Free Idea Friday: Inside Out Envelope

So simple, yet striking! Via DesignSponge, some quick instructions on re-assembling a business envelope inside out. This could be interesting for a gift certificate or card atop your gift!

Kraft Paper Retrospective

While searching through old photos, I came across a few gift-related pictures I took before I started The Gifted Blog. I was amused to find evidence of my two rolls of kraft paper in action over the past two years. I purchased them at a dollar store and used the last of it to make the celery-stamped gift wrap. While it's hard to believe those rolls lasted two years, I don't think it's an exaggeration.

I realize at some point I'm going to have to buy new paper, but, in fond remembrance of this kraft paper, I give you a modest retrospective!

Here's the dining table in our old apartment strewn with gift wrapping  stuff.



These two are of G. opening a gift two Christmases ago. I gave him - don't laugh - a bottle of castile soap. Unwhimsical and utterly practical, I know. This is a man who told me the best gift he ever received was a suction-cup soap holder to go on the wall of his dorm shower.





Here he is opening a Father's Day gift last year. He wasn't a father yet but we were expecting. I gave him a styptic pencil, which staunches minor cuts, to use in his shaving routine. I was happy to find something to combat a pet peeve of G.'s (i.e. shaving nicks).





And finally, here's a gift from G. to me, packed in a basket we took with us on an anniversary trip to San Diego. Note the childbirth book - we were a couple months away from our due date!



Kraft paper, you have served us well. Here's to many more gifts wrapped!

Thank You

It's been 3 months since I started The Gifted Blog.

I was pretty nervous in the beginning. I felt tentative. I wanted to make sure I had enough to write about before I started a dedicated webspace to gift wrapping. I didn't want to fizzle out.

It made me too nervous to write straight into WordPress, so I began by typing drafts in Notepad. I scoured each draft, brainstormed series ideas, and made lists of future posts.



And now, with 37 posts behind me, I've loosened up a little and am really enjoying it! I am grateful to God for giving me this creative outlet.

Thank you to everyone who reads my stories. I like hearing from you in the comments and by e-mail, and am tickled every time I find out I have a new reader. Thanks also to Stephanie B, Silverkeys and Luci for the recent blog mentions. I feel a tiny bit famous.



And now I have a favor to ask. I am planning ahead for the rest of 2009's posts and want your input! My desire is for The Gifted Blog to be a dialogue, not monologue.

I have some ideas on the back burner and would love to hear: what would you like to hear about as Christmas approaches? What about an advice column? Do you already love wrapping gifts and am I preaching to the choir, or is there a specific way I can help facilitate your gift wrapping experience? Have you ever wondered what it means to wrap a manly gift? More importantly, would you like to explore with me how to wrap a manly gift?

And of course, any other ideas and feedback are welcome. Thanks!

Wrap Story: Monogrammed Greens Box

This Wrap Story is part of a mini-series, documenting every present I’ve wrapped since the launch of The Gifted Blog. Click here for the whole series!

We know E. and B., who were married this summer, through our church. E. is the one whose bridal shower rose I documented in an earlier post.

This is one unique couple. They registered at some unusual places: Ten Thousand Villages and the gorgeous Heath Ceramics. In their desire to live simply, their first home is in a trailer park! Here they are happily riding into their outdoor reception on a tandem bike.


Image by Michelle McCotter

I got them some pottery from the Pasadena City College ceramics sale since I was so jazzed about it. I hoped the gift was in the spirit of their registry tastes.



There were a few challenges. First, I'd wrapped M. & M.'s similar gift in a gift bag. I wanted to try something different, but I didn't have a box the right size. Inspiration hit when I noticed our neighbor was using a plastic food box to store her son's toys. Ah ha!



We'd been eating salads all summer long and already had an empty box of mixed greens ready to go.

I cut the bride and groom's initials from security envelopes and glued these and a red heart onto white cardstock. Next, I dip-dyed some paper I had to pad the bowls. I like this effect - it has the benefit of looking good even when crinkled.





I interspersed the dyed paper with strips of newsprint to protect the bowls, put on the lid, added a purple ribbon, and voila!



