Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Gift Wrapping

My wrapping for little Scarlet's present.
Some assorted wrapping I have done over the years.
Colourful wrapping spotted at Ariel Booksellers.






The amazing Lena Corwin shows us some divine Christmas Wrapping from her friend Karen.













I love wrapping presents! Each year I begin planning my Christmas Wrapping theme months in advance. For me, it is one of the most exciting parts about Christmas. (Oh and of course the tree decoration and spending time with family and friends).

So...here are a few gift wrapping ideas I have found helpful:

1. I started a ribbon and trims box collecting odd pieces throughout the year. I use the long bits of ribbon to tie around gifts and I make bows and gift tag ties from the mini-me lengths.

2. I love using recycled paper or wallpaper off-cuts for interesting wrapping. I once found 6 rolls of canary yellow floral 1960's wallpaper on ebay and used it to wrap all of my gifts at Christmas. If I see something in a magazine I love, or a cute press release or poster, I make a few colour photocopies of it and use to gift wrap small trinkets like a lipstick or hair bow.

3. I generally save off-cuts of gift wrap and use them as a kind of belly band or feature strip on other gifts to add a nice contrast to the main gift wrap. (see Ariel wrapping picture above) But note - eek! Expect to store a big box of scrap paper for this one!

4. I think bows and corsages on gifts are so cute when formed out of unexpected materials such as pipe cleaners, leaves and crepe paper. I love to include fake flowers or paper doily's purchased from variety stores (see first pic).

5. I always invest in some pretty tape to give attention to detail to the underside of the gift (and to use to attach decoration to the top of the gift). At the moment my favourites are a lemon yellow gingham tape, some metallic coloured tape given to me by my lovely friend Lisa when she moved to NYC (thanks Leesie!) and some MT polka-dot tape.

6. Sometimes I wrap gifts in a pastel coloured tissue paper, then scatter with some glitter or paper confetti and re-wrap in some biodegradable cellophane. Not to be advised if the present opening is taking place at your house! (>_<)

7. I make my gift tags each year from scanning either my custom Christmas card design or my favourite image, scaling it down to gift tag size and step and repeating to print on A4 paper. Either that or I use little cardboard off-cuts or manila tags and stamp the recipients name with these with Kikki K Wooden Alphabet stamps. Time consuming but well worth it!

Now I am so inspired by all the lovely gift wrapping ideas seen on these beautiful blogs I can hardly wait for Summer to start planning my wrapping theme! :)

You can check out some eco wrapping tips here.

Cute little face wrapping seen on Tas-ka.

My Christmas wrapping from 2007.





The lovely Handmade romance made these pretty bows from this inspiration.




Sweet little 'Hello Happy' tags from The Small Object.


And this eco friendly gift wrapped present by this flickr poster.

Ikea's 2008 Christmas wrapping paper collection.


Plastic Bag pom poms from the very clever Creature Comforts.


Lena Corwin shows us a great way to recycle scrap pieces of fabric furoshiki style.


Some Eco-wrapping ideas from Martha Stewart.


Imagine these little corsages individually as little bows upon gifts!





I must say, having some lovely sticky tape is a big help! I stocked up on MT tape when I was in Tokyo last October.


Some lovely gift wrapping ideas from this Japanese wrapping book.














Or failing all this, if it all just gets too much, just leave a little comment below and for a small price I will wrap all of your gifts for you this Christmas! :) Job done!

Love Love
Hello Sandwich
xxx

29 comments:

  1. What a visual feast! Gift wrapping is one of my favourite things too, it's so much fun especially at Christmas when you can create a theme. Your 2007 wrapping looks fab with the little pops of colour.

    I have a stockpile of the gorgeous MT washi paper tape, but I can't bring myself to use it. It's too beautiful!

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  2. i love your posts. so sweet, so pretty, so cute! i love gift wrapping too. it's super fun and such a lovely surprise for the receiver. xo

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  3. Hi Lisa and Melanie! Thanks so much for your lovely comments! Isn't gift wrapping fun! Oh Lisa you have to use the MT tape! you can always order more!
    Have a lovely day!
    Love love
    Hello Sandwich
    xxx

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  4. Wow!! Thank you for sharing your wrapping tips!! And such beautiful images!!!!!!!!!!

    Angela xx

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  5. I'm in gift wrapping heaven! So many fabulous suggestions that I'll be putting to good use in the future.

    I'm quickly falling head over heels for you Hello Sandwich, a big thanks to Three Buttons for linking to this little slice of heaven.

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  6. O wow your designs are great! Very creative, love them! Hope you post more of your stuff in the near future!

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  7. Such an amazing post! Your gift wrapping is so bright and creative, I love it. Thanks for all the tips, this has definitely inspired me to try them out. (Gotta love those Japanese books too!)
    Love Angie xoxo

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  8. Yay to wrapping gifts!

    I love your 07 efforts and the very first pic not to mention that cute little lunch bag creation in the gorgeous Japanese gift wrap book you have shared.

