First Come Flowers

How To Wrap A Gift Creatively Using Your Own Stuff

First Come Flowers

 

Good friends of mine just adopted a newborn baby girl. I was attending a celebration party for the new arival and wanted the gift to be and look special.

Her mom loves to read so I decided to get baby Lia a stack of books. I also included a book for the parents.

I didn't have much time to wrap the gift, so I relied on my collection of interesting papers, ribbons and embellishments. I was in such a rush that I neglected to include a flower. Imagine that.

Yes, I know I could have gone to the store and bought a baby shower shopping bag. But to me, that wouldn't have been special enough. And even when I cave in an buy a ready-made gift bag, I nearly always replace the "handles" with my own ribbon, embellishment and tag.

If I'd had any idea, I'd be posting on this, I would have taken pictures showing each step. Anyway, here's what I did:

Creative Gift Wrapping Using Your Own Stuff

1.  I wrapped each board book in different yet coordinated colored papers. One of them was a tiny multi-colored print so I used it as my inspiration. It's the same process I often use when I'm designing a flower arrangement.

2.  I tied each book with an interesting piece of ribbon. Why bother if the books are going to be stacked? Because I wanted each little gift to be a piece of joy. Gift wrapping creatively for others is something I love doing. I like making people feel special. It's not just about the real gift for me. 

3. I embellished some of the books with hand-made paper. I make these papers out of paper towel, scrap paper, paint, glue, glitter, water and other stuff lying around not moving. But, that's for another post I think.

4. I stacked each wrapped book on top of each other. To make it a bit fancier, I sort of twisted each book a bit so they weren't lined up in a neat pile. Why? It's just how I roll. Always on the hunt for the unique twist. No pun intended.

5. I wrapped this twisted bunch of books with a wide, mocha colored lace. I had no idea why I bought this lace, but knew it would come in handy some day. Prior to arriving on this approach, I must have tried using 10 or 12 different ribbons of varying textures and widths. Grosgrain, velvets, double-faced satins. Each of them stood out too much and actually took away from the overall look of the package. But, when I tried this tulle lace it looked right with the vintage style of the gift tag.

6.  I made a vintage-style tag. I found a black and white photo of a baby. I glued it to several layers of paper and backed it with some cardstock. I hot-glued a tiny tulle bow onto the baby's dress. I could have substituted a little millinery flower here. The leopard paper is actually a little paper bag. When I realized it was open on the right side, I cut a piece of cardstock into the shape of a tag and wrote this little message on it:

"If you believe, you will receive, whatever you ask for in prayer."

Matthew 21:22 NIV

 

It was a lot of funny assembling this baby shower gift. I hoped they liked the wrapping as much as I did. Oh yeah, and the books featuring one of my all time favorites, "Good Night Moon." A pleasure both the parents and baby will enjoy for many years to come.

Gift Wrapping Links:

Elegant Gift Wrapping 

Beet Dyed Gift Wrap Tutorial

How To Make Flowers For Gift Wrapping

Make Your Own Gift Bag Tutorial

 

Do you fuss over gift wrapping or do you just throw it in a bag with tissue paper and keep on going? Please let me know in the comments below.

Gift wrappingly yours,

Mimi

8 Last Minute Elegant & Eco-Friendly Holiday Gift Wrapping Ideas

Been seeing some beautiful eco-friendly gift wrapping ideas around the web. Thought you might want to see some lovely examples you can make with simple recycled paper .

Hold on to ribbons, yarn, string and interesting little items that can be used to embellish your gifts. I keep junk mail items that have pretty patterns ot typefaces to make cards and tags.

 

 

Dear Lillie

1.  Make embellishments using stencils  on cardstock.- Use an old office folder or piece of cardboard from your pantyhose. Trace the stencil on it and cut it out.

 

 

 

Elizabeth Heier

 2.  Collect string and yarn from friends and family - Tie it on your brown paper packages or whatever kind of packages you have. If you stay within a certain color palette, your gifts will looked pulled together and gorgeous.

 

 

 Handmade and Heritage

 3.  Stamp on plain paper - Use your decorative stamps to create your own design on brown paper. Trader Joe bags work well. 

 

Liebesbotschaft

 4. Jingle that bell - The addition of the letter and the single jingle bell gives this package a sophisticated look. Look for embellishments like letters in the craft section of your favorite store. Often these items get marked down making them dirt cheap. 

 

Elizabeth Heier

 5. Add  a folded element - My sister taught me how to make medallions lst year. She has a special board for making paper creasing easy. I have tons of them at my shop. Okay, maybe not tons.

 

Liebesbotschaft

 6.  Reinterpret old ornaments - The embellishment on the package above is not eco-friendly, but it is cute. It's a way to recycle old Christmas tree ornaments with paint.

 

 Whimseybox

 7.  Embellish with found stuff - Buttons, brads, whatever you have can be used to decorate your gifts.

 

via Bradbourne Farm

8.  Break out the pastels. - Use those pale ornaments to embellish gifts no matter the season. These would be lovely for a birthday party.

Hope you try some of these lovely gift wrapping ideas.

Mimi

 

5 Secrets For Elegant Gift Wrapping For Valentines Day

Just because it's Valentines Day doesn't mean your elegant gift wrapping has to be red, pink and white. Valentines Day is your opportunity to break out of the box and declare your love in any color you like. I probably wouldn't wrap a gift in black though.

Here are 5 secrets for elegant gift wrapping:

 

via A Gift Wrapped Life

1) Don't be cheap with the ribbon.  Splurge and buy ribbon made out of satin, velvet or grosgrain. Make it wider than you usually do. It should be at least 1.5" wide. That immediately says elegant. You can sometimes pick it up at the Michael's  $1.00 rack at the front of the store. Or buy it from a fabric store.  It may cost you $3.00 per yard, but that's still cheaper than the Valentines Day card.

via Bahraini Diva

 2) Shake things up with color. You don't have to buy the printed Valentines Day paper. It often looks cheap anyway. Besides, what are you going to do with the rest of it?  Save it until next year?

Instead, buy a nice solid paper that can be used again for another occasion. Use a nice colored ribbon to go along with it. If you stick with solid paper and real ribbon, you really can't mess it up.

 

Whimsy  Wrap

3) Try an elegant patterned paper. You'll often find individual sheets of printed paper hanging over a rack in nicer stationery stores.  You'll find paper with interesting textures, colors and designs.

You can also get some newsprint and decorate it yourself with stamps or small paint brushes. You can make polka dot paper by dipping a new pencil eraser into acrylic paint and stamping it onto your paper. Use a color that will match the nice ribbon you bought.

 

California Academy

4) Use real or fake  flowers to decorate your gift. Read "How to Gift Wrap Using Fresh Flowers" and "How To Gift Wrap Using Fake Flowers."

 

So  Crafty

5) Go neutral in your gift wrapping. Note how elegant this camel colored satin ribbon looks on the ivory paper. What could be simpler and more beautiful?

 

Do you think Valentines Day wrapping must be red, white or pink? Why? 

Mimi