5 Minute Upgrade: Photo Corners

The idea for this series was born when a friend requested quick ways to make a gift look nice before running out the door. Want more? Click here to see every 5 Minute Upgrade post to date!



Real Simple ran this idea in their July 2009 issue. Use photo corners to attach the card to your gift. Real simple, indeed!

If you have an especially cool-looking card, you could even leave off the envelope and attach it to the present as its main decoration. You could also do this with the gift tag (which could just be a rectangle of paper, as pictured).

Inspired By: What to Do With Old Gift Wrap

This Inspired By post is part of a mini-series on the things and people that inspire my gift wrapping. Inspiration can strike at any time!

Image via CraftStylish

Last year, paper artist Jeffery Ruddell made this beautiful ornament as a thank-you gift for a Christmas present he received. He made it out of the wrapping paper the present was given in, taking "giving back" to another level!

While I don't think I have the patience to make something so intricate, I am inspired by the ingenuity and spirit shown in this recycling project.

What about you? Did you save any wrapping paper from gifts this year? If so, what are you going to do with it?

Related Posts:
- Inspired By series. What else am I inspired by? Bugs & Fishes and church potlucks, to name a few. View the series to date here!
- Wrap Story: Shape Shifting. Here, an old gift bag becomes part of a new look for baby shower presents.
- Wrap Story: M&M Bowls. In which a wedding invitation and ribbon are recycled into the gift wrapping.

Merry Christmas from The Gifted Blog

Hi all - just a note to wish you a very blessed Christmas!

I know my blog is about physical gifts, but it is good for me to remember the gifts I have that can't be wrapped. I am grateful for my family. I love the way it has grown in breadth through my marriage and son, and in depth through the passage of time and life changes.

This is us in front of Puget Sound in Seattle last week.

I am thankful to God for coming to dwell with us, starting out as a baby, the way we all do. Thank you, God, for not considering yourself above our human experience. Thank you for wanting us to know you are God with us.

Thank you also to all of you Gifted Blog readers. I really appreciate your support! If you are celebrating today, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

Wrap Story: Lump of Coal Gift Box II

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!

Alright, I promised you a joke from my last post. (BUT: If your initials are T.B. and you are my sister-in-law, don't read!!) Well, the reason I was so stuck on the lump of coal idea was because the gift card was from...

KOHL'S! Get it?

I am not really a pun person, so I thought this was great. At least in my mind, the convergence of a Kohl's gift card with a lump of coal gift box is pretty funny.

There's a note inside the box that reads, "The elves must have misheard when Santa said, 'Kohl's'."

Sigh. I'll share my other Christmas Wrap Stories later, but this one is the best. I wish you luck with your own eleventh-hour gift wrapping! Just relax...it's the thought that counts.

Related Posts:
- A Gifted Christmas: My Dog Wrapped This Gift. Still feeling stressed about your holiday wrapping? Here is a funny take that helped me go easier on myself this year.
- paminboots Product Feature. I made the lump of coal box with the hope that it could be used again to prank give someone else. This is another post about a reusable gift box, made with an old oatmeal canister.
- A Gifted Christmas: Gift Brainstorming I, II and III. It's down to the eleventh hour. Haven't figured out what to give yet? Here, in three parts, are 6 ways I come up with gift ideas.

Wrap Story: Lump of Coal Gift 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 drew names (or rather, my sister randomized a spreadsheet) for a Secret Santa gift exchange on my husband's side. I got my sister-in-law, T. (T., if you're reading, stop! And don't read tomorrow's post, either.)

I consulted with her husband for gift ideas, and he suggested some stores she might like gift cards for. Since we were traveling cross-country, this seemed to be a nice and easily transportable idea. G. kindly picked a gift card up at the store, and I brainstormed gift wrapping ideas.

I had this coal gift box idea from Martha Stewart in the back of my mind.

Cute, but complicated. There was a box template, but beyond that it involved papier-mache and glitter and other things I didn't have on hand. I set out to make my own lump of coal to use as a gift topper using an old shirt and a bit of crumpled paper.

Definitely a personal crafting first!

However, when we got to Seattle (our first stop on our family Christmas trek), I told my family my idea. "Why don't you use a real lump of coal?" my dad asked. He's funny like that.

Of course they had charcoal on hand. As well as acryllic matte medium, which I painted on the coal to keep it from rubbing off.

(Really, what is family if it's not the people you can turn to when you need a charcoal briquette and obscure art supplies come Christmastime?)

