Gift Wrap Ideas From Your Kitchen Drawer

Need a quick gift wrap? Why not look in your kitchen drawers. The top design was made with a sheet of tin foil, glitter snowflake and bow and the bottom design is a just a zip top baggie (with the zip top cut off) a little tissue, tinsel, and a bow.

Make it: Denim Wine Bags - recycled

Project: Recycled Denim Wine Bags

Supplies:
Old Jeans
Scissors
Fabric Glue
Sewing Machine
Wine Bottle
1 Yard Ribbon

Steps:


1.Lay the jeans out flat (iron if necessary) and line up the wine bottle on the lower leg. Position the bottle so the top is about 3 inches down from the hem.


2.Cut the leg off about 1” from the bottom of the bottle.

3.Turn the leg inside out.


4.Stitch the cut opening with a 5/8th inch seam allowance. Turn the bag right side out and press if needed.

5.Remove the pocket from the seat of the jeans and trim around the back of the pocket so you are left with just one layer of fabric.


6.On the backside of the pocket, apply a bead of fabric glue around the outer edge and glue to the wine bag about 2” from the bottom and allow to dry. Place the wine bottle in the bag and add a wine opener to the pocket and tie a ribbon around the neck of the bottle.

Tips and Tricks: not so great at sewing….in a pinch you could staple the seam on the wine bag closed.

Make it: Handmade Ribbon Bows

Handmade Ribbon Bow

Materials:
long zipper, measuring tape or ribbon
hot glue
scissors

1. Twist one end of a piece of ribbon into a loop and secure with a drop of hot glue.

2. Create a figure-8 by making a second loop of ribbon the same size as the first loop. Twist loops together and secure with a drop of glue.

3. Continue creating loops and figure-8s until you have rounded out the bow, decreasing loop size until bow is full.

Make it: Handmade Gift Bags

Velvet Hydrangea Stamped Gift Bag

If you want to add a little flourish to a plain old gift bag, all you need to do is add a few painted stamps and velvet flowers. I purchased the velvet hydrangeas from Michaels and the foam stamp is by Plaid.

Supplies:
Simply ® Stamps - Leaf Motif
FolkArt ® Metallics - Pure Gold, 2 oz.
FolkArt ® Metallics - Peach Pearl, 2 oz.
Red Gift Bag
Foam Paintbrushes
Red Velvet Hydrangea Petals
Clear Rhinestones
Holiday Ribbon
Hot Glue

Steps:
1. Apply the gold paint to the stamp using a foam paintbrush. Stamp into the center and side of the bag. Repeat with peach pearl paint. Allow to dry.

2. Use hot glue to attach velvet petals in a random pattern to the front of the bag. Add a drop of hot glue in the center of the petals to secure the rhinestones.

3. Add a bow to the handle.

Dollar Saving Holiday Ideas

Steve and I, recently did a series of interviews featuring "dollar and time" saving ideas for the holidays for Real Simple magazine and Real Simple online. I blogged one of the finished pieces here. Since $$$ seems to be a hot topic...I though I would share list of our ideas.

Dollar Saving Holiday Ideas: WRAPPING SUPPLIES

Gift Tags: Recycled last years holiday cards into gift tags by using a decorative punch or cutting a traditional tag shape.

Glittered Pinecones: Add a touch of nature to a package by tying on small pinecones and twigs. We like to add a little pop with Mod Podge and brown glitter to the tips of pinecones.

A Leg Up on Wrapping: Create a denim wine bag with the leg of an old jean. Just cut the leg to the appropriate height for your bottle. Sew or staple across the bottom. Use a ribbon to tie the bag closed.

Tins: Use Mod Podge to decoupage out-of-season (or style) tins and boxes into modern gift boxes by attaching decorative paper to the outside.

Gift Bags: Create simple gift bags with a punch of color with plain paper “lunch” bags. Cut a scalloped edge across the top of a plain paper bag, punch holes across the top and thread closed with a pretty ribbon, tie the ends into a bow.

Photocopied Paper: For small gift-wrap jobs you can make your own color copied paper collages. For extra savings use color paper on a black and white printer.

Kids Art: Decorate large rolls of butcher paper with kid’s holiday drawings. Let the kids know whom the package is for and have them draw something special for them. I bet this paper doesn’t get torn and tossed.

Yarn Tied: Pass on ribbon and say yes to yarn. Look for big bold yarns to tie up your packages. Way cheaper than ribbon!

