Christmas Gift Wrapping with IKEA

A few months back I was invited to a festive gift-wrapping workshop with IKEA in London. It was far too early to really think about Christmas back then (I think it was June!), but the event also offered a sneak peak at IKEA’s Autumn / Winter collection (in-store now), which I couldn’t refuse!

You might remember that last year IKEA put on a Christmas tablescaping workshop for a few crafty bloggers, where I obsessed over a gorgeous black bear ornament. This time we were treated to a gift-wrapping workshop with the lovely Janine, who has a completely different creative job by day, but is a widely acknowledged ‘awesome gift wrapper’ on the side – nice to be multi-talented!

It was lovely to see some friendly faces in the form of Gabrielle from Design Curator and Anna from The Smell of Roses (not to be confused with The Only Smell is Roses, which I nearly wrote – too much TOWIE), and to meet some new faces too – namely Lou from Little Green Shed, Jess from The Only Girl in the House and Georgia from Flowers in the Window. As well as making some gorgeous gift-wraps, Georgia also patiently put up with a mega coughing fit from me on the train back to Essex – sorry!

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Simple Festive Gift Wrap Inspiration

Ready or not, Christmas is ‘a coming, and I’m just about getting excited now, in that panic-stricken ‘haven’t-bought-any-presents‘ kind of a way. But what better way to procrastinate from buying presents, than by exploring gorgeous gift wrap options for said (eventual…) presents!

These nine gift-wrap ideas all caught my eye for their simplicity. I love a bit of natural foliage, and brown paper always manages to look great. My faves are probably No. 2 – the DIY paper straws (so effective, and yet incredibly easy too), and also the wrapping pleats on No. 5.

For full DIYs, visit:

1. DIY Brush Lettered Gift Pouches, Shelley Makes | 2. DIY Paper Straw Gift Wrap Toppers, Fall For DIY | 3. Holiday Gift Tags, Almost Makes Perfect | 4. Pine Twig, Portland General Store | 5. Brown Paper Packages, Kate’s Creative Space | 6. Holiday Wrapping Paper, Go Forth | 7. Christmas Tree Gift Topper, Fellow Fellow | 8. Brown Paper Label Maker, Cherry Blossom | 9. Brown Gift Paper, Deas & Mia

Happy wrapping! Ho Ho Ho!

Contributing to the We Make Collective!

If you haven’t yet heard of it, the We Make Collective is founded by the incredibly talented Fran from Fall for DIY. After hearing far too many people ‘poo-poo’ their own creativity (my words, Fran’s ethos), Fran decided to create a monthly craft kit for subscribers, with a fantastic twist.

Rather than sending out materials and instructions to help you make the same thing as everyone else, the Collective give you the tools, know-how and inspiration to exercise your own creativity, and make something unique to you – so you’re free to make whatever you want!

If you become a subscriber, each month you’ll receive a special box full of supplies which will give you everything you need to learn a new craft, and create any number of finished pieces. Each kit focusses on a different skill – November’s was weaving, and December’s was brush lettering & calligraphy.

As well as receiving the physical materials, you’ll be granted access to a private member’s area on the website where you can read expert tutorials, and learn all the skills you need to get started.

When I first heard about these kits, I thought they were such a great idea, and the finished DIYs from the inaugural weaving kit looked fantastic (check out #wemakecollective on Instagram). As a result, I was thrilled when Fran invited me to contribute a brush lettering tutorial for the December kit.

I decided to make a trio of quick and easy brush-lettered gift-wrap ideas, suitable for beginners. You can read the full tutorial here with all my hints and tips, but I wanted to share a sneak-peak with you.

Brush lettering is really therapeutic once you get the hang of it, and the end result looked a million times better than my normal hand-writing. Result! Have you tried it before?

My biggest hint if you’re a brush-letter ‘newb’ is to write on tags or stickers in the beginning while you master the skill, as then, if you make a mistake, you can simply replace the tag – easy!

The other secret is simply to practice – practice, practice, practice, and enjoy =)

Making Gift Bows with Recycled Paper

On the weekend I wrote a post showing how to make DIY gift bows. The bow pictured was made from a Lancome advert, but I also had good results with the front cover from The Sunday Times magazine…

If truth be told, I enjoyed taking photos of these as much as I enjoyed crafting them. For full instructions, see my previous post, otherwise I hope this picture helps give an overview of the how-to:

It’s easier than you might think, and quite therapeutic! What do you think to this one? Now just to get someone a present so I can wrap their gift… Please feel free to Pin and share =)