Skip to main content

All Wrapped Up

It's getting towards that time of year again!
find the tutorial for this bow - HERE

As much as I try to pretend it's not happening, the dreaded C word is starting to crop up more and more.  The shops are already stocking cards and chocolates.  I find myself pushing my trolley past those aisles with a certain quickness to my step.  The past few years I've begun to dread Christmas more and more.  The sheer commercialness of it all totally depresses me. 

What happened to the Christmas of my childhood?  Carol singers and candle-light.  The nativity play when we could all have a good snigger at the crappy home-made costumes, and the child (usually one of mine) who said something wholly inappropriate half way through.  It's not that long ago - but already things have changed.  Nowadays the costumes are available to purchase from every supermarket. 

Where's the fun in that?  Who wants to see a cloned Nativity?  

Personally I'd much rather see a tea-towel head-dress or grandads tweed flat cap called into service.  And nothing beats a shepherd wearing his dad's Barbour down to his ankles (because his dressing gown is too ratty for public viewing).  Or a king wearing a wonky paper crown that slips over his head at regular intervals.  I could go on here at great length......  can you tell just how bad my costume efforts were?  I'm not prepared to divulge my Mary disaster.  Maybe one day, after wine.  And I may also slip in the bit about the rehearsal when a child (thank goodness it wasn't one of mine) actually did a poo in the middle of the church aisle.  That was hilarious!
Image found on Pinterest, via google - no link available
Anyway - perhaps I should actually start writing about what I intended to when I began this post.  Christmas wrapping.  I did my own DIY wrapping last year and was rather pleased with the result.  It's amazing how good a cheap roll of brown wrapping paper and household string can look with the minimum of time spent.  The addition of a stamp here and there and the odd button or two - and the finished package can look particularly classy.  And seeing as my efforts involved PVA glue in lieu of sticky tape, my gifts were also virtually impossible to open, and made for much amusement (on my part) come the great Christmas Day present opening flurry.

I can't do exactly the same again this year, so I've been merrily pinning away on Pinterest to source some inspiration.  And what loveliness have I discovered!  Not sure I can be bothered with the faff of making soming of these - my goodness, there's one or two that are so beautiful I doubt I could be parted with them.  What do you think?  Wouldn't these all look lovely around the Christmas tree. (until the cat gets hold of them anyway). 

If there's a tuturial for any of these makes, I have included it as a link under each photo.
from The Party Studio 
How sweet and simple is this little wrapping?  I'm loving the edging to the bags, and assuming you need special paper scissors to create it.  I don't possess those, so my version would replace this edging with a strip of vintage lace glued into place.
by Nora Griffin
Another simple, yet very effective wrapping.  The link provides no instructions - but should be very easy to replicate.  I'm loving the little coloured doily.  I haven't come across any of these locally, so may have to do some online investigation.  I suppose a white one would look equally pretty, particularly if I replaced the wool bow with a festive length of ribbon.
No tutorial - but DO check out the fabulous blog post. ADORABLE!
This is my favourite wrapping so far.  Isn't it gorgeous?  Incredibly simple - and just so effective.  The simple doily, the naive tag with it's cut out heart.  The gingham tie and ribbon.  The newspaper wrapping!  Now wrapping doesn't come much cheaper than this - and it is hard to beat on attractiveness.  Don't forget to look at the link for this photo, it's darling.  I've found another blog to add to my reading list!

*My own newspaper wrapping tip!
Throughout the year, if you see any amusing headlines, articles, or cartoons that you know would appeal to a friend or relative, rip them out and save in a box.  These are truly brilliant for adding to a brown paper package as a way of personalizing a gift.  The one I'm most proud of at the moment is the "YOU OLD GIT" headline that I found for my father-in-law.
by L'il Magoolie
 What about these sweet little packaging boxes?  They're quite charming, and wouldn't they be perfect to hang on the Christmas tree?  I don't think I have the patience to make them myself, but I do think they're lovely.  The tutuorial is on the link, and they look quite simple.  I can see so many uses for these.  On the tree, hanging on a garland - or with chocolates inside and stacked as a pyramid on a pretty plate.

You know what - I've talked myself into making some now!
by Miss Fancy Pants
Another great little packaging idea.  Okay - so the photo may be an Easter theme - but would look delightful in Christmas guise.  The template with clear instructions are beautifully written by Miss Fancy Pants (great title for a blog - may change mine to Mrs Big Pants).  These boxes are really dinky, and ideal for tiny gifts or tree treats.  

I'm not into paper crafts at all - and yet I find myself fighting the urge to go out and buy Christmas papers this afternoon!  Will be sitting on my hands for the rest of the day.
by Tara Anderson?
Now if you have the patience of a saint, and far too much time on your hands - you could be making some tags like these.   I absolutely LOVE this.  Forget any present - just give me the tag.  Beautiful, dainty, pretty, vintage, shabby chic, inpsired awesomeness.  I could go on.  I found this little lovely on Pinterest, and had a devil of a job to trace back the original post via half-baked links.  I am hoping that I have found the source in Tara Anderson.  Now click on my link to her flickr page - and try and tell me you haven't fallen instantly in love!  ................. toddling off to find her Etsy store later!