I covered a box with some decorative paper and hot glued the coal to the top of it.

I added a raffia bow and homemade tag and called it good!

There's a joke to this Wrap Story, but I'm going to tell it tomorrow. Just wanted to give T. fair warning to not peek!

Wrap Story: Edible Gifts in Jars

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 sister has been getting into tea and requested some decaf teas for her birthday. I was happy to oblige, especially since it had been a while since I last visited our favorite tea shop. We started drinking coffee after N. was born - I'll let you guess why.

I bought an herbal mix and a rooibos chai, as well as a cheerful striped tin from Japan. I was going to cover the lid of the glass jar with paper, but decided to let it be since it matched the tin already. I carried the red theme through with a tag listing the tea ingredients.

We also recently gave a thank-you gift to a friend. He kindly took us to the airport and picked us up when we returned after Thanksgiving. We have such a great community here - as you probably know, airport runs are for the most committed of friends.

I made him some granola and put it in an old spaghetti sauce jar, then added a tag to make it more personal.

I kept it simple and functional for both of these gifts. Though gift wrapping usually hides the present beneath, sometimes it's nice to give the contents the spotlight, especially with these interesting food textures! How do you usually 'wrap' foods?

Related Posts:
- Wrap Story: Easy Does It. Is it a rule that gift wrapping should always conceal the gift? If so, I broke it again with this one...
- Guest Post: "Jack & Bri(e)" by Mia. The Gifted Blog's first guest post - definitely the most fun I've seen someone have with gift wrapping food!
- Free Idea Friday: Fresh & Easy. And perhaps you'd like to wrap a food-related present with food-related wrapping? For free, you say? I'm on it.

A Gifted Christmas: Cranking it Out

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!

Image via Wild Olive

I've had this image from Mollie Johanson's Wild Olive blog post saved for months and months now. Revisiting it, it's easy to see why I wanted to remember it come this Christmas.

She took plain kraft paper and tore it into appropriate sizes for each gift. Then she folded it in half and sewed it down three sides, popping the gift in while still on the sewing machine! Red and green paint served as decoration and tag all in one. I can just imagine getting into "the zone" of making these fun packages and cranking them out.

There are three things I'm digging about this approach:
1) It is streamlined.
2) It bears her own distinct style.
3) Each gift is unique, even though there's an assembly-line process.

I'm wondering if I can learn some lessons for my own gift-giving this Christmas!

Related Posts:
- Gift Wrapping Arsenal: Kraft Paper. In which I wax poetic about the virtues of this all-purpose paper.
- A Gifted Christmas. Find more Christmas-related posts right here.

5 Minute Upgrade: Candy Cane Gift Wrapping

The idea for this series was born when a friend requested quick ways to make a gift look nice before running out the door. Want more? Click here to see every 5 Minute Upgrade post to date!

Since not all of us have a plethora of gift wrapping supplies tucked away in our closets, this time of year can be challenging. Especially if you're not the type to stock up on seasonal gift wrap, how can you make your Christmas gifts festive?

I wrapped a book for G. (written by my former co-worker!) in a gift bag I sewed. I hoped that it would partially disguise the fact that it was a book. (And yes, this does qualify this post as also a "Wrap Story" post.)

One quick way to make a present look Christmas-y is to tuck a candy cane somewhere amongst your gift wrap. Here, I hooked a full-sized candy cane on an elastic strand. I like how the candy cane gives a "Christmas" touch to a gift bag that is otherwise all-occasion. You can also tie a mini candy cane onto your gift with ribbon.

Is this something you've done before? Let me know in the comments!

Free Idea Friday: Polaroid Gift Tags

My sister's talented friend made these beautiful Polaroid-style gift tags, available for free downloading on his site, Paper Playne. They come in two sizes - the large ones are 4 to a page; the small ones 16 to a page.

I would print these up on the nicest quality paper you have around to do justice to the images!

5 Minute Upgrade: 'Green' Your Gift

The idea for this series was born when a friend requested quick ways to make a gift look nice before running out the door. Want more? Click here to see every 5 Minute Upgrade post to date!



Today's 5-minute upgrade is easy as pie and perfect for the season. Instead of a bow, use a sprig of a hardy plant as your gift embellishment.

I used a thin gold ribbon to tie these on, but the real impact is obviously in the graceful adornment of the leaves.



I first tried this with a flowering branch last summer, but the buds turned out to be too fragile. Take a look around the yard for something sturdy - a bit of fir or pine, some rosemary sprigs, etc. These branch tips from the park had been sitting around for 2 days before I got to using them.



