Fashionista Gift Wrapping............from the source

It is amazing what inspiration you find in those piles of fashion and shelter magazines but I am going to guess that you haven't thought of it as a ready source for gift wrapping. When it comes to gift wrapping for that fashionista friend of yours, I think this idea might just make your gift the very favorite of them all only because it can capture their stylish personality. I always loved playing cut-outs when I was a young  girly-girl and while flipping throught the pages of Vogue the connection came to me, this idea only takes that pleasurable pastime into a slightly more mature direction, all in the interest of novel gift presentation of course. In fact, I am having so much fun recycling my magazines that I am going to stay with this gift wrap concept for the next few weeks and see where it takes me.

All you need is time, magazines, small sharp scissors, a glue stick, some ribbon, and you are ready to play, I mean.......create. Before any magazines are recycled, I do a visual edit and tear the pages that may possibly have an image I can cut and use. I know many of you already do this for inspiration boards but I was never that organized, it took gift wrapping to motivate me. It was this Manolo Blahnik ad (and my fond memories of cut-out attire) that got my gift wrapping wheels turning recently. I hope these clever Blahnik people stay with this illustrated ad campaign and give me more show styles to work with soon (though I am sure they would rather I buy the shoes). If you think you might you fancy this technique and may want to use a favorite image again in your gift wrapping, I would suggest scanning for repeat use and printing out on a heavyweight paper. If the cutting and gluing seems like too much work but you think the image totally suits your friend, then use the scan to print the image as a unique gift tag in any size. 

And though you will see many examples over the next few weeks (as you can see I have some background papers ready), I started with this box that I already used for a re-gift box post last year. The two layers of ribbon were already in position and are simply double-sided taped to the underside of the lid. Your prep is that simple. When I have time, I cut the images (which can be surprisingly calming-who knew?) so I have a stylish variety ready to layer and experiment with at any time. 

Though you might be tempted to go ribbon-less, I think the ribbon base just makes it more finished and gives a gift wrapped base to this idea. I added the black and white grosgrain for more visual impact. I will show you some examples with bows but this image was larger and a bow seemed to interfere with this fabulously fashionable image. 

You can be as precise with the glue stick as you want and glue down every inch, or even use double sided tape (which is tacky enough to lift and re-position) in stategic spots if you think the recipient may want to lift off the image cut-outs and play on her own, I mean...............create. I have a couple other application ideas for you as well, another idea to give this concept more dimension. Stay tuned over the next few weeks, I think this might be fun, kind of taking cut-outs to a more mature level........or so I tell myself. 






All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life