Wrapping for Him

Here's another observation I wanted to pass along.  Men will always ask a woman to wrap presents for them, if they can.  I visited a friend recently who needed several presents wrapped.  Naturally, he asked me to do it.  I'm used to that.  My father has asked me to wrap all of my mother's presents for years.  Fortunately, she keeps lots of embellishments in storage.  But my friend didn't have anything but wrapping paper.  No ribbon, no bows, no tags, just paper.

If I was going to do it, I wanted to do it right.  I wanted to at least tie all of the presents up into one big package and top it with a bow.  But, I literally had no supplies with me.  I wandered around his house, which has only the bare minimum of everything and anything, until I came across two of my own shopping bags.  One of them had a decorative piece of ribbon attached.  Score!!  Necessity is the mother of all invention.  I untied the rope handles of my bags, tied them together, and wrapped them around the gifts to create one big package.  Then, I made a little bow out of that piece of ribbon.  In the end, my package isn't half-bad...thanks to shopping bag scraps.  It is so basic, but I love it when I'm forced to figure out how to make something cute out of nothing.

Wrapping Paper Alternatives

Put away the wrapping paper or those bags with the tissue paper in them! Here are a couple alternatives to the traditional gift wrapping. A uniquely wrapped gift always stands out. These are two "down home" looking ways to package your present. To me they convey the message "special hand made gift inside".

The first way to switch it up us to use fabric and a bow! Be sure to fold the edges of the fabric in and then simply bunch up the material so it looks pretty. Tie it with a simple bow and add a handmade card to it. Then-- trim the excess material off the top so it looks like it is bursting out of the bow. Don't cut it too neat- that's not the goal of this. You can also use pattern edge scissors.

Want to know what's inside? Click Here.


For your second alternative you will need to gather a small list of supplies!

Supplies:
-1 piece of pretty newspaper (I chose a Michaels Advertisement because my friend is a crafter!)
-scissors
-tape
-stapler
-acrylic paint


How to:
-Wrap the present like normal.

-To make the bow cut 4 8 inch strips of paper about a 1/4 inch thick. Then tape the ends together and then layer them on top of each other and staple. Then cut a 4 inch long 1/4 inch thick strip and loop that into a small circle the size of a ring. Tape that in the center of the bow.

-Finger paint random little decorations on to the flower petals and the side of the box. You can use a paint brush, but why? Finger painting is much more fun!

You can also top it off with a beautiful handmade card!

Isn't it cute?!

Wonder what's inside? Well,  you'll have to tune in Tuesday for a bonus Tasty Tuesday recipe from me Crafty Girl. Well, to be honest my recipe will come from a box- but it's still awesome and Chef Donavan will be cooking up something amazing as well! See the to die for treat! Oh, you're going to love it!