Creative Gift Wrapping Ideas

Dawn · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 78

Hi, all!

With the advent of fall, my gift-giving schedule becomes kind of hectic. I have several birthdays to contend with, not to mention the major holidays that are just around the corner. For me, wrapping the gift is just as much fun as choosing it - especially if I can turn found materials into something cool. I need more ideas, though, so I'm hoping that we can all inspire each other. Here's a simple gift bag that I just did for my cousin's birthday:

I started with a black shopping bag:

I used hot pink and black papers and white card stock (I keep a suitcase full of scrap paper in my craft room) on both sides to cover up the logo, then used rubber stamps to create a simple design. I got the crinkly pink filling from a thrift store (a brand-new bag for 45 cents). You can't see it very well in this picture, but there is a little round tag hanging from the strap. I painted a regular tag - like you get from an office supply place - with pink watercolor and stamped it with silver ink to give it a sort of marbeled effect. Then stamped my cousin's initial on one side and put a paisley heart sticker on the other. I tied the tag and a mini bottle of lipgloss (a sample that I'd saved for the occasion) to the bag with pink embroidery floss.

Does anybody else do this kind of gift bag metamorphosis? What other ideas do you have for creating special gift wraps? I'd love to see some pictures!

Dawn :o)

pinguino · Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2004 4:18 pm Post subject:

thats awesome!!

i dont have pics of anything but i used to wrap things in skater posters, rave flyers, and chinese food boxes spraypainted with penguins.
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Becky65301 · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 80

One thing I'm going to do this Christmas, is to make fabric gift bags. I have alot of scrap fabric so it really won't cost me anything.

I'm just going to make a bunch of different bags, different sizes, and either do a drawstring or attach a ribbon for tying around the top. Probably nothing really fancy unless I get inspired, LOL. But I like the idea cause they are re-usable, either the recipient can put a gift in it next year, or use it to store Christmas stuff. I've read threads about people doing this for their whole family, and so every year the bags get recycled, for years and years like a tradition. In the end, it would be alot cheaper, too, and much cooler than my grandma who used to fold up and re-use wrapping paper and old bows. ;)

You can also "permanently" wrap a box with a seperate lid, and do much the same thing.

Here is a link for really simple gift bags- http://eartheasy.com/gift_wrapping.htm

teeny17 · Joined: 11 Sep 2004 Posts: 40 Location: i hour from toronto

neat bags! (i like how you saved the lipgloss, it adds a nice touch to the gift bag)
Anyways, we had an excahnge student a few years ago from Brazil and she brought us tons of gifts from Brazil in all these cream coloured, gauzy bags. We still have quite a few and I've used them for wrapping birthday presents and for christmas. Since they are a cream colour, they are very versatile and look quite pretty adding a few nice touches; stenciling, ribbons, gemstones, dying, you name it. So my point is, haha, find something you can buy in bulk or even MAKE because you can probably find a simple fabric that will cost you next to nothing. Go for simplicity, because then you can do pretty much anything, and the gauzy fabric looks so pretty. Maybe for christmas you can add a nice plaid ribbon, or dye it pink for a baby shower gift..ooooooooo!

abigailamy · Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Posts: 53

Hello Dawn,

Your gift wrap bags are gorgous! How creative - have you done them before or is this the first time? Have you ever tried decoupage, or thought about doing decoupage on a gift bag?

:) Abigail

ps - I have a zine dedicated to gift wrap, called GiftWrapGoddessWraps. We don't have pictures, just text but we talk about gift wrap all the time! :)
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"Follow your bliss" - Joseph Campbell

Dawn · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 78

I definitely have plans to one day make reusable gift bags. I'm thinking of using sumptuous fabrics like velvet and damask to make them. Thing is, the idea I have bouncing around in my head involves the use of grommets, and I fear that it is way beyond my crafty skill level. I have instructions that I can use as a guide, but I have not tried it so far because I know I will be disappointed if my creations don't turn out the way I want them to. That's really sad, I know.

Abigail: I do try to reuse shopping bags or even regular gift bags whenever I can, so I am always experimenting and trying to come up with ways to decorate them. I am running out of ideas, though, which is why the one above is a little on the simpler side. I wanted to do more with the silver-on-black stamping, but I couldn't come up with anything. I like to embellish regular flat wrapping paper, too. Your gift wrap zine is such a cool idea! So far, my favorite wrap that I have done was to wrap a square package in handmade paper, alternating navy blue and oatmeal-colored. I found some wide, sheer, navy blue ribbon and stamped and intricate leaf pattern on it in gold and tied it around the package. Then, I used some gold thread to hang a trinket from the bow. I wish I'd taken a picture of that one!

I once came across an idea for wrapping a package in fabric, using some kind of Japanese, origami-like fold. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

abigailamy · Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Posts: 53

Hello Dawn,

Your gift wrap bags in velvet sound really cool. Have you seen a crazy quilt before? It might be interesting to do a bag like that, with different kinds of fabric and textures. I don't know...just an idea. I don't have a sewing machine right now, so I'm just admiring your inventiveness. :)

Yes, I TOTALLY understand what you mean about coming up with a project idea and it doesnt come out quite like what you had in mind. Are you familiar with tarot cards? Well, I had an idea to create my own deck of tarot cards - but my cards have not been coming out as intricate and as detailed as the tarot cards you see in the store. I feel very frustrated and sort of self conscious when I design my tarot deck, but I came up with this idea and I'm trying to see it through. But its frustrating because I can see it in my head and its not coming out that way on paper.

Using different papers when you gift wrap is fun. I think the silver on black sounds stunning, are you using rubber stamps or a metallic pen? I've done some metallic pen on black paper and have liked the effect. Its been a fun type of paper, not a fancy look but something fun for a friend's gift.

:) Abigail
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author of GiftWrapGoddessWraps & Journal Seeds zines - both @ yahoo! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GiftWrapGoddessWraps/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/journalseeds/
"Follow your bliss" - Joseph Campbell

boheme-anne · Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2004 11:09 am Post subject:

Wow, I never thought about using those shopping bags for recycled reconstructed gift bags. I have tonz of access to these too at my job and they usally just get thrown away. Coolness!
I like to take brown paper bags and on the none print side (some grocery stores print on them) paint them or add embelishments to make a natural looking gift wrap. I then use rafia or paper ribbon for a bow. I like the nature look. I thought about adding twigs and pine cones with glitter to my next paperbag wrap!
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felt · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 236 Location: New York City

Super great ideas..! A few years ago I wrapped all my presents in plain paper. I then made photocopies of old family photos (me and my dad, me and me sister, etc.), the darker and more contrast-y the photocopy the better. Then I rubbed the *backside* of the image with a white marker (available in art stores) onto the wrapping paper. This creates a chemical reaction and transfers the inverted image onto the paper. It gave my presents a bit of a more personalized feel and my family were chuffed. It looked so nice on its own that I didn't use ribbons nor gift cards.

kindarana · Joined: 22 Aug 2004 Posts: 767 Location: down by the bay

My mom made fabric bags at least ten years ago... they still come out almost every year - they're easier to unwrap too. Since Xmas is at our house, my grandma and her friends just leave the bags behind like they throw away the paper after unwrapping. So we're always the ones reusing them but at least they're getting reused! Super great for things that are hard to wrap too, like a sweater without a box...