a pinterest Merry Christmas..

A few of our favourite Christmas images from the world of Pinterest.

http://pinterest.com/pin/25332816623623070/

http://pinterest.com/pin/25332816623623071/

http://pinterest.com/pin/25332816623623075/

http://pinterest.com/pin/25332816623623074/

http://pinterest.com/pin/25332816623623068/

http://pinterest.com/pin/25332816623623069/

http://pinterest.com/pin/25332816623623066/

p.s we're so glad we found you this year Pinterest - we are sure the love affair will continue in 2012!
x

DIY Christmas Tree...

As we shared over on facebook yesterday, our dear friend Larissa created a fabulous DIY Christmas tree from a couple of magazines.  We fell in love with it straight away, and promised to attempt our own version. 

So here goes...forgive the dark pictures but it was a Saturday night project :-)

We made our tree from a Frankie magazine (we initially felt a little guilty for folding the beautiful pages of this magazine, but we later figured that the awesome people over at Frankie would forgive us!)

1. Fold down the page from the top right hand side towards the spine.

 2. Repeat the fold towards the spine again (your page will now be folded longer than the bottom edge of the magazine).

3. Fold up the bottom of the folded page.

4. Continue with the same process for each page of the magazine.

5. When you have finished, fold the front and back cover around to meet each other and staple together.  We only needed to use one Frankie magazine for our tree, but Larissa used two magazines to fill hers - it will depend on how many pages your magazine has as well as the thickness of the paper.

Attach a decoration to the top of the tree, and voila, your very own DIY Christmas tree!

We would love to see your own versions so please send them through to info@presse.co.nz and we will post them up on our facebook page.

Good luck! x

freebie xmas activities...

We love the DIY and free printable activities that emerge each Christmas season!  There are always lots of unique ideas that won't cost much at an often expensive time of the year...

Plus as school and kindy wraps up for 2011, these activities are perfect timing to help entertain your little ones as well. 

1. Make your own DIY christmas crackers.  Pop over to www.minieco.co.uk/crackers/ for easy peasy instructions.  Thanks Lil Magoolie for bringing these to our attention!

2. We used to love word searches when we were younger, and were really excited to find this fun, christmasy word search designed by the clever Li-Ann over at Ham&Pea Design and Paperie. 

3. Gorgeous free printable gift tags for Xmas, or fun stickers to play with all year long.  We love everything that comes out of the Studio of Love Mae!

4. This colouring competition ends on the 19th December, but the pretty picture will still be a great colouring-in idea for children long after Christmas Day.  Spotted over at the Countdown to Christmas at babybites.

And lastly, we can't go past a baking activity this Christmas season.  These star cookies from Donna Hay will be well appreciated by friends and family this year.

xx

our own Christmas wishlist...

It wouldn't be the festive season without our own Christmas wishlist!  After such a busy year, these little beauties would be a lovely way to wrap up 2011...

Charlotte: 

Liv:

hmmm, unless our husbands actually read this blog post (unlikely!), we may need to find another way to drop the hint! x

more wrapping...

Our households are busy wrapping, taping and tying lots of christmas presents at the moment!  There are copious amounts of brown paper, sticky tape, string, pegs and tags everywhere - a colourful mess but lots of fun!
 

Even the little ones join in (p.s. found another brilliant aspect of mt tape - teaching a 17 month the skill of stacking!).

happy wrapping xx

presse-papiers gift guide...

Well, with 27 days to go now until Christmas, we thought it was probably time to start sharing a few of our favourite gift ideas with you!

For the little ones this year, we have to recommend a couple of the new prints from Sweet William.  We simply love Camille and her big imagination!

We also remain obsessed with Mae's unique and child-friendly mini decals - they can be scrunched up by little hands and still maintain their gorgeous quality!

For our friends, sisters and mothers this year, we are wishing for them - relaxation, sunshine and hopefully some inspiring reading time!

Our own hopes for 2012 include more time for creativity, and also to help our children write (or draw!) more handwritten letters to their grandparents - a important family legacy that we want to continue.

 hope your Christmas list is coming together nicely x

christmas card pack sale...

We're having a little sale on our Christmas card packs this weekend.  All part of our focus on connection this Christmas, where we are trying to encourage as many people as possible to write handwritten Christmas cards to loved ones!

It's a lovely time to reflect on the year that has been, summarise our ups and downs, and to wish peace and happiness to our friends and family.  Especially if contact hasn't been as often as you would have liked.

So until midnight Sunday (27.11.11 NZ time), simply enter the code 'jinglebells' and receive 15% off all Christmas card packs. 

happy writing...x

 

xmas products out and about...

We are starting to get into the festive spirit now that there are really only about 6 or so weeks until Christmas (don't panic yet, there is still plenty of time to get organised!).  And the magazine stands are brimming with lots of Christmas editions, which we actually think are often the best issues of the year - filled with lovely stories about Christmas traditions, beautiful homes in all their decorated glory, and of course, endless eye candy of gifts and wish lists!

Here are a few magazines from the past week that we are loving!

 

 

And lots of products from our Christmas 2011 range are included in these magazines - such as the Polli Eco Deco kits, the divine range of Love Mae gift wrap, Poppies for Grace treat bags, and mt masking tape so we are feeling happy and on trend :-)

happy reading xx

Wrapping up 2010

We hope everyone had a safe and happy Christmas, and enjoyed the opportunity to indulge in plenty of food, time and family.

This week between Christmas and New Years seems to generate a great deal of reflection about the year that has been.  Magazines, newspapers and online blogs are all currently summarising 2010 in terms of the major national and world events that either made us smile or stopped us in our tracks, and individually we are reflecting with friends and family about our own experiences of the year and whether or not we are happy to see 2010 come to a close.

Our major highlight was the launch of Presse-Papiers at the end of October! Thank you for all your positive feedback and support, it means a lot to us.  It has been a busy, at times crazy, journey so far but well worth it, especially when we hear that other people love our products as much as we do!

We have so many new gorgeous products and ideas for next year and we can't wait to share them with you on this blog, and our website.  So stay tuned.

We hope that 2011 is a bright and prosperous year, and is filled with much much joy xx

Gorgeous Christmas wrap...

Here is a sneak peak of one of our gorgeous Christmas wraps, available next week! We fell in love with this French Blue striped gift wrap the minute we saw it...

As you can see with this picture of Miss M, wrapping gorgeous gifts has no age limits! xx

6 weeks until Christmas!

It's been a busy two weeks since our new website, www.presse.co.nz went live! Thanks everyone for all the positive feedback and support - we are so happy that you like it, and hope that you will always find gorgeous ideas for yourself and others!

As mums to four little children, we know how busy this time of year is! End of year concerts and parties, writing and re-writing lists for Christmas presents, and perhaps plans to get away for the summer break - it can be an exciting but exhausting period.  So hopefully Presse-Papiers can help relieve some of this stress with our great range of Christmas gifts and gift-wrapping essentials, all safely delivered to your door!

Over the upcoming months, we will be bringing you lots of gorgeous new products, information about our lovely designers, and a few anecdotes from our lives as we juggle existing demands with our new baby, Presse-Papiers.

thanks for sharing the journey xx