pretty holiday wrapping

‘Tis the season, friends!

I love the holidays. The food, the snow, the togetherness—it all just gives me the warm fuzzies inside! I have so much fun picking out the perfect gifts for my family each year, and probably my favorite part of the gift giving process is the wrapping!

I know wrapping gifts can feel like a chore, especially if you’re trying to get it all done last-minute (been there!) But it can also be an opportunity to get creative—and you all know how much I love an opportunity to get creative! So this year I thought I’d share a little sneak peek of our pretty packages tied up with strings :). Maybe you’ll be inspired to ditch those bagged bows and get creative too!

Some expert tips:

1) Decide on a color palette and then buy your wrapping supplies in one go. That way you can see it all together and get an idea of how things will coordinate.

2) Don’t just shop the Christmas Wrap aisle. I often buy my wrapping paper from the Christmas section and then shop around for ribbons and textiles. This year I used white yarn and burlap string from the craft store, bakers twine from the grocery store and some pretty velvet ribbon I found on Amazon, to name a few!

3) Texture, texture, texture. Experiment using a variety of materials to add dimension to your gift. For example, instead of using paper tags, I made these cute round ones using air-dry clay and simple rubber stamps. (The kicker: they can be reused again and again and I spent less than I would have on fancy paper tags—it’s just five bucks for a tub of white clay!) I also made some fun pom pom gift toppers out of yarn in lieu of pre-made bows (again, so inexpensive!)

So there you have it! I hope you’ve found a little inspiration to shake up your gift wrapping routine this year :). Don’t be afraid to try something different, friends!

By the way, the hand-stamped clay gift tags were so easy to make and I love that I’ll be able to use them year after year! Check out my Instagram (@catsivula) to see a video of how I made them!

Sending lots of love and light out to you all this holiday season,

xo