Happy Everything.................and Ribbon Posies

I am calling these Ribbon Posies because this gift embellishment is as simple as gathering a handful of flowers into a flower posy. I was hunting around for short pieces of ribbon as I have this fab idea for a designer hair adornment for Daisy if it works and came across these Midori Ribbon samples. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was ironing linen fabric, stamping grosgrain ribbon, and tying up these short but wider lengths of vibrant silk. This ribbon Posy is easy, easy and a great way to gather up leftover lengths of ribbon or minimize your ribbon yardage purchase. Take as many ribbon pieces as you want, loop each ribbon, mix up the widths, colours and textures in this case I mixed up the patterns, then tie with another short ribbon piece. That's it.

I was dying to use my new Besotted rubber stamps and just love this Happy Everything, I think it is my absolute favorite phrase. Since this ribbon is a grosgrain, the stamp image isn't as sharp but I love the result on this banded grosgrain.

This would be a beautiful presentation for a holiday birthday. I am always careful not to decorate a holiday birthday gift with a Christmas theme as it can look like you grabbed the seasonal gift wrapping supplies if you know what I mean. It might be the holidays but it is still their own special day so I like it festive but mindful. The same applies to gifts given to anyone who does not celebrate Christmas but has their own festivities. 

I have used linen fabric before for gift wrapping way back here but wanted a smoother presentation. I simply cut the two pieces of linen fabric slightly larger than the box size about 1", pinned along cut edges in place to fit exact, and then ironed the edges. One piece going one direction, one the other and both affixed on the underside with double-sided tape. I have yards and yards of this linen fabric from my designer days and think I will use it more now that I have this result. You can use any fabric that will give you a nicely pressed edge. 

I tucked the ribbon on the one end and left the top with a stylish v-cut. The ribbon is also held in place with double-sided tape. The Ribbon Posy is held with a dab from the hot glue gun. 

Should you wish to indulge in this Midori ~ Gala Dupioni ribbon found here, it does come with a finished edge. These are sample pieces so the raw edge is shown. Midori has just opened a retail website. 

Linen and ribbon done simply and beautifully too. 

Another way to use this ribbon.

A sparkly holiday ornament gives the Ribbon Posy an extra dose of holiday sparkle. 

A sparkly welcome to new followers and thank you to readers 

who left lovely comments this week. 

Photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

Happy Bows............on Mother's Day

Paper flowers tied with ribbon, a novel rose and radish bouquet, a small gift tied with twine and love, a sweet card................any of it is wonderful, but mostly mothers are blissfully happy when their children are, that is the best Mother's Day gift of all. I am happy today. I hope you are too.

Photo 1 from BHLDN/Photo 2 via Pinterest/Photo 3 via tumblr

Black Ribbon Bows..............used simply

A length of black ribbon.........used stylishly.

Images via Pinterest

Pink Paxil.........and a surprise gift wrapped series you will love.

If you don't read the blog Slim Paley, well....................you are just plain missing out. She took this shot of her late-blooming roses from where she lives in Santa Barbara. And in great style too I might add. You know that ultra stylish and cool friend, the one who always knows everything cool? That's Slim Paley, with a wicked sense of humour too which makes it all the more fun. I still think she is pulling my leg on these roses though.......................Slim? 

Some blissful pink images from Absolutely Ladylike, a most ladylike and dreamy pink blog by the talented Evi. Keep scrolling and see the gorgeous white dresses by Hungarian designer Marta Makany.

How gorgeous is this interior rendering by British designer Nicky Haslam? Have you been reading his entertaining blog? Well I certainly have and I have the most wonderful surprise for you this week. I interviewed Nicky via email with some gift wrapping questions and not only did he graciously answer my questions, he and his staff did a fun gift wrapping video to show us how he wraps for all those rock star friends of his! Stay tuned this week..............my first blog video and I promise you some stylish holiday entertainment. I have a surprise list of stylish people gift wrapping for A Gift Wrapped Life over the weeks ahead and............ is this fun or what?






Top photo via Slim Paley/Middle photo via Absolutely Ladylike/Bottom photo via NH Design

Pour Vous

I know I can be over the top with gift wrapping. So here is a lovely petite gift wrapped quite simply just Pour Vous. Just to prove I can do it. Isn't this solid coral gift wrap just divine? And that narrow Papaya ribbon? Pretty gift tags can make the gift and these are pretty, pretty with a bit of glitter.

My friend was here the other day using the Wrap Room to wrap some personal gifts and used these Sweet Treats tags on orange. I hadn't gotten around to playing with these new gift tags yet, but her clever instincts were right, the pastel confections show well on a stronger colour. See that tan gift wrap in the background? Remember last weeks post on the Burberry re-gift? I found the perfect Burberry-toned gift wrap and will spend the weekend getting my version ready for the website. I can tell it's going to be a favorite.

