The printables just keep on coming! I love Christmas because the internet is bursting at the seams with freebies from generous designers. If there's any ink left in your printer cartridge, help yourself to these holiday cards and gift tags. Get the goodies above in two colorways here at Hey Look.
Download Camilla Engman's woodland-themed set here.
And get French and English versions of this card here from Mon Carnet. (Plus a coordinating desktop here!)
I like my desktops pared down and minimal. If you do too, grab one of these geometric tree wallpapers. Fetch the first design from Simple Desktops. The second wallpaper is from Mufn Inc., part of a 24-day series of Christmas downloads—find them all at Lemon Squeezy.
I love paper Christmas decorations, so when I bumped into The Cheese Thief's woven paper ball tutorial, I had to give it a try. They're curiously addicting. Maybe I should carry some supplies with me to pass the time in long check-out lines, boring holiday parties, or during that weird Choreography number in White Christmas.
These are made out of paper and one piece of tape. You can cut your own strips (mine are 1/2" wide and 11" long, which yields a ball that's about 1 1/4" in diameter) or use shiny paper ribbon. 
Hang them individually or glue them onto a wreath form. I'm stringing mine on baker's twine to add to the tree. Taping the end of the twine to a toothpick "needle" makes stringing them easier. I plan to space them out along the string, using a dot of hot glue to hold each ball in place where the twine passes through. Get the weaving instructions here!
Marloes de Vries, a designer and illustrator from the Netherlands, has created a nativity set you can make from paper. Print out either the colored version or a line drawing that kids can color themselves. Then assemble the figures with a bit of glue. Get the PDFs here!
Here are tutorials for a handful of unique holiday decorations. There's plenty of time left to make them... along with shopping and wrapping and mailing and cooking and hosting and visiting. No problem. Right? Try your hand at these projects:
Felt Christmas ornaments at The Purl Bee
Paper bag wreath at Bloesem Kids
Helvetica stockings from Teal & Lime
Amigurumi bear ornaments (make pandas, koalas, and teddies) using this pattern by All About Ami
Get Helen Dardik's cheerful 2011 labels here.
Use feather labels from Love Vs. Design to make your gift stand out.
If you live in a mountain cabin, these rustic wood type tags are mandatory. Get an entire Christmas printable kit from Ellinée.
Sass & Peril offers a downloadable set of freebies with crisp graphics right here. 
For an unconventional color palette, print out these sheets of Christmas labels offered at The Sweetest Occasion, designed by Jen of Blush Printables.
Fans of paper folding will admire Francesco Guarnieri's work, including this fantastic fir tree. Sara Adams of Happy Folding demonstrates how to make it right here. So lovely!
I added some more DIY ornaments to our Christmas tree. I'm having trouble adjusting to the thought of winter; can you tell? These ice cream cones are made from tissue paper and a grocery bag.
To make the cones, cut circles from a brown paper bag. Mine were about 4 1/2 inches in diameter. Cut each circle in half. Shape the semicircles into cones, cutting off any extra paper you don't need (the section that's sticking out in the photo.) Secure the cone with hot glue. 
Wad a couple pieces of tissue paper into balls. I used chunks that were roughly 6" x 12", folded them in half, and crumpled them up. 
If you plan to hang the ice cream cones, thread a needle with a doubled piece of thread. Poke the needle down through the top of the ball that will be the top scoop, so that a loop of thread sticks out of the top. Secure the loose ends on the underside with a dab of hot glue and trim off the excess.
Line the inside rim of the cone with hot glue and push the bottom scoop into the cone. Spread glue on the underside of the top scoop and add it to the cone. Let the glue dry for a minute and hang it on the tree.
Planning to send some quick Christmas greetings? Download printable postcards by Alison Owen right here, featuring the font Skunkling.
If you like nostalgic Christmas graphics, you'll get a kick out of these tiny Christmas boxes from artist Jason Snyder. One set is designed to look like vintage boxes of lights from dime stores, while other sets feature old-fashioned gift wrap. Get them here.
Print out Jason's templates at a size you like and assemble these little guys. (A thank you goes to Alex for cooperating when I thrust a box into his hand and commanded him to stand by the window so I could take a picture.)
And you likely need some retro gift tags for your presents. If so, grab some of these freebies from My Girl Thursday.
I've used Paperless Post in the past to send elegant electronic party invitations and birthday cards. I like the way many of the designs look letterpressed on textured paper. Plus you can customize the typography and add coordinating shiny envelope liners for extra fun. When recipients click the envelope that arrives in their email inbox, a lovely card emerges.
Check it out! I found one that coordinates with my Fireworks fabric. Apparently I need to plan a party that includes this invitation and a big tablecloth. I'd look so put together.
This season there's a new line of holiday invitations, photo cards, and greetings that won't cost you anything to send. Check out the freebies here, or browse the entire collection here.
I love these DIY gems created by Kate at Mini-eco. Get a template for making all the paper shapes here, then create a mobile, a garland, or hang them on your Christmas tree. They'd look mighty fine on my aluminum tree, now wouldn't they? Hmm...
