Decorative Packaging

Gingham Checked Ribbon and Gingham Shirt

Here is an original idea for wrapping!  This is like getting three gifts in one.  If your friend or family member likes plaid or gingham checked shirts they will love it, if not, I guess it can be a gag gift.  But the idea is still very creative and pretty in its own way.

This is the perfect way to wrap a gift for a friend who is a faithful recycler and only uses eco friendly items.  They will marvel at your resourcefulness.  Be sure to use a cotton shirt if this is the reason you are wrapping like this.

This idea would be patriotic if you used blue and white gingham checked ribbon to attach little bows in the corners instead of the broach.  It would also look very sloppy if you did not iron this shirt first.  You can even pick up shirts at the thrift store to save money.

Baby showers are so much fun.  The anticipation of the new bundle of joy is always something to celebrate with friends and loved ones.

With today’s technology, many expectant moms are eager to find out if they are having a boy or a girl. This is easier for those who are shopping to find specific things to encourage the new mother with.  But in other cases, the element of surprise is amazing.

These shower decorations and gifts could easily be for a boy or girl since pink and blue is kept to a minimum.  With the color theme being lavender and green, they have done a beautiful job of decorating.  You can also decorate in the mom’s favorite color and buy some things for her personally and many of the specific needs like diapers, accessories, neutral colors P.J.s and blankets.  Then once the baby arrives, you can bring an outfit to the hospital to suit the gender of the baby.

Baby shower ribbon comes in many colors and is cute to use for wrapping the gifts, decorating the gift table, napkin rings or bows, for use in party games, and wrapping the prizes for those games.

These cute little flowers will put a smile on grandma’s face!  These work well with the flower pot in yesterday’s post. Kids love to finger paint.  They can help with this craft too but you should do the cutting so that the flowers look ok.   You can just cut out several flowers ahead of time and then let them paint.

You will need: Construction paper, Finger paint, Green chenille stems or (,Popsicle sticks and bendy straws) Scissors, craft glue, Green satin ribbon.

1. Cut out simple flower shapes from construction paper. If you cut five  petals then they can put each finger on it.
2. Dip kids fingers into the paint and let them press their finger print on each petal.
3. Cut green chenille stem in half so they wont be too long and fall over.
4. Glue or tape fuzzy stems to the back of the flowers.
5. Tie green satin ribbon bows on the stem to look like leaves.
6. Place your little flowers into a homemade flower pot like yesterday’s post.

You can also use colorful contact paper. Or scrap booking sheets.

Floral ribbon or plaid ribbon can dress up any plain paper, even this brown mailing paper.  This beautiful green plaid ribbon could easily be used for St. Patrick’s Day surprises or any occasion at all.  Stocking up on a wide variety of decorative ribbon will insure that you are prepared to wrap anything for any occasion.

Adding embellishments like flowers or bows is always welcomed.  These flowers could have come off of a hair bow, or floral arrangement.  My mom has a purse that has a flower on it like the small gift on top.  It looks much prettier as a gift topper than it does on that purse.   Sorry mom!

Wrapping a round box isn’t difficult.  Just lay ribbon out in a cross pattern, and sit the box down on top, bring the ends up and tie in a knot, then a bow.

This gift looks as if they planned it to look like this instead of a last minute way to wrap a gift when you have no paper. A decorative package is much more fun to receive than an ugly one.  So Be creative when you are wrapping!  And Have fun!

Who doesn’t love music?  We love music and one of our favorite things is to listen to our daughter play her flute.  This is a creative way to wrap a gift for any occasion.

Another creative way is to print off a page of sheet music from their favorite song.  Many websites will let you download and print sheet music.  You can also scan songs from a book, I don’t think there would be a copy write issue since you will not be selling the pages, but simply using them to wrap with.

Adding jingle bells to the gold satin decorative ribbon bow is a musical touch that will surely make them smile.

