Brown paper packages tied up in strings…these are a few of my favorite things…

 

Who does not recognize those famous words sung by Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music?  This Christmas, the art of gift wrapping takes its cue from those sentiments. As you have probably come to know, we love the natural subdued palette here at Life’s Patina along with nature’s gorgeous shades of blue and green. As you might also know…we are all about the presentation and Christmas gifting is right up our alley in allowing us to partake in some of our… favorite things…

The thrill of the hunt in finding or creating that gift that encapsulates what the receiver is all about ~ brown Kraft paper ~ natural jute string in various thickness ~ luscious velvet ribbons ~ elegant flowing script fonts ~ natural greens as gift toppers ~  wax seals ~ vintage elements ~ paper tags ~ glitter ~ stamps ~ribbons of all sorts ~ natural linen fabrics and burlap

Maggie and I would love to show you some of our favorite combinations using these elements in the hopes that you too might relish in the simple “art”  of gift wrapping. Before we do that , though we would like to address the art of gift giving. While it would be easiest to ask the recipient what they “want” for Christmas, have them send you a link to that item and then purchase the desired item… what kind of thought did that require? It has always gone against my grain to do this which is probably why my kids always used to write their Santa letters listing presents that they desired and ending in… “and Santa, we would love some surprises.”  They learned quickly that Santa always brought a couple of items that were not on their lists. I like to look at gift giving in that way, “What might the recipient want that embodies who they are? What might they not purchase for themselves? What have they mentioned that they would love to do? What class might they want to take? What might be a surprise?”. Those are the questions I ask myself in giving a gift. Once the gift is found then it is time to wrap!

Along with the brown paper packages tied up in string,  we added some natural pine tucked underneath the string, a hand cut brown paper kraft tag and some handmade cinnamon ornaments. This is a super easy project to do with children and I have done it every couple of years with mine and they keep unbelievably well from year to year in a sealed container. Here is a simple recipe for the Cinnamon ornaments that I have used.

We topped it two ways… red velvet ribbon and

our “Do Not Open until 25 December” ribbon with a little sprig of pepper berries.

If you have a pretty box to wrap your gifts in, you can forgo the paper and just tie it with a beautiful ribbon and add a handwritten tag.

As I am known as the woman who cannot throw anything out…it was no different with these bags in which pillowcases and sheets I bought at the Restoration Hardware outlet resided in. They are way too pretty to toss so I adhered other materials over the original print to repurpose them.

Taking burlap pieces, ribbon and upholstery webbing, the old graphics were hidden and now there is room to personalize these bags with either fabric markers or paper labels.

These sizes make for great wine bags.

I used a hot glue gun to adhere these embellishments on but you could also take out a needle and thread and use a few simple stitches to attach the extra elements.

We love the chambray feel of this linen and this would make a cute jewelry pouch for presenting a gift in.

Anyway you wrap it… delight in the process… think about what the recipient might appreciate, what is his/ her aesthetic and have fun!!

I have to leave you with this little tidbit so that you don’t think that my gifts are already wrapped and sitting beautifully under the tree. When preparing and shooting this blog post in the dining room, one of my sons popped in and asked incredulously, “Mom, are you wrapping presents already?” They know the drill, mom wraps on Christmas Eve.  With the hustle and bustle of raising a family of 5 little ones, this tradition was started years ago where I stay up most of Christmas Eve night wrapping gifts. I love that tradition as crazy as it sounds, for in the years when they were all little, it was incredibly peaceful to sit in front of the Christmas tree, with a Christmas movie playing while I quietly wrapped… all alone, reflecting on both the gifts I was wrapping and the year that was almost coming to a close. It could also be that I learned it from my grandmother who partakes in the same ritual and my mom who still to this day, wraps on Christmas Eve. Sometimes she takes it a little too far and it still wrapping Christmas morning!

It is in the giving that we delight, it is in the process of creating that we enliven our spirit and it is in keeping traditions alive that we generate a connection to the loved ones that have graced us with the gift of their acts of love. 

~ Meg and Maggie