I finally wrapped a few presents today!  Whew.  It’s coming down to the wire here.  I really enjoy wrapping gifts though.  Just like home decor, I try to keep it simple, casual, neutral and budget-friendly.  I picked 3 different rolls of wrapping paper from Target this year: a neutral craft paper with pinstripes, a cream paper with mod taupe polka dots and a sparkly granite.  Each of these prints can transcend a realm of celebrations – not just Christmas.  {There I go again.  I even like my wrapping paper to multitask!}  I busted out my old Stampin’ Up supplies to craft custom name tags. I used a 2″ circle punch to cut my ivory tags, then embossed silver snowflakes onto them for a little glitz. Take a peek.

Instead of traditional curly-Q ribbon, I chose a roll of medium-thickness hemp twine to adorn the gifts.  {I found it at Wal-Mart for super cheap.}  I also finished up a roll of regular {thin} twine that I already had on hand.

A length of hemp rope strung round-and-round vertically is enough to add a special touch.  {Simply tape the free ends at the back of the gift.}  This is especially great for presents that must travel…no worries about smashed/lost bows…the hemp lies flat.

On a small jewelry box, I forwent {is that a word?!} paper all together and embossed an ornament right on top.

For unusually shaped objects, I make it easy and just cover the labels.  It saves paper, extra boxes and, ultimately, trees.  And have you noticed?  Complimentary boxes are hard to come by these days.

{That’s my favorite cleaning solution above.  It’s Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day All Purpose Cleaner in Lemon Verbena.  I bought a 6-pack and divvy’ed it up between our school bus drivers, teachers and a few relatives.}  Candles are another hard-to-wrap-without-a-box-item.

Couldn’t you see that dark gray glittery paper being used to wrap a wedding gift, too?  The modern polka dot paper could be great for birthdays, baby showers and Mother’s Day.  And that craft paper would work well for Father’s Day or any manly gift.  In case you’re wondering, I did use these papers to wrap my kids’ gifts too…but Santa breaks out much bolder Christmas-y paper.  It makes the Santa gifts really stand out!

So what about you?  Still have presents to wrap?  Or are you on the ball this year and wrapped all your gifts weeks ago?  Let’s just say I’ll be wrapping while I watch TV tonight.  Happy wrappy!

images:  all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

I found these 2 wooden plaques at Goodwill for $3 each.

Hideous, right?  I was wanting to paint silhouettes of my boys for my Mom as a Christmas gift.  My Mom’s style is a bit more traditional than mine, so the intricate wooden frames would fit right into her decor.  I figured the flower art could easily be painted over, so I grabbed them up.  I primed…

…and painted them.  {I painted them the same Benjamin Moore Harbour Town as I used in my nieces’ handmade gifts.}  I took several profile pictures of Layne and Everett and picked the best one of each.

I traced the outline of each boy’s silhouette onto plain notebook paper – straight from my computer screen.

I cut each silhouette.

Then I used a projector to project the silhouettes onto the wooden plaques.  I drew them on with a pencil then traced over with a black Sharpie to get a clean outer edge.  {Notice I flattened out my boys’ hair for a smoother silhouette.}

Then I painted inside the Sharpie lines with black gloss paint that I already had on hand.  Here’s the final product {still a little wet}…

The goal is to make my Mom cry.  Think I’ll succeed?

images:  all by Dana Miller for House*Tweaking