Celebrating life's special moments... and everything in between.
Want to get a little crafty and save some cash for your wrapping this holiday? Check out this How-to via Etsy incorporating kraft paper bags and easy hand-cut cork stamps. Brilliant! I actually made my own version of this approach using plain kraft paper and stamped dots using the unused eraser end of a pencil.
Happy wrapping!
I’m a busy little elf preparing for the big City of Craft show this weekend in Toronto. I’m so excited but nervous too. It’s my first time out on display with my work. I hope to see lots of followers and friendly faces there. But in the meantime…
Just in time for the holidays, M Stetson Design has created beautifully modern and crafty gift wrappings with debossed clay tags. I adore them so much so, I had to share. Take a gander here for their whole gift tag collection available on Etsy. Even more beautiful is the fact that these tags will never be thrown out, and used over and over again for gift giving and passed down through generations. How special!
{photos from M Stetson on Etsy}
I’m bringin’ back the wrap! Friday Wraps, that is. I haven’t done ANY myself in a while, but I also haven’t featured any from other creatives too. And gift wrapping is part of what I love and do, so I’m going to be better with posting awesome DIY tutorials for you to use and impress your friends with.
Here I’m featuring my Toronto pal, Gaelan at Uschi & Kay who came up with a super easy and inexpensive way to jazz up wine bottles at your event, or come up with your own way to incorporate these sparkling tags. They are SO snazzy!
View the full tutorial here.
{images from Uschi & Kay blog}
This Friday Wrap is a little different than most of the others…
This is a cute idea for your kitchen if you love grabbing a fresh loaf of bread on your way home from the local bakery. Wrapping your loaf in towels is a great way to keep it fresh longer, so this tutorial over at Momtastic uses two small kitchen towels sewn together with a drawstring for easy bread storage. Why not make one for yourself as a fun weekend craft? You can use towels you already have, or go out and buy new cheap ones from the dollar store especially for this craft. Happy wrapping… and eating! ;)
{image from Momtastic}
Bad news… Unfortunately I am ill again. I have been down and out with a painful cough and fever since Friday. Luckily the fever has diminished now, but I still have the joint and muscle aches, stuffiness, etc. Doctor’s office… here I come again.
In the meantime though, I owe you a Friday Wrap post from last week. This one focuses on wrapping with string. There are many ways of going about it. You can tie bows, use buttons, wrap it like a parcel, and use a variety of materials, like the yarn used in this Bird & Banner invite.
Here is a short and sweet tutorial on how to bundle up your own favour or invite package using a some string and a button.
1. Grab all your pieces for the package.
2. Cut a 30-40 inch piece of string and hug it around the pieces (front to back) evenly.
3. At the back, cross the strings and wrap them around the pieces vertically, bringing them around to the front again.
4. Now take both ends of the string and slip each under the center (horizontal) string. This will secure the button and bow in the center when you complete the next steps.
5. Take both ends of the string again and feed each into one hole of the button. Use the holes on a diagonal from one another if your button has 4 holes total.
6. Finally, do not tie a knot, but go straight into tying a bow. Before doing so though, make sure the entire string is pulled fairly tight, without bending your pieces of paper, but just so the string isn’t loose and going to slip off. And voila! You have yourself a perfectly tied, and easy to open package.
Happy Wrapping!
{photos from Wedding Bee, Papernstitch, and Bird & Banner}
Haven’t wrapped that gift for your special someone yet? Well here’s a crafty idea involving lots of little die cut hearts. Now all you have to do is run out to your local craft store and grab one of these to get started.
Materials:
+ kraft paper for wrapping your gift(s)
+ die punch for a heart shape
+ assorted craft or construction paper (any colour or texture you prefer) for punching hearts out of
+ wax paper
+ tape
+ scissors
+ sewing needle
+ ribbon, string, trimming, or other tying materials
Instructions:
1. Wrap your gift(s) in kraft paper to start.
2. Cut a strip of wax paper to wrap around your gift and tape it securely at the back.
3. Grab your ribbon and wrap it around once or twice, depending on the width of the ribbon and what looks good layered over the wax paper.
4. Now get punching out some little paper hearts with your new toy!
5. Take your sewing needle and thread it with string. Then start pinning it through the center of your paper hearts until you get a good amount strung to wrap around your gift.
6. Once you are done threading, unthread the needle and cut the string with enough to tie it at the back of the gift.
7. Have some scrap paper lying about from punching out those heart shapes? Don’t throw it away! Use it for another gift wrap. Start by following step 1 and 2 again.
8. If you haven’t already, cut strips from the paper used to punch the heart shapes. Take 1 or 2 strips of the paper and tape them together with clear tape and wrap and secure them nicely at the back of the gift.
9. Now grab something frilly and pretty (like ribbon, lace, or trimming), and wrap it around a few times and secure it to the back of the gift too.
