Holiday Gift Wrap - No. 1

Something liberating about a plain white box isn't there? And this is the simplest white box I could find. No need to wrap it with paper, just work with the colour scheme of those department store boxes you will be passing along this season. A bit of glitz never hurts this time of year and in this case the more the merrier as I took on this neutral palette. These mini metallic ornaments are easy to find in any colour and I simply used them in volume (about 20) to make a beautiful topper. I used dental floss through the ornament top and the more ornaments you add the bigger the ornament ball will be, keeping a few aside for an extra embellishment. Just keep adding and when you tie the two floss ends together it forms this ball all by itself. A lot easier than I thought.

For some reason, I am low on solid white ribbon so I used a 1.5" white organza ribbon to make my ornament ball "nest". I had this frothy picture in my head anyways and wanted this over-the-top glamour presentation that would be easy to do. And it is............. anybody can do this.

My organza "nest" is made by tying bows to to the main box ribbon. Use the main ribbon as the anchor for your four-sided bows. Once tied, you can easily "slide" the organza bows in closer to the center or all the way to the outside edge of the box. I actually doubled up on the bows to give it more volume, but it works just fine with a single bow as well. You want to position the outside bows so they "nest" your ornament ball, moving them in or out depending on the size of the ornament ball. I don't need to tell you that this technique would work for any colour combination you are working with for the holidays. A "paperless" way to work with any plain department store box.

Though this technique would work with any style of ribbon, I do like the volume and shimmer of an organza ribbon with the metallic ornaments. It''s my version of a White Christmas gift wrap. Those two mini ornaments I told you to put aside? I like a few dangling on the front as shown here. Just thread them through any of the ribbon tails and then knot them into position. I have a "male" version of this idea coming up, so keep posted. I are wrapping and posting in brillant colour all week long. You didn't think I was going to leave you now did you?

All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life