Day 15 of Christmas Crafting: Wrapping Time!

So, no one told me that having a baby girl who gets excited about everything would make us want to buy her everything we see.  Seriously, it's a problem.  As a result, I have quite the pile o' packages to wrap.  Actually, I did show remarkable restraint, in my opinion, so I don't feel too bad, but I have a feeling there may be more packages under the tree for C than she can handle in one sitting.  Too bad she's not old enough to appreciate that. :)

Oh well, with the pile staring at me day after day, I decided it was time to do something about it.  I know that wrapping presents is not technically a craft, but I did get a little crafty with my wrapping materials, so I figure it counts.  Here's what I started with:

I went bold and graphic with the wrapping paper this year.  The paper I chose is not what I normally would go for, but it SPOKE to me, and it went well with the more child-like theme of our Christmas decorations.  I may or may not have returned to the gift wrap section 4 times before finally buying it though.  Those two rolls have over 180 sq. ft. of paper.  That's a big commitment for me-- it will probably last us for 2-3 years.  Of course, with the giant pile of packages I have to wrap, maybe it's won't...

Anywho, I've decided this year to try to wrap most things in shirt boxes to make it easier to wrap.  There are some toys that won't fit, of course, but I like the look of neatly stacked boxes. :)  I also decided that since the paper was so bold, I'd keep the trimmings fairly simply.  I decided to go with plain white curling ribbon and the tags I showed you on Day 9 of Christmas Crafting.  The only change I made for this was to stamp "To/From" on the back instead of "Many Thanks".

Here's a look at a couple of the completed packages:

And here's a close-up of one of the gift tags:

 

(See, not ALL the gifts are for Claire!)

One of Claire's presents gave me quite a challenge.  She loves to put on clothes, so I decided to start her collection of dress-up clothes.  Fairy wings refuse to fit in any box, however, and they would be horrible to wrap, so I decided a gift bag was in order.  I didn't have a gift bag big enough, though, so I had to get creative.  When I last went to Burlington Coat Factory, they put my purchases in a plain white paper bag.  I knew I could use it for future gift wrapping, so I kept it.  It worked perfectly to wrap Claire's fairy wings. 

Unfortunately, the white bag was really boring.  And I only had white tissue paper, so that wasn't going to help the visual interest any.  So, I got to thinking.  I have two huge rolls of bold wrapping paper, why don't I use them?  I cute out 2 large rectangles of wrapping paper and glued one to each side of the bag.  So much better!

And hey, now it totally coordinates with all the other presents. Love it.

Anyone else been wrapping presents lately?  I wish I could say I'm done.  Between only being able to wrap when Claire sleeps, crafting, blogging, and life, I think it'll take me a few days to get it all done.  Oh, and at some point, I guess I better finish the rest of my Christmas shopping!