Free Idea Friday: Book Club Gift Labels

Today I wanted to share these Wedding Style Guide "book club" gift labels with you. These simple designs would look nice on any present, for any occasion!



The way they're styled in the image above - with the labels on the sides of the packages - is also an unusual way to give someone a book. Click here to find their selection of downloadable files, which includes "ex libris" labels to paste into the cover of a book.

Looking for more free gift wrap ideas? Try the “Free Ideas” category link to the right!

A Gifted Christmas: Gift Brainstorming III

With the holidays approaching, I was overwhelmed by all the things I could write about regarding gift wrapping. So, I am scaling it down to a mini-series called "A Gifted Christmas" to keep track of my own Christmas gift-wrapping preparations. I hope you'll join me along the way! For more, click the "Christmas" link in the right-hand column.



Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you are enjoying good company and good food today. It's a good time to count our blessings! Here is the third of three posts on how to brainstorm gifts for your loved ones.

5. Make them something. Early this year we took a trip to The Ojai Retreat with my parents-in-law. This beautiful bed-and-breakfast had a simple breakfast spread each morning, with the highlight being homemade granola. My mother-in-law had the good idea to ask for the recipe. The nice inn manager stopped what she was doing in the kitchen to jot it down from memory. Since coming back and getting the hang of making it, I've given granola as a gift a few times.

6. Give something immaterial. Since most of us are blessed with everything we really need, non-material gifts have become a favorite category for our family. I have definitely been influenced by Unclutterer's gift guides in this respect.

Donate two chickens to a family who needs them in honor of the gift recipient. Give them a night on the town by buying them a restaurant gift certificate. Or give a coupon for your time and services - to help clean out their office, for example.

Do these ideas remind you of gifts you've given or received in the past? Let us know in the comments!

A Gifted Christmas: Gift Brainstorming II

With the holidays approaching, I was overwhelmed by all the things I could write about regarding gift wrapping. So, I am scaling it down to a mini-series called "A Gifted Christmas" to keep track of my own Christmas gift-wrapping preparations. I hope you'll join me along the way! For more, click the "Christmas" link in the right-hand column.

Since you can't plan your gift wrapping if you don't know what you're giving, some of the first posts in this series are about how to brainstorm gifts for your loved ones. In three parts, here are some of the ways I approach thinking of gifts for friends and family.



3) Consider buying local. With the ubiquity of national chains, regionally-specific gifts can be a nice reminder of the diversity of our fair country. My parents-in-law sent us to Seattle with a jar of blueberry-jalapeno jam from the Iowa City farmers' market (yes, from the very stall pictured above), and my parents loved it.

4) Share something you love. While this won't work for every gift recipient, sometimes you find something you absolutely love and want to share. Even though we live in Southern California, G. and I live in Smartwool socks in the winter. (Thanks, Mom, for introducing me to these!) We love these socks.

True story: my mom left a pair of her Smartwool socks at my grandparents' house. When he found them, my grandfather tried them on and liked them. He liked them so much that he went online and Googled a store to order more from (pretty impressive, Jiichan!). On the phone with my mom, he told her he started doing the laundry so he could wear them again the next day. My Baachan said, shocked, "What! I wondered why you were doing the laundry!"

At the risk of being dorky, we got three pairs each for our aunt and brother-in-law for last year's gift exchange in Iowa. I think they got some good use in the harsh winter weather!

Have you bought local or shared something you love as a gift recently? Share your stories in the comments!

A Gifted Christmas: Gift Brainstorming I

With the holidays approaching, I was overwhelmed by all the things I could write about regarding gift wrapping. So, I am scaling it down to a mini-series called "A Gifted Christmas" to keep track of my own Christmas gift-wrapping preparations. I hope you'll join me! For more, click the "Christmas" link in the right-hand column.



Though I can't say I'm any better than the average person at it, I do enjoy thinking of what to give as Christmas gifts. Since I can't plan the gift wrapping if I don't know what I'm giving, some of the first posts in this series are about how to brainstorm gifts for your loved ones.

