I have always enjoyed wrapping gifts. I remember loving it as a kid and at Christmas time helping my mom wrap my father’s gifts, my father wrap my mother’s gifts and my brother wrap gifts for my parents { and probably some of his own gifts to me, he is smart like that}.

Certainly, not every box under the tree need be gussied up, especially if you have children that will be tearing into them, barely registering if it even has their name on it. For some gifts though, wrapping for presentation makes them a tad more special. Special, but not precious – even with the embellishments, I will never be comfortable with gingerly removing gift wrap. I firmly believe that presents should be ripped into.

It is possible that I may be more adept at finding things to top gifts than finding the gift itself. I like to keep an eye out for vintage items to repurpose, like this initial for my husband or the silver house number paired with a chipboard letter coated in glass glitter.

Brown kraft paper is so versatile. To wrap smaller boxes, I reuse larger single seam flat bags from stores as well as the kraft paper sheets the art store rolls my printing paper in.

For this monogrammed gift, first determine the center for the design by wrapping the paper around the box and creasing the edges. On the inside of the front panel I drew a simple wreath, scoring the center line of each leaf and cutting around the edges, leaving them attached at the base. Cut a small slit at the bottom curve of the wreath a bit wider than the ribbon.

From the correct side, reverse the folds of each leaf and stamp or draw a monogram. Next, insert a loop of ribbon, securing it with a small piece of tape, then tape a square of coordinating paper over the entire design on the inside { I used some gold crepe paper}.

Office supplies are inexpensive and plentiful. Three different sizes of metal rim tags create a minimalist snowman, attached with glue dots. Black circular labels, cut into different sizes with craft punches embellish plain paper. The letterpress paper gift buckle with ribbon is from my product line.

I love playing around with crepe paper. The gift above is going to be filled with a cellophane bag of homemade sweets come Christmas time. A strip of silver crepe paper is attached to the inside of the cup with double stick adhesive and cinched closed with a velvet ribbon. Small tins can be found online; although this particular tin cup is from Trader Joes, the plant that was in it was not long for this world, but the cup came in handy. I use carpenter’s glue to adhere the glass glitter, the hold is great.

Red crepe paper makes for a fun pom pom. Fold two long strips of crepe paper into quarters and mark the center line of the width. With each, cut through all four layers, fringing both sides of the strip and stopping just short of the marked line. Unfold each strip and bundle them together, cinching the center with thin wire. Fluff out the pom pom and trim the shape as needed.

For more gift packaging ideas I have a regular feature on my blog. In addition, I am having a giveaway this week- an assortment of 6 of my letterpress gift buckles – you can enter here.