paul bunyan christmas boxes

You've already seen some of the things I packed into this year's Christmas boxes, including the Paul Bunyan Towel-endar . . .

. . . the saved mammoth sunflower seeds . . .

. . . and the woodsy snow globe ornaments.

So let's look at some of the other stuff that went in the boxes with these goodies. Here's some coconut candied peanuts. I packaged them in triangular treat bags and added gold ties and vintage-style labels. (I should have chosen tree nuts to stay on theme, but I had a momentary lapse)

And here are some bar coasters I printed with a log slice pattern (for fun, some also had a bark pattern on the backs).

These little Paul Bunyan books (Paul Bunyan Comes West, originally published 1928) were my favorite, though. I'll talk more about them in a future post, but here's a sneak peek at them after I bound  them but before they were wrapped and put into the boxes.

I packed everything into a treat box with a window on the top. You'll notice I also enclosed a box of packaged tea and a little parchment paper package of birch branch paper straws.

Then I added some colorful paper shreds I reused out of a Pijon Box delivery. They use a lot, so I had plenty for twelve boxes.

I tucked the Paul Bunyan towels in on top of everything . . .

. . . then sealed up the boxes (bought during last year's post-Christmas clearance) with the towel wrap showing through the window.

Finally, I used some recycled brown paper to print some wrapping paper using the same block I used for the coasters. I tied the packages shut with baker's twine and added more wood veneer tags on top. These ones say, "Paul Bunyan says, 'Merry X-Mas'" in gold pen.

Positive feedback from family and friends! I had a lot of fun, and some frustration, and a few late nights putting everything together this year. I even got boxes in the mail in time for Christmas for those I wouldn't be visiting. Now to start planning for next year . . .

p.s. make photos larger with a click!

Linking up to:

Junkin' Joe at the Cottage Market

Inspiration Monday

Open House at No Minimalist Here

hey paul, paul bunyan

In Portland's Kenton neighborhood is a 31-foot Paul Bunyan statue that I've mentioned before here. Inspired by our travels this past year, I decided to start a new series of kitchen towel calendars based on landmarks and attractions of Oregon, and I picked the Portland Paul Bunyan as the 2014 feature.

I worked the design in several parts on watercolor paper using watercolor pencils, then combined the images in Photoshop and finished up the layout and typography in Illustrator.

I was so excited when the fabric arrived from Spoonflower. I'd never ordered their linen / cotton canvas before; I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the fabric and the printing. Perfect for this year's Christmas boxes.

I finished off the backs with some grosgrain ribbon corner hangers and a 3/8-inch hem.

I'm really happy with how the towel calendars (or "towelendars") turned out, and I'll definitely be planning the next in the series for 2015. 

Here's one in its pretty wrapper (printed on brown paper sack that I've inked with a wood grain pattern).

If you're interested in having one of your own, you can order the fabric from my Spoonflower shop whenever you're ready. One towel prints to a 1/4 yard of linen / cotton canvas, or get a full yard for four towels. I'll update here, too, when I get these listed ready-made in my Etsy shop.

Update: now available in my Etsy shop!

Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!

in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room

It was a few months back that I found these two Paul Marshall tiki mugs at the thrift store, cute little things. No cracks, no crazing, all markings are clear and readable. The faux bois texture is awesome.

From everything I've been able to figure out in my research, it's difficult to put an exact date of production on tiki collectibles; I'm estimating that these two mugs (based on others I've scouted out on-line) are from the 1970s. These two mugs are quite similar to one another, though the one on the right is very slightly shorter, with very slightly darker glaze.








From the Ooga Mooga website description:
"This is the classic Paul Marshall Products 'peanut' mug design, in tiki mug form. Beige unglazed ceramic, with brown glazed top and bottom. Tiki has a mouth shaped like a sideways peanut, eyes like almonds, with pupils, gently recessed eyebrows, hands on belly. Marked 'PMP©' on base."

Peanut mugs. I love it.




Listed for sale in my Etsy vintage shop; stop by to accessorize your very own tiki room!


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)