I used a bottle of wine as an example, but this idea can be used on any present. Let me know if you try it!

Gifted Reader Photos: It's in the Bag

A friend and reader recently sent me some photos and a great story about how his brother wraps gifts for Christmas.

In honor of your blog, I thought I'd share with you something unique that David, my brother, does for Christmas gifts.

[A] few years ago he bought felt/flannel/some-sort-of-fuzzy-cloth bags at a store, for something like $2.50 a piece, and each bag is a different design. They all have a draw-string that he just cinches closed and that's that. So what he does is recycles the bags every year -- after he's "wrapped" the gifts and given 'em to us, he takes the bag back for refilling for next year.

It's a pretty nifty idea since it makes wrapping a cinch (hah!...pun!) and you can play the "eco" card since there's no trash year after year.

What a convenient and festive idea! I can totally see the appeal of not having to give a second thought to Christmas gift wrapping and just pulling these out with the rest of the Christmas decorations. After reading the description of the bags I wasn't anticipating how cute they would be.

Reusing gift wrap has a bad rap, but done this way it becomes a tradition! Are you putting any reusable gift wrap to use this year?

Related Posts:
- Furochic Product Feature. Using cloth to wrap gifts doesn't only have to be done with bags!
- Inspired By: Church Potlucks. Also on the topic of gift wrapping with cloth, the unlikely intersection between Japanese-American church potlucks and vintage scarves from Iowa.

- paminboots Product Feature. In which I make my own reusable gift box from an oatmeal canister.

A Gifted Christmas: My Dog Wrapped This Gift

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!

Image via Georgie Love

Alright, we are less than two weeks away from Christmas. To tell you the truth, I have been a bit panicky. I realized that it's easy for me to lose the joy of giving and wrapping gifts during this season, simply because of the number of presents that need to be thought about at once.

We are traveling to Seattle, then Boston, then back to Seattle in these two weeks. Because we're flying with baby and baby gear in tow, we've had some of our online gift purchases shipped ahead of us to lighten the load. Good news for our suitcase-toting muscles, but bad news for keeping you abreast of my gift wrapping for Christmas. At this point, I've done very little of it!

Thank goodness I remembered this awesome post about how one woman stays sane when wrapping her Christmas gifts...she pretends her dog wrapped them.

After wrapping gifts regularly for her online business, she found herself out of steam to wrap presents for friends and family. Hopefully this lighthearted take on gift wrapping will help me not take things too seriously in the span of time before Christmas day!

Related Posts:
- Wrap Story: Mini Assistant. Don't have a dog to "blame" your gift wrapping on? Consider borrowing a child.
- A Gifted Christmas: Gift Brainstorming I, II and III. Haven't figured out what to give yet? Here, in three parts, are 6 ways I like to think about gift ideas.

Gift Toppers Workshop Recap

It was a small thrill for me to teach my first workshop two Saturdays ago. Six lovely ladies and I crafted our way through 3 kinds of gift toppers, two of which featured recycled materials!

See, pretty exciting. Below, S. is giving her grocery bag pom-pom a trim.

Here we are carefully separating the layers of tissue paper flowers. One workshop participant went home and made a big pink version to hang as a decoration!

Group picture!

For the more fashion-forward, the gift-toppers double as holiday brooches. (Teasing.) Note the fancy ribbons on the left she made from a ramen package! (This time I'm serious.)

At the end of class each person got a bag to take home their goodies, which included a length of ribbon to kick off their gift wrapping practice. It promptly turned into an opportunity to test out the gift toppers! Here are H. and K. with their pretty pom-pom and blossom decorations...

and M., H. and S. with theirs!

It can be a bit of a panicky moment when you have to wrap a gift last-minute, so I was happy to send everyone home with their 3 gift toppers to use at a moment's notice. I heard that the Mylar wrapper ribbon above was used in a white elephant gift exchange for work two days later!

A big THANK YOU to my first gift wrapping pupils. They had great attitudes and made the workshop experience very fun.

My cousin asked if I would be up for teaching a private class to her and her friends. I think this would be a blast! If you are interested in arranging a workshop for yourself and a group of friends (or your book group, Bible study, family, etc!), please contact me at giftedmailbox[at]gmail][dot]com. I would be happy to discuss details with you.

