wrapping it up.

this post warrants a preface.

i am a person of intelligence. i am relatively right-brained and can whip up a craft relatively easily. that being said, i have a difficult time distinguishing between gift wrapping and brain surgery. give me a square box and roll of paper and i jump right on the struggle bus. my poor mother has tried to teach me so many times how to wrap a neat package, but it just doesn't sink in. my final products always end up with wrinkles, crooked edges, and nearly a mile of scotch tape. but that doesn't stop me from trying. because let's face it: it is so much more fun to tear into a gift than take it out of a bag. i take things out of bags everyday: groceries, my lunch, my keys from my purse, etc. but i only tear into paper like a maniac once a year.

so. even if you're a gift wrapping train wreck like me, there are some cute little touches you can add to your packages (that's what she said?) to distract the gift opener from your less than stellar wrap job.

first thing first: the paper. my paper of choice this year is good old fashioned brown butcher paper.

it's versatile, so it can be used year round. you can find this GIANT roll in the paint section of your local hardware store. and the best part? it's super cheap. this roll cost me $8 and will last me a long long long time.

option 1:

i used red scrap yarn and wrapped it around the gift a few times. i am ruh-eally bad at tying bows, so i just knotted the yarn in the back.

i prefer the look of hand drawn "tags" rather than the standard prefabricated type. but if you're the type to develop a mild case of tourettes every time you pick up a pen, by all means use the sticker tags.

option 2:

when i went to the hardware store to buy the butcher paper, i grabbed and/or hoarded a bunch of green paint strips. cut those suckers into triangles and you've got yourself some christmas trees. or hanukkah bushes, if that's your thing. you can't see it really well in this photo, but the tree trunks are the 'to' and 'from' labels.

option 3:

i really love the look of silhouettes and brown packaging provides the perfect backdrop. in this photo, i used a picture of my mom's profile (the recipient of the package) to cut out her silhouette onto some white glittery paper. although it doesn't look like it in this picture, it's reminiscent of sparkly snow, which i love. "to: mom from: sarah" is written all around the perimeter of the silhouette.

option 4:

and you just can't go wrong with brown paper packages tied up with string. julie andrews says so.

finish it off with another handwritten tag.

and just to prove how craptastic my wrapping skillz are, take a look at this...

so much tape. SO much tape.

oh well. at least the deets are cute.