name games: amy's family

Judy: These ornaments remind me of Russian nesting dolls.

Raymond: They remind me of Amy’s family—especially with the house in the background since her husband’s an architect and they just bought a place.

Judy: Wonder how she’d feel if we named them after Jimmy and their son Jaden?

Amy: Hah! That’s very funny—even though Jimmy doesn’t have a goatee and I’m a brunette. I’ll see if he’d be ok with naming them after us.

Judy: But they’re just as adorable as you three.

Amy: It’s a go—he laughed and agreed.

Judy: Whew! That helps a lot—we’re running out of time and naming product isn’t my best quality. Thanks Amy and Merry Christmas!

Meet amy, former product manager assistant, judy and raymond, product managers.

host a tree trimming party

photo courtesy of: qmnonic Traditionally, Christmas trees were decorated on Christmas Eve and stayed up until the day after Twelfth Night, January 6th. Ironically, decorating an evergreen tree for Christmas supposedly started as the Protestant counterpart—as a symbol of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden—to Catholic Nativity scenes which are now often displayed under a tree.

Early decorations were foods such as sugared plums, gilded apples, white candy canes and strings of popcorn and cranberries. Woolworth’s was one of the first retailers to sell glass ornaments imported from Europe, and later made in the US, as the tradition made it’s way across many lands and down the social ladder from royalty.

Today, ornaments are made of glass, paper, wood, porcelain…most of us reminisce as we put up favorites from Christmases past and add new ones each year. Hosting a tree decorating party can be a quiet evening visiting—creating new memories while the work gets done—and before guests are off to a second or third party of the night.

how to: create a branch centerpiece

Entertaining season will be here soon so it’s time to get ready. By hanging a centerpiece over— instead of adding clutter to—the dining table, ample room is left for a clean modern table and unobstructed brunch to dinner conversations.

Select a branch sized to suit your dining space, paint for a high-gloss effect, and add colorful ornaments to trim your ‘tree’. To hang, use natural twine—or extra strong fish-line for a floating effect.

hint: consult a hardware store for the best advice on hanging hardware.

wreath how-to

In our latest catalog, our creative stylists DIY’d a holiday wreath using ornaments from our bins—the result is a stunning, brightly colored and festive wreath to welcome guests. Since we often get questions about details in our photography, such as requests for paint colors used, we anticipated that a lot of you would want to know how it was made.

Supplies:
1. Strong stiff wire that can be bent into a ring. We used aluminum wire gauge 20, about 55” long—due to the scale of the products in the shot, our wreath was rather large, about 28” in diameter. A wire hanger is also a simple way to go.

2. Ornaments. We used a total of 81 ornaments. For a smaller version, we’re guessing you could make a 14” wreath with about a third of the ornaments depending on how full you wanted it.

3. Strong tape to fasten the ends of the wire ring together or, pliers to twist the ends of the wire ring together.

4. Ribbon to hang the wreath.

Directions:
1. String one ornament at a time onto the wire ring, alternating colors, using smaller ones to fill in the gaps.

2. When the ring is completely covered in ornaments, fasten the ends together.

3. Use a ribbon to cover the spot where the ends are fastened together, and hang!

Tip: best not to go too large in diameter as the wreath could become too heavy and stretch out.

Thanks to curtis, art director, CB2 catalog, for this submission.