1) Pay attention to their hobbies and projects. My mother-in-law is a Spanish teacher and loves collecting Mexican, specifically Oaxacan, folk art. The photo above is just part of their beautifully decorated living room. When I got her name for our Christmas gift exchange two years ago, I knew just where to head! The Folk Tree in our town carries just those kinds of wares, and I found her a mismatched but really cool set of black candle holders.

As you think about the person you want to get a gift for, think about the pastime or leisure activity are they into right now. Alternately, there might be a project they are working on - remodeling a room, refurbishing a car, training for a marathon, etc - that might inspire some good gift leads.

2) Think about their daily needs. My uncle was commuting to a seminary class several times a week and my aunt suggested getting him some 'driving snacks' for the road. I had fun putting together a sturdy box filled with various snacky foods and a simple, homemade trail mix.

What's part of the weekly routine for the person you have in mind? Is there a way you can help meet one of their everyday needs?

How are you going about picking presents this year? Let us know in the comments. And stay tuned - there are more gift brainstorming approaches to come!

Wrap Story: Easy Does It

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 were invited to a church friend's birthday lunch and G. kindly watched N. so I could go. I expected a small gathering, but to my surprise we filled two banquet-length tables on the patio of Daisy Mint!

I gave the birthday girl a notepad made with papers retrieved from the recycling bins of MOCA (by me, who else). I made it a card and gift in one by writing the birthday wishes on the first page of the pad.



As you can see, I just tied a sheer ribbon into a bow around the notepad. I thought it might be best to keep it simple for a simple gift.

Guest Post: "Jack and Bri(e)" by Mia

I am very happy to present The Gifted Blog's first guest post, written by my cousin Mia! Mia is a talented writer, currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Washington. Her emphasis is in poetry, and she is the associate editor for the Lantern Review, a new online journal of Asian American poetry. I could go on and on, but instead I will leave you with her inventive gift wrapping story!



"My husband and I wrapped this gift for two of our newest friends, Jack and Bri. We are relatively new to the Seattle area, and this couple has eased our transition considerably through their warmth and hospitality. When they invited us over last month to celebrate Jack’s birthday, we realized that we not only wanted to celebrate him, but both of them!

While brainstorming gift ideas, we realized that we had become friends with two people whose names were related to TWO OF OUR FAVORITE CHEESES! Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. We certainly love our cheese.

We stopped by our local Trader Joe’s to purchase some whole grain crackers, a bottle of wine (which, we were told, would complement our cheese nicely), and most importantly, a block of Jack Cheese and Brie. I almost bought a piece of Pepper Jack, but decided that plain Jack was the way to go.



Gift-wrapping is one of my favorite past times, and creative gift-wrapping is even better. I pulled out my staple materials: a roll of pinstripe yellow paper from the San Francisco Wholesale Flower Market (I love it because it’s brown on one side, and yellow on the other), and two rolls of satin ribbon, one green and one orange. I’ve been using this color scheme for most of our presents lately because it fits virtually every occasion: birthdays, weddings, baby showers…



A few hours before the party, Mark set to work cutting out the letters of Jack’s name, and I began decorating the bottle of wine and disguising the labels on the cheese so they said “Jack” and “Bri,” rather than Jack Cheese and Light Brie. Several cute stickers from a Korean stationery store did the trick.

We then assembled the separate parts of the gift, loaded everything into the car, and tried not to giggle as we ascended the elevator to Jack and Bri’s apartment. We were a little worried that they had gotten the same present before, but were assured us that though the joke had been made, no one had actually given them actual blocks of cheese!"

Gift Wrap Ideas for Kids

A reader suggested posting on kids' wrapping ideas, especially with the holidays approaching. Good idea. I took a look around the web. It's always fun for me to find other people who love wrapping gifts. We may be few, but we are enthusiastic about our craft!

Here is a roundup of three ideas for the kid(s) in your life. Even better, these are projects you can do with a kid, too.



