Helpful How-To: Gift Wrapping to Impress

Yes.

I missed HHT Wednesday, sorry about that.

Catching up a little bit....

Some of you may have seen the pic I posted last week of my early bout of gift wrapping...



 Pardon the crummy cell phone pic.

And just to keep things cohesive,
This is last year's crummy cell phone version of my gift wrapping:



Now, I don't know about you, but I personally think that taking a little extra time to provide a nicely wrapped gift plays into the gift a little bit. 

I mean, if I see a pretty gift under the tree with MY name on it, I want it just that much more....

Now, I know, you  may not be into my style of gifts.

My grandma gives gorgeous gifts in shiny paper with giant bows, and we have always LOVED it.

But my style is so much simpler.

I love the look of unadorned paper with simple, but elegant touches.

And really, it's super cheap. 

I have spent maybe $10 in wrapping supplies this year.

Because I use what I have. 

I am still using parchment paper that I bought for $3.96 at wal-mart last year.

I use ribbons and fabric from my craft closet.

I use my glue gun.

I use yarn.

This year, I did pick up some pretty snowflake cut-out ribbon just for kicks and giggles.

And I use simple tie-on tags that I got in the office supply section of Wal-Mart for $1.96

The first thing I do is wrap the gifts in the paper of my choice.

Your mommy taught you to crease all the edges, right?

Ehow*

If not, Ehow will...

It just takes a pinch!  If you go around the package after it's wrapped and just pinch the corners into a nice crease, your gift looks so much sharper.

I will admit, this is a little more difficult with gifts wrapped in parchment paper, luckily for me I happen to be a very strong pincher. 

I am a big sister.  Nuff said.  Pinching is what we do!

Next up is choosing your extra's.

This year, my fave has been burlap on my colored paper, topped with a layer or torn muslin (gotta love the frayed edge), and layers of plain red and green ribbons. 

For my parchment paper gifts, I am using strips of my colored paper, topped with strips of other decorative fabrics.

I have several different combinations of fabrics I am using this year, my favorite being this damask...

Credit

But I am saving it for the really special gifts....
Eek!  I can't wait!  So pretty!  Can't decide if I want to use a red ribbon or a brown ribbon with it though. 

Ugh.  Decisions, decisions.

Back to the HHT....

To adhere the strips of paper, fabric, ribbons, etc. I simply use my glue gun to dab on the back of the gift and hold everything in place. 

Easy peasy! 

And I have spent practically no money on it. 

My goal was to add some pretty hand made ornaments to each gift, but since I am really cutting myself close on time this year considering I have several VERY CROWDED weekends coming up, I may not get that done.

All in all, I am excited about my gifts and I hope you are too! 

Happy wrapping all!

*It deserves noting that this paper would be much too busy for my taste.  Well, at least my CURRENT taste...