Now you have 2 beautifully presented gifts to give away! Happy Valentine’s everyone, and as always… happy giving! xoxo
{photos © Have & Hold Design}
With all this crumby winter weather, I wanted to do a wrap that was a little more refreshing, inspired by fresh food and cooking in the kitchen.
I’ve also been doing a bit of ‘cleaning’ when it comes to my magazine collection. I can’t believe I still had old issues of Teen Vogue. Looking at the dates on those were really scary… and embarrassing. So out into the recycling bin they went. But when I came across an old issue of Food & Drink, I thought it was perfect for alternative wrapping paper. The photography is beautiful, bright, and high quality. That’s the key for using recycled paper as wrapping. Make sure it has some great character to it. And for this wrap, the large shots of deliciously ripe fruits and veggies worked perfectly.
Materials:
1. Specialty scissors (ones that in different styles; choose your favourite from a local craft or art store; I’ve used Victorian and Colonial style cuts)
2. String, ribbon, or other tying materials that match your scheme
3. Clear adhesive tape
4. An issue of a magazine from which wrapping pages can be torn (look for vibrant colours and photography)
5. Pages of lined paper
6. Scraps of kraft paper
7. A writing tool (pen, pencil, marker… whichever you prefer)
Instructions:
1. Tear out your page(s) from the magazine, and wrap up your gift. You may need more than one page depending on the size of the gift, so try to be crafty when combining pages to cover your gift. Try not to make it look too messy when taping two pages together.
2. Take your specialty scissors and cut a strip from the lined paper. Again, you may need two strips adhered together to wrap around the whole gift, so measure it out correctly and cut another strip, then tape the strips together nicely on both sides with clear tape. Wrap the strip around your gift and trim and tape again to have it secured to the gift.
3. Use this step if you want to add a nice handwritten note to your gift. Take a piece of scrap kraft paper, or tear a one off gently. Aim for a size that suits your wrapped package. Write your heart-felt message, or a simple “to” and “from”.
4. Now your note is ready to sit on top of your gift, secured under a piece of twine or ribbon. Don’t forget to tie the bow!
Voila! Looks like it’s fresh from the garden. Happy wrapping!
{photos © Have & Hold Design}
Happy Friday! Oh, what a busy week I’ve had. But I couldn’t leave you hanging without another Friday Wrap. Next week’s will surely be a special custom one from yours truly, but today I present another fun (yet possibly slightly messy) tutorial from Poppytalk.
Right now fabric wraps seem to be super popular, not only because they’re soft and unique, but because you can reuse the fabric after the gift has been unwrapped. How handy! So head over to the Poppytalk blog if you’re keen to make you’re own custom-stamped wrapping fabric. Have a great weekend everyone! …and try not to make too much of a mess.
{photos from Poppytalk with contributer post by Arounna of Bookhou}
Today’s featured wrap is a unique theme from Luise in Germany. Her wrapping proves you don’t have to actually send anything in the mail to make it look like beautiful pieces of mail. Luise claims that she didn’t even purchase materials for her wrapping; she used bits and pieces found in her drawers. Take inspiration from her and gather scraps and materials from around the home, but most importantly choose a theme. It will help steer all your wrapping in the same direction and you’ll be left with a cohesive collection of packages. And if you don’t have any scraps lying around, well start collecting! Dedicate a small box to ‘saved pretty things’ for the next time you have to wrap a gift and impress someone. That’s the way I roll.
Okay, so it’s not quite Friday, but here is an early x-mas present from me: another holiday/winter wrap for your last minute gifts. Maybe the stores you went to were all out of wrapping paper. Or maybe you’re just lazy. But if you have a spare toque lying around somewhere, then this is the wrap job for you! (Just note: an actual old, raggedy toque is not recommended. I purchased a few new, cheap ones at the dollar store, and I feel this is the best option. But really,… if you want to clean up an old one or knit one from scratch, be my guest.)
Materials:
1. Knitted or crocheted toque
2. Ribbon, string, yarn or any preferred tying material
3. Tissue paper
4. Sewing needle (if stitching is involved)
Instructions:
1. Take your gift and surround it with tissue paper. This time around I’ve chosen some yummy teas from Davids Tea. Wait… I’ve done this before. What can I say? Tea is a great gift! Just make sure your gifts are the right size to fit inside the toque. They generally need to be small. Otherwise… find a bigger toque.
2. Slip your gift and tissue paper inside the toque. Now right here, right now, you can simply tie a bow near the bottom of the toque and be done with it OR…
3. …you can take out your trusty sewing needle and get stitching for a little added effort. Begin stitching in and out of the toque with the gaps being just about half an inch to an inch apart.
4. Once you’ve reached the place where you began stitching, you can pull on the 2 ends to cinch the toque in, closing it slightly. Then cut the ends, leaving room to tie a nice bow.
Voila!
Happy Holidays again everyone!
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