I haven't done a tutorial in a while so I thought I'd do a little tutorial on how to wrap gifts and tie bows. This isn't anything super fancy, but my mom asked how I tied the bow on my Secret Santa present, so I figured I'd just write about how I wrap gifts in time for the holidays. These are basic steps, but tell me if you find it helpful. Feel free to post your method and ideas for wrapping fits.
1.) Start by getting the item you're wrapping. If your item is an irregular shape, you can put in a box so it's easier to wrap. My photos are from wrapping a journal I made from my sister so I didn't use a box because it's a basic square shape.
2.) Wrap your item in tissue paper. This step is optional, but I think it's nice to wrap it in tissue paper and not just wrapping paper to give it a little extra protection. I usually use 2 to 3 layers of basic white tissue paper. For this present, I did a layer of yellow tissue paper too. I cut the tissue paper to the right size, folded the long sides over the journal and taped it with clear tape (if I'm doing an order, I usually put a sticker with my logo over the tape too).
3.) To get the other ends, I usually trim them down a little. Then I fold the corners over for each side, fold it over twice and tape it. It looks something like this with the tissue paper on:
4.) Find wrapping paper for your gift. I used red holiday wrapping paper I found around the house, but if you want to save paper and use recycled items, any paper item can work - newspaper (you can make this personal by using something that would fit the character of the person who the present is for, such as using the Comics section), magazines (you can even cut out different items from magazine and make a collage like wrapping paper), grocery bags (I saw some Trader Joe's one with snowflakes on them and thought those would look nice as wrapping paper, all you'd have to do is cut it up and lay it flat), decorative paper, etc.
5.) Now wrap your present. This is probably something most people know how to do, but it's basically the same as wrapping the tissue paper. I cut out a square piece big enough to cover my item. Then I fold the two longest sides over each other (on the backside of the present) and tape it like before. I trim the other sides and do the same method of folding corners as I did with the tissue paper. Wrapping presents is actually the same way I make covers for journals when I put the decorative paper on (except I use glue instead of tape and cut the corners instead of folding them over).
It looks something like this when it's wrapped:
6.) You can stop here, but I like adding ribbon too. Take a ribbon of choice. I used a transparent type red ribbon here to match the paper (I looked for white ribbon too, but couldn't find any). You can have it match the color of the wrapping paper or just use a color you think looks nice. Cut two pieces long enough to wrap around the present with a little extra room to tie a bow. You can use two different colors if you wish.
7.) Wrap the first piece around the present and tie a basic knot and bow. After I did the first ribbon, I put the other piece of ribbon under the first one (on the back side) and tied another knot and bow. If you find the ribbons are loose and might fall off, sticking a piece of clear tape on the backside where the ribbons are could help them stay in place.
8.) Now you have two bows. Take one loop from one bow and a loop for another one and tie them around each other (by just making a basic knot with the loops). Do this with the other two loops. There's lots of different creative bows you can do, but this is just a basic way. Adjust the loops so they're even. Trim any pieces of ribbon sticking out that aren't part of the bow. Ta da! Now you have a nice looking present.
9.) If you don't have a card, you can cut another small square out of the wrapping paper, fold it in half and tape it on the present to have a name tag.
Here's the finished present (on the right), next to another present I wrapped with the same wrapping paper:
Here's another example of a present wrapped using the same method (the ribbon shows up better in this photo):
I got some new items up which I'll write about in my next entry. My
Holiday Reindeer Greeting Card was featured in the EtsyVeg blog
here. That same card was also in Etsy's Paper Goods showcase this week. Before the showcase, it had about 90 views and now it's at 130 which is a little bit of an increase, but not significant enough that it'd be worth the $7. I'm also looking for some new craft shows and shops to put my items in. Let me know if you know any shows or shops in the Chicago or Pittsburgh area.
