
as i sort through the photos i've taken over the past few days, i'm realizing that i did not really snap that many. not so typical of me. there are however quite a few of some wrapped gifts that were under the tree, with their contents disguised, for a few days prior to being opened... so i think that is what i will share with you right now, our wrapping...
1. the matching red boxes from margaret. i originally had painted these saved cardboard boxes thinking i'd be able to use them as wrapping-paper-free gift boxes, feeling good about the reducing/reusing/recycling aspect of that, but once i was done, i realized that they did not come out as i had envisioned them... before i even had my mind made up if i was going to use them or not margaret started asking if she could have them. so i passed them on to her to play with. and in all the pre-christmas creative excitement she turned these into packages for chuck and i. with secret creations being added inside (drawings, cards, treasures made from glue and fabric - i'm loving my "scarf" and "coffee cozy" more than i could even imagine really) and on top (beads, fringe, teabag labels, crayon markings) a little each day. this was something that was totally unplanned - but became such a cool, special thing to me. she put so much thought and energy into each of these. we love these mama and papa boxes so much. (i'm really liking the flipside of papa's - with the irreggular type and scratchy markings it turned out looking like something very reminiscent of a david carson poster. truly carefree).
2. the red bags. a little more getting creative with what we had. i made these two simple fabric bags for chucks gifts. there is still a huge piece of red fabric in my fabric box that i picked up once at a thrift store. i had some time to sew these up — which again freed me up from the need of wrapping paper and boxes... these reusable bags were inspired from photo number three (read on)...
3. the patagonia holiday gift bags. a few years ago, i'm not sure when, there were a few presents under our tree from patagonia. the store that year was not providing gift boxes, but these gift bags made from leftover material from their products. pretty cool. so these, while not the traditional red and green, or patterend with wintery snowflake or candycanes, have become part of our holiday tradition. it is always exciting to see them under the tree. and their ease and simple function inspired me to sew up the two new red ones this year...
4. the his/hers boxes. since i ended up not using the boxes in photo one, i did end up buying these 2 plain white boxes for some handmade creations we were sending my parents' way... and then sort-of made them un-plain with the help of some colored paper and white craft letters... i really liked this idea (and apparently margaret really did too) of not really wrapping but just decorating the boxes — new or old (like photo number one)... something i'll hopefully try again.
so, wow. probably more than i planned on saying regarding this year's wrapping adventures, but since the photos were there en masse, why not? especially since the wrapping adventures included beads, glued on trinkets and type, right? i hope you enjoyed reading through these, or just checking out the concealed gift photos... perhaps even gotten a bit inspired for some gift-packaging of your own in the future...