‘Tis the season for gift giving! And you know what that means! It’s also the time for gift wrapping.
Maybe you’re the person who drops off gifts for your sister to wrap for you (Ahem… my brother!), but for me, decorating gifts is half the fun of giving them! I have certain friends that I go all out for when it comes to giving gifts.
This year I thought I’d delve into my craft supply bins and see what kinds of things I could use to make my gifts extra special, without heading out to the store to buy fancy gift decorating supplies.
Here’s what I came up with! I hope you’ll be inspired.
I saved the orange mesh bag that my clementines came in and used it to break up the long expanse of this gift box. All it needed next was a simple bow across its “waist” and a tag.
I used an old clothes pin from my craft box to attach a die cut snowflake to the ribbon of the bow, and the look was complete!
I purchased this Christmas tree patterned kraft paper from Marshalls this year, but you could easily stamp your own plain kraft paper to get the same look.
SCRAP PIECES OF RIBBON
I am 100% guilty of hoarding small scraps of ribbon that will never be long enough to tie all the way around a gift, much less into a bow. This small gift was the perfect place to use up my ribbon scraps! I made a plaid pattern by wrapping the ribbon over the top of the box and taping the ends together in the back.
I topped it off with a pink tag and a large pom pom made with leftover yarn from my pom pom garland.
Check out this post to learn how to make large pom poms.
When I got my first Christmas tree, I went all out decorating it. We’re talking far too many floral branches spraying out from inside the tree and ornaments as far as the eye can see.
I have less ambition when it comes to decorating our trees these days, which means there were plenty of glittery floral materials in the bottom of my Christmas boxes this year. Those scrap pieces of floral supplies would be beautiful supplies for decorating a gift!
I used tape and ribbon to make a small wreath to top this gift for my mother, but if you wanted to keep it simpler, you could simply tuck sprays of branches or flowers into a cute little bow. If you don’t have scrap pieces of artificial flowers, why not head outside and trim some from a holly bush or evergreen tree?
This little gift sports a whole host of craft supplies I usually have in excess. I don’t know why I keep all of those small pieces of fabric, but I do! Turns out they make great little wraps for plain wrapping paper.
I adorned my scrap fabric with a few passes of twine, onto which I strung some beads I had leftover from this necklace project.
I topped it all off with a pom pom made from leftover yarn from this kiddo shirt project and another die cut snowflake tag.
WRAPPING PAPER SCRAPS & SCRAPBOOKING STICKERS
When wrapping small gifts, I’m never quite sure what to do with the trimmed wrapping paper. My mom would save those small pieces for wrapping stocking stuffers, but we don’t do stocking gifts at our house.
So I decided to get graphic with my scrap pieces of wrapping paper and layer them on top of plainly wrapped gifts for a fun little twist.
And how many of you scrapbookers have plenty of spare letter stickers to go around? I know I have quite enough to last me many lifetimes! Why not use those lonely letters to label gift tags and add a fun, typographic element to your gifts?
Well, folks, I haven’t exactly cleaned out my cluttered craft supply bins, but I have at least eased some of the overflow a bit! I’m excited to finish my Christmas shopping and decorate the last of my gifts with even more scrap supplies. What kind of gift decorating ideas do you have? –Mandi
P.S. Love this post? Check out our Easy Printable Gift Tags for the Holidays!
I am glad to find it. Ribbon ideas is very beneficial for gift wrapping. It’s a very easy and creativeness wrapping. I like your blog. You share the uniqueness ideas. Thanks for such post and please keep it up.
so fun!! great ideas!
www.waterlilyshop.com
@waterlilyshop
These are nice! I would love to see the bottom of them so I can tell how you attach everything to make it look pretty instead of messy.
Thanks!
These are such creative wrapping ideas. I’m always looking for ways to use up scrap paper- thanks for the ideas!
I love the one with the pompom! Must be a pain to open that one with all the ribbon haha, but looks really cool! -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s
I love the ideas on how to reuse items from other projects, and even food packaging!, to make thoughtful wrapping!
these are so beautiful!
xx nikki
www.dream-in-neon.com
I absolutely despise waste so I love the idea of this!
Becky :: accooohtrements.wordpress.com
Thanks!!
Hi A Beautiful Mess,
I was wondering if you could do a draw or competition for kids or would that be to hard? Don’t worry if it is.
I love this post!
Lone
11 years
P.S.
I adore your washi tape ideas
You know it! 😉 -Mandi
I just lined up the lighter paper scrap onto the back of the larger sheet of paper (the dark blue) when the gift was laying on top of the paper (before wrapping). I adjusted the gift and the paper so the corners matched up before wrapping the gift. I used a little tape to hold the two pieces of paper together too. -Mandi
This is my favorite! It’s probably the best gift wrapping I’ve seen. I love your creativity, keep it coming!
Such cool ideas! I will def try them.
http://www.loveludy.com/
beautiful! Love em all but the LEFTOVER FLORAL SUPPLIES is my favorite.
Thank you for sharing!
thegumshoes
bloglovin page
Wow, these are so lovely and inspirational! I usually end up wrapping presents in this way – I can’t stand for things to be wasted, so I relish the opportunities to reuse little bits and bobs. Thanks for the ideas! The only improvement I can think of for fellow waste-reducers to try out is using dish towels, blankets, scarves, or other usable wrapping instead of wrapping paper, with the bits and bobs as pretty upcycled extras!
cute ideas, they all look so pretty… esp love the yarn pom-poms with beads…so cute! If my gifts came in such cute packaging, i wouldn’t even mind caring about what’s inside.. 😉
xo
Hems
agoldentulip.blogspot.com
Such a cute idea, I always have wrapping paper scraps and so far never knew how to use them xx
These are all so pretty! I love using scraps to wrap presents; they always produce the most unique and fun gift wrapping!
xo
Kristina
www.eccentricowl.com
That’s exactly what I will be doing this Christmas- NOT spending a little fortune on metres of paper and decorations that go straight into the bin. I’m using old cards, wrapping paper and tissue. Great idea!