Another handy little gift in the Small Gifts collection. This Gift Organizer is actually a practical gift. I wish I had kept track over the years, I do tend to forget my gifting these days so I'm going to grab one for myself.

~ Have a lovely weekend ~

Photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

Burberry Goes Glam

A girl has to do what she has to do and in this case it was re-gift a Burberry box to fit an array of gift items that wouldn't fit into my normal size boxes. My friend Stephanie brought this larger Burberry box over for me to blog re-gift, little did she know I would use it for that and then to wrap up the birthday gift she ordered for a 19 yr.old girl. She kind of enjoys this whole re-gifting phase I am in and won't mind this re-gift solution. She has been thinking through an upcoming guest post on re-gifting store bags. When she does join us you are in for a treat, this friend has taught me more than a thing or two about gift wrapping.




I was lucky (again) that the Burberry logo wasn't too big, out came the Paris stickers and the melon colour put me into a whole colourway that I thought would be fun, but sophisticated for a 19 yr.old girl.



My very stylish friend told me I was a bit of a snob about gift bags and she is right. I love a boxed gift, I think it is the most gracious way to present a gift. There I said it. If I use a bag for your gift, it means one of two things, actually it means all of the following. I am in a hurry or/and I am not crazy about the person I am gifting, the recipient is under 10 yrs. old, or the recipient won't appreciate the difference. I just happen to think a boxed gift is so much more elegant and civilized. But.........I know gift bags are a choice for many who don't gift wrap for a living so I told my friend she is more than welcome to tell you how to re-gift a store bag in all kinds of clever ways and she is very, very clever. She may even convert me! I do have to admit that I love folding and pleating tissue and the effect of opening a gift under folded layers of tissue. So maybe it isn't that I am a bag snob, I just love tissue really neat and crisp as shown above. And in all fairness, I do give you lots of ways to re-gift store boxes so it isn't as if I am not helping you be economical in your gift wrap endeavors. Perhaps I just need to figure out a new way to use bags with pleated tissue.......another little challenge.

I did a flat wrap on the larger box so it would fit into the limited box depth. The only way this was going to work was if I kept the bows to a minimum. I used another larger Paris label to jazz up the flat wrap on the Anna Griffin Social Stationery Set and I used grosgrain ribbon on the matching Mousepad, pencil case, and tube pencils as it is the least likely to crush and crease, good to know when shipping a tightly-packed gift by the way.

Everything neat and tidy and layered just perfectly.

The new A Gift Wrapped Life gift labels that go over my folded and pleated tissue. Now tell me that doesn't look better than crumpled tissue.

I have a new wired black & white striped ribbon that I just love using. I have never been much for wired ribbon but I sure seem to be changing my tune with this one (that happens alot around here). The gift could go out the door this simple, in fact I love the understatement........but this is me who's wrapping so let's keep going.

I added in a gorgeous melon coloured silk double face satin to go with the coral tissue and orange ribbon and then topped it off with another layer of the dramatic black & white stripe. I love this combination with the soft Burberry tan box. I had no idea where I was going with this when I started, but really wish I had a good supply of Burberry boxes, they are gorgeous and a wonderfully neutral tone. I do have some of their bags so maybe there's another bag re-gift challenge for my friend.

I could have used my white paper flowers but I kind of liked the twist that came from adding the unexpected celadon green. In fact, I liked this effect so much, I'm going to order a tan giftwrap right now.

Happy July 4th Holiday to all my American readers ~ Hope you are having a lovely day with family and friends and lots of fireworks......hundreds of them.

All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

Brillant Greek Key

I was dying to play with my new Blue Greek key gift wrap and as soon as today's order were out the door, I got right to it. It's certainly enough of a gift wrap statement to use on it's own but my ensemble concept is a way to stretch your gift wrap supplies. At least that's my intent. The gloss black paper acts as a base to the leftover Greek Key strips that are part of cutting and wrapping various gift sizes. If you look to the top gift you will see I've used a narrow strip right over the gloss black and then tied it up with the brighter pink saddle stitch ribbon. This ensemble will include three colours and widths of ribbon, white, blue and the narrow hot pink saddle stitch.

This Greek Key gift wrap is part of a whole series of coordinated stationery products. I love this boxed set of stationery that will be added to our new product line. Sheets, foldovers, and flat cards all fold into the one-size envelope along with a pad and sticky notes. Priced at $59.00, I think it makes for a lovely and practical gift and it's box is beautiful.

This close-up shows the beauty of my new paper flowers. They have a pin so they are wearable or usable after the gift is opened. I'll tell you more about these flowers coming up, they are simply incredible to use in gift wrapping. They were going out the door on all the orders today. Another use of leftover strips on this particular pattern, cut the motif into squares, punch a hole and and you have a matching gift card.

