Hermes Box Re-gift ~ Part Two

Two things happened this week that led to this second Hermes re-gift post. First, the storage room. With a few days left before he leaves for the next year, my son had promised to lend me his muscle in cleaning and purging my out-of-control storage room. It is busting out with gift inventory, remnants of my 20 yr. designer career, and way more personal things than we should have at this point in our lives. We walk in all ready to start, we survey the overwhelming task, then look at each other, laugh out loud, and then go find something else to do. For me that is this blog post, for him it's anything but starting this intense project. We have been doing this for weeks. The second thing that happened was that a lovely friend gave me a generous stack of Hermes boxes.........taking a second shot at re-gifting or re-cycling Hermes gift boxes is way more fun than purging my storage room.


You may remember my first Hermes re-gift post last spring (click here to read). I stayed quite close to the original colour scheme, just happened to have a stripe ribbon that worked. Note the difference in photography since I upgraded to my new camera, the Hermes orange is so much better in the new shots. For this 2nd try I knew I was looking to heighten the colour combination and as any interior designer knows, that means a complementary colour scheme.



While I was playing around with ribbon colours to do justice to the signature Hermes orange, my eye kept going to this fabulous card on my work table sent to me from another blogger in France. She did something incredibly special for me and I simply adore her so I wanted to do something with her elegant and tasteful note card. It just seemed to fit perfectly on this square and flat Hermes box. I layered and crossed two fabulous lengths of a hand-dyed chocolate silk and then did the same with sheer organza ribbon (moved slightly over)to the underside of the box lid, then secured the card. I can open and read the message anytime I want. I will use the box to store something special in my dressing room. I may even have a narrow filigree frame made to surround the card. These flat, shallow gift boxes meant for ties or scarves would be a great used in this fashion for a gift presentation. Perfectly shallow for a special poem or photograph..............or a great scarf. Maybe even homemade Christmas treats. I would love to open this box and find rows of those yummy walnut crescent cookies all wrapped in vellum.







I love the effect of the teal ribbon with the Hermes orange. My new orange velvet poinsettas have a faded, vintage quality and I think they are going to look fabulous with red gift wrap and ribbon for the holiday gift season ahead.



This vivid teal ribbon has a sheer edge has just enough of a brown tint that it worked with the distinctive Hermes brown edging and gave a brilliant contrast. I used a sheer organza ribbon in chocolate brown behind the oversized poinsetta. Sheer organza, especially in wider 3" widths has the unique ability of giving volume to your main ribbon. It can literally lift the heavier-weight ribbon so it pops up behind a larger flower that could easily take all the attention. I used a narrow duplex ribbon (a color on each side) in teal and brown to bring the vivid colour forward on the poinsetta. I am beginning to think that this colour scheme could work for a Holiday Wrap Room collection as well.

This teal ribbon is a new one for me and I am quite taken with this colour. I also have it in a platinum gray and magenta. It handles beautifully and as you can see has enough beauty that it can be used very simply as I have shown on the smaller box to the left. Ok, if you look really, really close I did tie in a amber crystal heart.

Do you think Hermes would send me a variety of their iconic

boxes to try out a few more ideas?

Have a wonderful weekend bundled up nice and cosy.

A big welcome to the all the new followers and

many thanks to all my readers for the lovely comments.

You inspire me.

All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

Hermes ReGift ~ No. 1 and 2

I find it fascinating that gift boxes can become so iconic. Hermes Orange, Tiffany Blue, Kate Spade Green. As you know I have this little series going where I re-gift store boxes as I think they should pass along and be enjoyed for what they are, something in which to put a special gift. So when my friend passed along her little Hermes box I wondered if I should even try....in the iconic box category, they are at the top of the box status as we all know. Then I thought....am I crazy? Of course I going to try and have a fun little time doing so. I admire refinement and understatement a great deal, but I love ribbon and the art of gift wrapping even more! And I absolutely love orange.

I think I have only used this orange striped ribbon once, but boy did it call out to me when I went hunting for the ribbon of choice for my Hermes re-gift project. The double face satin was the perfect colour, not an exact match, but a luscious pumpkin variation with the Hermes orange. I couldn't resist a length of the striped ribbon around the round base of this petite box. It happened to be the perfect width and seemed to balance the voluminous over-the-top presentation I would try first.

Why use one crystal heart when you can use two? That these had an orange tint was only a bonus. You could use silver or gold charms, anything sparkly and pretty. Just attach to a finer ribbon and tie tightly so they sit up all perky and don't get lost in the ribbon.

When leaning twoards a simpler, more casual presentation, I always go for my cotton striped ribbon. I have this ribbon in about 8 colours and love the crisp bow tie and visual appeal. There are only so many ways to cover a logo so I do need to rely on my favorite Paris stickers. I simply loop the ribbon and on goes the oval sticker. You really can do a gift this simple with the right ribbon. A fresh sprig of rosemary or lavender at the top (on the ribbon) would be lovely and if I hadn't just used my rosemary today when roasting our chicken dinner I could have shown you. Sorry about that, but I can do a sample of this idea next week.

Another sticker, another way to use these bronze crystal hearts. I was trying to get them up towards the top, but then figured they might be pretty just dangling in the front. This thin red and orange duplex ribbon would also look great on red or black gift wrap. I just have this sticker taped down (to allow more experimenting) so the edges would be neater when affixed properly.

Interesting that Hermes has two slots in the base bottom, these slots can be used two ways and keep in mind you could do this to any good-quality box. I suspect they are using these (and sadly I have never received a Hermes gift so I'm not sure) to enhance the inner presentation. If you are really, really into gift presentation, an inside ribbon securing pleated tissue is the height of gift wrapping technique and sophistication. Ribbon looping through these slots would reverse depending on whether you want your ribbon inside or outside. Getting ribbon to tie around a round box is a slippery task, so these slots could help you to secure it. Some hatboxes come with side grommets, but I think this Hermes position might be a more discreet way. Just take an exacto knife and carefully make two neat slots. There is another Hermes variation I want to try, something a little bolder and colourful, so I will post when it all comes together. And I certainly know I shouldn't talk about inside presentation, pleated tissue and ribbon, without showing you a good how-to, so that will follow as well.

All Photos by Sande Chase ~ Oooh la la Cadeau