I love 3D paper things. Love. And when I saw a little picture of what appeared to be paper balls in a CB2 catalog, I thought, "I am going to make those."
So the other day while Alex was writing a paper about mysterious things like polymers and flexible films and tactoids, I made a paper ball. Then I proudly announced I had created a tactoid and it was sitting on my desk. He giggled. Apparently a tactoid is not a paper ball.
These are made from 12 slotted flower shapes that fit together to form a sphere. No adhesive needed; the only ingredient is paper. I made a template in Illustrator and cut out the shapes with my Silhouette machine, but you could also print out the pages and cut by hand instead.
Download the PDF templates here:
Large ball (10")– print/cut 12 sheets
Medium ball (5")– print/cut 2 sheets
Small ball (3")– print/cut 1 sheet
Download a Silhouette .studio file here:
Small ball (3")– unzip the file; cut 1 sheet. (The shapes can be scaled up or down in Silhouette Studio if you'd like to change the size.)
If you want to hang your ornament, you might like to add the string before assembling the ball. I placed a piece of tape on the back of one flower so the hole wouldn't tear, then used a needle to pull string through, forming a loop on the front side. I secured the ends of the string on the back side with another piece of tape.
Use the slits to join petals together. Keep adding shapes, connecting as you go, so that every petal is connected to another petal on a neighboring flower.
It might be helpful to think of the first piece as the "north pole," and then add a row of five flowers encircling it. At this point, the ball is half finished.
Here's what it looks like upside-down:
Attach the next row of five flower shapes, and finally, add the "south pole" piece to finish the globe.
The colored balls are made from regular-weight computer paper (Astrobright from Office Max) and the white balls are made with cardstock. The big sphere is the size of a basketball; the little one is approximately a baseball. And the medium-sized guy is maybe a large grapefruit.
I didn't think I was ready to see holiday cards yet, but when the folks at Hello!Lucky wrote to introduce their shiny new website and greeting card lines, I got excited despite myself. Browsing through the site is like visiting a contemporary stationery hall of fame.
A couple of my favorite designers: Darling Clementine, above. Lab Partners, below. Those holiday city cards are killing me, and they come in wedding options, too. The gorgeous photography is by Edyta Szyszlo.
The site also sports a new tool that lets you choose fonts and colors and drop pictures easily into photo card designs, so you can customize away.
And guys, guess what. I batted my eyelashes and suggested it would be pretty awesome if we had a sheet of printable gift tags with some of the new designs. Lo and behold! You can download free pages of holiday gift tags here:
The 2011 version
The 2012 version
They're created by Eunice Moyle based on holiday card designs by SusyJack*. (Thanks a bunch!) And they don't scream Christmas, so you can use them for other things, too. Download, print, and cut them out. Enjoy!
I'm on vacation until January, so see you then! Thank you all very much for your companionship in blog land this year. I might be a teeny bit biased, but I think How About Orange readers are the kindest people on the internet. Warmest wishes for a happy holiday season to everyone!
I'm in present-wrapping mode, so I've rounded up a supply of printable gift tags for myself. Need some?
Above: From Martha Stewart's 52-page collection of holiday gift tags and labels
Freebies from Blush Printables
Tags from Wee Life: get the Tree set here and the City set here
Labels from Whisker Graphics
The astoundingly productive Helen Dardik has posted another freebie for us: printable holiday gift tags. Featuring her delightful illustrations, they're available right here on her site.
My Christmas tree needed more orange (of course), so I made this little thing. It appears to be a spaceship which has crashed into a circus tent. To make your own circus spaceship, you'll need two colors of regular paper, scissors, needle, thread, pencil, ruler, and two beads.
1. Cut the paper into strips that are 3.5" long and 0.5" wide. (This makes a small ornament about 3" in diameter.) Cut 9 strips of each color. Cut two 0.75" circles. Tracing around a penny works nicely.
2. Fold the paper strips in half. A crisp fold isn't needed; just a light crease will do.
3. String a bead onto a length of thread. Then push both ends of thread through the needle so the thread is doubled.
4. Poke the needle through one of the circles to string it next to the bead. Then string on all the paper strips near one end, alternating colors. 
5. After all the paper strips are added, begin threading the opposite ends onto the string. To do this, start with the strip you put on first (the one next to the paper circle). Take its loose end and push the needle through it. Continue threading on the paper strips in order. They'll naturally begin to fan out as you go.
6. Add the second paper circle.
7. Pull the needle off the thread. Feed the bead onto one of the loose ends of thread, then tie both ends of thread in a knot to hold the bead on next to the circle. If your ornament hangs a little crooked, thread the needle again and push both ends of thread up through the underside of the bead and out through the top so both ends of thread emerge. Tie off a loop and hang that spaceship. 
My ornament has a bit of a gap on one side where the papers meet at different levels. I'll put that toward the inside of the tree, and no one will be the wiser. You could also try stringing a piece of a drinking straw inside of the ornament to act as a spacer and help it keep its shape, as suggested by a smart commenter!
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