Monthly Archives: December 2011

I spent yesterday morning getting the last of my presents wrapped before heading out of town and, as promised, I’m here to share. This one’s for my Aunt Barbara, who I got in this year’s family Christmas drawing. I followed my dream of cutting out her first initial to plop in the center of a paper doily, but the edges were looking a little rough (especially the insides, since I had to cut those with an exacto knife). Solution? Disguise the ugliness with glitter!

This one’s for my mom. Another cylindrical gift wrapped in fabric, but this time I added a little flair with a bright pink ribbon threaded through a paper doily (I just measured and cut two slits with an exacto knife), then a little medallion of hot glue + glitter in the center.

For my Grandma, who is one classy lady: white paper, a band of burlap, and a fabric flower.

This one’s for Nicholas (from my PawPaw, who outsourced his shopping this year). I was determined to use that pretty paper somewhere, even though Nick is unlikely to give it the appreciation it deserves. I cut a large circle and trimmed the edges with scalloped scissors, then layered a paper doily and a wax paper flower on top. Very manly looking.

And here they all are under my tree, right before Nick and I packed them all up to head out of town (our parents both live 1-1.5 hours away and we spend holiday weekends shuffling back and forth between the two). Ten bonus points if you can spot Pistachio living amongst the presents.

Of course there were a few last minute things that I’m going to have to wrap at my mom’s house using regular ol’ normal people wrapping paper, and that’s okay. I’m just so ready to be done with all the hustle and bustle so I can just relax and enjoy the holiday! I said it yesterday, and I’ll say it again, thank you so much for reading and I hope you have an awesome, amazing, absolutely spectacular holiday weekend! I’ll be back on Monday to talk about some of the gifts I gave (there’s at least one DIY in there). Merry Christmas!

My favorite part of this year’s wrapping strategy is getting to finally use up some of my fabric and yarn stash. I didn’t have enough left of this linen to really do much with, but it was perfect for wrapping around a cylindrical gift (tied with string at each end, with a small piece of double-sided tape used to hold things together at the seam).

I’ve got a whole skein of this yellow yarn (a perfect match for LSU gold, might I add), but I can’t even tell you the last time I knit or crocheted something. My attention span is getting shorter in old age and those types of projects just take too dang long. So I used some of that lovely yarn to create an off-center band of color around this simple brown box. A few dabs of hot glue at each end and periodically throughout keep it secure.

Now for the part where I make fun of my husband’s sweet efforts. His use of yarn is a little more minimalist.

Hahahahaha oh that man really struggles with gift wrap, but he’s trying so hard this year. Those end pieces are just so tricky, even on a plain ol’ rectangle of a box. Here’s another one from him. I suggested the linen bow when he was complaining that it looked so sad.

There was a time in our relationship when I was lucky to get a gift wadded up in a plastic grocery bag, so I’m not complaining. I think it’s sweet that he’s really trying. He even asked me for lessons. And he picked out everything on his own this year! I have no idea what he’s giving me. A few years ago he actually gave me money to just go and get my gift myself. This is the first time ever that I’ll be surprised, and I’m sure whatever is inside those lovely little packages will thrill me to no end.

I’ve still got some more packages to tie up with string (or yarn, fabric, or doilies),  so if you’re still looking for inspiration come tomorrow check back here for pics of my final few. Otherwise, have a very merry Christmas (or a great weekend, if the holiday isn’t your thing)!

I got a pack of 20 paper doilies for a mere $2 in the baking aisle at Hobby Lobby last week. I hear you can also snag them at the grocery store, but Nick does the food shopping in our family and I know from experience that it’s a recipe for disaster to ask him to hunt down something exotic and outside of his usual grocery repertoire. I’ll get a bunch of panicked and stressed phone calls telling me he can’t find it and I’ll wish I’d just gone and gotten it myself (in secret, of course, because he tries to keep me out of the grocery store at all costs. He says I make too many impulse buys, pshh). That man is just something, I tell ya. I should put a doily on one of his gifts to teach him a lesson. Ironically, the box below is for my dad. Not very masculine-looking in retrospect. Sorry, Dad.

Exhibit A: a plain ol’ box wrapped in brown paper

Exhibit B: the same box, made infinitely more delightful by the addition of a paper doily and a bit of string.

Is that not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? A brown paper package tied up with string…and a doily! Makes me wanna sing about my favorite things. I affixed the doily with just a dab or two of hot glue in the center and then the string holds down the edges.

I also slapped a doily on this plain brown lunch bag. I already showed it off the other day for its burlap bow, but it’s so awesome it’s making a repeat appearance. Notice how I trimmed the top edge with scalloped scissors, too? So easy and fun.

