{I actually meant for this to be a gift wrapping series, posting a new idea each week in July-- an ode to Christmas in July. But seeing that it's July 31st, I had to, uh,"wrap it up" a bit}
I love beautiful presentation as much as the next person, but I'm the first to admit that gift wrapping is not my forte. A present stuffed into a gift bag is about as fancy as it gets. Add some tissue paper and that's REALLY fancy. And if wrapping paper is involved, it's pretty much a miracle if I'm able to wrestle a ribbon onto the box... Ribbon and I do not get along.
So I've been trying to remedy the situation. Here are a few easy ideas that are fun and virtually ribbon free:
::Art Wrapping Paper::
First, I enlisted the help of my graphic artists to create some original wrapping paper~
I picked up a bolt of white paper from a local restaurant that uses it to cover their tables.
You can also use a large paper roll 
that goes with kid's art tables & easels.
that goes with kid's art tables & easels.
I'm all for creativity, but I try not to make more work for myself.
Therefore, I armed the artists with washable crayola markers
wah lah! Doesn't even need ribbon or a bow to dress it up.
In this form it's even okay to write on the present itself.
and if you happen to have an aspiring picasso, even better!
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::Initial Tag::
Another easy way to dress up a present is to cut out the recipient's initial out of decorative paper or cardstock~
This is especially good for children's presents and eliminates the need for a card.
'Cause lets face it, even if they can read, the card just ends up getting tossed aside.
I free-handed this one, but if I have a lot of presents to wrap (think christmas), I'll break out the cricut
.
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::ECO Bows::
A great way to upcycle plastic bags, magazines and scrap material. These take a bit more time, but it's an easy project while watching mindless tv-- America's (apparently) Got Talent works for me!
::plastic bag pom-pom::
tutorial via creature comforts
tutorial via how about orange
I tweaked the tutorial a bit by using felt instead of magazine pages. For the felt bows I only used 7 strips of felt due to the thickness of the material (I omitted the 2 shortest strips). I twisted and stapled each strip. It was easier for me to stitch everything together with a little thread, but a hot glue gun would also work to attach the stapled strips together. Also, this "pattern" is very forgiving, I didn't measure anything out... just guestimated lengths and it still came out pretty nicely.
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::A few more fun ideas from Martha Stewart::
very cute and also a great way to use up all the "odds & ends" of baking cups leftover from various parties.
::yarn wrapping::
not only is yarn easy to work with, but the color combos are endless and it's reasonably priced. Loving the look of that fuzzy yarn.
i love that it's simple, yet eye catching
cloth, repurposed paper, even leaves.
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