Kathy of MerrimentDesign.com used chalkboard fabric and chalk to decorate a birthday boy's gift. How fun that the tag can be played with long after the gift is opened! If you don't have easy access to chalkboard fabric, I think this would work with a black piece of paper. You can spray hairspray on the finished tag to 'set' the chalk.



Amy of mamalibrarian made this flower wrapping with her 5-year old daughter. Beautiful, isn't it? Most impressive, they recycled old tissue paper to make the blooms. Genius! It's so hard to reuse tissue paper without it looking lame. I think this would be well-received by a grown-up, too!



Finally, and also from Amy, Lego print wrapping paper! She and her son stamped this plain paper with Duplo Legos for a Lego-themed birthday party. I bet their friend liked this gift.

I like that any of these can easily be adapted to a Christmas-y color theme or the gift recipient's favorite colors. Do you have a favorite?

paminboots Giveaway Results

I am happy to announce iloveamandabynes is the winner of the paminboots gift tags! I hope you enjoy - and send us a picture so we can see them in action.

Many thanks again to Pam for the lovely papers and tags. If my post didn't satisfy your craving for mushroom-stamped gift wrap, you may just have to head on over to the paminboots Etsy store yourself!

A Gifted Christmas: Fugu Fugu Open House

As you already know, the holidays are the time of year when the average person is most likely to be thinking about gift wrapping. I started psyching myself out by trying to think of all the things I could write about to address the needs of potential readers. In a word, this was stressful!

So, I am scaling it down to a mini-series called "A Gifted Christmas". In it I'll be keeping track of my personal Christmas gift-wrapping preparations. I hope you'll join me along the way!



I finally got inspired to start this series after attending a holiday open house at Fugu Fugu Press. Fugu Fugu Press is a small letterpress company here in Pasadena. I saw them online some time ago, and was pleasantly surprised to learn their studio is within walking distance from our place!

I look longingly at their (shuttered) windows when I walk to the library and church, and I was excited to have the chance to take a peek at their studio and line of adorable cards! I had seen the holiday elves card (at the start of the post) online and had a few people in mind I wanted to get them for.

I could just post about the cards, but I got so many great pictures I thought I'd indulge in a little photo essay. Here's the view from the corner.



A canine shopkeeper.



One of the presses, backed by boxes of neatly organized cards.



Shoppers perusing the wares. There were two young siblings selecting birthday cards for friends. Sophisticated taste!



A shot of the card display.



Outdoor entertainment - very lively, this song!



The goodies I walked away with.



I felt like a kid in a candy store when I found a box of misprints selling for a buck each. These are some impeccable-looking misprints! The irresistible graphics on this one are making me think of ways to wrap a gift that would showcase, not hide, these little faces.

All in all, it was a nice experience to see Fugu Fugu in person, pick up some beautiful cards, and meet co-owner Shino (I believe Ken was playing the piano at the time). It's energizing to think of this quality, crafty business running just around the corner!

How are you feeling about the approach of Christmas? Have you done any early preparations?

My First Workshop!

Do you browse cool DIY ideas online but never get around to trying them? Want to wrap your gifts with something new, but not sure where to start? Are you dreading the Christmas gift-wrapping process and need some inspiration?

Then, I present for your consideration - a Gifted Workshop: Gift Toppers!



Each participant will learn how to make a grocery bag pom-pom, tissue paper blossom, and Mylar wrapper ribbon in an encouraging and fun class environment. The workshop is capped at a small size to allow plenty of individualized attention.

These embellishments are yours to take home and use, along with a spool of ribbon to jump-start your gift wrapping practice!

The details:
Saturday, December 5th
Pasadena, CA
3:30-5:00pm
$15
E-mail giftedmailbox[at]gmail[dot]com to register.

Please bring a pair of sharp scissors. All other supplies are included in the cost of the class! I am super excited about this new venture and look forward to having you join me. I think this class would make a great gift, a creative date idea, or a fun outing for friends!

Please e-mail or comment below if you have any questions - I'd be happy to answer them.

paminboots Product Feature & Giveaway!

Not to be sneaky, but this post is also, secretly, a Tutorial Tryout. I just couldn't fit it into the title in good conscience.

