Ways to wrap your present to make them stand out

We are almost there! Only 2 more days of Christmas to go for the challenge to be a success and I cannot wait! It’s Christmas eve tomorrow and man am I ready to celebrate!

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me… ELEVEN WRAPPED PRESENTS!

I have always liked wrapping presents, but this year I really tried to do something a little special for each. It does take time but when I see people’s faces I am sure that it will be worth every minute. I’m pretty chuffed at the way they all turned out too!

I am going to start with my couple fun and colourful ones. There may even be a couple really silly ones (REINDEER!!) which are great for a younger audience, or those young at heart! Christmas is all about laughter remember.

Pretty colourful patterned wrapping paper spruced up with a homemade colourful label and some yarn.

Santa’s BELLY! Some red paper with a simple belt made from black and yellow card.

Big box? Turn it into a reindeer!! Just crumple up some brown paper, Paint on a Rudolph nose and add some ears. (And a tail!)

Little box? Turn it into a reindeer head of course! A massive red pompom is all you really need to give this fella a personality

Get some pretty paper and stick some yummies on top. I love the candy cane with matching ribbon. Wrapping a couple things together can be tricky so why not place them in an interesting way.

Now to move onto my more artsy and pretty ones too. I tried to tie the themes into the people the presents were for, since it is about what they like not me! I hope you enjoy the photo’s and get a little inspiration too.

Chalk board effect using black paper and a white colouring pencil. I cellotaped 2 A4 pieces together and then went freehand. You can have so much fun with this idea!

Simple brown paper with ribbon. The special thing here is the clay name tag/label. Simple using air dry clay, cookie cutter and a paint/permanent marker.

Brown paper though mine’s a little on the grey side 😦 with washi tape to jazz it up and hold it all together! Also featuring a clay label.

Plain paper is great as you can grab some pens and decorate it yourself – these hand drawn branches are a doddle. Add some sparkle with ribbon or coins and hot glue some pinecones to finish it all off.

Wrap it like a cracker – doesn’t really take much more explaining than that.

Sticky Toffee Pudding gift basket. I’ll be sure to dedicate a post to this beauty in the new year!

5 ways to decorate envelopes and how to make your own from scratch

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me … FIVE DECORATED ENVELOPES!

Why feel as though your creativity has to be limited to making wonderful cards – envelopes are plain and boring too! Perfect canvas if you ask me. This also gives you a hint for what is coming on the sixth day. The first four are shop brought envelopes which have some simple pen work on them to make something a little special. The fifth I though I would give a tutorial on making your own envelopes. I find this really helpful if you have/make slightly odd sized cards as it is impossible to find envelopes that fit, I have wasted plenty of time trying in the past so believe me.

Simple brown card with wreath circle on front and back.

Snowy Christmas Tree with NAME bunting. Might get a little tricking with those double barrelled names mind!

Drawn on label and ribbon. I like taking the detail over to the back.

Chritmas light border. Just draw 2 wiggly lines and have a bit of fun.

Now making homemade envelopes is much easier than you think. I love covering them in tissuepaper for a great texture and then you can theme them like I have done with this one. The hardest bit is making your first template. The one I have made on this occasion is for a standard ¼ A4 sized card. This is great as it can be cut out from an A4 sheet. I don’t know how to make all these fancy online templates like all those shiny blogs do, if enough people want it I can give that a shot though (no promises it’ll work). One. Take a piece of A4 card and draw around the card you are making an envelope for. Mark the middle points on all four side and draw a line out (should make a point in the center if you take the lines in as well as out). Measure how many cm to your middle point, add 2cm, then measure onto your outer line (top and bottom) and join up the corners to that point. To look nice you can curve the top point and flatten the bottom. Do a similar thing for the sides apart from take away the 2cm this time. I had a lot of trial and error so you might have to try a couple times before everything lines up completely right. Two. Add tabs onto each triangle – you need these to glue the whole thing together at the end. You can see on my picture what I mean (I hope). When adding the two side tabs draw them at an angle going inwards. This will make it much easier for the next stage when you are folding all the sides together. Three. Cut this template out and score the initial rectangle. At this point you can see if the template is going to work. Firstly fold in the side triangles then the bottom and see if they all line up fairly straight. Also check that if you pull the top down there are no gaps. Hopefully this all works well and can use it for ever more. Four. Copy from your template onto some card or themed paper to make the real deal. If covering in tissue paper I use card stock 230gsm. Cut and score and fold as before (don’t glue yet!) Five. Cut a slightly bigger version (just a simple square) of the tissue paper you are going to cover with. Using a watered down PVA cover the right side with glue and then press on the tissue paper. Give it a few minutes to get a little sturdy and then trim the extra paper away and the triangles in the corners. Six. Almost there now! Add some glue to the side tabs remember if nothing else to leave the curved top one. Pull in the side pieces then the bottom and press together. Place something heavy on top for a little while to ensure that it is not going to pop open and then you are done. After you have put the card in you can just tuck the top into the main section.