Gorgeous Red Coral

Anything with a sea coral pattern catches my eye. I love this natural image and quite possibly it is because it is red and I always find coral illustrations to be so bold and delicate at the same time. It's quite sophisticated as a gift wrap pattern and one of the coordinating patterns in this collection had a wonderful surprise.

In planning my Wrap Room ensembles I assumed that most people would be wrapping multiple gifts of different sizes as they made their way through the gift wrap supplies. If you have the supplies on hand, you can also have a bit of creative fun in varying the papers and ribbons. In other words, no two gifts have to look alike and why should they? I think this method works it's best when you are giving one person a few gifts (a book and bookmark) , each one is wrapped differently, still coordinated but much more interesting. With this Natural wonder ensemble I added in two solids, a metallic red and matte black so you can extend the use of these papers with all sorts of coordinating embellishments available within this Natural Wonder Collection.

Though the top gift wrap paper features a larger sea coral pattern it works well with larger or smaller gifts. This isn't true with every large scale pattern but there is enough background calligraphy detail that it's works on either size of gift. The bottom paper with it's grid-based pattern is where you can have that fun I was talking about above. Those lovely images can be cut and then glued to the solid red or black paper. The images are so visual, it's can be all that is needed on smaller gifts. Another use for those leftover gift wrap strips.

My friends and I love this Natural Wonder Rubber Stamp Set. Great for scrap booking, making last minute gift cards, or adding to blank note cards and envelopes. It's all in the details. It can also work for making a gift wrap but that's another post (one I just figured out as I was writing this). The set includes 11 wood-block rubber stamps and a black ink pad. I think a red or chocolate brown ink pad would be perfect too. $29.00

I don't scrapbook, but I know these decorative self-adhesive labels would be fabulous for it. I have a couple friends who can't mail a letter unless it's sealed with one of these gorgeous stickers. I think they truly shine when used for gift wrapping as you can tell. As seen above, they can be used to great effect on solid papers with small lengths of ribbon. I like putting them right over a flat ribbon. Over 100 labels $17.00.

Another of our new website products that are themed to match the Wrap Room ensembles. These gorgeous linen Guest Towels are embroidered with exquisite detail and the 100% linen quality is incredible. I love giving these very special towels are a hostess gift, something they may not buy for themselves but will enjoy forever.

Powder rooms always look fabulous with a touch of red. Set of 2 towels for $60.00.

I'm almost there.......the website is finally starting to come together. While I do my Annie Liebovitz thing with all the photos, my webmaster is doing his design thing and plugging in all the copy. It's a tandem process that requires extreme multi-tasking as you all know so we are close......very close to launching A Gift Wrapped Life. And when I am done, I am going for the biggest grape ice cream cone they make. For sure.

All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

Pink in High-Resolution

I woke up Saturday morning and thought to myself "Girl, you just need to learn how to do your own photography". Off I went to my local camera store and came home with a technology-induced headache and a new best friend, a Canon Rebel XSi. Photoshoots for my website have always been the hold-up in the process, it's just plain tense and way too picky for most professional photographers. I see my product, but conveying that picture (in my head) is too time-consuming and expensive. And it's ongoing with new product, so at 55 yrs. old I am determined to learn how to do more styling, and shoot my own photos. Yesterday I absorbed impressive words like aperture, ISO, white balance, macro, and telephoto. My hand is sore from carrying this hefty friend around all day shooting everything in sight and these mature neurons are firing off like crazy. This Princess Pink photo is one of my baby gift ensembles that is being re-styled for the website and I think it is the most precious pink present to send to a new princess. It comes with the most feminine pink Daisy sun hat since it's never too early for a girl to worry about sun protection.

When you ask for help from your fellow blogger friends, they always come through for you. A few weeks ago, blogger Mandy from A La Parisienne emailed with some advice on white balance when I apologized to blog viewers for my tinted photo backgrounds. She got the wheels turning and from there I emailed Alice at the photographically-superior blog Thoughts from Alice W, who's blog and website photos are some of the loveliest I've seen. Within ten minutes, she graciously emailed her camera spec's and off I went into a whole other learning curve. I also noticed this is the same Canon camera used by the book-worthy blog photos at Cannelle Vanille and we all know her food photography is something to see. My Paris Pink file folders, Paris Rubber Stamp Set, and Eiffel eraser are always on my desk.....if I have to work I'm going to make it as pretty and pleasant as possible. Now wouldn't this lovely gift perk up those pesky desk chores?

This photo actually has some great resolution, but when it downloads to blogger it loses some of it's clarity. A quick, 7 am email to my web guy with the question "why are these photos losing their resolution in the transfer from file to blogger and how can I fix it?" still hasn't been answered (he's obviously a late-sleeper or hiding from me) but I'm dying to know. This Cote Bastide Giroflee Bath Gel and Soap is one of my favorite gift products, makes me think I'm in a sophisticated Paris bathroom. I think I might use these tonight in a good, long soak after a good, long bike ride. My other best friend who I am ashamed to admit I have been ignoring the last few days.

All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

Not a Secret Recipe

My friends said if I'm writing a blog, I should at least share

my recipe for my kinda- famous cookies.

Sande's Secret Recipe Chocolate Chip Cookies

In a few weeks our son who has been away for two years will be home for a few months. I will have to keep the food coming so I'm busy getting recipes ready, some of the higher fat goodies that have disappeared from the menu around here. I'm not known for spending a lot of time in the kitchen these days, but when I did, I was kinda well-known for my chocolate chip cookies. I had no problem sharing them or the recipe, but everyone always thought I was omitting a secret ingredient. I wasn't and never would, but here is the non-secret recipe to keep those kids coming to the door and some essential cookie tips.

1. Always use Golden Crisco. Always. I use their box recipe for chocolate chip cookies with the following modifications. The recipe is usually on the inside or outside of box.

2. Slightly under cook, take them out just before you think they are done. Slightly brown, not brown. Don't worry, they will brown more as they cool. Nothing worse than an over baked cookie.

3. Throw in a small handful of those Skor butterscotch baking bits. No one knows can quite figure out what is in them, but they really, really like it. They do something with those chocolate chips. I think this is the secret part.

4. I use regular chocolate chips and then chop up some larger chunks of semisweet chocolate.

5. I take this recipe x4 for about 6-7 trays (6-8 cookies each) so that I can give away half. Someone always

needs some home-baked cookies.

6. After Day 1, my son microwaves them for exactly 10 seconds so they are just like oven-fresh.

7. Always use parchment paper on your cookie sheets. It prevents the bottoms from over browning.

8. I bake them, but don't eat them. Ok.......maybe just a bite.

If you have a friend who shares her goodies, she might like this handy custom ink stamp that can be ordered at this Etsy store {click here). I used to keep a supply of plain white bakery-type boxes handy for baking day, line it with parchment, fill it with cookies, tie it pretty ribbon and drop them off here and there. This stamp would have been perfect to use right on the box lid. I miss those days of buying parchment paper in bulk.

A more vintage style gift for the woman who bakes and shares.

You can order these personalised tags here at another Etsy store.

Oh.....one more thing, don't forget the very cold milk.
Enjoy!

Top image from Flickr/Ink stamp image from Sweet Paperie at Etsy, Baking Labels from Farouche at Etsy, Bottom photo from Flickr