Last minute makes

I shamefully rely upon the gift bags I receive for the next year's gift receptacles, to be fair it's worked very well for the past 10 years even if it has meant remembering who gave me which bag so I don't give them their bag back.
Far too much effort.
Along with wanting to add a personal yet professional touch to my presents, this, was my motivation for a new gift bag idea. That and my desire not to resort to 'posh carrier bags' as we discussed previously.
Wrapping presents in parcel paper has been popular for a while so I thought a little brown paper bag would suit the current trends. What makes these bags even better is that they use up even more of that leftover wrapping paper that you don't have anything small enough to wrap up.
The following are my take on this year's gift bags. If there is anything I've learned this festive season it is that double sided tape is my best friend. It's worked for the rosettes, for my gift tags, for my gift boxes and is now the staple ingredient for my gift bags.
Just another tip for recycling wrapping odds and ends if you find yourself outnumbered and tempted to wrap the family hamster just to use them up.

Making as a reward for marking

As Christmas approaches it gets harder to write this craft blog as obviously my makes are going to be for gifts. As much as I would like to think that this blog is read by millions worldwide I'm pretty sure mostly it is read by my friends indulging my eccentricity. This leaves me with somewhat a dilema. Either I hibernate for the festive period then inundate you with blogs after the surprise can't be ruined or we establish a rule, if you don't want to have the surprise ruined- don't read on. For now I'm still fixated on my boxes so you can safely read on while we collectively try to reach the masses.
After being a good girl and doing my marking I decided I deserved a reward. I retreated to my craft allocated corner of my house and built my little boxes. I've attached tonight's effort somewhere although I confess I'm on a new phone so I'm not sure where it's gone.
I still can't decide if I prefer traditional wrappers to the 'nordic' papers which seems to be mega popular so please feel free to comment.
Be warned the next blog will be about the gifts I've been making- your surprise is in your own hands people, similar to destiny but that's far too deep and meaningful for a Monday.

If Coca Cola says so, it must be so.

The famous advert has been on so it must be true, Christmas must be on its way. I absolutely love Christmas! Mainly because I get presents and I'm a sucker for shiny boxes under a tree. As we've already discovered I'm a breeze to buy for so as long as its covered in shiny paper and has my name on it - I'm happy. 

Another absolute pleasure is being able to flex my crafting muscles under the guise of making gifts for others. I get to claim craft purchases as ingredients towards gifts and therefore put them on a joint account and I get to experiment with all the ideas I've seen in magazines - what is not to love about Christmas?! Did I also mention that it's the time we remember our saviour being born? Now eternity in heaven, try beating that as a gift! (had to point it out guys, I'm a Christian after all).

This year I've been reading a lot about packaging. And I have to say I'm a guilty packer. I make pretty gifts then generally put them in bags, it's a gift bag if you're lucky but I have resorted to 'posh' supermarket carrier bags in the past. As suchI thought it was about time I broke the habit.

This is my box making pallet groove thingy:

Obviously that is the technical name. On one side are grooves for cards and then on the reverse side are grooves for boxes. I've had it a while but not put it to the test. You will notice a black pen, that's because I've lost the implement to make the grooves so improvised. Keep the lid on if you find yourself in this position- it fits the grooves but doesn't leave unpleasant black lines.

These are my boxes:

The brown one was the first one and then I just gradually got more adventurous until I made a tiny triangle box with a tiny gift inside for a good friend of mine. The big triangle box is another PIF gift but the square boxes are Christmas gifts. Look at me being all prepared!

I'm very excited about the look of the boxes, I think they do have that professional appearance which I haven't been able to achieve previously- supermarket plastic bags just don't give you the edge. It also bumps up the simple gift inside to something a bit more special. Well I think so anyway, I will have to find out and let you know after the recipients give me their feedback.