Decorate holiday packages with these red-and-green berry clusters, left. Attach them with waxed twine, and then tie gift tags to the stems.

1. To make leaves and berries, follow the instructions for our Fall Berry Wreath, but use light-green and dark-green felt for the leaves' top and bottom layers, respectively, and dark-red felt for the berries. 

2. Cluster leaf and berry stems; bind with green floral tape.

Use this tailor's trick whenever you need to cut a straight line through a woven fabric such as cotton or linen. Tease several threads loose at the point where you'll make the initial cut. Then gently pull out the threads to create a trail of perfectly aligned holes in the fabric, which can then guide your shears.

From the Sunflower State of Kansas, here's a way to welcome guests to the table with a great big hello. Trim sunflower stems short, so they fit into juice glasses. Cut paper into petal shapes and write guests' names on them. Then add the extra petal to the flowers with dots of tacky white glue.

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Marguerite plate, $71, johnderian.com

A present bearing a hand-painted monogram shows affectionate effort. Use a set of hand towels and a letter stencil. Lay towel over a sheet of paper. Center stencil on towel and, holding it firmly, apply two coats of washable fabric paint with a medium-size brush. Remove stencil, and let dry, about three hours.

Salt and seashells are a match made in the ocean. To make this pretty dish, press the shell edges into a gold stamp pad, and then fill the shell with sea salt. Here, we used black-lip oyster shells; you should clean them, of course, before using. Polished black-lip oyster, Conch King.