Have you ever received a gift that was wrapped in expensive designer wrapping paper?  I have and always felt very special to think someone would wrap something for me in such expensive paper.  I cannot afford the expensive paper so I am always on the hunt for imaginative ways to wrap in a way that it looks expensive but doesn’t break the budget.

If you have a box of crayons then you can make this very artistic gift wrap yourself.  You will need six sheets of tissue paper, two pieces of wax paper the same size as the tissue paper, and your favorite Crayola colors and an iron.

Remove the paper from the crayons and use a crayon sharpener to make piles of shavings.  Let the shavings fall in separate piles so you can distribute them where you want them.  Place the crayon shavings between the tissue paper.  (Three on top and three on bottom) Then place wax paper on the bottom and the top.  Set your iron to medium heat with no steam.  Then begin ironing the paper with constant pressure until the crayons have melted.  The wax paper will preserve your iron from any seepage.

Let the paper cool off and wrap your gift. Don’t forget to include a beautiful satin ribbon and equally beautiful and creative bow to complete your artistic masterpiece.

Finding creative ways to wrap gifts is a hobby of mine.  I remember when we moved out of state, my sister in law and mom used to send us occasional packages with special items in them.  Sometimes it was home baked cookies, or gifts for our daughter.  It was always so much fun getting a decoratively packaged package in our mail box.  They always decorated the brown paper wrapping with markers, and stickers.  Sometimes they would color pictures or use the funnies from the Sunday paper.

I love this idea, you can use this idea to mail a gift or as gift wrapping.  If you plan to mail this gift, use colored tape and not ribbon to decorate the box.  Weave the colors in and out to create the pattern. Then use a mailing label to write the address on.  Who do you know that could use a care package?  A college student would love to get a box of goodies wrapped like this.

If you plan to use this idea for a hand delivered gift, then try alternating horizontal and vertical strips of various colors of ribbon.  Use coordinating curling ribbon to add a festive bow.

There is a popular country song that says “Country must be Country wide”.  I believe that must be true because it seems that everywhere you look, someone is wearing plaid shirts with jeans and boots, and camouflage isn’t just for hunting anymore.

Camouflage ribbon comes in many colors, not just greens and browns.  This cute little hair bow is a great example of that.  These are very easy to make.  Depending on the size of the bow you want to make will determine the length of ribbon you will need.

You can start with about 6 inches of camouflage ribbon.  Then make the bow and if you want the bow smaller or larger, you just add or decrease the amount of ribbon.  Fold the ribbon into loops; stitch an x in the center to secure the ribbon.  Then add a flower or button or bead.  Then hot glue the bow to a snap clip or barrette.

These would look adorable for a mother daughter tea party.  If you organized a mother daughter banquet where many ladies and daughters would be attending the tea, you may want to choose to use many beautiful colors such as these.

You could alternate each place setting with a different color, and have the flowers on the table coordinate with the ribbon.  You could also have a blue table, rose table, and baby pink table and coordinate the flowers on the table to match the wide luxurious double faced satin ribbon bows.

Use crisp white linen napkins and table cloths. Delicate china with only a hint of color or even a metallic gold trim would look pretty. This will allow you to keep the color on the table coming from the flowers and ribbon.

Mothers Day is still a few months away, so stock up on top quality ribbon at wholesale ribbon prices.

This cake could easily be a wedding cake or even a pretty princess birthday cake.  If you want to make the cake yourself, but are not very skilled with icing tips and flowers, this is a great alternative.  If you use a red and green plaid ribbon this can be a festive Christmas cake. The ribbon pattern or color will be determined by the occasion.

You can even purchase pre-made bows if you struggle with perfect bow tying.  Whether you make your own or buy them pre-made, attach the bows to floral wire and poke them into the cake.  You will want to remove them before slicing.

The top bow is a larger version of the mini ones.  You can also attach it to floral wire and a wooden stick like a Popsicle stick. This way you can poke it down into the top of the cake and remember to leave long flowing tails on the ribbon.