The Art of Gift Wrapping

 
Today was my sister's birthday, and oh, what joy does it bring me to buy and wrap presents. Seriously, I think I could be one of those professional wrappers at Christmas time. I would love every minute of it. I would also love getting paid to shop for other people. Now wouldn't that be a great job? For this package, I used pieces from my wrapping stockpile housed in the guest bedroom closet:

• neutral wrapping paper from TJ Maxx
• paper dollies from the dollar store
• baker's twine purchased half off from GroupDealz
• an "n" from Michael's

I love having these things on hand. Seriously, neutral wrapping paper can go a long way. I typically have a roll of kraft packaging paper in my closet. You can dress it up or down depending on the occasion. It can also be suitable for a male or female. Unisex wrapping paper is actually pretty hard to find, so that is why I always have kraft paper on hand. 

Do you have any great go-to wrapping supplies I should know about? 

To wrap up, I wanted to send special birthday wishes to my sister, Nikki! 

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A Very Merry Christmas Party

I hosted a little holiday lunch party for the girls.   

For lunch, I kept it simple with soup (lobster bisque and white chicken chili) and delicious bread from Whole Foods.  Every guest brought an appetizer or desert so it worked out perfectly!

To watch spending, I used supplies I already had in the pantry - paper plates, napkins, utensils and small brown paper bags. I stamped each guest's name on their cutlery packet using my $1 alphabet stamp collection from Michael's. (I LOVE this little stamp set. I use it all the time. Love stamps too?  Another project where I used these small stamps can be found here.)

 I created reindeer out of root beer bottles using pipelines, googely eyes and pom poms.  This was a wonderful Pinterest find.

Lastly, we did a small gift exchange. Here you see beautiful Katie posing with my package that she received in the exchange.  Of course, I was inspired to utilize kraft paper and doilies from a photo on Pinterest.  Pretty much all my gifts are wrapped this way this year.

This party was featured on delicatelyConstruction's "delicately constructed fridays" feature.

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