Imaginary Tweets: Kimchi Fried Rice Edition

Technically on blog vacation but wanted to fill you in... 

Bit into this and "Praise the Lord" involuntarily came out of my mouth.

Stayed in town for the first Christmas ever.

Made this for Christmas dinner. Kudos to G for the Japanese market run!

Spent a supremely nostalgic morning in the town I lived in after college. God taught me so much there.

My boss gave me a Sephora gift card! What should I get, guys??

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{Image by Molly Wizenberg of Orangette}

Merry Christmas

From our family to yours...Merry Christmas! May your journey be blessed in 2012. I'm taking a blog vacation and will see you in the new year!

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{Photography by (the very talented) Michelle Brenhaug}

Free Printable Christmas Roundup II | Free Printable Friday

As if all the free printable goodness from last week weren't enough, I'm back today with gift tags and cupcake toppers for any weekend wrapping you might be doing!

Washi tape inspired printable gift tags by Frog Prince Paperie.
Free printable HERE

Cool printable gift tags by Eunice Moyle (inspired by SusyJack* holiday cards).
Free printable HERE

Cheery cupcake toppers by Bake It Pretty.
Free printable HERE

No Peeking gift tags by Kristen of PaperCrave.
Free printable HERE

Hand-lettered gift tags by Amy Moss of Eat Drink Chic
Free printable HERE

As always, huge thanks to the talented designers who have shared their work with us. I'm sure they would love a little comment from you if you use any of these!

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{All images credited above to their respective owners}

Gifted Readers Spotlight

I've had the pleasure of receiving some photos from my readers (okay, two of them are family) in my inbox this week. Take a look at their twists on these gift wrapping ideas!

My sister executed her own version of the Powder Puff Gift Topper. Looking good, sis! She even gave me the photo caption: "Even my sister who says she's not crafty can do this!"

And my mom sent me her gift wrapping idea for jars: roll in tissue on the diagonal, embellish with brightly colored paper stuck on with washi tape. So crisp and clean!

Finally, Michelle wrote in with this adorable version of the gift card snowglobe I linked to here. Awesome! She used a snowman-shaped gift card from Target, which only adds to the cuteness.

Readers, don't be shy in sharing your gift wrapping photos with me! You can always write me at giftedmailbox[at]gmail.com. I'd love to take a peek.

More reader awesomeness here.

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The Gifted Blog in the L.A. Times

Big news today, you guys. I'm in the L.A. Times!

I consider it a 30th birthday gift from God. Last month I got an email titled "Could I interview you for an LA Times story?" My heart leapt! Jeannine Stein, writer for the Times (and author of Adventures in Bookbinding), was reaching out to ask if I could participate in an article about gift wrapping foods for the holidays.

We talked over the phone and Jeannine told me she's been a reader of the blog for about a year. She was a wonderfully gracious interviewer, genuinely interested and a great listener. In contrast, I had major butterflies and used the word "beautiful" once every other sentence.

I am SO grateful for this opportunity. The best part was getting to wrap gifts and shoot them for the article! I'm including some here that didn't make it in. I hope to write a bit more about the experience later, but for now, check out the article here and let us know what you think!

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Signed, Sealed, Delivered | Wrap Story

I'm happy to say these gifts have been SENT! Posted to the East coast for our 3 year old niece and 1 year old nephew.

Genius gift idea stolen from our neighbors: key rings with real keys! We bought the keychains in Thailand and Japan (bet you can guess which one came from where) and the keys came from a local hardware store. Gotta love small businesses - the man let me behind the counter and gave me a whole box of unusable keys to sort through!

I sent my niece C the For the Makers bracelet I embellished...

and we tucked in a top from Japan for nephew L.

N helped me make the wrapping paper by drawing on white tissue, and the beautiful red paper was a gift from Paper Tiger Shanghai. (You can read more about them here.)

I used the black and white pattern on the reverse side of the wrapping paper to make the tags. About a week after sending these we got a proposal from my sister-in-law to just send one gift per family, on time or late...Ah, well. We'll coordinate better next time!

This Wrap Story is part of a series documenting every present I’ve wrapped since the start of The Gifted Blog. Click here to see them all!

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Christmas Tree Mailers (or, Crafting in Your Underwear) | Wrap Story

Ah, friends, mailing gifts is a pain. I love gift wrapping, but gift wrapping PLUS preparing gifts for the mail confounds and perplexes my holiday-addled brain.

