giftwrap through the ages

although by "ages" i mean, "in the last month or so" as opposed to the eternal ages of man... which would be a much longer post. i considered the title, "two bags, one package and a tin bucket thingie (no weddings or funerals)" but that seemed kind of long. i often find titles to be the hardest part of blogging, does anybody else feel that way? anyway, to sum up the purpose and intent of this entire post, here are a few things i've wrapped recently that i quite like:

a question i get asked fairly frequently on social media is, "what do you do with all your random watercolors and collages and things?" well, a great many of them are in sketchbooks or art journals where they admittedly don't serve a continuing purpose. but since they helped me learn or practice some sort of skill or technique, i feel like they've earned their keep in that sense. i also have a big basket of loose work, some of which might eventually become cards, or if they're really big, they might get framed and given as a gift. others might become the decorative panel on a custom gift bag. in this case, a colorbust painting of loose and drippy flowers in niece lindsay's favorite color (purple!) got trimmed down, matted, and had some chunky chipboard letters sewn on top. for the record, when you see bags like this, the decorated panel is stuck on with just a few pieces of foam tape, so it can be removed easily if the recipient wants to save it. (although all my nieces and nephews have a few gift bags hanging up in their rooms somewhere, lol, which always makes me smile!)

my mother and aunt are famous for saving me "interesting" envelopes, boxes, bags... and, in this case, a tin. it's about the size of a paint can, and i think it must've held popcorn or some sort of snack? the name of the company was on the lid and also printed around the bottom of the cityscape. i made a panel to cover the former-- with nephew matthew's initials in huge metallic cardstock letters-- and two layers of washi tape to cover the latter. 

another in the continuing series of giftwrap sleeves like the one in the tutorial at the bottom of this post from july. i devised the sleeve concept-- in which the wrapping is secured only on two sides, and the gift can be slid out without undoing the decoration-- so that people who didn't want to "wreck" a fancy present by opening it, would be able to still see what i've given them. i came up with the idea of stitching multiple papers together so that i could use the sleeve idea on bigger gifts. this sleeve is composed of several wallpaper swatches, an index from a vintage atlas, and some gorgeous paper-backed asian fabric i got in chinatown and have frankly been hoarding for several years.

another bag, hooray! this one has some vintage lace hot-glued around the top, a big silk flower, and some of the extra prototype colorburst leaves from a recent mixed media card class i taught at paper anthology. i confess i especially like this one. 

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wishing you a wonderful weekend that involves a little bit of time doing something FUN and CREATIVE... just for yourself!!!

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