I was browsing Etsy back in September in search of possible products to feature. There doesn't seem to be too much beyond the realm of gift tags, so I was thrilled to stumble upon this hand printed wrapping paper by Pam of paminboots! It was very fun corresponding with her about her craft.



I flipped over the woodblock-y style of the hearts and the graphic mushrooms especially. The designs on the kraft paper are screenprinted, and the hearts and mushrooms are - no joke - stamped individually by hand. What a labor of love!

Pam writes:

My mom loves mushrooms. Somehow, she never seems to tire of their cuteness, and she loves spotting them along the road when we're driving and shouting, "Mushrooms!" Oddly enough, this is something I have taken to doing as well. Because she loves mushrooms so much, my brother and I often give/make her mushroom-themed gifts. I can just imagine how thrilled she'll be when she sees all the mushrooms sprouting up underneath the Christmas tree this year and how annoyed my brother will be when he hears all us girls squealing, "Mushrooms! Mushrooms! Mushrooms!"

I love it. With all the commercially printed gift wrap in the world, how nice to have one that was made with just one mom in mind. You can see a full view of this beautiful wrapping paper here.

I saw this tutorial for a gift wrap covered canister on Instructables and wanted to try it before the holidays. Covering a container like this means it can be used and re-used, no worse for wear! I used the last of the 1-minute oats and was ready to go.



I followed the instructions pretty much as-is, substituting a scrapbooking adhesive and glue stick for double-sided tape. I painted the top of the lid so the printing wouldn't show through the white paper.





The kraft paper Pam used for the hearts and hands pattern was plenty thick and covered the body of the canister beautifully. I hadn't originally thought about using the two papers together, and I really love how the patterns look juxtaposed!





I am most comfortable with small-sized projects, so it felt good to make something that could hold a larger gift. And though it took time upfront, how easy is wrapping going to be? Just pop the lid on, maybe add a bow, and you're golden!



As a treat for my readers, I'm hosting a giveaway of these heart and hand gift tags by paminboots. Printed on index cards, you can write the to/from on the front and include a little note on the reverse side.

To enter, leave a comment before 8pm Tuesday (PST). The lucky winner will receive the set of four gift tags pictured below.



Good luck!

Free Idea Friday: Make Your Own Tags

As you may have read in my Gift Wrapping Arsenal post about gift tags, I like to keep a variety of handmade gift tags on hand.

I am kind of big on getting things ready in advance. I like brainstorming a person's present options in advance. I like packing snacks for plane trips in advance. When a particularly hectic morning is around the corner, I like setting out the breakfast stuff in advance.

But back to the tags.



A new friend came to our apartment with her daughters for a playdate and kindly brought these blueberry shortbread cookies. They were eagerly eaten by small (and adult-sized) mouths.





Seeing the beautiful packaging, I sensed a crafting opportunity! I cut rectangles, using as much of the box as I could. Some I simply punched at the top with a 3-hole punch. Others I added bits of paper to to make a space to write the to/from.



It was in this process that it finally dawned on me that the shapes on the packaging mimicked the shortbread ingredients - blueberries and almonds! Of course, if you don't have a Trader Joe's nearby to get this exact box, you can use any interesting food packaging to make your tags.

One More Gift

I can't believe I almost forgot to post about this present N. received for his birthday! When our friend S. heard I was starting The Gifted Blog, she perked up. "My co-worker made me the funniest wrapping paper last year!" she said, "It was covered with pictures of me!"

We thought this was such a funny image, receiving a gift with you all over it. So for N.'s first birthday, S. made him his own, customized gift wrap! This is a photo of him on an Oahu beach.



She printed it on 11x14" paper and carefully cut and taped it together. Here's a shot of the back to give you a better idea.



Inside was the delightful book Not a Box. The simple line drawings remind me so much of writing (and illustrating) notes in high school. Those were serious creative endeavors! I think all our pent up energy from being stuck in those few terrible, pointless classes came out in our note-writing.



Thank you, S. for such a fun addition to our library in such a fun package!

