(Hobby Lobby magnet, tied on to a plain white box holding our homemade monogram teacher gifts. I had to dig deep in the archives for that one.)
You can make initials outta whatever you've got laying around.
Fabric.
Pennies.
("I would've drawn a 'Z' for you, Mom....you didn't have to waste nine cents." - Hayden, age 7)
You could even get all hoity toity and use bedazzled ornaments like Martha does,
although I prefer polka dots over bling any day. Hopefully the kids teachers last year did too.
When I saw this idea I was inspired to go even bigger.......without getting too big....that "R" is kinda creeping me out.
I printed up my letter on the computer, then cut it out using the fanciest cardboard I could find.
You could skip the cardboard, but I wanted it sturdy enough that it wouldn't rip.
I grabbed a book from my stash, otherwise known as "Things Our Old Dog Chewed Up That I Can Still Use,"
glued it to the cardboard, then cut it out.*
* If your paper isn't as transparent as mine, you could glue onto the printed side of the box, which would give you a plain white back. I just did both sides.
Add some ink to the edges if you want, punch a hole on top, and tie it on.
Bazzing!! You just gave me the idea to hit up Half Price Books to buy less expensive books with the sole purpose of wrapping. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteonce again another grand idea! I'm gonna do better with this for Christmas wrapping, I always hated the ugly bows, you have given me great inspiration!
ReplyDeleteHow dare you disgrace a page of Harry Potter! I am in near tears here! Why didn't you ruin a page of Twilight instead? I could give you Breaking Dawn for free if you want. But Harry Potter?!?!
ReplyDelete;)
As always, I love what you do! I don't think I can ever say it enough...though I'm sure you're tired of hearing me say it.
Do you have any tips on how to recycle gift bags? I have a ton of them, wrinkled, not nice enough to use as is.
ReplyDeleteLove me some monograms! Even if you defaced Harry Potter. And hey, did you use like a craft knife to cut out the box letter? I've destroyed so many pairs trying to cut cardboard. Which then gives me a reason to haunt the Dollar Store again. Which I've renamed the $100 Dollar Store, since I never get outta there without dropping lots of dollar bills....*sigh*
ReplyDeleteLove this idea!
ReplyDeleteI love the ideas you've given me. Last year at Christmas I made my own wrapping paper out of paper bags and the funny pages, wrapped them and my son and I decorated them. They will look even better w/these tags on them. Thanks
ReplyDeleteLove the idea!!
ReplyDeleteI have spent hours tonight looking and looking and staring and gazing at your blog. You are a genius. Loved every second.
ReplyDeleteHow do you print the letters this big?
ReplyDeleteI use Microsoft word, keeping the view at 100% so I can tell how big it will be. It depends on your font and letter, but I would say 300 point text will get you around 4 inches tall, and you can go up as big as you want - as long as it will fit on the page :)
ReplyDeleteHow did you ink up the edges on the letters. I just tried this tonight by using black paint and a soft stroke but it doesnt look nearly as good !
ReplyDeleteYes how did you ink the edges? Please elaborate! I have my letter cut out just can't figure out the ink thing.
ReplyDeleteWhat font did you use on the S?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what font it is - I was lazy (shocking!) and did a google search typing in "letter S" and picked one that was nice and thick ;) Here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://familycrafts.about.com/library/color/blcapitals.htm
You can do that for any letter - good luck!
Very cool "lettered" gift!
ReplyDeleteThis is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this! I'm so excited to try it! I'm thinking This would be beautiful in a whitewashed shadow box, bow and all! You could give the shadow box with the recipients initial and a page from their favorite book(or a special passage),as a gift.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I wonder if typing up a page and roughing it up a bit with a tea bag, to give it that aged look, might work?
Gorgeous! You could also photocopy a page from a favorite book instead of ruining the book.
ReplyDeleteHow did you do the ink on the edges? Ink pad rubbed around it? Very cute!
ReplyDeleteOh God! did your dog really eat Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire? How tragic!
ReplyDeleteBTW I love your ideas!
This is probably a ridiculous question, but where do you find the brown paper to wrap the packages in? Did you just use paper bags?
ReplyDeleteLove the idea. You can use an ink pad to do the coloring on the edges. Just swipe the edges on the pad. Hope that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThe black and gold around the edge...are they both ink? What kind? Sorry I'm a craft novice.
ReplyDelete@ouradvocate-
ReplyDeleteYep, both ink. The black is just a regular ol' stamp pad, and the brownish/goldish color is a brown "Distress Ink" (name of the brand), that's got a slight transparent quality to it. Here's another post that shows more detail:
http://www.olderandwisor.com/2010/12/using-what-youve-got-means-free-quick.html
I love all of these creative gift wrapping ideas. I choose this post as one of My Friday Favorites. You can check it out here:
ReplyDeletehttp://wp.me/p2hp9V-Mu
These are wonderful, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI love these! Where do you get your brown paper wrapping paper?
ReplyDeleteI love these! Where do you get your brown paper wrapping paper?
ReplyDelete