I have been a paper pad mouse pad gal for quite a while and think they make such a clever and useful gift. They have gained in popularity since their introduction a few years back and most stationery companies are adding them to their lines. They are the most functional of items for keeping computer notes. My mouse pads are so full of references, links, and notes that I file them when finished. This Greek Key one is $14.00 so fits nicely into the small gift category. It has a matching pencil case and boxed notes (top right of 1st photo) as well. We're going to offer these products as a complete gift ensemble for shipping or as single items. The tube of fun-word pencils too.

All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

Petite Laduree Box Re-Gift

If you are lucky enough to receive a macaron-filled Ladree box, you likely aren't going to re-gift the box but keep it for yourself. I know that, but in my case it was fun to try. I am pretty shameless about asking whoever is going to Paris to bring me back a few boxes, so I had a fabulous macaron delivery last month. Since then, these petite boxes in Laduree's striking new patterns have been sitting on my desk saying " I dare you to re-gift me!"

Once the macarons are gone, these gorgeous petite boxes would be so lovely to pass along to a special friend with a little gift inside, a bar of perfumed soap, a little candle, or lipstick and nail polish in a colour she would love to try, something thoughtful and pretty. You know, on those days when you are feeling really generous and will actually share your pretty boxes! On this first one, I wanted to show the gold embossed oval pattern that surrounds the Laduree logo so I punched a hole in the lid (yes, right through the logo), knotted the ribbon on the lid underside and pulled the duplex (2 colour) ribbon through into two loops and then held it into position with a rhinestone ring. It was that easy, so easy I can't believe I haven't thought of it before. As long as the ribbon is the same width or wider than the ring, it will hold. Keep in mind you could do this with any flat napkin ring, round, oval, or square as I showed you a few weeks back. There are some interesting textures and colours that could be used in gift wrapping. Just another option instead of a traditional bow. Laduree is well-known for their pastel packaging palette so I wanted to enhance it's feminine nature with the sparkly rhinestones. Something gold to match the embossing would work nicely too, but now that I see it I do like some sparkle on this Laduree re-gift.

For the second, more dramatic purple and black palette I had no choice but to rely on my Paris labels to cover the logo and oval outline. A girl has to do what a girl has to do. I would normally fill in the label with the recipients name but I may want to use this one for some personal gifting coming up. Surprisingly, neither box took to my wider ribbons, I tried and it just overwhelmed the pretty pattern. A dainty duplex purple ribbon tied into a bow on all four sides seemed to do the job. With this method, the recipient doesn't have to untie any ribbons (as I know women have a love/hate relationship with untying pretty ribbons) just lift off the lid to see whatever little treasure you have placed inside. Actually, both styles work that way.

All photos by Sande Chase ~ Oooh la la Cadeau

Mix Those Colours

One blogger sent her other blogger friend a lovely little birthday surprise. Nice for me that I can do a bit of blogger research and "gather" the personality of the recipient before I wrap. I could see this artist blogger loved colour so the brighter the better. This is the photo that I send to the gifter so she can share in the fun of her long-distance gift and it got me thinking of something to think about the next time you wrap. Not every little gift has to match. In fact, the more you mix it up with paper patterns and ribbon, the more fun the presentation. I have four blue ribbons (turquoise, royal, and checks) and three different green ribbons (chartreuse, kelly, and forest green). I've used two different gift wrap papers that you wouldn't put side-by-side and think they match, but it distinquishes each gift. Even if you do use the same gift wrap paper, consider changing the ribbons around so that each gift has it's own presentation personality. Just makes it more fun to open.

A gorgeous soap gets ribbon-wrapped in two colours of hand-dyed silk.

I have come to love this Blue Bird gift wrap paper the more I work with it. That is often the case, like many things it just takes time to reveal it's better nature. This soft green background can handle any colour direction of ribbon and as I write this I see another colour I want to try..........right now. This is one of the Wrap Room papers you'll be able to buy. You'll have lovely ribbon choices and embellishments too. Like little bird nests.

I found a little teal bird all dressed up in velvet last weekend when I was cleaning my storage room and it chirped to my attention today. I had intended on trying a brown ribbon but it looked a bit dull to tell you the truth, so teal it became along with a teal sheer ribbon working as it's nest. I think this bird is a little overdressed for the paper, but this type of experimenting tells me that the embellishment will work, it just needs to dress down a bit...... perhaps a little brown bird sitting in a nest? Yes, that's it.

This lovely gift wrap paper image is also available as a File Folder Set and a Notebook.

Such a pretty pattern to make desk chores more uplifting.

