Trying to figure out a way to organize the tangled ball of ribbon as you clean up from the holidays?  This ribbon holder DIY project on Curbly is incredible cute and looks really easy to make.

What a pretty way to keep ribbons tidy and ready up for future gift giving occasions.

Whatever your religion, I hope you are taking a little time to simply be with your family and those dearest to you during this holiday season.  My favorite part of the holidays has nothing to do with the gifts or the sales or the shiny packaging, it is the one time of the year, other than a wedding, where all of us go back home for a few days and just hang out together.  I will be back on Monday! 

I wish you a happy holiday that is filled with love and cheer!

{Image: gun show's flickr photostream }

Holiday cards are something we rarely did before we were engaged.  Last year I felt that we should at least send holiday cards to those we were inviting to our wedding and this year I feel as though we should at least send them to those who were at our wedding.  Maybe holiday cards are becoming a tradition for us? 

Because I had fun making the holiday cards last year and because lately I start to go through withdrawl if I don't have something to make, I went with DIY cards for this year. 

I decided to go with silhoutte figures from iStock rather than a wedding photo.  And we went with a traditional color scheme of red, green, and white.  For the interior I used a stamp from Impress with the message, 'May the season bring you many wonderful delights.'

Instead of my usual source {Paper Source}, I ordered the cards and envelopes from Paperpresentation.com and was pleased to find that the envelope liner templates from Paper Source worked perfectly.

For some reason, this simple little project took me weeks!  Maybe next year I will need to add a goal of having the cards made before Thanksgiving or simply buy cards instead of DIY...

Realized that you aren't quite finished with your holiday shopping?  Rather than fight through the crowds at the mall, sip a cup of coffee while you click through adding the last gifts to your shopping cart.  Here are a few recession-sized-budget friendly ideas for a guy in your life...

Magazines are the gift that keeps giving.  And at Amazon they have a nice little 'gift certificate' that you can print out along with the subscription to wrap...  Best Life or Men's Health (1-year) get good reviews.  For his game room: ChipsAndGames Premium Poker Set or Accudart Classic Bristle Dartboard and if game room is more likely to mean Wii head to the Amazon Wii Store for games and accessories.  The Citizen Eco-Drive Men's Watch which is solar powered! Or go for the gift of comfort - Men's Minnetonka Moccasins.

For the gift tags this holiday season I decided to try the Amy Butler pattern for paper pinwheels.  I used the same paper that I used for lining the envelopes of our holiday cards.  They are pretty simple to make but another set of hands cames in handy for the step of securing the pinwheels, my husband was delegated to the job of gluing while I was holding the paper in place.  I am pretty happy how with how they turned out...

I am in love with Boho Magazine.  I came across it randomly one day as I needed some new reading material for the train ride home... and I am so happy to see a new green fashion magazine.  The styling is amazing and inspiring.  I was tempted to scan in so many pages for different posts as they were just so pretty.  And as I am trying to transition my lifestyle to be more earth-friendly this is such a timely magazine as it is very approachable. 

So are you a boho?

{Image via Boho}

Feeling a little conflicted over all that paper that gets wasted wrapping gifts but still want to present a pretty package?  Whimsy Press has a line of very pretty, modern paper that is earth-friendly to help you feel a bit more at ease while wrapping up those thoughtful gifts.

The Whimsy Mixed Greens paper is made from 100% recycled paper and uses soy-based inks... and is quite chic.