I'm going full-on Martha Stewart with my Christmas wrapping this year. It requires wax seals, glitter markers, silk ribbon, custom wrapping paper, a glue gun and maybe fire. I haven't decided yet.
This is what you can do when you're childless and single. My biggest expense every month is dog food, but it's very special dog food made out of all natural ingredients, gold, saffron and government secrets.
I assume that's why it costs $65 a bag.
I also assume Philip will be able to land an executive position at a NASDAQ traded company after completing dog training in about a year. So at least he'll be able to pay me back for what's added up to at least 1 year at an Ivy League school.
- Wax seals (full alphabet)
- Glitter markers (used to highlight wax seals)
- Silk ribbon (silky actually, not actual silk)
Instead of tags, I'll mark each ribbon with the recipient's initial as a wax seal. Like this.
I know. It's ... I mean it's pretty good, right? And it looks that good in real life.
Very Tom Ford for Gucci 1996.
The wax can be melted in a spoon over a flame if you want to go hardcore olden days. If you're wanting to keep it a bit more Martha, these glue sticks actually fit into a glue gun so you just squeeze the wax out like you do hot glue.
YOU CAN GET ALL THE WRAPPING SUPPLIES HERE.
If you're in Canada:
Click here for alphabet wax seals
Click here for red metallic wax
Click here for gold metallic wax
Click here for metallic markers
I'm not showing you my entire wrapping ingredients because there has to be some sort of surprise when I show you the finished product in a couple of weeks.
It's cookie making weekend if you're taking the Christmas pledge so I'm going to be making shortbread dough for my cookie press and freezing it into rolls of dough I can break out in December.
Just in case you're wondering what I'll be doing this Saturday. I'll also be looking for anything I can possibly put a wax seal on just for the fun of it.
Allow me to introduce you to your puzzle today which took me 10:28 seconds to complete but it wasn't even enjoyable because I get very competitive with myself and by the end of the puzzle my heart rate was ... probably too elevated.
Good luck and have a good weekend.
6 minutes. And like you, my heart rate climbed significantly. I am my own worst competition. Really enjoy your writing. You have a gift.
Thanks Lynda! I did another puzzle last night and about 2 minutes into it I told myself to calm the hell down and just enjoy the laziness of doing a puzzle. :) I couldn't do it.😆 ~ karen!
6 minutes- 27 seconds. LOVE the puzzles! ihad to change browsers to get it to work. that was the hard part
**gigglesnickers!** ooh, now i'm hungry.
SIX minutes. Well. I'm just going to say it. You're magical. ~ karen!
well, this IS "The ART of Doing Stuff"- lol
Fun puzzle! Looking forward to the big reveal!
I never fed my puppy bought dog food. We made our own knowing we gave her the best human grade food. She ate leftovers and any food she could counter surf. She lived until 13 1/2 and until the week before her death from cancer was still chasing baseballs and squirrels. People would always ask us how we knew what to feed her to make sure that she was getting the right food. I was always amused that no one ever asked us about our kids being properly fed.
Were your kids properly fed?
Feel any better? :D
8:49 for me - I appreciate the fact that the timer doesn't show while you are solving the puzzle! I have no presents to wrap, so far, but I might consider making that shortbread dough. I bought the Pledge (charged in USD!) but failed on day one... so I'm continuing in my usual random fashion. I'll look for your shortbread recipe now. Thanks for the puzzle!
Hi Joanne! Yes, charges are always in US dollars because that's where the majority of my buyers are from. There is no option to have both, so I have to choose one. And I wanted the pledge to be under $10 Canadian, so that is how I got to $7 American. :) ~ karen!
I get it and I'm happy for you! Cheers from snowy Alberta!
My fastest yet. That’s not saying much. Lol
You had me at wax sealer.....
Lovely item and puzzle…8:00..ahem. I tried your link but unlike many of yours it took me only to Amazon.com. As a Canuck (albeit an Atlantic coast one), I always appreciated the Canadian (Amazon.ca) link. Please don’t forget about us. I like to play too but shipping, duty and exchange make it too much of a muchness for me.
Hi Margot! Amazon.com is supposed to automatically link to the products in Canada, but sometimes it doesn't for some reason. Later tonight I'll try to update a Canadian version and post it. ~ karen!
12.something - dang it, I've forgotten. I went one whole day without one single puzzle and you showed up with this! I did make sugar cookies with my grandson. He kept waiting for the icing and was disappointed they only had sprinkles. Oh well. My life is blessed with lots of sprinkles and little icing, too! Actually, more like no cookies, sprinkles on the floor to clean up after decorating the oatmeal, and icing living as fat on my torso. I once bought a jar of beeswax balls and have never opened it. Also have a presser thingy but have no clue where it is. Obviously a well thought out purchase. The wrappings you have are really pretty.
Thanks Mary! My presser thingy is so old it's bent and probably rusty, lol. But I keeeeep using it. ~ karen!
It just came together for me today 6:41. Like a great hand of Gin, you astound your opponent with a, “What? But I’m not ready!?!??”
