Hello Crate Paper fans! It's Tara here to share a little post that I'd like to call "Crate Scraps to Gift Wrap". Now that we are inching ever so closer to the Holidays, it's time once again to start thinking about presents and gift wrap, and what could be better than creating your own handmade gift wrap from all that scrap-paper you've been holding onto?!
I'm going to start off by discussing the topic via a recent gift wrapped box I recently made - housed beneath a pretty, large-sized butterfly that is sure to delight a friend or family member..
My FIVE favorite ideas for handmade gift wrap!
1. Start with a color scheme and choose about 3 or 4 colors. You'll be surprised at how simple gift wrapping becomes when you limit the choices of colors you can use. By sticking to just a few colors, you can organize your supplies accordingly and hopefully, this will save you time! For this particular wrapping, I went with the warth of Fall and balanced it out with snippets of both Grey and Cream.
2. I try to make it a point to reuse as much of my paper scraps as possible. I'll use my paper punches to punch a shape out of every last little piece of scrap paper. Once my punched shape collection has grown, I sew the paper pieces together and create paper garlands that can be used to wrap around gift boxes! (To keep your garlands nice and neat (and untangled), wrap each one on it's own spool!)
3. I love the layered look of gift packages and it's easy when you layer a combination of colors and textures together. To create a layered gift card, I started with a vintage button card and decorated it with a few of Crate's lovely buttons, along with a self-made pretty floral. I then took one of Random's Accent Cut Cards and wrote a little note on the front of it. I partnered the two cards together with a scrap of canvas and a cute petite clip.
4. Use your paper punches or hand-cut shapes to make dimensional embellishments. (You can also use foam pop dots in between the layers of paper to give your embellishment more dimension) I always create one large embellishment for my gift wrap, these will replace the traditional bow on top the gift.
5. Go Neutral! You can never go wrong with Crate's infamous tone on tone pattern papers as wrapping paper for a small gift or instead, opt for ledger paper (as I've noted below). They lend seamlessly to colorful additions to placed on top the gift!
Lastly, FIVE simple must haves for a lovely gift!
1. A Neutral gift wrap paper. I love vintage ledger paper, map paper and flocked wall paper.
2. Handmade paper garlands.
3. Ribbon to tie and hold everything together.
4. Layered gift tags
5. A grand gift topper!
Hope you enjoyed a few of my ideas on creating your very own gift wrap and remember to save those scraps! I'll return next week with an entirely new series of holiday gift wrap images from Crate's Peppermint Collection! Have a lovely weekend! ~ Tara Anderson
What a Fab idea! Loveeeeeeeee that butterfly! :):):):):):):)
Posted by: julie Tucker-Wolek | September 16, 2011 at 06:39 AM
Love it, really do!
Posted by: Patty Taylor | September 16, 2011 at 06:56 AM
Love the Last 5 Must Have's. It makes a great formula for gift wrapping. Thanks for sharing! I'm off to make paper garlands now!
Posted by: Alicia | September 17, 2011 at 01:16 PM
This packaging is so yummy! So inspiring, I will definitely use these tips on future gifts. The presentation is gorgeous!
Posted by: Amy baldwin | September 18, 2011 at 12:58 PM
Love this! What a wonderful idea!!!!Thank you for sharing this!
Posted by: Lissa | September 29, 2011 at 11:08 AM
I love how you just took a bunch of random pieces of scrap paper and made them into something so pretty! thanks for the tips, they are really helpful! Love the buttons ides too!
Posted by: boxing machine | October 24, 2011 at 07:06 AM
love love!
Posted by: bonitarose | December 10, 2011 at 05:31 PM
Thank you for this inspirations!
You can see my butterfly-girland here: http://steffieshexenhaus.blogspot.de/2012/04/scrap-girlanden.html
Best wishes from Germany!
Steffie
Posted by: Steffie | April 24, 2012 at 03:04 AM
Hey Tara... I just found your blog!! It's fabulous! I would love to make the paper garland from all of my scrap cards and papers! I am trying to figure out how you sewed the pieces together? Looks like baking twine, but I'm sure you didn't thread that through your machine? XoXo
Posted by: Katie | October 14, 2012 at 03:16 PM