Wrap Story: Shape Shifting

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!

Our friends and neighbors, J. and C., are having a baby - soon! We threw them a shower recently to celebrate their growing family.



We put together a bedtime-routine kit. We learned with N. that it helps to have a bedtime ritual, a series of things that always happens before lights out so they know it's time to wind down. Pictured below are a lullaby CD, two books, and a SwaddleMe (which was great for when N. learned how to bust out of his swaddling blankets).



I also gave them two pairs of earplugs in case all of the above doesn't work.



I saved this bag from a gift we were given for N. It was too cute not to. But it was a little bent, so instead of saving the whole thing, I cut circles from the patterned paper and saved the four hanging 'badges'. I have had these little circles for month. And finally, a reason to use them!



Because there were so many square and rectangular gifts in the basket, I thought it looked a bit flat overall. I wanted to make each present a little different. More importantly, I wanted to give some of them a different shape for variety. I wrapped one of the books in plain white packing paper.



Then I wrapped it with a band of yellow, gauzy paper and added two stacked circles from the bag. The 'badge' was originally sitting on a little foam spacer. Here, it floats above the green plaid circle and adds dimension.



Here are the rest of the gifts. I tied a bow on the top of the other book to break up the homogeneity of the rectangular shapes. I put the CD in long sheets of pink tissue paper to make another new shape and add variety. The CD is one of the shortest gifts in the basket, but with the tissue paper it's the tallest! The earplugs got their own recycled box that I topped with a decorative marbled paper.



Here's another shot of the end result! I was really pleased with how this turned out. For some reason, the word 'commercial' came to mind when I looked at it. It could be because of the decorations I transferred from the gift bag, but it felt like something that would appeal to people on a broader level. It felt exciting to do something informed by my normal taste but somehow different.



And I didn't mention it before, but the sex of the baby is a surprise! It was fun to use lots of colors. Not that you should feel stuck with using baby blue or pink - expecting parents receive so many gifts in those colors that I think it's fine to mix it up.

Wrap Story: Playing With Proportion

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!

My cousin D. was married this summer to the lovely R. I originally picked this picture where they look so serene, but this photo is more telling of their personalities.


Image courtesy Lisa Higaki

That's D. high-fiving the entire wedding party as they enter the reception. D. is like a big kid - lots of fun, warm, and good-hearted. He just finished a rigorous graphic design program and is now designing professionally! R. is a good, mellow counterpart to D.'s energy. She was aptly described in a toast as "always prepared for the occasion" and has a great sense of style. It was great to celebrate with them.

We shopped for their wedding gift as a family. After fruitlessly wandering the "bath accessories" section of Macy's, we decided on another item from their registry - a tea kettle. It's something we enjoy using and hope they'll get a lot of use out of.



I wrapped it with the celery-stamped kraft paper I blogged about a while ago. I totally had them in mind by the time I finished this fun stamping project. You can see I used the section of paper where the first row of stamps start. I thought it looked a bit more modern.



I tied a thin, grey ribbon around it to accent the silver 'roses'. For embellishment, I tried out the grocery bag pom-pom from another previous post.



It looked way too small, and worse, rag-tag juxtaposed with the decorative paper. I didn't have any suitable ribbon to make a bow. Time to improvise!

I liked the idea of a pom-pom, but clearly, this gift needed a bigger embellishment in proportion to the box. I remembered a Martha Stewart tutorial on making a tissue paper pom-pom. I'd seen these on a few blogs I admire but hadn't tried making one myself.



It was very satisfying.



While I've shied away from more traditional looks in wrapping other wedding presents, this white blossom seemed really appropriate for the occasion. Below is a before-and-after to better compare the two poms.



Isn't there a huge difference? It was a good reminder that sometimes, proportion is key. The plastic pom-pom looked great on other things, but on this gift it looked puny and a little sad. Match a bigger decoration to a bigger gift for an overall happier effect!



Do you think much about proportion when you wrap gifts? Is this information helpful, or does it stress you out? Let me know in the comments!