn.
on your list, “Pom Pom Ani-
mals” by Trikotri (NIP-
PAN IPS Co., 2018) pro-
vides plenty of projects to use
up leftover yarn. The book
includes 45 adorable and
surprisingly realistic-look-
ing animals, and while I’m
not sure anyone but the hip-
pest of hipsters would actu-
ally wear a squirrel head
brooch, the animals would
be cute atop hair ties for chil-
dren or pinned to tote bags.
Put together a basket of sup-
plies including plastic pom
pom makers in various sizes,
wool yarn in various shades
of brown, white, gray and
black, a package of plas-
tic safety eyes and a small
assortment of wool roving.
While these projects may be
a bit too intricate for children,
the idea can easily be adapted
by choosing a book aimed
at a younger audience and
pairing it with brightly col-
ored acrylic yarn. The Klutz
brand of activity-based books
includes several pom pom
titles that include supplies
with the instructions.
Embroidery has made
a comeback in the fashion
world in recent years, spawn-
ing multiple how-to books.
“Hoop Dreams” by Cris-
tin Morgan (Abrams, 2018)
features modern designs and
instructions for projects rang-
ing from simple decorative
hoops to jewelry. Embroidery
floss comes in a near endless
array of colors, so pick out
a handful and package them
up with some hoops, needles,
scissors and marking pens.
The small monogramed hoop
featured in the first chapter
would make a good Christ-
mas ornament, too.
And while no one wants
a lump of coal in his or her
stocking, a box of rocks is a
different story. Rock paint-
ing, from the mesmerizing
patterns of mandala stones
to cute critters, is getting
trendy, and a DIY kit is easy
and fairly inexpensive to put
together. Buy an assortment
of acrylic craft paint and
brushes, paint pens and var-
nish, and collect rocks from
around your yard, a beach
or a riverbank. “Art on the
Rocks” by F. Sehnaz Bac,
Marisa Redondo and Marga-
ret Vance (Quarto Publishing
Group, 2017) features about
three dozen projects for rocks
of all shapes and sizes.
Embroidery has made a comeback in the fashion world in recent years
Giftwrap from a printing press
By KIM COOK
Associated Press
F
or many of us, wrap-
ping gifts is even
more fun than giv-
ing them. But each year, we
throw away miles and miles
of wrapping paper, much
of which can’t be recycled
because of inks, coatings or
other additives.
If you want to make a gift
to the environment at the
same time you’re giving to
others, choose any of a vari-
ety of smart, stylish and eco-
friendly ways to gift-wrap
this year.
To really get on the eco
express, wrap gifts in vin-
tage road maps, pages from
old books, newspaper com-
ics, foreign language news-
papers, kids’ drawings,
brown paper bags. Clean and
reuse tins, bottles or pack-
aging from favorite stores.
Or borrow the Japanese tra-
dition of furoshiki, wrap-
ping gifts in fabric by using
scarves, thin blankets, tea
towels or other eye-catching
pieces of material.
But there’s also a grow-
ing number of eco-friendly
papers out there.
Sara Smith of Maui,
Hawaii, founded the com-
pany Wrappily in an effort
to “green-up giving.”
“After learning that gift
wrap generates over 4 mil-
lion tons of trash every year,
I had a ‘what-if’ realization:
What if wrapping paper
could be printed on a news-
paper press, so it was made
locally and easy to recy-
cle?” she says. She set up
Kirsty Copperfield/Wrappily
her supply chain, milling,
printing and packaging in This undated photo provided by Wrappily shows one
of the company’s holiday wrap designs.
Washington State.
“I’m certain no one has
over-thought
wrapping geometrics from Manhattan designs this season include a
paper to the extent I have,” studio Hour of Nine. There’s tailored antler print in warm
a modern take on Scandi- navy and tan hues; a retro
she laughs.
She promotes indie art- navian folk art from Dutch Rudolph pattern; and a cozy
ists and prints the designs designer Tamara Houtveen snowflake pattern on a gray,
on uncoated, 100-percent in a zingy palette of pinks, cable-knit printed back-
ground — all printed either
recyclable and compostable reds, blues and citron.
newsprint. Wrappily offers
At The Container Store, on recycled paper or recy-
customized papers as well
as ready-to-ship, printed
ones. For example, there
are birch tree, reindeer and
argyle-knit motifs by art-
ist Nadia Hassan of Greens-
boro, North Carolina, and
festive, midcentury-modern
Best Wishes for the
Holidays and
Bright New Year!
125 S. Main St., Pendleton, OR 97801
(541) 276-9292 • penbkco@eonet.net
1 Item in store,
limit one per week
AIRPORT ANTIQUES &
THE FURNITURE LADY
f
Open Small Business Friday & Saturday 10:00AM - 3:00PM
www.pendletonfurniturelady.com
from Michael’s Fine Jewelry
BLACK FRIDAY SPECIALS
Fri. Nov 23 - Sat. Nov 24
SAVE ADDITIONAL 10%
“Creating Memories”
NOVEMBER IS
15
BLACK FRIDAY
SAVINGS MONTH
FREE
Gift Wrapping
& Layaway
1816 NW 51st St.
541-278-0141 • 888-222-2397
Merry Christmas
michael@michaelsfi nejewelrystore.com
www.michaelsfi nejewlerystore.com
December 4th - 28th
25
etable, herb, grass and tree
seeds. You can use it for
gift tags and cards, and then
the paper can be soaked in
water and planted by the gift
recipient.
Los Angeles design stu-
dio Art Paper Scissors
offers packets of little draw-
string Hanukkah count-
down goodie bags made of
unbleached muslin, printed
with heat-transferred blue
numbers.
InterfaithLiving in Sil-
ver Spring, Maryland, offers
designs on Etsy.com that
combine Christmas and
Hanukkah images and mes-
sages, printed on recycled,
recyclable Kraft paper.
234 S. Main Street • Pendleton, OR 97801 • 541-276-0303
SHOP LOCAL!
%
off
cled cotton.
Paper Source partners
with mills and printers that
follow sustainability prac-
tices. The company also
recycles, donates or reuses
all its scrap paper.
At Grandin Road, there’s
a black-and-tan or red-and-
gold geometric print on
paper that’s made from the
bark of the Lokta bush in
Nepal. Sales help support a
women’s co-op in a region
of that country that was rav-
aged by a 2015 earthquake.
Bloomin, a Colorado
company, offers seed paper:
richly colored sheets made
from recycled paper pulp
embedded with flower, veg-
WESTERN AUTO
HOME & APPLIANCE
320 SW Emigrant • Pendleton, OR 97801
541-276-3534 • 1-800-580-3534
12 MONTH
SPECIAL FINANCE
On purchases of
$499 or more with
your Synchrony
Bank credit card.