I stuck this one on there with spray adhesive and folded the edges back around the sides of the bag. You know what I think would be the cutest, though? To cut the recipient’s first initial out of scrapbook paper or colored cardstock and stick it in the center of the doily. I’ve got a few more gifts left to wrap and I’m hoping to put that particular stroke of genius to use on one of them.

Here’s Genius Idea #2. Glitter Tape. I’ve only executed it on one wrapped gift so far, but I’ve still got a few more to go and I’m hoping it’ll make another appearance. I wrapped this small box in white project paper. I left the flaps to be attached by the glitter tape, although I probably could have gone ahead and pinned them down with a dab of glue before proceeding. Either way.

Then I wrapped a piece of double-sided tape up over the loose side flap, across the top, and down the other side.

Peeled off the paper backing and got my glitter on. I tapped and shook and brushed off the excess pretty aggressively to prevent glitter apocalypse in my present pile.

Then, I topped it off with a wax paper pouf (adhered with a dab of hot glue) and called it a day.

Festive, isn’t it? I think this technique is best pressed into service on smaller packages, where the proportion of tape to box mimics ribbon. It would likely just be dwarfed on larger packages unless you placed several strips side by side, and, let’s face it, that’s probably not an economical use of double-sided tape. Best to stick to the small boxes where you get more bang for your buck. Just now I got the idea that if your recipient had a rather straight-lined first initial, you could even do their monogram in glitter. L, T, M, or N would all be good candidates, I think. Or if you’re really creative you could use the tape to outline the silhouette of, say, a Christmas tree, or a very simple snowflake, then douse in glitter and step back to admire your genius. But the more I think about it, I think it’s best to keep it simple. Maybe use a small strip of tape to pretty-up a very simple box, or even an envelope. Like this:

puglypixel.com

Adorbs, right? I love how she trimmed the edges. So much cuteness for something so small. I hope this post inspired you to bring a little glitter into your gift-wrap this year, and I will leave you with this parting image (via Pinterest).

Pinterest

‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house, were stashed hidden presents for family, friends, and spouse. They needed to be wrapped up and embellished with care, in hopes that the receiver would appreciate their flair.

Did you like my poem? I worked on it for a long time. I shoulda been a poet. But alas, I’m just a plain ‘ol social worker with an English undergrad I use only for blogging. This poetry crafting, blog writing, social working girl has quite a bit of gift wrapping to get done between now and December 25th. Did you think I would miss the opportunity to stretch it out into as many blog posts as possible spare you the details? Oh no, my friends. You are in for a week’s worth of wrapping goodness, starting with my proudest accomplishment of the weekend: the burlap bow.

You may remember that I like to wrap my gifts in brown craft paper, and that in the past I’ve spent a pretty penny on ribbon to gussy it up. This year I decided to get creative and avoid the highway robbery that is the ribbon aisle at Hobby Lobby and opt instead for less traditional embellishments. I vowed to look around my house and use stuff I already had on hand, then gave myself a $15 budget for paper and other embellishments. $10 of that went towards paper-$3 on two small rolls of craft paper (at Dollar General) and $7 on a big roll of white “project paper” (at Hobby Lobby). I hadn’t planned on getting the white paper, but I usually buy my brown paper at Hobby Lobby and they were out, so I bought the white stuff as a backup plan in case I couldn’t find craft paper anywhere else. Now I’m embracing the variety it adds to my collection of elegant little packages.

I started the wrapping extravaganza by locking myself in the guest room with every crafty item I own:

The burlap bows were a stroke of genius. I have a bunch of it left over from the burlap table runner I made once upon a time, but even new it will only run you five to seven bucks a yard. I simply cut it roughly into strips and tied it around stuff to add some rustic charm.

Notice the lack of a fancy bow. That’s just a plain ‘ol knot, but burlap makes it look special.

In the photo above I cut a long strip in half and tied the two pieces together (instead of wrapping the whole long thing around the box), then stuck it on top of the box with a dab of hot glue.

This paper lunch bag had a lot of cool things done to it, but the part with the burlap was accomplished by punching a big hole through the flap, then wrapping a strip of burlap around the back, under the flap, and carefully out through the hole, then tying a knot. The knot is bigger than the hole so it keeps the bag closed.

Some tips:

• Burlap is messy. Prepare yourself accordingly.
• Tape does not stick well to craft paper. This is the first year I’ve stopped fighting the tape and turned to hot glue instead, and I’ll never look back.
• Go forth with reckless abandon and get ready for everyone you know to ooh and ahh over how creative you are.

I’ll be here all week, showing you my tips and tricks for wrapping presents with non-traditional supplies. Get excited!