Wrapped in Mystery

This is going to seem specifically targeted towards the extreme fanatic of a certain ABC primetime program.  In a way it is, but it can be applied towards any number of items.  It's only as restricted as your imagination! 

As is the case every Christmas, my brother and I skip the idea of surprising one another with a gift and buy exactly what the other sibling has requested.  It is a foolproof method that eliminates both disappointment and curiosity simultaneously from our gift exchange. 

We both share a love for the TV show Lost, and the 5th Season was recently released on DVD.  It seemed the perfect gift for him to give me.  Due to a timing issue, I had to be the one to purchase it.  When it was delivered, I knew I would need to wrap it in order to have something to open from him on Christmas.  It felt a little silly to be wrapping my own gift, so I decided to have some fun with it. 

I've been trying to be green with my gift wrapping this year.  I have used gift bags from Christmas past, baskets, stockings and even newspaper.  With ribbons, bows, feathers and other eclectic scraps of material, it is possible to make any wrapping look festive.  As I was cutting my way through the local paper, an ad with a bunch of bold green numbers caught my eye, and the wheels started turning!  Only a Lost viewer would understand the significance of numbers to the show's plot, but it seemed "fated" for me to use them in my package presentation. ;) A green ribbon added the right amount of Christmas cheer to the finished product.   Lost may be full of mystery, but it's no mystery what's inside that box!  It is a little cheesey, but that seems to be what's called for when you are wrapping your own gift.

However this method could work in any situation.  If you want to give your loved one an inkling about what might be inside the box you've given them, include a hint in your wrapping.  If you bought them Desperate Housewives on DVD, design a snowwoman holding an apple on the gift tag.  Did you buy your little cousin his first Swiss Army Knife?  Use red wrapping paper and a white ribbon to cross the present.  There are a million ways to provide clues that can either whisper or shout the contents of any package.  Have fun with it!

It's Baby Season

A few years ago there was an explosion of weddings with my close girlfriends.  This might come as a shock, but now there is suddenly an explosion of pregnancies.  I know.  Who could have foreseen this?!  I am so excited about all the bundles of joy expected to arrive next year.  I had the first of what will be many baby showers this morning, and of course, I had to be different and deviate from the registry a little in order to be craftabulous.  Being on a shoestring budget, I opted to make some of the gifts for the little guy.  The following are some of the gifts I included in my "gift cooler".

A few weeks ago, I got a picture from my friend from her newly painted and baby-ready nursery.  The theme of the room was sailboats.  That was all the inspiration I needed.  I went to the craft store and found some blue sailboat appliques.  Not being a sewer, the iron-on pieces were right up my alley.  Bougt a pack of plain white onesies and....BAM....one personalized gift done with very little cost and virtually no time consumed.  I was able to iron on during World Series commercial breaks!

I bought a white wall hanging letter P that they could put up in the nursery.  I was most nervous about this project.  I knew I wanted to decorate it with a design, but it is so easy to mess something up when it comes  paint.  I put this off until yesterday.  Looking through my collection of stuff I was able to find a sailboat stencil.  With the intention of keeping it simple I used a green paint pen and stenciled the bottom of the letter and used baby blue (aka Carolina blue) stickers everywhere else.  For just a little more contrast I made little dots with my brown paint pen.  It turned out very well, and mom-to-be seemed impressed with it.  

Okay, I had all the gifts together and only a medium sized baby gift bag available to use.  Not going to work.  The options were now: go buy a larger bag OR use something on hand in a creative way.  There was a small styrofoam cooler collecting dust in my closet, so that's what I used.  I had bought some small wooden sailboat cutouts and painted them, but I never found a way to utilize them.  They were clearly meant to adorn the cooler!  Going to the trusty ribbon bag, I picked out ribbon that would resemble ocean water.  There was not a ton of it, so that led to the need for a shore.  I used the glue gun to attach everything and also raided my scrapbooking supplies for some little extras for the shore scene.  With some red crepe paper inside and coming over the sides to hide the ugly styrofoam, the project was complete.

I did buy some other gifts to put in the cooler, but I am glad that little baby boy will be getting some things from me that required care and thought.  Can't wait to meet him!!