I have to say, I’m a bit behind on the pledge, but I’m making the best progress on Christmas presents than any other year in the history of me buying presents. XD
Thank you so much for the blog and the pledge, not to mention the puzzles. Keep ‘em coming!!!!
Thanks Tracy! I'm a tiny bit ahead, which is actually rare for me! ~ karen
8:02
That is all. Good day.
I said good day!
Shut up you warlock. 8:02??! ~ karen!
Mine was 10:48, but 5 minutes was spent separating the pieces. Isn't there a button to separate them?
No button for separating. That's all part of the infuriating/relaxing puzzle process. ~ karen!
It was my best time so far.
So much easier than pictures of black dogs with a black background taken at night with the lens cap on. :oP
7:13
I have sealing wax sticks and a few stamps from the 1970’s when it was all the rage. If I still wrapped gifts, I would buy all the supplies. Alas all my gift recipients are far away and as much as I love them, I can’t convince myself to wrap the gifts here then trust the postal service 🤫 to deliver them in a timely and cost efficient manner as well as in one piece.
However, I can still add the wax seals to my Christmas cards!
If I have enough wax, that's what I'll do too. :) ~ karen!
Hi. Not sure what’s happening, but your link to Amazon for the wrapping ingredients just sends me to an Amazon page with huge black dots. I mean really huge. When I go to your Amazon store, I get everything else, but the link for the wrapping just takes me to black dots.
Hi Cathy! I've tried all the links and I can't find the problem you're seeing. So, I'll recommend what I always recommend in this kind of scenario - clear your browser cache and see if that fixes the problem. Sorry bout that. ~ karen!
I lurve wax seals! I get why you want to seal on everything. lol I love these puzzles, btw. A perfect break, but just competitive enough. Thank you for continuing them.
Thanks Deb! It was really just going to be a one off, but people like them so much I've just kept doing them. :) ~ karen!
I love the wax seals, beautiful I learned something just found you, looking forward to more of your posts, I loved it!! Thanks so much
You're welcome Debbie! I'm pretty excited (probably unreasonably excited) about this years wrapping too. And welcome. ~ karen!
Love the look this year, might just steal it! Side note, I find the new site design a bit counter-intuitive. Maybe because I'm an old curmudgeon but I just want to see the posts in chronological order. Also, I've got a new laptop so my old feely login is lost to the universe so I'm visiting blog favourites old-style.
Hi Penley! You're not the first to say that. I'm going to get that figured out today. :) ~ karen!
I agree. Don't find the site an improvement. Like to see things chronologically and more options on the page at once. Thanks for your consideration, madam.
I understand, but the blog is now set up to be optimized for Google, which is a better layout. So whether you personally see it as an improvement or not, it is a large improvement from a business standpoint. What I can do is move the recent posts up closer to the top of the home page though. ~ karen!
I’m behind, way behind, but I got my first batch of dough in the freezer yesterday :) and I cut my shopping and card list waaaay down this year!
Well then, technically you're ahead really! ~ karen
I was so envious of your gorgeous wrapping. (I buy one generic gold foil roll and use it for everything - birthdays, Christmas, weddings, full-contact rock-paper-scissors.) Envious until I realized I beat your puzzle time on a mobile phone. Ha! Take that, you perfect wrapper! You want competition, I'm bringing it.
omg I have no idea how you did that, lol. I was on a laptop and tried to go SO fast. ~ karen!
I got it in 10:49. I’ll go back to do the swan puzzle now! I love the seals! I’ve been following @Madeofhonourco and loving her seals. She uses a glue gun. That looks so much easier than the spoon! Of course, with the spoon, you can re-melt all your “oopsies” (not that you would ever have any, Karen!) and not waste any of your investment. That looks like so much fun! This will be beautiful! I’m not doing the Pledge: I don’t really do Christmas at my house anymore. No one but me in the house, and anything I put up, I have to take down. I do put up a beautiful door wreath, and a tall grouping of poles in a pyramid, wound with lights, becomes an outdoor Christmas tree in my front yard. I’ve committed to a cookie swap event for our neighborhood, so I’ll be doing cookies for that! Thanks for keeping us in the spirit, Karen! 🎄❤️❤️
You bet! Now ... I have a kitchen-aid waiting for me in the ... well the kitchen obviously. Cookie day! ~ karen
Glue gun wax???
More trouble for me (to get up to)! ;D
Got 3 glue guns. 😁
Oooooh. Aaaaaah. I love wax seals. I'm totally looking forward to trying your recipe in my cookie press this weekend, assuming I can clear off my kitchen island to have work space. lol.
the wax seals are simply 18th century elegance. You iz mighty fancy. yes you iz.
Thanks for the tip on the there being such a thing as glue gun wax sticks. I learn something new yet again. And my unwavering addiction to Jigidi continues.
I've gone old timey for the testing with a spoon and flame but I'm going to test them out in a glue gun later this weekend. ~ karen!
It is only fitting that Lady Karen's missives and tokens of largesse be so sealed.
LOL!! ~ karen!