DIY: simply "krafty" holiday wrap + teachers' gifts

Hello! I just wanted to pop in with a mini-tutorial (really, a show and tell) of how I wrapped some of my Christmas gifts this year.

Kraft paper is one my favorite supplies to work with. It's widely available. Goes with everything. Easy to run through your printer. It's a must-have in my craft room.

But it's a little stiff to wrap presents. When I saw this idea on the Little Lovelies blog, I knew it would be the best way to go. Like Allison, I planned to use shipping paper and yarn (as well as baker's twine), but I also wanted to add some felt flowers as a gift topper.

Materials:

*Roll of shipping paper (I got mine at Target for $6 each.)
*Felt, vintage button, embroidery thread/needle to make felt flowers (see my felt-flower-making tutorial here)
*Pretty yarn
*Baker's twine (I got mine here)
*Kraft paper, 8.5 x 11, available at Joanns or Michaels in the scrapbooking section
*Your favorite printable (and free) gift tags (I used these from EatDrinkChic).
*Tape

How-to:
1. Wrap your present with the shipping paper. The paper is a little stiffer and heavier than regular wrapping paper, so be generous with the tape. (Next year, I might try Japanese washi tape!)

2. Wrap with baker's twine and tie a bow.

3. Add your felt flowers (mine is a fringed flower with a vintage button). Don't forget to go here to view my tutorial on making the flowers). I wanted my flower to be reusable and detachable from the present, so I just used a loop of scotch tape to attach it. You could also use a glue dot.

4. For the tag, I printed out these free printable tags by EatDrinkChic onto 8.5 x 11 kraft paper, trimmed them to size and tucked it under the baker's twine. (You could also punch a hole in the tag and thread it through the baker's twine before tying the bow.)

***

 For the next present, the nubby, multi-colored yarn is the star.

The same steps as above, just use your favorite yarn instead of baker's twine. Felt flower optional. These were little gifties for my youngest daughters's toddlers class teachers.

And in case you're wondering what's inside, here's a peek and quick how-to.

I bought a trio of bejeweled tin boxes from Pier 1 (on sale!). Instead of filling them with candy, I decided to do a little something krafty. I grabbed some of my paper punches and the kraft-colored packaging that came with the boxes themselves. (yay! no need to dig into my kraft paper stash)

I punched some hearts and butterflies out of the packaging. On one heart, I wrote "Happy Holidays from Zara"  on one side and let Zara personalize it with her purple scribble.  I threw in some more blank punched hearts and some punched butterflies and a few ruby-red rolled felt flowers.

 A quick and easy gift, for sure.

Well, I hope you liked my quick krafty tutorials. Happy Wrapping!