Gift Wrap Archives - Satori Design for Living

Creative and Personalized Gift Wrapping Ideas

Dec

2012

Although I do purchase ready-made gift wrapping materials from time to time, most often I prefer to use rolls of solid paper, craft paper bags, and plain gift tags that I decorate while keeping in mind each person’s style. You may recall the hand-printed gift wrap I made last year or the easy button gift embellishments I created quite recently. Both were a hit with the recipients. Perhaps it’s the decorator in me, but how the package is wrapped is almost as important as the gift inside.

As many of you know, wrapping presents is one of my favorite things to do around the holidays. I’m so fortunate this year to have a wrapping room (a project/storage room that has been taken over by wrapping materials), and I don’t have to haul everything up to our dining table, wrap some presents, and then pack it all up again so we can eat. It’s made the whole experience even more enjoyable, and I highly recommend having a dedicated area in your house for these kinds of projects if you have the extra room.

Wrapping gifts doesn’t have to be expensive. This year I found so many items around the house, as well as free printables online. As a result I only had to purchase a few gift bags and a bit of ribbon.

Creative & Personalized Gift Wrap Ideas

Button Gift Tags

While I was preparing for projects earlier this fall, I came across containers full of buttons I thought would be perfect for creating something for Christmas. Recently, while my husband was in Europe for work (so jealous!) and my son was snowboarding (again, so jealous!), I took advantage of the free time and hand made a series of gift tags for specific people on my list.

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Filed Under: DIY, Holiday & Seasonal Tagged With: Christmas, Crafts, Gift Giving, Gift Wrap

Holiday Countdown Series Recap {Week Eight}

Dec

2012

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Happy Friday! It’s less than 2 weeks to Christmas and I have to say I’m feeling more prepared this year than ever. My husband really jumped on board with the gift shopping this year, and has taken an entire month off from traveling for work which has been so nice. This week I managed to get some baking done, and I also finished off some handmade gift tags and other wrapping supplies I’ll be sharing within the next week or so. Now I just need to wrap those gifts!

As mentioned on Facebook, I was asked by SavvyMom to contribute my jingle bell ornaments to their project gallery. These easy DIY ornaments have become very popular, and I couldn’t be happier! As promised, the Christmas Decorating Ideas & Projects book I created these ornaments for will be available for you to download for free on Monday (A big thanks to Shannon of AKA Design for putting it together!).

If you’ve missed any weeks along the way, be sure to catch up on the full 2012 Holiday Countdown Series.

This Week:

Create a Tablescape.

Even if you’re not hosting Christmas, there’s something to be said about decorating your table. You can keep it simple or make it as opulent as you like. My table is the focal point when you’re looking from the front entrance, so it’s necessary for it to look good. I usually include a centerpiece, table runner and candles.

Here are some ideas for creating your tablescape:

White and silver

{via It’s Overflowing}

Jingle Bell Ornaments

Dec

2012

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As I was going through my Christmas storage totes last week to see what I had for wrapping supplies, I came across a package of tiny silver jingle bells I bought at the end of last year’s holiday season. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what I was going to do with them back then, but it’s hard to pass up on a great deal, especially when it’s something so adorable.

Last year, I made simple jingle bell ornaments to dress up some handmade gifts using large, colorful, and sparkly options that seemed to stand alone. However, I knew these smaller ones would require a little more work to create something with impact. Luckily, I had a little motivation from my friend Shannon at AKA Design, who inspired a group of design bloggers to create a Christmas ornament or other holiday decorating element to share in an upcoming book. So much fun!

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Filed Under: DIY, Holiday & Seasonal Tagged With: Aka Design, Christmas, Crafts, DIY, Gift Wrap, Seasonal Decorating

Holiday Countdown Series Recap {Week Five}

Nov

2012

10 Comments

Happy Friday! I also want to wish my friends south of the border a belated Happy Thanksgiving. I think most of us Canadians are a bit envious of your 4-day weekend! Today is Black Friday, but I’m hoping some of you will stop shopping for a moment to get your Holiday Countdown list for week five.

This past week, I’ve been creating handmade gifts, as well as putting together some decorative gift wrap materials I’ll be sharing with you in the coming weeks. I also bought a few more Christmas gifts, sourced a few items for our basement, and pinned some new recipes I just have to try this year. I want to remind you to mark your calendars for the upcoming link parties in December. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you’ve all been up to!

If you’ve missed any weeks along the way, be sure to catchup on the full 2012 Holiday Countdown Series.

This Week…

Donate to a charity or give your time.

