pom pom christmas gift wrap //

It's that time of the year again when I start planning how the gifts will be wrapped before I even buy any presents. I start gathering and brainstorming ideas early and picking up supplies that can serve as potential materials. I just absolutely LOVE it and I might be a little crazy about it (just a little though). I love coming up with new ideas each year to add to the collection. Creating the christmas gift wrap is pretty much my favorite part of gift giving. Kicking off Christmas gift wrapping this season is a sweet and simple pastel pom pom wrap. 

materials:

• IKEA drawing paper
• fluffy pastel yarn (here's the one i used in the color "ramble")
• pastel pink washi tape
• leather lace 

I'm sure most of you have made a pom pom at some point. Here's a quick and easy tutorial, you know, just in case. I just used my hand to wind the yarn (four fingers for a large pom pom and two fingers for a smaller pom pom). Using a very fluffy/fuzzy yarn makes for a nice puffy pom pom. I did not trim the yarn on one side so that the pom pom would lay flat on top of the box. 

This yarn has such an awesome texture to it. Look for thick yarn with a unique texture. Ombre yarn or yarn with multiple colors is a bonus. It creates a wonderful blend of colors in your pom pom (and kind of reminds me of ice cream swirls..)  

I used my favorite Ikea drawing paper for wrapping and tied it all together with a leather lace in cream. This combination of colors, textures, and materials makes for a soft and sweet gift wrap. 

Christmas Gift Wrap Ideas // Part 2

2. Cream + Cork/Leather Bows

Next year, I wanted a softer, more natural look with some texture, but wanted to stick with the light/white color scheme. I was also totally inspired by this veneer bow DIY I stumbled upon, so I thought to myself, "I must try this!" Here we go.

Paper: Soft to the touch, matte surface, heavier than gift wrap, beautifully milky cream color. I bought a roll of this paper at Ikea for $4.99. We won't tell anyone that its for child's drawing. It did a wonderful job, and I've been using this paper for many many years to wrap my gifts for various occasions. The paper will make a come back in Part 5 of these series. I also used some cream lid/chocolate brown bottom jewelry boxes for the smaller, hard-to-wrap gifts. The bottom of the boxes had a nice pebbly texture. You can easily find these boxes online for a bargain. 

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Bows: As mentioned above, the cork bows were inspired by a veneer bow DIY. You can find step by step instructions for it here. I couldn't find any cheap veneer in the local hardware or craft stores (and believe me I called all the Ace, Low's, Home Depots, and local hardware stores in the area) and ordering veneer online was not an option since I was two days away from Christmas. So, I franticly searched Michael's for something even remotely similar. Enter cork sheets! These are much much thinner than the ones used for bulletin boards, so they bend easily and do not break. You can find these among the scrapbooking papers. I also bought a few sheets of a dark chocolate leather look-a-like paper with a nice grainy texture.  You can cut the sheets into strips as wide as you with the bows to be. I connected all the pieces of the bow and connected the bow to the boxes using glue dots (a life saver).  Although the cork sheets are very flexible and rather durable, still be somewhat careful to not exert too much pressure on the curves of the bow, as they will fold and break. 

Other accents: I used regular beige/grey twine cord as the "ribbon." You can get this at virtually any local craft supply store, usually sold in a large roll near the jewelry supplies. For the name tags, I chose a kraft paper tags from Michaels, but again, you can get this at any local craft store. For the tape, I used a wood veneer edging look-a-like washi tape purchased from Etsy. 

Once you get a hang of the bow making, the processes goes pretty smoothly. And the rest is an absolute breeze. (Pun intended). Happy wrapping!

Christmas Gift Wrap Ideas // Part 1

Its the most wonderful time of the year! We are six days away from Christmas, and I'm feeling all giddy inside. Hopefully most of your the gift shopping is done so now its time to get all those goodies wrapped up!

Giftwrapping became kind of a tradition for me a few years ago. All the brightly colored, densely patterned, dosed in glitter, "festive" wrapping paper and slick shiny ribbon in shades of red, green, and gold left me desiring more. Something simpler and cleaner. So, here's my take on DIY christmas gift wrapping. Wrap on!

1. White + Yarn

For the first year, I opted for luxuriously thick and brilliantly white art paper. I wanted that supple, velvety feel, and a spotless bright white. The paper I used for the wrapping was beautiful art paper I found at a local art supplies store. I bought a few sheets of paper used for sketching and drawing, of different weight. For the small stocking-stuffer like gifts, I used two sheets of regular white printer paper (worked like a charm and has that "crisp" feel to it).  Art paper is much heavier that your regular gift wrap and really gives your gifts that luxurious look.

I tied it with a single loop knot using some unique yarn I scored on clearance at a local Michael's store. The yarn was $2 and was laying at the very bottom of the shelf at the back of the store among other items that look like they've been collecting dust at Michael's for decades. Now, I always look at those clearance bins, just in case there is another treasure hiding inside.

For the name tags, I used basic white tags from the same Michaels. I adorned the gifts with some washi tape I bought off Etsy years ago, matching the color of the tape to the color of the yarn. Last, I topped each gift off with star outlines that I cut out of the scraps of the paper used for wrapping. I never leave a scrap behind and you can always find some good use for it. 

Simple, easy, and quick!

Merry Christmas!