Shoes and Opera........... gift wrapping tower

When you see scented sachets on sale, grab them. Not only do they make for stylish embellishments when it comes to gift wrapping those special gifts, your gift will smell really, really good. In this case, someone stylish who is turning 50 and just happens to love shoes so this Pucci pattern and whimsical shoe shape fits the gifting occasion. I told the customer I would wrap it one way then went totally off into another direction, good thing she gave me some creative leeway. It's always best to give me some, I do a better job.

Adding a matching sachet of another shape to the top of this 2-tiered gift just adds to the glamour and fun. I liked the black & white striped taffeta ribbon with the Pucci print. It was making me feel kind of groovy while wrapping this celebratory gift. I am guessing the birthday girl will be feeling a groovy kind of love as well. 

When it comes to celebrating a 50th Birthday, the more ribbon the better don't you think? Trust me on this, when wrapping a 40th or 50th birthday gift go as special as you can in technique and effort. It just makes the milestone event that much more fun. 

Two hot pink gift boxes were wrapped in Kelly Green paper. I took this photo quickly with my iphone (should Apple send me an endorsement contract or what?) so the colours aren't exact (my fault) but my hot pink Opera ribbon just adds a bit more glitz. Get ready ladies, lots of gift wrapping ahead. I will tell you all about what's ahead in the upcoming week. 

All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

Blogger Break & Sneak Peek

Did you miss me this week? It's the end of a long day, website design is in place (but not up yet)and I adore it. Now comes the fun part. Matching up gift wrap patterns with ribbon, tag, and embellishments for The Wrap Room. My intention of opening A Gift Wrapped Life is to offer anyone a complete gift wrap ensemble (gift wrap/ribbons/tissue/tags/embellishments/silk and paper flowers) so all the work is done for you. A gorgeous, tasteful variety to cover any gift in gorgeous splendor. As you know by now, you really can't wrap badly if you have the right materials at hand. No more running out at the last minute and settling for anything. Well ladies, the right materials and 24 unique collections are on their way. The gift wrapping impaired will be able to suddenly dazzle everyone with their creative presentation. and I can tell you this....... it makes for the most wonderful gift for any woman. You'll see.

I thought I would give you a small showing of some of your new gift wrap patterns. These two bright beauties are going to be in the Versailles Collection

The Eiffel Tower in Hot Pink and Black.Tres chic and this is going to be so much fun to wrap.

Something a bit bolder and I think I will add a series of ribbons with this one.

Bright yellow, Hot pink, and Kelly Green.

Here's a hanging ladder sample of new gift wrap on it's way. I am mixing these up with others for a variety package. You know how I love mixing up patterns in wrapping. Love the Blue Greek key pattern.

~ The Bergere Collection ~

More Eiffel Tower pattern in a feminine Paris pattern. Fabulous for a birthday(all girly ages), wedding shower, or for anyone who loves Paris and that whole Marie Antoinette look.
~

I will show you our gorgeous Versailles gilt collection next week, wait to you see the gorgeous ribbon idea we came up for this series. Our linen fabric wraps are being made and Exquisite Paper Flowers in larger sizes are on their way. This one will be like the icing on the cake.

~
Thank you for all your lovely support and comments this week!

All photos from A Gift Wrapped Life ~ Oooh la la Cadeau product sources

Va Va Voom...for music to my ears

We have an exceptional symphony in our medium-size town of Windsor, Ontario. We are one of the cities in Canada that is right in the heart of the economic downtown and car industry meltdown, so the only music a lot of people want to hear is the hum of a well-functioning auto assembly line. But we are the keepers of our children's future world as well so I don't think this should mean we ignore the arts, though sadly it can be the first to go when concerns are more pressing. I think it means we should support it if we can, go listen to the local talent, go to that local artist showing, look around closer to home. Music needs to be heard, artists need to draw, and we need to hear and see beauty more than ever. Some of the most creative solutions will come from this very bleak time as the world re-aligns itself. With that in mind......I decided to do some va va voom in exchange for music to my ears.

A la la friend of mine is involved with the local Windsor Symphony and every year they have a fundraising gala. You know what that means.......silent auctions. I donate this Tower Of Gifts for three reasons, my friend is a really good one, two I hope it raises funds for our symphony, and three.......I hope the bidder has a wonderful la la moment when she opens it all ( last year's bidder had a "la la " un-wrapping party but they didn't invite me). I expect it will take about 3-4 hours to unwrap this production because it took double that time to put this tall lady together. It did run through my head to downplay the gift production, being that the economy is awful and I don't want to send the wrong message. Then I thought......just go crazy, I'll try to make it gorgeous and maybe it will fetch a few more dollars for our worthy symphony, in which case I'm going to bring out all the stops. I thought you might enjoy seeing this presentation, it's not often I do a tower (3.5 feet tall) that includes 5 boxes and 17 gift wrapped gifts (every single one of them) and likely about 200 yards of ribbon , I'm exaggerating, not quite that many yards.

The gala colour scheme is Black & White so I thought a strong dose of coral and orange would make it stand out and loosen some wallets. I used my vintage Paris label gift wrap and all 17 gift items of various sizes are from France (or look like they could be). In wrapping each item, I used 10 different gift wrap styles for a delicious pattern mix and just about every ribbon colour I have ( I did pass out at 10 pm). The Windsor Symphony director and conductor John Morris Russell is a fabulously energetic and creative one and I hope he will stick around, we are lucky to have him.

Just in case you think I've lost my mind with this over-the-top presentation, I thought I would share a simpler gift wrap presentation I used when wrapping up this lovely notebook. Look......no bows, just simple knots over matte gold metallic paper, it can be done.