    Thanks for the sweet mention too : )
    You made my afternoon a little sunnier x

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  9. Those are so pretty, you've inspired me to take more time with my wrapping instead of just using soem random stuff found in the closet.
    Thanks
    xx

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  10. recycled wrapping rocks ... sooo pretty and funky

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  11. this was awesome!
    i love wrapping presents!

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  12. Ah! People should definitely still wrap presents like that! So much fun!
    (Also, thanks so much for the opening comment, your work is fantastic!)
    Hearts
    J.

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  13. I am so in love with wrapping presents - this post made me so happy! I squealed at Lauren (Jones) when I saw it.

    Hellosandwich has become one of my most favourite blogs!

    love Renee x

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  14. I adore gorgeous packaging & therefore drooled somewhat upon perusing this post. Just lovely!

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  15. whoa. I am so ashamed of myself. I don't even buy presents.

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  16. Ahhh I love gift wrapping toooo!!! Oh man I can't wait for Christmas now - after seeing your 2007 collection I am really going to lift my game this year!!

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  17. Hello Three buttons! As you can see I am a bit obsessed with gift wrapping! he he! Am so happy you liked! :)

    Gingham skies - oh you are so sweet! Yes get into gift wrapping I say! Pretty gift wrapping is such a lovely unexpected treat I think! Ow shucks! I think you are so cute to say you are falling head over heels for Hello Sandwich! how adorable! thank you lovely! xxx

    Hello Poster Printing! Wow do you really do poster prints? how exciting and fun! I want to print up some things! Thank you for your lovely comments about my designs! I will indeed post some more stuff about my own work soon!

    Hello lovely Windy Days! Thank you petal! Your comment is so sweet and makes doing longer posts on Hello Sandwich all the more worthwhile! :) Thanks so much for commenting! Hope you have a lovely weekend! xxx

    Handmade Romance! How could I possibly do a gift wrap special without including the lovely you! I was so inspired by your amazing bows! I want to make some this year! ha ha I am so happy you like the 07 efforts! 08 was funny too but I can't seem to find any pics. alas! You always make my afternoons sunnier! I am so happy I have found your amazing blog! Hope your weekend is lovely and relaxing! Speak again son pretty thing! xxx

    Rachael - I am sure your girt wrapping is delightful too! I always use random stuff found in the closet - and just team it with some silly decorations and cover it with stickers and fake flowers! Its the fun part! he he!

    Re-read! Hello! thank you for popping past Hello Sandwich! Isn't recycled wrapping a great idea! Using something old to make something new is a wonderful thing!

    Lightening Heart - thank you! I love wrapping presents too! I want to see some of your beautiful work too!

    Jacqueline! My pleasure! Congratulations on your new blog! You will find they are so much fun and so inspiring! Yes we need more creatively wrapped gifts in the world! he he! Happy weekend!

    Renee - thank you! Oh you are friends with the lovely Lauren! Oh how lovely! Thanks so much for stopping by! Isn't wrapping presents fun! I love it! I am so happy that you enjoy Hello Sandwich! Thank you lovely! I hope we can meet in real life soon! xxx

    Penelope! I love your blog! Thank you for your lovely comment! I would love to see some of your delightful wrapping one day too! :) Thanks so much for stopping by Hello Sandwich xxx

    Rebecca! he he! Don't be ashamed! It means you have a very busy life don't worry! xxx

    Victoria - isn't gift wrapping fun! he he I am so happy that you are lookinig forward to gift wrapping your Christmas presents like me! yay! I tried to peek at your blog too but I wasn't able too? Is there something I should be doing differently?

    Thanks so much everyone for your sweet comments! Just lovely! It means the world to me!

    Love love
    Hello Sandwich
    xxx

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  18. wrapppppppping!!! the world is a lovely place :)

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  19. oh my gosh. .i love gift wrapping! love this post. love all the photos! <3

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  20. These are superb, as always! You remind me that I should photograph more of my wrapping, but I just get too excited and spirit the pressie out the door!
    Thanks for a great post, Kate x

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  21. THIS MAKES ME SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS, (Christmas in July!? Yes, please!)

    Thank you for this inspirational post!! Time to get wrappin'!

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  22. There is some great inspiration. Thanks ;0) am just about to start my wrapping now so you have given me tonnes of ideas!

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  23. These are all very inspiring, captivating and indulging designs which are all very beautiful, creative and admirable as well.

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  24. I just stumbled on your post - and it's impressive! I love all the eclectic ideas you've gathered into one place, and your own gift wrapping style is so playful and fun! Well done.
    : )

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  25. What a very beautiful gift wrapping I like it so much. Anyway,its good that yous shared this keep posting!

    vitton

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  26. Wow! This stuff is all absoltely beautiful! I am in the mood to wrap presents. Must. Wrap. Presents! I really love your blog!


    http://ringosrattales.blogspot.com/

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  27. ハロー! 私もPomPom作ってみました。(I made a plastic bag pompom too). I used it to decorate a scarf I made for my niece's birthday:

    http://sewinlove.com.au/2011/05/29/knitting-a-gift-childrens-apple-pocket-scarf/

    Thanks so much for posting these wrapping ideas. You got me really inspired ^o^

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  28. it was great!
    this post gives me much inspiration.
    thanks a lot ^^

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