Related posts:
- Tutorial Tryout: Grocery Bag Pom-Pom. With the help of a fabulous tutorial from Creature Comforts, my first try at making a pom-pom from a produce bag.
- Wrap Story: Playing With Proportion. Using a big tissue paper blossom was the right decision for this wedding gift.
- Tutorial Tryout: Ramen Wrapper Ribbon. The details on the shiny ribbons we made in the workshop, including the idea's tightwad roots.

Free Idea Friday: Printable Card and Gift Tags

From Amy Moss of Eat Drink Chic, today's free ideas are her mini (see thumb for scale!) greeting card and set of four gift tags.

The pine trees and candy-striped cane in the card are a subtle nod to the season, but it's designed to be used as you see fit throughout the year! The "monsieur", "mademoiselle", "madame" and "bébé" tags would be a fun, untraditional way to package a family's Christmas presents.

Many thanks to How About Orange for pointing the way to these goodies!

Related Posts:
- Gift Wrapping Arsenal: Gift Tags. Rather make yours from scratch? Here are some thoughts about making gift tags from materials you probably already have!
- Free Idea Friday: Printable Gift Tags from The Small Object. If you're not on cute overload already, here are some gift tags to print from The Small Object.
- Free Idea Friday: Make Your Own Tags. Also free, but do-it-yourself this time, inspiration for tags made from a Trader Joe's box.

Wrap Story: For An Extremely Attractive Iowan

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!

I am not a huge risk-taker when it comes to buying presents. So I was kind of excited to get this shirt for G.'s birthday, because:
1) he hadn't specifically requested it, and
2) it's pretty funny.

I rolled up the shirt and wrapped it in tissue.

Then, straight into the paminboots gift canister it went! It took all of 3 minutes. Ah, the sweet satisfaction of planning ahead.

It was icing on the cake to hear that this wrapping qualifies as "manly". G. noted its bold designs, neutral colors and dignified bow as markers of its man-appropriate look.

How do you wrap gifts for the men in your life?

Related posts:
- Wrap Stories. The blog's longest-running series - all of the gifts I've wrapped, from the start of this blog to the present (no pun intended)!
- paminboots Product Feature. A post on the fabulous mushroom paper used here and the process of making the gift canister.
- Kraft Paper Retrospective. Alright, only tangentially related - more pictures of G. opening presents.

A New Home for The Gifted Blog

And we're back! Welcome to www.thegiftedblog.com!

With the help of my husband, the posts from the old Wordpress blog have been transferred to this new home for The Gifted Blog. (Thank you so much, honey.) You'll be able to find all the gift wrapping ideas from the old location, as well as new content, right here. Unfortunately, we lost the comments from November posts, but in the end we had to cut our losses and forge ahead.

So update your bookmarks and blog readers! New posts are on their way!

*The picture above is how a gift card from Anthropologie came packaged. Too much!

Work Party Hiatus

Hi all - I wanted to let you know I'll be taking a short break from posting to be able to work on a few Gifted-related projects, one of which is a new version of the site! I'm pretty excited.

It's been a pleasure to use Wordpress, but I'm moving on to be able to host ads on The Gifted Blog. I'm usually anti-ads, but am experimenting with how the blog can generate income. It has truly been a labor of love so far, and to make this endeavor sustainable it's got to help put food on the table!

A few notes before my hiatus:
1) The first-ever Gifted workshop is this Saturday! There is a great group of people registered and room for 3 more. E-mail giftedmailbox[at]gmail[dot]com to secure a space.

2) The Gifted Blog Reader Gallery will continue to be up and open for submissions, so please don't be shy! I would especially appreciate your notes/captions so we can read a bit about your photo.

And now, back to work-partying. See you soon!

The Gifted Blog Reader Gallery is Up!

It's December, and it feels like the right time to officially unveil: The Gifted Blog Reader Gallery!

This Flickr pool is a place to share your gift wrapping projects inspired by The Gifted Blog. Please post photos of your favorite wrapped gifts, handmade wrapping paper, quirky gift tags, et cetera! In keeping with the scope of the blog, please limit your submissions to personal gifts (vs. professional packaging).

I think we'll all learn something from each other, and it will be nice to have a dedicated space for reader pictures. I will periodically review the gallery and pick an image or two to feature in a post. The image above shows six birthday cupcakes my friend H. decorated with origami cranes - a fun way to decorate if the gift is edible. So cute! To see the other goodies in the gallery, click here!

You can post up to 5 images a week, and they will be held for review before they go public. It should be straightforward to join the Flickr group and post your images, but please let me know if you run into any snags. Enjoy!