So I decided to try something different. N and I took some time last week to decorate these recycled bubble mailers for my grandparents. He had a great time crafting in his underwear, punching 'ornaments' with my circle punch and helping to glue them on the trees. (For the record, I was clothed.)

I enjoyed breaking out some of the pretty paper I bought on our last trip to Japan.

Inside we slipped Christmas cards and some handmade tulle potscrubbers. These scrubby wonders are a dying art. As far as I can tell, only Japanese-American grandmas know how to make them, and my Japanese-American grandmas actually never learned! I hope it gives them a smile that I'm trying to keep the tradition alive.

This Wrap Story is part of a series documenting every present I’ve wrapped since the launch of The Gifted Blog. Click here to see them all!

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Gift Guide: Books for Mixed Race Kids

Some of you know that my family is an interracial one. I'm 4th generation Japanese American and my husband has German, English and Italian roots. Before N was born I did quite a bit of thinking and reading about how to raise a biracial kid.

One of my hopes was to find books that thoughtfully addressed cultural diversity, especially after finding out how crucial reading aloud is in a child's development. After finding some great books, I really wanted to share them! Maybe there's a child on your Christmas list who might be able to connect with these stories.


How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman, illustrated by Allen Say
A biracial girl tells the story of how her parents, an American sailor and Japanese woman, fell in love. Each one faces the fear of embarrassment to learn how to eat one another's food...and finally bond over dinner.

I Love Saturdays y domingos by Alma Flor Ada, illustrated by Elivia Savadier
A little girl spends Saturdays with Grandma and Grandpa and Sundays with Abuelito and Abuelita. An affectionate story that incorporates Spanish phrases and words.

Shades of Black: A Celebration of Our Children by Sandra L. Pinkney, photographs by Myles C. Pinkney
A beautiful book that celebrates the many ways being black can look. The children photographed confidently talk about their skin, eyes and hair.

black is brown is tan by Arnold Adoff, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

A lovingly illustrated poem, this was the first children's book about an interracial family. I especially enjoyed the father's description of his own skin. N would repeat lines from this book ("chocolate up the chocolate milk!") after reading it together.

Shades of People by Shelly Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly
Even if we're not aware, young children are noticing differences between the people around them. This vivid book shows kids of many different shades and emphasizes that "our skin is just our covering, like wrapping paper...you can't tell what someone is like form the color of their skin." 

Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding by Lenore Look, illustrated by Yumi Heo

A book that I will never tire of reading! Spunky Chinese-American protagonist mourns the marriage of her favorite uncle, only to find herself playing a special role at his wedding.

Country Road ABC by Arthur Geisert

From "ammonia fertilizer" to "Z-frame," this book chronicles farm life in America's heartland. We loved that the author is from Iowa (G's home state!), and the book is based on County Road Y31 in his community. Good stuff.

Do you have any books to add to this list? Edit: Many thanks to librarian friend Jessica for this link to other great books!

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Wrapping Gifts in Jars | Reader Question

"This year I'll be doing some presents in big glass jars (sort of like this). Any ideas on how I can wrap them?"   --Shawna

Ooh, now I'm curious about what you're putting in them! I saw this photo on the Sunset website and thought of you - they used a cardstock tag, cinnamon stick and bright raffia to wrap this jar. It's relatively simple but the colored raffia really makes it pop!

Readers, let's put our heads together and help Shawna out. What are some creative gift wrapping ideas for a glass jar like this?

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{Images by Marco Bellucci and Sunset}

Free Printable Christmas Roundup | Free Printable Friday

Today I have not one, but SIX free printables for you! And I really like each one of them. Perfect for your production-line gift wrapping this weekend or maybe just adding a special touch to a present you need to pop in the mail.

Printable holiday tag by AmberLee of GiversLog.
Free printable HERE

Modern printable postcard by Maddy of Inspired Bride.
Free printable HERE

Adorable mail-themed gift tags by Amy Moss of Eat Drink Chic.

Free printables HERE

Fancy Christmas labels by Jo Klima of August Empress.
Free printables HERE

Pink printable gift wrap and gift tags by Kristen of Domestifluff.
Free printables HERE

Free printable gift wrap (in four colorways!) by Sally J. Shim and Joke Vande Gaer of SHIMTOKK.
Free printables HERE

Many, many thanks go to the generous designers who made these to share. Which is your favorite? Can you even pick?

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{All images credited above to their respective owners}