All Wrapped Up

Besides wrapping up our work in the closet this weekend, Wren and I also had some wrapping to do for a birthday party. I can totally appreciate the use of gift bags, specially when you are a busy mom, but I am a big fan of making the package just as special as the gift. That usually means some gift wrap and lots of odds and ends that we collect in our journeys. It really doesn't take much extra work to add special thought into wrapping a gift, and it is always nice to share that extra touch.

Wren picked out the gift for her friend Olivia, and I handled the wrapping portion of the gift giving.

I have to applaud Wren on her choice of an item with a nice, easy box to wrap! To get started I brought out my trusted craft boxes. I try to keep all our stamps, glitter, glue and so forth in just two boxes so that it isn't a major undertaking to find something when I need it.

Because we primarily go to girl parties I keep a fairly good supply of pink gift wrap on hand, but when I saw a $1 clearance sticker on a bunch of Martha Stewart wrapping paper a few years back I bought every color and style. Her paper is just so fun, and I love the thickness of it. For Olivia's gift I decided on a simple pink quilted paper to start.

If you start simple you can add a lot of details that will stand out.

All wrapped!

This is where we get crafty. Little girls love anything that sparkles and glitters, and especially anything small and delicate! So I like to collect random trinkets, like this deck of cards that was missing a couple cards, some paper flowers and rhinestones. The one thing that I use regularly when crafting is my punch and grommets. It was $4 or $5 and years later I haven't had to buy one single refill, but when I attach things I prefer the grommets to glue.

We cut a strip of paper from a coordinating roll and attached our treasures with the grommets. The fun part is that there is no rhyme or reason, you can attach snowflakes to flowers and stars to dots!

For the gift card I like to use playing cards with the age of the birthday girl, and a little glitter to spell their name.
Then we tape the strip of treasures to the gift (usually to cover the seam of paper on the backside) and add some ribbon!

It sounds like a lot of work, but it took Wren and I about 15 minutes to wrap the gift. And it was worth every second to see the birthday girl light up when she saw it!

I'll be back this afternoon to wish a very merry-unbirthday to our giveaway winner!