All photos by Sande Chase ~ Oooh la la Cadeau

Love Love Chartreuse

photo by Polly Wreford

I am fascinated with the colour Chartreuse. I adore the colour, I even love the word, how it rolls off your tongue as you say it, when I'm looking for visual impact, it's my go-to ribbon choice. As an exact reference, her bag and the wide bow on the fourth box above are chartreuse. I try not to play favorites, but I admit to being partial to this vivid tone. It's a potent, potent colour..... chartreuse is the exact colour located halfway between green and yellow (50% green 50% yellow) and it is the most visible colour to the human eye since it sits directly in the middle of the frequencies of visible light. In other words, if I was to wrap 50 gifts in all different colours and arrange them all together, your eye would immediately drawn first to this vibrant colour. As a colour description, it's first recorded use in the English language was in 1892, before that this brilliant colour was simply referred to as yellow-green. I much prefer Chartreuse.

First and foremost, green Chartreuse is a famous french liqueur developed as the "elixir of long life" and named after the La Grande Chartreuse monastery, the Mother House and headquarters of the Carthusian order of monks. Originally developed for medicinal purposes in1764, it is composed of distilled alcohol flavored with 130 herbal extracts, one of them known to be chlorophyll. The recipe took over a hundred years to be perfected and is a closely guarded secret. At any time in it's long history, only 2 monks (some say 3 monks) know the identity of the 130 plants that give it it's distinctive and natural green colour. Though originally located in Vauvert near Paris (the chartreuse mountain region), back-and-forth property disputes over several hundreds of years (and the French Revolution) led to it's present location in Voiron near the French Alps. There is also a yellow Chartreuse liqueur, a knock-off so to speak, it's a milder and sweeter taste and more yellow tone is likely due to the addition of saffron.

A Chartreuse flapper dress by fashion designer Philip Lim. Not a wearable colour for everyone, but if the colour suits your complexion...go for it, you'll will be the most noticeable in the room. Put a turquoise necklace with it and it's positively electric. I bought a chartreuse scarf last month at Target for 12.99 and I can't stop wearing it.

Though it's complementary colour (opposite on the colour wheel) is violet, it's a colour that gets along happily with all the other colours, it loves pink, red, turquoise, you name it, it works. It certainly isn't worried about any competition. I have only been able to find one true chartreuse ribbon and I go through this slinky double face satin quite quickly. Used with black it makes for a sophisticated gift wrap, here I wrapped black glossy paper with a wide black damask flocked ribbon that lies flat better than it ties. It's not the least expensive ribbon so this is a clever way to use it sparingly to great efect. A fuchsia silk floral pin gives it a fashionable zap of even more colour. Soon I will tell you why that ribbon has a Chartreuse imprint.

Top photo by Polly Wreford-Sarah Kaye/2nd Photo via Chartreuse Fr/3rd Photo via Neiman Marcus/Bottom Photo by Sande Chase-OoohlalaCadeau

Orange, orange and more orange...

photo images by Sande Chase-Oooh la la Cadeau

When a customer says you pick the gift wrap, even I can be surprised with the results, and often find a new favorite combination. Orange wrap, orange double-face satin, orange hand-dyed silk ribbon, peach sheer ribbon, and a peach silk peony takes this gift to it's over-the-top status, just as the customer requested. Silk flowers can add beautiful volume to a gift wrapped box and are readily available (and often on sale) at home stores these days, so if you see a pretty one, grab a bunch for your next gift wrapping project. Clip off the stem leaving approximately 4 inches so it tucks nicely under the ribbon tie center. I can't stand paper seams showing on larger boxes so adding a length of wide ribbon around the perimeter hides it nicely. Just use double-sided tape to secure on the inside of ribbon edges. You aren't trying to gift wrap without double-sided tape are you? More on that in an upcoming post.

Multiple gifts were inside the gift box shown above and which goes to show the effect of using multiple gift wrap patterns. When stocking up on wrap papers, look to buy solids and patterns that can work together. Think the way you would for buying room accessories and you stay in a colour zone. Pick a gift wrap look (and it doesn't have to be forever) stock up and stick to it for the season anyways. Less wasteful and your gifts will have a distinctive signature look which you develop. We'll get back the seals shown on the tissue wrap at bottom, Fed Ex just delivered my new styles that I want to share. Need a few days of prep.

Basic Black

Image by Sande Chase. Paper Flowers by IndabaTrading

If you read yesterday's post, you may have thought I was crazy suggesting buying black gift wrap as your basic paper. You might even have thought "how drab" but today's gift combination shows how it acts just like black accents do in a room setting.....it let's other colours pop. accented with bright, lemon ribbon as shown above, this gift box becomes bright and happy, but sophisticated in it's drama. You can change the mood of this neutral base with leftover ribbon of any colour. And that is alot easier than trying to find matchy paper to matchy up to a pile of different ribbon colours.

When you find it, buy it...............you'll tell me I'm right later.

Photos via palomasnest.etsty

You can't reside in a border town without doing cross-border shopping. For me it's a short drive to Somerset in Troy, Michigan, aka The Mother Ship as a client of mine used to call it. In other words, when it comes to shopping, that border is just a toll booth to more things, I feel pretty much the same about website shopping. It just gives me more to choose from and alot more sources to share. Finding Etsy, a marketplace of talented artists was like visiting Pluto, a whole new shopping world, minus the toll booth. I love, love this stylish wood bracelet, even more I love the possibilities of what this gift can say to a friend. You pick the custom words so speak from the heart or be as fun-loving as your friend. The cloth gift bag - Love & Kisses - shown at top is available extra.