today’s post is brought to you by the extremely talented sunshine and carousels!  erin’s blog is so delightful as it has some great DIYs, inspirations galore, and pictures of her adorable daughter!  and her shop, oh her lovely shop, it’s full of so many cute accessories galore!  today she shares with us some easy tips and tricks for beautiful gift wrapping, right in time for christmas! 🙂

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Hello there.  This is Erin from Sunshine and Carousels I’m a huge believer that gift giving starts with the wrapping. Some of my the most memorable gifts I have received were the ones that were wrapped with thoughtfulness and love.  Some of my favorite gifts have been little items I find on the outside of the box rather than the inside. Here are few ways to make your packages stand out.

I’m not a huge fan of the traditional style foil and plastic bows you can find at local retail stores.  I always love to make my own.  This is an easy way to make a gift topper that is inexpensive and super quick.  I always recommend searching through your craft supplies before going out to purchase anything.  Sometimes you already have everything you need right there in your home.

1.  You’ll need paper (preferably 12×12 scrapbook paper with cute prints) but most paper will due as long as it’s not too thick), doilies or paper cut outs for your centers, scissors, tape and ribbon.
2.  Fold your paper accordion style, keeping your folds tight and even.
3.  Cut your folder paper in half (horizontal) and tie some ribbon around the center of each piece.
4.  Fan your paper out and tape the back sides together.  Tape a doily or paper cut out to the center of the front side.  You are all finished and now you can attach it to your gift.

Easy right?

Okay, so your not into the ‘wrapping’ part of gift giving.  All of your packages look wrinkled or sloppy or you just don’t like to take the time to wrap them all.  Here’s an easy trick to ‘wrapping’ that isn’t really wrapping at all but still make your gifts seem thoughtfully ‘wrapped’.  Michaels craft store, Target and Wal-Mart carry a large selection of gift boxes.  Michael’s especially, carries these cute craft paper brown gift boxes. This is is how you can spruce them up.

1.  Fold your box up.  I usually tape the bottom of the box to make sure it’s sturdy.  I always place items in boxes wrapped in tissue paper to protect the gift and add extra paper to unwrap.
2.  Place a paper doily on top, you can tape it to your box if you would like.
3.  Wrap ribbon around the box taping it underneath.
4.  Tie twin, bakers twine or small ribbon around the box twisting it underneath to bring all sides together.  Tie a cute little bow on top and you are done.

See…easy.  No rolls of wrapping paper involved.

My most favorite kind of gifts to wrap are those with accessories attached.  There are so many things you can add to the outside of your gifts to have the appearance of a ‘bow’ but are reusable or part of the gift itself.

– ornaments
– hair accessories with a clip on the back
– jewelry
– small toys
– kitchen wares, like spatulas or measuring spoons
– small home decor pieces

The possibilities are endless really.
I hope that I have inspired you to put some thought and care into your gift giving this season and maybe even show you out to think outside the box.  (No pun intended.) 🙂

xo,
Erin