Recently, my parents sent me 30 gifts for turning 30. All were wrapped separately and in different ways. A few numbered, a few in pursy lip print cloth napkins, some surrounded by confetti and pom poms, covered in ribbon, metallic and silk, and then a couple in colored jamming jars. My Mom tends to give me a lot of inspiration and creative ideas. My 30 gifts for 30 was just another one of those times. Who doesn't love reusable gift wrap!? The jars, colorful, and stuffed with paper confetti had me thinking...what an utterly adorable thank you gift. Maybe not even thank you, but a small congratulations gift. Hell, stuff some cash in the jar for the happy newly married couple and make it a big whopping win. A.C. Moore, Michael's, Jo Ann Fabrics, and really, any local craft store carries multiple options of jars and stuffing. Stuff with your gift of choice and clasp closed for the one/s you love! xo RCN
Pom Pom Wrapping
One of my easiest gift wrapping ideas, is also one of my most favorite ideas. Instead of using tissue paper or scraps of paper confetti, or anything else for that matter, I like to use pom poms for the inside stuffing of a present. Pom Poms are even cushy enough to use for something more fragile, as long as you use enough of them. They are also quite lovely and cute to throw in a box along with some tissue, just to add some festiveness to the package. For Christmas I am coordinating tones of green and red with certain small packages. A double handful of green pom poms worked perfectly in this little gift bag. I threw some poms in the bag first, then added one fragile gator salt shaker, followed by more poms and the paired pepper shaker. I made sure to move the poms around all sides of the bag, and now I am ready to go. I am obsessed with this idea. Chances are, if you receive a present from me this holiday, there will probably be pom poms inside. Sorry to ruin the surprise! xo RCN
All pom poms and gift bags from Target. Target sells color coordinated boxes of pom poms in their craft section.
A Little Bit' Of Spooky, A Lot A Bit' Of Sparkley
What you will need to create a Halloween garland and some additional sparkle bats for your entryway...
1. Cookie cutters or stencils shaped like a Bat and Pumpkin OR any other Halloween shapes you like
2. 3-4 sheets of oak tag paper
3. Scissors
4. Orange and Black glitter
5. Elmer's tacky glue
6. Pencil
7. 2 Paper plates (for glitter)
8. Newspaper
9. Paint brush (for glue)
10. Sewing needle and five feet of string (festive Halloween colors)
11. Hole punch or 9 mini laundry clips
12. 16 Orange and 16 Black Pom Poms
13. Clear reversible Scotch tape
Trace pumpkin and bat cookie cutters onto thick paper. Cut out all traced figures once you have them all marked. A trick is to trace a third of your final amount and stack three papers together and cut through all three papers at once. Saves a lot of time!
This five foot garland requires 9 pumpkins. While I worked on the garland I also made 30 additional bats for the entry wall in our apartment.
Pour a round circle of sparkles onto a paper plate, big enough to dip your bats and pumpkins into. You will need more orange sparkles for pumpkins since they are larger than the bats. Paint tacky glue to cover the complete surface of your bat or pumpkin. Once covered with glue, push glue side down into sparkles on paper plate and continue to move it around until surface is covered. Be sure to put enough glue on the paper to cover it completely, don't be stingy with the glue. The sparkles will look 10 times better if it is applied relatively thick.
The last step is creating the garland itself. I was inspired by a Halloween garland I saw for sale at Target. So if lucky and you are tight on time you may find this pre-made, but if not, it's quite simple to do it yourself.
Cut thread to the length of your desired garland. Pictured above is one individual (about) 5 foot strand. Once cut, slip thread through the eye of you sewing needle and pull thread to be about ten inches on one side and the remainder of your garland on other. Start by pushing needle through center of either black or orange pom pom. Rotate every other color and continue to thread and string pom poms along until you have filled the length of garland. If you do not have mini clothes pins to clip your sparkle pumpkins onto the final garland, use a hole punch and thread the pumpkins onto the string as you thread the pom poms. Doing so, every five to three pom poms. Tie a small knot at both ends of your string, and finito! The more garlands you make, the more festive your place will look for Halloween!
Lastly, my thirty some odd bats look fabulous taped directly onto my entry wall, just beside our front door. We have a solid white wall there and I thought what better way to decorate a blank space for all the Halloween trick-or-treaters to see! xo RCN