Christmas Present Wrapping Inspiration: The Reveal

Hello, Owls! Since I had so much fun wrapping our Christmas presents this year, I decided to share some of them with you. I was going to wait until we shipped all our gifts to our families in New York, but what's the fun in that? I probably wouldn't be as on top of Christmas every year if we didn't travel so much. We usually have to ship out our gifts, and I want to make sure they arrive at their destination well before Christmas (because heck, part of the fun of Christmas gifts is the anticipation of guessing what they are and opening them, right?).

This year, I decided to use Kraft paper, which I bought at Michaels for about $4.50 for a large roll, some Martha Stewart partridge paper we bought last year on sale at Kmart and some Kraft paper printed with some leaves that we bought at Target last year on sale. I used primarily baker's twine, regular twine and cheap ribbon to tie everything with, and handmade cutouts to label all the gifts.






Presents for Mr. Owl! I used a 1-inch circle punch to create the, well, circles, and tied them together with twine and ribbon. The owl gift bag was part of a two-pack at World Market (the other gift bag was a cute squirrel).



Our dog Betty decided she wanted to model some of the other presents. I LOVED the gift boxes Anthropologie was giving out this year with gift purchases. They're a really pretty ivory color (and very sturdy, which is great for shipping!) with a tie closure. I thought they were pretty enough on their own, so I just added some baker's twine, and made my own tags with the hole punch and a Martha Stewart partridge punch.



So, umm, Mr. Owl and I sometimes call each other "sexy."



And finally, my tools.


I hope that inspires some of you to get crafty with your gift wrapping this year!

Christmas present wrapping inspiration

Every year, I try to come up with new, fun ideas with how to wrap my Christmas presents. I think this year, I've finally found a style that I'll be using for years to come. Here's a sneak peek. Stay tuned for the full feature!

Christmas Tree Garland - Crazy Awesome

I've finished our Christmas tree garland! My finger tips are ripped to shreds and completely sore, and I was working on completing it while Mr. Owl was assembling our artificial tree, but it's done. I'm so happy with how it came out, and I've decided it was totally worth the hours and hours of work I put into it.

We always put up our tree and decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving, so we're ready to go for the holiday season, minus one more DIY project I'm still working on.

And, here's how the garland came out:










Once I finished over 100 puffs, I strung them together with twine, and voila! I'm loving our Christmas tree this year. Yay! What DIY projects are you taking on for the holiday season?

Handmade Christmas Tree Garland: Crazy Awesome, or Just Crazy?

Mr. Owl and I have lived together for a long time. Almost six years, I think (is it bad I don't really remember?). It's taken us (read: me) a long time to figure out our holiday style. We started off our first Christmas living together with reds and golds, and that was too traditional for us. Then we moved to bright colors everywhere, which stuck for a few years, but then realized it was too much. The past two years, we've done bright colors mixed with natural elements (pine cones, greenery, etc.) that seems to work perfectly for us (read: me).

Recently, I saw this Christmas garland at Anthropologie, and I couldn't get it out of my head. I loved the homemade feel, the materials and the overall look. I was not, however, ready to spend 40 bucks per strand on it. So I decided, in a moment of insanity, to learn to knit teeny, tiny little mittens, and make it myself.

About five seconds later, I decided that wasn't a good idea. Maybe next year? Umm, yeah, we'll see.

So then I saw on OnceWed:


source

... and decided that this was doable, if not still slightly crazy.

I went out and bought some fabric in the main colors we use around Christmastime:


Personal photo


... and I got to work.

And realized that this was going to take a lot longer than I thought. It's been about a week, and I only have 23 poms finished:


Personal photo


But I've decided it totally worth it, and part of a new personal challenge. If it's reasonably possible to make something for our home myself, I'm going to do it. Part of me is excited that some day, our kids will put this garland on our Christmas tree, and I can tell them the story about how one year, Mommy went temporarily insane and decided to make over 100 fabric pom poms for this garland. It's the little things like this that make Christmas memorable, right? I mean, it wouldn't be Christmas at my mom's house if she didn't still hang the ornaments me and Sister Owl made for her in elementary school (clothespin reindeer, anyone?). It's all about memories - and handmade ones are pretty awesome.