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

simple summer beauty............in gift wrapping

I so enjoyed your comments from my last post on style re-invention. It seems we all think alike, it is never too late to change your personal style thank heavens. Of course, keeping things simpler is never easier than in the relaxed summer month and this certainly applies to gift wrapping. In fact, overly-embellished gift wrapping can look too contrived this time of year when bringing along a gift for a poolside afternoon, a cottage weekend, or an impromptu dinner. With that in mind I gathered a few gift wrapping ideas of a more relaxed beauty. 

If I had to pick a classic summer ribbon, this duo in black and white stitched grosgrain would do the trick nicely. It is a classic pick and looks so instantly chic on kraft paper, a humble type of gift wrap that  shows it's simple charm so well during the summer months. 

Don't forget the natural beauty of twill as a summer ribbon of choice. Use it to gather a handful of fresh garden flowers as a gift embellishment, wildflowers will suit this type of gift presentation beautifully.

How sweet and easy. A bag of summer fun (bubbles, chalk, sparklers, movie tickets, ice cream vouchers) would make for a welcome hostess gift. The lace bag edge is made with scrapbook scissors. 

It seems we all love Pom Poms and they take on a crisp summer look when crafted from wax paper! Go here to see how blogger Slim Paley got tulle-inspired by my Pom Pom post.

Enjoy the weekend in a most relaxing way. 
Which includes your gift wrapping efforts. 






A warm welcome to new readers and followers. 
So lovely that you joined me this summer.

Photo 1 from trendtablet/Photo 2 and 5 from Pinterest/Photo 3 from here/Photo 4 from thepartystudio

When I fell in love with Grosgrain Ribbon

I always liked grosgrain ribbon but I much preferred satin ribbon. Actually, I would say that I adore satin ribbon as you well know by now. Satin ribbon always moves easily in my hands when I tie a bow, cooperates in a smooth manner while grosgrain resists tight twists and turns more than most ribbon types. Gros grain actually means coarse texture. Because of it's weave (and signature horizontal weave lines) it is a stiffer fabric, it will fight with you a bit but in the end it does make for a lovely stiff bow. Some people simply like the crisp, classic look of grosgrain ribbon better than the more feminine satin sister. 

It wasn't until I received a 2.5" wide grosgrain ribbon recently that I changed my mind, the extra width made all the difference. Revealed it's unique texture better too. Ever since this 2.5' grosgrain showed up in chocolate brown, hot pink, black and turquoise, I have been using it like crazy (you know how I love a lavish presentation). I like any ribbon that holds it's shape a bit, one of the reasons I rarely use wired ribbon. Once a gift is wrapped, it should be wrapped. I can't stand fussing and fluffing with it on the way to an event. Truthfully, by that point I am more concerned with my attire than my gift presentation.

You may notice I have combined 3 gift wrap techniques, wrapped them all together in one presentation. I have re-cycled a Henri Bendel store box, used a magazine image(Fashionista Gift Wrap), and clipped on a stray earring as a jewelry embellishment (believe me, if I had the pair I would be wearing them). Oh, and I used a type of ribbon that you have rarely seen me use before, so technically that makes it 4 techniques as far as blog tags go. This view to the side and rear is to show the effect of longer ribbon tails. My guideline, the wider the ribbon, the longer the ribbon tails, even more glam if they trail off the package.

As I mentioned before, remember to scan your favorite magazine images and re-use or re-format in the future for gift wrap or gift tags. I would certainly want to use this costumed Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth (torn from the pages of Vogue) as a matching gift tag. And I will as soon as I figure out this new scanner. I promise to show you.

All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

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

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

Kate Spade Box regift........challenge

When friends, or friends of my son ask me to gift wrap their own gift purchases I sometimes have to be inventive. Especially if the gift items are of awkward size or shape and they simply won't fit into my custom gift boxes. This is when I go hunting and this is often when I will use a larger department store box, you know..... do that re-gift, reused and recycle thing to beautiful boxes that I seem to enjoy. I just can't let a gorgeous box go to waste, even when it is a challenge.

I mentioned a while back that the new Kate Spade box had recently thrown a challenge my way and I am trying not to take it personally (of course I'm kidding). The logo is now huge on their larger boxes and goes to the very outside edge so the easy application of my larger decorative labels over the store logo isn't going to work anymore. But what a gorgeous box and it was certainly a better option to attempt a more challenging re-gift and re-wrap than wrapping the awkward but lovely shapes in cello. As you may have surmised by now, cello wrapping gift-basket style just isn't my thing. I like the surprise and elegance of a boxed gift much more.

Out came the glue stick and double-sided tape. And a fun and perky polka dot gift wrap paper that I folded into matching strips and then glued and taped down along the entire edge so it wouldn't budge. If you try this, then test the glue on a small piece of the gift wrap, sometimes the glue can wrinkle a lightweight gift wrap paper. One strip to cover the bottom left logo, the other just to balance it out nicely. When I think of Kate Spade, I always think of polka dots and quirky colour combinations so I liked that the olive green paper wasn't an exact match. When I tried a solid Kelly Green gift wrap it just looked too contrived much to my surprise. Well, it did work it just didn't look as interesting.

There would be many colour directions I could have used in ribbon colours (hot pink, coral, red), but I did like the idea of using even more polka dots in matching turquoise grosgrain ribbon. I would have liked to have tried a few other re-gift box options but was short on time. Guess I have to buy another Kate Spade handbag. This blogging is getting expensive.

I didn't mind the green paper flower, but I can't say I loved it. I think this gift went out the door with this pop of coral colour to make it a bit brighter. I am sure I switched the flowers at the last minute. Which do you prefer?

And since I was on a polka dot theme, I wrapped up her second gift in a different colour direction for another shower gift. If I don't know the bridal colour scheme then I don't worry too much about bridal theme wrapping for showers, just hope to make the presentation pretty and fun. Something to stand out among the shower of gifts.

I just love my Kate Spade handbag that I bought a month ago and came in the wonderful new box with the great big logo. As many know, I cannot resist anything in chartreuse, it is simply my favorite colour.Though I may re-gift Kate Spade boxes I really do support her store any chance I get. This is one of my favorite Kate Spade handbags, the inside is lined in Kelly green. It is the perfect handbag size for me and was just sitting there waiting just for me. With a sale tag no less.




All photographs by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life