Gift Wrapping: Christmas 2015

I've been really busy at the store the last couple months.  I bought the yarn portion of a yarn and fabric store that was closing, so I spent much of October moving furniture, assembling displays, and unpacking boxes.  More on that in the next post!  In this post I want to talk about gift wrapping.

Many people don't know that all the gorgeous paper that I use for bookbinding can also be used as wrapping papers.  In fact, that is how these papers are marketed by the manufacturers.  This Christmas I decided to explore all the ways I could combine different papers and ribbons to have THE BEST wrapped gifts under the family Christmas tree.  (I am also giving fewer gifts this year, so I want to make them look extra special.)

 I started with some of the Christmas-specific papers.  My absolute favorite is the Fa-la-la Llama paper my paper source.  (It has puns and llamas, two of my favorite things!)  I paired it with a sheer red ribbon that looks darker any place it overlaps itself.  This is a fairly standard gift wrapping technique with a plain bow, but the silly paper and sheer ribbon really makes it stand out.  I wrapped another package in a red and white lokta paper from Paper Connection International.  This is another one where the patterned paper makes it stand out.  I could see using several papers in coordinating colors to to create a cohesive "look" under the tree.  And finally, a gift bag from Paper Source because sometimes you need a nice looking gift and don't have the time to wrap it.  Add some green tissue paper and you're done!

My next set of wrapped gifts used paper that is not specifically "Christmas wrap" for some interesting gifts that could be for Christmas, or any other gift giving occasion.  The red, green, and yellow paper is a 100% cotton paper from Black Ink.  I used a thin yellow ribbon and wrapped it around the corners to show off more of the paper's pattern, and tied a layered bow.  The package on the right is wrapped with an Italian paper that has script writing.  This one is all about the ribbon- a lovely hand dyed silk, with an oversized decorative key ornament tied into the bow.

For the last few gifts, I used Paper Source's plain rolls of red and green wrapping paper.  The plain paper is great because it is thicker than your average rolled wrapping paper, and it is solid colored on both sides, not just the front.  To make these gifts simple yet elegant, I tied them with contrasting silk dupioni ribbon from Midori.  The ribbon is two inches wide, and SO gorgeous.  Even a plain bow is just stunning!

I have so many gift wrapping ideas with this one.  I could see wrapping all the gifts in the same roll of plain wrapping paper, and tying a large bow around just one or two of the packages.  It would make your Christmas tree look like something out of a magazine!

Modern Fleece Blanket

Usually I make handmade Christmas gifts for at least some of my family members and close friends.  Now that the holidays are over I can finally blog about a few things without ruining any surprises!  This year my list of people I needed to get gifts for was much shorter than usual, so I ended up only making 3 gifts.  I knit a headband for my sister-in-law (blogged here), knit a scarf for my roommate, and made a fleece blanket and pillows for my boyfriend.

When I asked my boyfriend what he wanted for Christmas (and his birthday, which is also in the end of December), he requested something handmade to put in his new apartment.  It took me a while to figure out what to make because my boyfriend likes very streamlined and modern things, and many of the things I make are not quite that style.  In the end, I decided to make a big, snuggly blanket and a couple pillows to put on his couch.  Instead of doing a tie-together blanket around the edges, I came up with a modern patchwork design that would fit better with his style.

I started by going to the fabric store and picking out fleece in a range of colors.  My boyfriend's favorite color is blue and his apartment is primarily black and white, so I picked out a dark blue background, and bright blue, aqua, white, and gray for the patchwork pieces.  I also grabbed two 16 x 16 inch pillow forms.  Once I had all my materials, the first step was laying out the 3 yards of background fabric and cutting off enough for the fronts and backs of the pillows.  Next, I measured and cut the smaller lengths of fabric into 7 inch wide strips.  I bought between 3/4 and 1 full yard of all the other fabric colors.

Once I had about a dozen fabric strips cut, I started laying them out on the dark background.  My goal was to create an irregular pattern by alternating colors and adjusting the length of each block.  Honestly, cutting and arranging the fabric was probably the most time consuming part of the whole project!  After everything was arranged to my liking, I pinned down the pieces so they wouldn't move and got busy at the sewing machine.  (It was tough wrangling so much fabric!)  For each row of patchwork blocks, I sewed the long edge all the way across and then came back and sewed the short edges individually.  Then I trimmed the extra edges off the background, and it was done!  He thinks the blanket is awesome and was very impressed.

Glass Suncatcher

Last month I spent an afternoon glass blowing with a friend.  The glass blowing studio near my house regularly offers Groupons for making a suncatcher.  It was a lot of fun!  We got to collect glass out of the furnace onto the pole, roll it on the table to shape it, add in colored glass, and twist it into a suncatcher.

I think mine came out very well.  I used blue, green, and yellow glass to add the colors.  The very tip of the spiral broke off in the kiln while it was cooling... But that adds character, right?

I added a yellow ribbon through the hole in the top and gave it to my mom for Mother's Day.  It is now hanging in her kitchen window where it gets lots of sunlight.

Valentines Goodie Bags

I made these goodie bags for the kids in the after school swing dance group I work with.  The kids are in 5th-7th grade and I wanted to do something special for them at our practice on Valentine's Day.

The bags have pretty pencils, cupcake shaped erasers, heart shaped suckers, candy hearts, and small handmade notebooks.  I made the books out of lined paper and colorful cardstock sewn together with a pamphlet stitch.

I put all the goodies in a paper lunch bag and decorated the bag with red construction paper punched with different sized hearts.  The heart punches became confetti for the inside of the bags.