I enjoyed getting resourceful for this Wrap Story. I hope the gift and its wrapping reflect some of the quirkiness and shared values of our friends E. and B.

Tutorial Tryout: Ramen Ribbon

Tutorial Tryouts are my reviews of DIY gift wrapping ideas from the internet and other sources. Click here for the whole series!



If you haven't caught the undercurrent of thrifyness running through The Gifted Blog, I'm about to officially out myself.

This frugal gift wrapping idea is from The Complete Tightwad Gazette III. When she heard about my extracurricular reading, my friend said, "Charissa, you are cool, but if you think something is useful you will use the most frumpy things." I can't deny it.

But doesn't this look amazing? I made it from a ramen package! Here is the reader tip.



We don't buy chips, so I used what we had on hand. G. bought a multi-pack of these noodles on his last trip to Ranch 99.



I cut the top and bottom off a package and opened it flat. Then I cut it into strips. I thought about cutting in a spiral as mentioned in the reader tip, but it seemed like the packaging seam would create irregularities in the ribbon.



Then, treating each strip like curling ribbon, I pulled it taut along the scissors blade.



When all the strips were curled, I gathered them and held them in the middle. Then I used a strip to tie them together.



And that was it! Truly, a gift wrapping idea I never would have thought of on my own. I really love how the packaging printing shows through as the ribbon spirals. The bow is full and lush, yet there's a hint that there's something quirky going on. It would be fun to see what this looks like with the printed side facing out.



What do you think? Is this creative gift wrapping at its best or a little too frugal for your tastes?

One.

Our beloved baby turned one!

This little boy has brought so much joy to our lives, and we were very happy to celebrate him. We thought we'd throw a party, but when we thought of all the people in his life that we'd want to be there, it sounded overwhelming.

So we had a pretty normal, but celebratory, day. We snuggled in bed after he woke up. We opened presents with him throughout the day. We had a fun playdate. We also gave him his own piece of cake.



He ate it in about two bites. I really like the expression on his face.

He didn't really understand the present-opening part, but because this is a blog about gift wrapping, of course I have to mention it. Here is a selection of N.'s birthday presents. (No offense to those that didn't make the picture! These are just the ones that were around for my daytime photo shoot.)





In the back left you can see a gift from my dad's parents. This one had a tag with a little origami onsie on it - I think my grandma must have gotten it at a craft fair. In front of it is a gift from my parents. My mom put the gift in chartreuse tissue paper and collaged N.'s name on it, ransom-note style (but cuter, since he wasn't being held captive, and also since she used a Japanese illustration for the second letter).

In the front center is a present from my in-laws, wrapped in the Sunday funnies. How fitting that the kid-centered For Better or For Worse and Family Circus are the ones on the front! (Not that N. would have minded, but I don't think Doonesbury would have had the same effect...) The dancing hamsters in the back are a 'talking' card that had a message recorded from them embedded in it. N. loved this - the first picture in the post is him flapping this card around.

Last but not least is a gift from my aunt, uncle, and cousins. It is wrapped in a plastic gift bag decorated with stars. They brought it all the way down from Seattle, and the bag struck me as another wrapping item that can withstand travel well.

Happy birthday, baby! We look forward to another wonderful year with you.

Furochic Giveaway Results

Hi readers - I'm surprised more folks didn't enter the Furochic giveaway, but very pleased to announce Jenn S. as the winner!

Jenn writes, "I love how the pattern on the little card is the same as the cloth’s pattern… only different. Great detail. This would be a great way to wrap the scrapbook I am making my mother-in-law for her birthday. It would add a nice home-made feel to the wrapping that would complement the gift inside. I would have to include instructions on how she can re-use it to wrap a wine bottle, they make and give wine frequently as gifts."

Awesome. How cool that it can be used for the scrapbook and perhaps, later, homemade wine! Jenn, we'd love to see a photo if you get a chance to snap one before the gift is given. I'm sure your mother-in-law is going to love the scrapbook!

Free Idea Friday: Printable Gift Tags from The Small Object

If you like the hand-drawn look but aren't quite ready to take your doodles public, here are some free, printable gift tags from Sarah of The Small Object.



