Yes, I really do iron tissue and ribbon......

It might not be the most interesting part of gift wrapping but it is the most practical and ecological. I have tons of better things to do these days of which I will get to in a minute, but that didn't stop me from ironing, yes ironing, a lovely pile of ribbon and tissue paper that I keep in a "to iron" box. I really like the gold stripe tissue that comes in Kate Spade boxes and there is no way I wouldn't feel bad throwing away perfectly good and stylish tissue paper without at least trying to see if it could be successfully "de-wrinkled" and used again. I will show you why and what I did with this golden mass in a upcoming post...........just not today. Explanation up ahead.

Then I thought I might as well iron a generous handful of green and gold ribbon that my friend used for my birthday gift last winter. Add a few colours to my collection. Yes, I already of a ton of new ribbon but I  can't not use these lovely satin lengths and so should you. A reminder of sorts for the holiday ahead. 

The left is the wrinkled state, the right where I ironed. Smooth and easy as can be. What is not going to be easy is the next few weeks. I am opening up what is lately referred to as a Pop- Up shop here in my local area to tidy up my excess gift inventory. You rent a temporary shop for a limited time period and have a big sale, when everything is gone.......so am I. I am going to be a real retail girl for the next month, the kind that has to dress up every day, open up the doors each day at regular hours, orders take-out for lunch (sushi next door-bonus), and have a few fun events like a Gift Wrap workshop. Sounds kind of fun doesn't it? It may mean less blog posts, it may actually mean more as a way to pass gaps in customer traffic. Hard to say, right about now I am doing crazy really well.

Is it kind of weird to iron your tissue and ribbon? And then re-use it? Let's put it this way, these days it seems even weirder to have piles of it this holiday season and just throw it away into the garbage doesn't it? If anybody gives you a gift with any kind of ribbon, store it in a box and when you have the need for gift wrap materials or the desire to do mindless ironing, then go for it. I found it to be quite relaxing. The same applies to store tissue and gift wrap paper, you have nothing to lose by trying. There is a few ribbon exceptions. If it is, you know, the really, really cheap kind of ribbon that many of us use for mass gifting, it may melt right into your iron so watch the temperature, do a test spot and take it from there. I store my ironed ribbons on those velvet hangers you can buy by at Target. Gift wrapping in your closet. See you soon..............off to work I go.

All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life