Dollar Saving Holiday Ideas: ORNAMENTS

Dollar Store Decor: Dollar store ornaments can become very stylish with a spray of high gloss paint. We like to use 3 different colors of spray paint on different sized and shaped ornaments. Krylon has tons of bold new colors available, everything from candy colors to natural colors. (Both color pallets blend well with traditional silver and gold)

Papered: Origami paper ornaments and garland can be made for pennies. For “book lovers” you could use pages from old books (just make sure they are not valuable). For a “kids” tree you could use the funny pages to make a humorous statement.

Darn Yarn: Pompoms are easily made with just a few winds of yarn. Use sparkly metallic yarns in taupe, gold, white and silver to create a homespun elegant look. Add Yarn bows to inexpensive clear ornament balls to counter balance the pompoms.

Rocker At Heart: Glue broken bits of CD’s to silver Styrofoam balls and add a ribbon hanger to create a disco ball ornament. Adorn a small tree with disco balls and guitar picks.

Scents of Cinnamon: Tie bundles of cinnamon sticks and small twigs together with ribbon and hang from a tree.

Baked Dough Saves Dough: Kids love playing with dough and creating homemade ornaments with salt dough (made for a few dollars at home) is a fun way for families to get creative together.

Dollar Saving Holiday Ideas: HOLIDAY DECORATIONS

Branches & Birds: Use metallic spray paint to spruce up large and small broken tree branches, place in a glass vase and hot glue white birds to the branches.

Papered Garland: Working with old holiday cards or scrapbooking paper, punch decorative shapes with oversized punches (or trace around a glass and use scissors), attach the tops to a long piece of ribbon using hot glue. Add stickers to spell out holiday words like, Noel, Joy and Merry Christmas.

Can You Picture: Remove the glass and backing from oversized frames, paint with high gloss spray paint in rich plum and silver colors, dangle ornaments and family photos from the center with pretty ribbon. Perch the frames on a mantle or hang on the wall.

Pomanders: Create a centerpiece with stacks of oranges, grapefruits and lemons. Add cloves and lemon leaves for color and scent.

Candle Glow: Add drama to plain candles by inserting decorative brads into the sides. You can get rhinestone, snowflake even pearl brads.

Wrapped Wreath: Create a fabric wreath by cutting strips of 4 or 5 different fabrics into 1” wide pieces. (We like to use a monochromatic color pallet and different textures of fabrics – like, wools, cottons, corduroy, etc.) Wrap the strips around a wire wreath form until the wreath is covered. Add a few old ornaments to the center and you are ready to hang.

Tree Trimming Garland: If you are decorating a fresh tree, collect the trimmings and wire them together to create a mantel or door garland.

Dollar Saving Holiday Ideas: HOLIDAY CARDS

Shop Sales at the End Of The Season: We always purchase cards on clearance for 75 – 90% off the retail price at the end of the season.

Make Your Own: Begin with blank cards and add simple scrapbooking embellishments, photos, even a kids hand print.

Vintage Flair: Make black and white copies of a favorite family photo, use colored photo makers to add highlights to the picture.

Go High Tech: Send your cards using an online greeting card program or create your own jpegs greeting and email to friends and family.

Dollar Saving Holiday Ideas: HOSTESS PARTY GIFTS

Mini Makeover: Rewrap inexpensive soaps or votive candles with pretty papers, create a designer look by adding fun bows and embellishments.

Recipe Swap: Do you have a friend that always loves your cooking or baking? Make him or her a set of recipe cards.

How Does your Garden Grow?: Do you have a great indoor herb garden? Create an herb gift of either fresh cut herbs or home dried herbs. Your friends will beg for more!

Mini Breads: Bake a large batch on mini breads to have on hand during the season (they freeze well) wrap with butcher paper, add a yarn or ribbon tie and give as needed.

Party Pics: present your hostess with a small empty photo album and let her know that you have brought along your camera to be the official photographer as a gift to her. Make sure you have the pictures printed within one week of the party.

Dollar Saving Holiday Ideas: HOLIDAY SHIPPING

Ship Early & Light: Don’t get caught with last minute (high dollar) shipping prices.

Junk Mail Revamped: Use shredded junk mail instead of store bought peanuts.

Popped Up Packing: Old fashioned popped popcorn can be used as packing peanuts – just don’t add salt or butter. Forget trimming the tree with popcorn – time is money – trust me I tried it before.

Don’t Toss The Boxes: Recycle boxes from retail stores for shipping boxes. Just make sure they are thick enough cardboard.

make it: Delightful Doggie Bags

Fall Leaf Doggie Bags

We always make extra food so our Thanksgiving guests can take a little home to enjoy. Tin foil and take away containers are perfect for sealing leftovers, but a little boring to look at. We like to decorate kraft paper gift bags for each guest to take home their goodies in.