So funny and cute. It took me a while to 'get' her aesthetic, but I like it. She seems very detail-oriented. Even these freebies are designed with a space to write in the occasion, to/from lines, and some extras for a little note!

Furochic Product Feature and Giveaway!

Based on traditional Japanese furoshiki, illustrator Jenn Playford has started a line of cloth gift wraps printed with her own designs. I first heard about Furochic through CraftStylish, where they hosted a giveaway.

I had just begun The Gifted Blog and was excited to see an alternative to wrapping with paper. I didn't win, but Jenn graciously followed up with me to send some samples. Thank you, Jenn!



Of course you can wrap gifts with any kind of fabric, but I appreciate the creative license she has been able to take with these in printing them with her own graphics. My only complaint is that her appealing designs don't show up quite as crisply as I would like on the fabric.

Jenn also recently published a book titled Wrapagami, which shows how to execute a variety of wrapping techniques with a simple square piece of cloth.

Today I gave a Furochic a try on a fine bottle of cabernet we happened to have in the pantry.



Using the pictures on the Furochic label as a guide (similar to these), I wrapped the bottle in the cloth. My first try was not so cute. I went back to tighten up the fabric and make the knots a little crisper. Voila!



I like the little handle embellishment on the top. My husband saw the bottle and said, "Whoa. That looks crazy. Like something from Dr. Seuss."



The Furochic are a nice, generous size and can be used to wrap even odd-shaped gifts. To pass on the generosity, I'm happy to announce a giveaway of this Cherry Blossom Furochic!

To enter, leave a comment before 8pm Friday (PST) telling us the gift you imagine wrapping in it. The lucky winner will receive the Furochic pictured below, which includes a length of grosgrain ribbon and coordinating gift tag.



Good luck!

Wrap Story: A Peary Happy Birthday

This Wrap Story is part of a mini-series, documenting every present I’ve wrapped since the launch of The Gifted Blog. Click here for the whole series!

Time flies, and before we knew it, our niece was about to turn one! Inspired by the cute baby stuff at Unique L.A. last May, I set out to make her a personalized t-shirt. I embroidered her name onto pear fabric and used this tutorial from the lovely  Shim + Sons blog to affix it to a stripy shirt.





I like how it turned out. The wrapping was quite simple, since I was in a rush to ship it to the opposite coast. I wrote out a tag and pinned it to the shirt to mimic a standard apparel tag. I was excited to use this teeny kitty pin that I have had for ages.



I used some hand-dyed tissue paper to wrap the shirt and popped it into a manilla envelope. Nothing too crazy. I drew a few flowers and leaves for fun.





All set to go!

Tutorial Tryout: Band Practice

Tutorial Tryouts are my reviews of DIY gift wrapping ideas from the internet and other sources. Click here for the whole series!

Today's Tutorial Tryout tests a gift wrapping idea from artist John Boak's Wrap Art site. His website is fun. It looks so professional that I was confused at first - is someone trying to sell me something? No, it's just a man who loves to wrap gifts.

After poking around the Wrap Art site for a while, I got the feeling it was done by an artist. For one, each creative gift wrapping image is given a title (Ribbon Style, Angled on Tissue, Tricolor Marker Pattern, etc). And two, he makes notes for each project that have this visual analysis feel.

The folding creates a finished look, with a slight pillowing effect which gives a rich dimensionality to the bands. The paper for the bands comes from catalogs and marketing flyers. They have beautiful textures. The paper just arrives at one's house unbidden; it is satisfying to have a use for it.

I love it.

I like a lot of his ideas for gift wrap, but this "Band Collage" really caught my attention.

Since I didn't have an actual gift to wrap, I wrapped a business-sized envelope in pink tissue paper. Sometimes you give a gift certificate and want it to look nice.

I had some magazine pages saved that were perfect for this. (Yes, that is a hot pink print of a human brain. Thank you, Wired.)

I followed the user-friendly instructions and was satisfied with the process and result. I really think anyone could do this.

Here is the back of the envelope. Boak writes, "Take it easy. Focus on the front of the package. The back of the package is backstage; it's ok to let it be messy."

What do you think? I like that this gift wrapping idea could be easily customized for the gift recipient's tastes and interests. Take a picture for me if you try it!