All photos by Sande Chase ~ Oooh la la Cadeau

Birk's Box Re-Gift

You know how my wrapping inspiration goes by now........I love this room by designer Alison Caccoma who's gorgeous work I found one day browsing the House Beautiful website. I wanted to capture the sumptuous feel of that velvet pillow and colour scheme. For Canadians, the blue store box shown below is our version of a Tiffany box, or was, we do have Tiffany here in Canada now too. It's not the exact blue, a tad less lively but the same message......something lovely inside. A friend gave me a gorgeous sterling double photo frame for photos of my two "boys" and I thought I should try a re-gift on our Canadian blue box.


The silver Birks box logo is quite small so a 2" wide double face satin taped to the lid underside covers it nicely. I layered it with a turquoise grosgrain ribbon just to give this monochromatic colour scheme a bit of dimension. If a store box has a extended lid as seen here, it can be awkward wrapping in gift wrap paper. You just aren't going to get nice crisp corners, best to bypass the paper and just work with the box colour. If the box is a good colour, you don't always need gift wrap too. PS. I don't know why lately I am getting this peach tint on my photo background, but working on upgrading my skills. It's on the list.

There is actually two layers of thin velvet ribbon at the bow. Because velvet ribbon is one-sided, it sometimes needs a bit more to better show it's colour and texture. There is one bottom bow, then a length knotted over the bow to give it some extra presence. This re-gift shows a very simple gift wrap technique that even the ribbon-impaired (not that there is anything wrong with that!) can do. It's also a nice way to use any lengths of satin that might not be long enough to wrap a whole box.

I order ribbon spools in 50 or 100 yards rolls as I go through it quite quickly. Right now I am working on selecting and coordinating my gift wrap papers and coordinating ribbon to be available in the new Wrap room section of my website along with a collection of my embellishments. Though I use 100 yards rolls, I am going to offer the ribbon spools in smaller spools (10 yards) so you can build up a nice gift wrap signature look of your own. I am also going to be running custom gift wrap papers with a distinct designer look. I think some of them will surprise you!

One more try............just wanted to see what happened if I added a pattern in the way of a small

turquoise taffeta check beside the velvet.

Top photo from House Beautiful/Middle and Bottom photo by Sande Chase ~ Oooh la la Cadeau

Red...and more red

This is the outdoor vibe I will be going for next year. It wasn't until I saw this photo from Domino that I realized I would want some red accents in my outdoor space and that wasn't what I was thinking at all! As a designer, I believe in pre-planning colour schemes so it is good to get this scheme in order for next year. I can take advantage of some end-of-season sales and not react to a seasonal whim. I also like to see some continuity when going from inside to outside, not precisely, I like to allow for nature. I change up our planter colours every year, some years it's pink, some years all-white, one year yellow and purple, but the exterior my house seems to sparkle a bit more the years I use red, or perhaps it is what draws my eye. I do have a Chinese red dining room so there is an existing passion for this vibrant accent. There I go.....decision made! This also made me want to wrap, thank heavens......I really got off-track on this gift wrapping blog this week.

In talking about gardens this week (or lack of as we all know by now), I went digging through wallpaper sample books and found these quaint papers that were reminiscent of Victorian wallpapers. Here was the opportunity to use some of my favorite check-pattern ribbons as they seem to fit the cheery mood of these gifts. I used a few of my butterfly stickers, one on the front gift and one on the black-wrapped one, both used over the ribbon. Just gives the presentation an added dimension.

The bottom gift shows that colour matching paper to ribbon doesn't have to be precise and exact science. There is no exact red in the paper, but somehow the vibrant red velvet ribbon works even with the more subdued flower tones. And you might not think a black-ivory check would work, but I find check ribbon go with just about anything. This gorgeous vibrant blue scalloped gift tag with a bird image comes in a assorted set of 36 cards. Handy to dress up your last minute gift presentations. They will be on the Wrap Room section of my website coming very soon.

I've turned this yellow wrapped gift on it's side to show you that ribbon doesn't always have to be tied in the same direction. I didn't want to cover the limited floral pattern (and my wallpaper sample sheets are not very big) so I simply went around the edge and tied the bow at the top. I did secure with small pieces of double-sided ribbon so it won't slide off, even I can't tie that tight! Here is another style of the gift tags, they come in different shapes and colours. This larger chartreuse bird tag could carry a gift wrapped in simple black paper. Hold on ......I'll just go do one real quick to show you what I mean.

Saddlestitch ribbons are one of the least expensive ribbons and one of the most effective. The small stitch detail goes a long way in making a gift look finished. And one bow is always better than two, at least around here. There's my favorite matte black paper, also very reasonably priced. In other words, there just isn't any excuse for a poorly-wrapped present. It's no different than home design, think it through and think ahead when buying gift wrap supplies. Be prepared. Don't worry, I am not going to lecture and leave you empty-handed. It's all on it's way.

Top image via Domino Mag Files at Flickr/All other images by Sande Chase ~ Oooh la la Cadeau