It's hard to follow that one, and I've been blathering on for ages as per normal.  So I shall bring this blog post to a close.  Sorry if I've depressed you about bringing you Christmas in September, but if you haven't been bombarded yet - where have you been?  

And where is it exactly - I'm coming to join you.

I have to be organised this year.....  I will not find myself wrapping presents in a snivelling sorry-for-myself drunken manner on Christmas Eve AGAIN.    Everyone is having a home-made pressie whether they like it or not.  It will be wrapped beautifully (at least the first few will.  After those the wine effect will no doubt take it's toll.) 

I shall end with these luscious little labels, which are available for free download...... and if you can't find something you like out of that little lot, it's a bad job!
over 135 sheets worth of printable labels!
 My final "Desperate Measures" wrapping tip 

If all else fails on the wrapping front......
If you've run out of sticky tape......
You've bought awkward presents impossible to wrap.........

or you're just too sozzled to care if it's wrapped or not........
Do not despair!
You can always do what I did one year......   Wrap everything in Bacofoil.  Nothing else required.  It squidges around everything beautifully, and sparkles wonderfully under the tree.   You'll get a few funny looks from superior relatives, but you'll have everything wrapped and ready in under half an hour.  Result!






Comments

  1. Love you attitude! Thanks for all the wonderful links.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, we must be family. Love all of the simple wrappings. My family used to each have their own pocket knife to cut tape with on Christmas morning. The wrappings would then be folded up and stored for use the next year. Really. Grand dad used to take the tinsel off of the tree strand by strand and save it. Not that my family was cheap. It is all a wonderful memory.

    Funny papers make excellent wrapping. As do brain paper lunch sacks tied with long balloons.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh I can't wait for Christmas this year. I'm flying home to Oz. I haven't been home at Christmsa for 6 yrs. I am going ot use that bow tutorial. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are hilarious. I found this post through Pinterest because of those little triangle boxes and now I'm going to figure out how to subscribe to your blog. I really enjoyed your style of writing.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Oh - go on! It's so lovely to receive messages, and I really do appreciate it.

I always do my best to reply to messages - both here on the blog and personally (as long as I can see an email address)

Popular posts from this blog

Shabby Chic? Definitely Shabby!

I did say I'd share my DIY disaster with you...... Brace yourselves - you may need sunglasses: Snort!  When I started the makeover I can assure you this wasn't my intention.  I had a 70's dressing table that was a nice shape, but a vile wood.  I thought I would transform it by painting it fuchsia to match my bedroom.  10 hours later (2 coats undercoat, 3 topcoat) it was looking good.  Until the top coat starting to flake off before my eyes.  I could have cried - indeed I think I did. Since then it's been sitting in the bedroom annoying me.  It's too heavy to lift out on my own, and anyways I've nothing else to replace it with.  The thought of starting to paint it again doesn't bear thinking about.  So in a DIY frenzy, I attacked it with wire wool. I think I got a bit carried away!  The result is something that gives a whole new meaning to shabby chic.  However, at least it looks intentional and boldly scruffy.  An...

Autumn Giveaway Time

I'm more than a trifle ticked off with Blogger. My post of yesterday has vanished into thin air during the day - and I haven't been near a computer. It was the first time I'd entered a post using the new interface, and I was liking the way it worked. Shame I didn't try a short post first, but no...... dibble decided to do a long article didn't she! Sniff. Back to the old Blogger me thinks. Anyways... I was thinking that it's been such a dismal few days - why not think of something to brighten the mood. Why not have a little giveaway? Trying to be a little different - I've come up with a little competition. It's quite simple....... How many buttons in the jar? I've no idea myself, so it will be interesting to find out. To give you something on which to base your guess, I can tell you I am able to hold the little jar comfortably in one hand. Also I have used a few of the buttons so the jar isn't quite full. So.... What do y...

Don't get Shirty!

My blog posts have been lacking the last few weeks.  This is due to moving home and trying to sort out the chaos.  One of the things required was that hubby thin down his clothing, or there would be no room for any of mine in the fitted wardrobes.  At the last count he had well over a hundred shirts.  Ridiculous.  Under strict instructions to free up half the wardrobe space for me, he set to with bin bags, to turf some out for the charity shops. With a large selection of shirts ousted, I started looking at the fabrics and wondered if I could make use of them myself.  There's a surprising amount of fabric in a mans shirt, particularly an XL one. After cherry picking the ones that were all cotton and nice fabrics, I sat down and scratched my head for inspiration. My first of two makes is this pillow.  When I began I had no real vision of what it was going to look like.  I just knew that I wanted to use some of the front pockets, and make a...