Wrapping Presents

Wrapping some presents today...

"Brown paper packages tied up with string,
These a a few of my favorite things!"

I LOVE the kraft/woodgrain wrapping paper we got from Target this year.  I'm hoping they'll have some on clearance after Christmas and I can stock up on a bunch.  I'd really like to use it for my Etsy packaging throughout the year.  It is reminiscent of my wood background I use in the photos for my Etsy listings.  And it seems particularly appropriate for the Owl Nubbins.  (it is actually a Barn Owl Nubbin that is wrapped up in the picture below)

I'll probably also do what I've done in past years when I've had wrapping paper I really like: I Mod-Podge/glue it to a shoebox so I have a re-usable gift box!  I'm actually not a fan of the wrapping process, or the fact that SO much pretty paper just gets torn up and thrown away.  So making the gift boxes kind of solves both those problems.  I can just put the gift in the box and tie some string/twine/ribbon around it with a tag (made with my Cricut) and I'm done!

Mom's Birthday...

I mentioned yesterday that it was my Mom's birthday...

These were her presents I wrapped. The gift bag is from CJ and I, the others were from my dad, who asked me to wrap Mom's presents while he was at work. (I got her some stuff from BNath & Body Works and Dad got her a bunch of Carpenter's DVD's/CD's) I spontaniously got all Martha Stewart and made that tissue paper flower topper...


I thought it turned out particularly well due to the double sided tissue paper (gold on one side and silver on the other).

We took Mom to Super Buffet (a Chinese food buffet), since she likes it there, but doesn't go very often.

She thought it was just going to be her, Dad, CJ, and I...but Dad had invited a bunch of her friends from church. She was pleasantly surprised, and we all had a lot of fun.

This goth girl with crazy dreads was at the table next to us (it turns out it was her birthday too!). It was funny trying to get a picture of the back of her hair without being obvious. We were pretending to take a picture of Mom. Of course, I kind of wish now that we just would have asked to take a picture of her...I'm sure she would have gladly obliged. She seemed quite nice. She was very sweet and wished Mom a happy birthday before she left. Goths are usually surprisingly nice if you can get past the scary exterior and actually talk to them.

Nancy's Baby Shower

The baby shower I went to last night was lots of fun! I went an hour early to help my friend Kim set up and decorate. I'm all about decorating and so is Kim, so we had lots of fun. She and her sister Tricia had made these lovely tissue paper balls...

And they are so simple to make! You just accordian fold the layers of tissue paper (sorry, I don't know how many layers), cut the ends if desired (that's how they got that flowery look) put the wire around the middle and make the loop to hang the ball, then fluff the layers out to make the puff/flower. (I helped fluff them out when we got to the coffee shop).

The shower was at a local coffee house, The Shirt Factory Cafe`. The building used to be, guess what!...a shirt factory! My hubby came along too for the set-up and was instumental in hanging the puffs. We only had a short ladder, so it helped to have a tall (and artisticly inclined) man to help!

And this is how it all looked when it was done! (I want to have a party just so I can make more of these pretty puffs! Housewarming party maybe?...)

It was nice to see some ladies from the Rochester church who I haven't gotten a chance to talk with in a while. Nancy (the girl the shower was for) was completely overwhelmed. She was in tears when she walked in and saw the place! I was glad we were able to be a blessing is such a simple way.

It was cute how all the little girls swarmed around Nancy as she opened her gifts!

The obligatory "pregnant women" baby shower picture! Lined up by due dates left (most pregnant) to right. It worked out well, because it just happens to be that Nancy is in the middle!

The woman at the far left with the baby is Nancy's sister, Karen, who was included because she just had her 4th child a few weeks ago. (some may alrady know about it, but check out her blog for the amazing story of her 3rd child, Jacob).

Brown paper packages tied up with string...

I wrapped and packed up the presents for my in-laws in Ohio yesterday. We'll be shipping them off today. I wish I'd have taken pictures of the kids' wrapped up presents before I taped up the packing box (I have pictures of some of the presents themselves, but I know my sister-in-law reads my blog and I don't want to spoil the surprise! Ha!) But I don't feel like ripping off the packing tape off the box so I can just take pictures, so here's a picture of a similar package that I gave away.

And of course a tag. The snowflake is rubber-stamped, but I "cheated" on the words...they're printed from the computer. It was a last minute thing and I didn't want to spend time on stamping all the letters. I'm a big fan of Jute twine (I'm quickly running out!), but I love this ribbon/yarn too. I've been using it a lot this year (you can see the blue version on my last post about the Oyster Crackers). I have 4 different colors of it...green, blue, orange/yellow, and red/pink. I've become a big fan of the "brown paper packages tied up with string" style of wrapping presents. I obtained a bunch of brown paper that was used as padding in the Pampered Chef boxes when the stuff from my party came...and I couldn't bear to throw it out and knew "I'd use it for something" (a phrase I know sadly contributes to the disaster area status of the office/craft room.) But a lot of times I'm glad I didn't throw something out...in this case I got brown wrapping paper for free rather than having to go out and buy it.