December DIY
QUICK & EASY WRAPPING IDEAS!
'Tis the season to learn new tricks and get inspired
with packaging ideas from The Charm Hunter
Oh my how the year has flown by! Here we are just days before
Christmas. It has been such a pleasure to share with you some of
my Vintage Jewelry Assemblage projects with you throughout the
year and my hope remains the same, to INSPIRE and ENCOURAGE.
So now what? We have all these lovely gifts
both handmade and store bought, how do we wrap
these lovelies in quick and easy handmade gift wrap?
1. Think simple
This trick reminds me of my dear mother-in-law, Margaret. She came to visit us
in Hawaii soon after we were married and insisted on buying us our very first
Christmas tree and ornaments to "get us started". What a sweetheart, I was so
touched and never forgot it.........even today, 28 years later. HER TIP: Start
with white (or any neutral color). That way each year you can introduce another
color and it will always match as you build up your collection of ornaments.
And that's what we did. I had a beautiful green tree full of an assortment of
all white ribbon and ornaments. I wish I had a photo of it; truly I thought it looked
like a designer's Christmas tree, and each year thereafter I introduced a new color.
So, use the same concept! Using white wrapping paper, white butcher paper, brown
paper bags or brown packaging paper will give you an inexpensive base to work with.
Even black & white newspaper makes a classic wrap and save the comics to use to wrap
children s' gifts!
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| Black & White Newspaper makes a CLASSY wrap! |
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| Comics make the PERFECT wrap for children of ALL ages! |
2. Think "outside" the box, as in "outdoors"
Once you have your neutral base, ANY element you add will match and add an
impressive POP to your wrap. Instead of a traditional bow, GO OUTSIDE! Snip
greenery from your own yard or surroundings. Rosemary, tree sprigs, berries, shells,
leaves, pine cones,
flowers that preserve well like baby's breath, statice and lavender....the possibilities
are endless! Last resort? Snip some of the back branches of your Christmas tree off!
Use twine, string or ribbon - whatever you have - to secure.
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| Snip a piece of real (or artificial) Christmas tree branch! |
3. Reduce, reuse and repurpose
An option to adding something from the outdoors is to reuse things you already
have INDOORS: artificial flowers or greenery, teabags, paper doilies, candy, buttons,
confetti, stickers, spare outdoor Christmas light bulbs, netting, lace, burlap, yarn, jewelry,
and charms! Last resort? Let the kids draw their very own pictures on the wrap with colorful
markers or crayons!
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| Real lace OR paper doilies look beautiful when placed over white OR brown paper |
4. Add snappy bows for the finishing touch
For you traditionalist, bows NEVER go out of style! Here's a few CUTE tutorials I
recently stumbled upon for some clever bow making:
MAGAZINE BOWS!
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| How clever is this? Click here for the tutorial on these bows made with recycled magazine paper! |
ORIGAMI BOWS!
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| I saw this tutorial here. Your computer can translate for you OR just follow the photo instructions with a 3" x 3" or 4" x 4" square piece of paper |
What’s your favorite addition to
a practically-perfect package?
Share your ideas & photos with us!
Warmest Aloha, Susan