Fall Leaf Bags:
Use leaf shaped rubber stamps and metallic inks to decorate kraft paper gift bags. To add texture to your stamping, emboss with sanded embossing powder. For extra pop, tie silk flowers and paper clay leaves to the handles. Make guest place cards or thank you notes by stamping onto folded blank note cards.

Newspaper Column: Green Gift Wrap Ideas

Green Gift Wrapping

By Cathie Filian

Recycling, re-crafting and making your own gift-wrap has been around for ages. When I was little, my mom and I would wrap gifts in the “funny pages” of the newspaper, we would carve potatoes and use them as stamps to create whimsical patterns on kraft paper and cardboard jewelry boxes were decoupaged with magazine cut-outs to create new fancy boxes. We were being “green” and we didn’t even know it.

Creating recycled gift-wrap is really taking trash and creating a treasure. It is not only great for the planet it is good for your wallet. With the prices of designer gift-wrap, you could easily spend ten dollars just to wrap a small gift. For just a few pennies you can get creative and craft your own gift bags, boxes and paper flower bows.

For quick and easy gift-wrapping, you can transform plain gift bags and lunch sacks into stunning “designer” look bags with the simple addition of paper flowers.

Who says a gift box can’t be a tube? Drink mix containers can be stripped of their labels and decorated with scrapbook paper and ribbons. They are the perfect size box for a bottle of lotion.

If you have some small jewelry boxes on hand and they have a department store logo, cover it with a scrap of decorative paper, ribbons, silk leaves and a paper flower.

You can use just about any kind of paper to create the paper flower bows. Grocery bags can be cut, crinkled and layered to create a natural looking bow. You can add a layer or two of colored plastic wrap for a shinny look. By adding a petal from a mismatched silk flower you can create an organic look. To add a pop of color, use magazine tear-outs and bits of scrapbook paper. The flower bows are super easy to make and they add so much flair and style to a package.

Now that you have the basics for creating your own paper flower bows, all you need is a gift to wrap.

To Create A Small Bow

1. Cut 8 circle shapes from paper or plastic. Begin with a 3” circle and work your way down to a 1” circle.

2. Add an organic look to the edge of the circles by cutting waves, scallops or zigzags. Gently crinkle each circle in your hand.

3. Layer the circles from largest to smallest and secure in the center with an office or scrapbook brad. Attach to your package with hot glue or tape.

Letters: Chinese Take Out Box Template

Here is a letter I received about templates.

Hi Cathie,

Do you have a template for a Chinese take out box? I am exhausted from searching.

Thank you,
BC

Hi BC,

I should and I don't. I have always made my own by unfolding a box and tracing around it. Michaels sells mini and larger boxes for around a buck or so.




You can attach fabric to the boxes with fusible webbing. Here is a link to the project on Creative Juice. Take Out Boxes

Craft On,

Cathie

Project: Gift Card Pouches

Gift Card Pouches
Made from re-crafted Greeting Cards

Step 1 - Fold the card in half.

Step 2 - Punch a hole through both the
front and back of the greeting card.

Step 3 - Seal the side and bottom edges with
hot glue, glue stick or double stick tape.

Step 4 - Fold the card closed to seal.

Step 5 - Fill the pouch with a the gift card and tie with a bow.

Origami folded gift box tutorial

Need a quick box? Origami fold your way to an easy box made with 2 pieces of scrapbook paper. It is easy and priced right.

What you will need:
2 12"x12" square sheets of paper
bone folder or old credit card

1. To make the box lid, fold one paper square in half diagonally, first one way and then the other, sharply creasing the folds with a bone folder or an old credit card before unfolding.



2. Fold the four corners in until they meet in the center of the paper, crease sharply and unfold.


3. Beginning with the paper unfolded, fold one of the corners until it meets the farthest crease line opposite that corner. Crease, unfold and repeat the process with the remaining three corners.

4. Fold each corner to its closest crease line before unfolding all corners to reveal an overall pattern of creased squares.

5. Open the folds and place "wrong side" up on the table.


6. Fold two opposite triangular corners at their first crease lines.




6. Fold again at the next crease lines. Use the last crease to stand up box sides.

7. Using your thumbs, gently fold in the remaining box sides along crease lines, forming the sides of the box. Crease and fold in the last triangular corner flaps to complete the box.

8. To make the bottom of the box, trim a 12"x12" piece of scrapbook paper to 11-1/2"x11-1/2" and repeat the steps for the top of the box.

Have a great holiday,

Cathie Filian

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