I am so grateful for the blessings I have in my life. A few years ago, we had a health scare with my son for a 6 week period over the Christmas season. It came to a happy ending when we were given great news from the doctor just into the new year. At that time I was so relieved, but I can’t even begin to tell you how it makes me feel for the parents who are not given such great news.

Every Christmas we donate to a number of charities, but the one I always give to is the Children’s Cancer Recovery Foundation of Canada. It’s a charity that supports families going through really hard times, sends children with cancer to camp and delivers toys to kids who are too sick to make it home for the holidays. As well, who can forget those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Can you imagine what it would be like to lose everything?

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Filed Under: Holiday & Seasonal Tagged With: Charity, Christmas, Crafts, Gift Wrap, Handmade, Holiday Countdown Series Recap

Easy Button Gift Embellishments + Gold Necklace Giveaway!

Nov

2012

27 Comments

Welcome to the last installment of the One Item Project Challenge. We’ve had a lot of fun over the past few weeks getting creative with fabric paint and gold leafing. This week I chose buttons as the craft supply we all had to work with, since most of us already have some on hand and they’re relatively inexpensive. To me, there’s something beautiful about buttons, no matter how intricate or simple they are.

After going through my rather large supply of buttons, I immediately knew what I was going to do. As some of you already know, one of my favorite things to do is wrap presents. Throughout the year, I’m always on the hunt for unique paper, bags, boxes, tags and other wrapping supplies, as well as creative ways to use them. I see beauty in the details, and my heart always sings when I’m inspired by a simple and inexpensive idea for embellishing gifts.

To create your own button gift embellishments, you will need a kit for covering buttons, scissors, assortment of printed and/or solid fabrics and elasticized ribbon or cording. I had all of these supplies on hand, except the ribbon, which is available at Michaels. Just look for “elasticized” printed on the clear film that covers the ribbon.

Holiday Countdown is On! {reader round-up}

Dec

2011

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Christmas is almost here and I’m happy to report that aside from a few dishes to prepare, I have everything ready to go- Yippee! As mentioned throughout the Holiday Countdown series, getting ready isn’t about perfection. However, in my experience I always feel better the more prepared I am. I try to keep in mind that most likely something will not go the way I hoped it would. Perhaps our family cards getting lost in the mail somewhere between the US and Canada would’ve frazzled me a little more had there been a mountain of other disappointments. I can honestly say at first I was flustered, but now I find it kind of amusing that I started thinking about our cards way back on week 2 and now they’re going to be late!

I want to extend a big shout out to all of you who followed along. I enjoyed your emails and comments and I’m so happy to share what some of you have been up to over the past couple months. Pretty fantastic stuff!

Elaine from Visual Meringue created these adorable party favors:

Nikki from Nikki in Stitches made these simple, yet beautiful ornaments:

Gifts {Almost} Too Pretty to Open

Dec

2011

17 Comments

Did you know there are only eleven days until Christmas Eve? Doesn’t it seem like December is flying by! If you’ve been following my Holiday Countdown, you know that I set out to be more organized and prepared this year. I’m happy to report that the anxious, stressed-out response I have often felt this time of year has been replaced with that magical feeling- you know the one you had when you were a kid. I owe it a lot to being prepared and really immersing myself in joy of the season.

One thing I really love to do is wrap presents. I always have, and as a kid my mom used to take advantage of this (in a good way). I like gathering unique items throughout the year to add that extra detail to gifts. Some people have a thing for shoes. I have a thing for beautiful stationery, papers, gift bags, ribbon- the whole kit ‘n caboodle (well, and perhaps for shoes too)!

{via Poetry Collection}

Oprah always says, “Love is in the details” and I happen to agree. I know that when I receive a beautifully wrapped gift, my friend or family member was really thinking of me. I don’t even need to open the gift to feel loved and appreciated.

This year I encourage you to wrap the gifts you are giving from your heart. Really think about matching the gift wrap to the personality of the individual it’s intended for. There are many easy and cost effective ways to do this.

Although I have some beautiful papers I purchased on sale in January last year, I wanted to do something new to add to the mix. On Etsy I found several hand printed papers that were lovely, so I decided to try making some of my own (although I am a huge supporter of Etsy).

Here’s what I did:

I started with a roll of plain brown craft paper, a medallion stencil, sponge applicator, acrylic paint tube in robbin’s egg blue, a small plastic container with lid and paper towels (all available at Michael’s and Wal-Mart). I covered my table in a drop cloth and rolled out the paper. I then squeezed a generous amount of paint into the plastic container, placed the sponge in the paint and took some of the excess off by dabbing it on the plastic lid a few times. Holding the stencil down firmly with one hand, I stippled onto the paper with the other.

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