That's a Wrap!

I highly doubt that I have ever disliked Christmas wrapping, but this year in particular I am in LOVE with wrapping up Christmas presents! I took it upon myself to make and decorate all of my wrapping papers and bows. Between stamping, drawing, painting, be-glittering, and paper folding I have managed to wrap all my Christmas gifts in festive and unique ways. And want to know the best part? You can, too!

To do some very basic homemade Christmas paper, all you need are some old paper shopping bags, some Christmasy stamps, ink, markers, and old magazines.

*Note: You just need something to decorate the paper so just stamps and ink or stamps and markers or just markers would suffice.*

Cut open your paper bag so that it can lay flat. You will obviously be decorating the blank (inside) side of the  bag. Go to town drawing Christmasy things like trees or snowflakes. Or begin stamping. I think it looks better and less-cluttered if you keep it simple. Space out your stamps/drawings, keep the colors to a minimum, and when in doubt do less. 

When you are satisfied with your paper's decor allow it to dry if need be. Then wrap up your gift. I like to save old ribbons from packages and previous gifts for just such occasions. For some of my gifts I used old ribbons and twine. For others I folded/made my own bows out of old magazines. If you would like a tutorial on how to make your own bows, click here, or to make a more classic bow out of magazines, click here.

I love these ribbons and bows! They are unique, fun, and so cheap. How can anyone beat that?

If you're looking for an even more green, earth-friendly wrapping idea, use fabric scraps. My family has taken to doing this for birthdays. We find various sizes and patterns in my mom's numerous fabric bins and wrap up our gifts with them. Tape doesn't always work so well with this type of wrapping, but a well-placed ribbon does the trick!

One last easy and fun thing to do, make gift tags. That way you can distinguish between which gift belongs to which person. Lots of places sell sticker versions of these, but you can easily make your own! I used origami to make my tags. The Christmas tree version is the easiest and my favorite!

Then you can just punch a hole in them and secure them to your package with a bit of ribbon, and you're set! Or, in the case of the snowflake, you can use a bit of tape to attach it to the package. Double-sided tape is my favorite kind of tape to use while Christmas wrapping! 

The above picture is the wrapping for my dad's gift. I reused an smaller paper bag and stamped it with red ink and a chunky, foam stamp. Fold over the top, punch a couple holes, add a ribbon and VOILA! 

This bag is for my sister, Cori. I wanted large Christmas trees on her bag, but I only had a tiny tree stamp. That's when I decided to draw on whimsical Christmas trees with funky stars. I then used puff paint to dot on little ornaments (or maybe they're Christmas lights). I outlined the stars with a glue pen and sprinkled on my favorite things ever--GLITTER! Although it is not shown in this picture, the top of the bag got folded down and a gift tag and ribbon were added to complete the bag. 

This wrapping paper was probably my favorite for its elegance and simplicity. I used a red ink and the tiny tree stamp I mentioned early. Then, since I didn't have any green ink pads, I used a Crayola marker to color the green onto the stamp and stamped that way! It's slightly more involved but less messy than an ink pad. I finished this gift off with a simple bit of twine and the origami Christmas tree gift tag that I made. Classic.

Here is a slight variation on the green and red Christmas tree wrapping. I still used the red ink pad, but since I didn't have any white ink I watered down a little bit of white paint and brushed it onto the stamp. Then, although you cannot see it very well in this photo, I used my glue pen and glitter to outline some of the trees as well as add tiny glittery stars to the tops of some of them. You can also see that I added one of my handmade bows. Oh, what fun!

This one was a simple free-hand. I drew on snowflakes with a few different blue permanent markers and then added teeny glittery stars for an added measure of fun! (Are you sensing the glitter trend? I can't get enough of it!)

This is by far the funkiest wrapping paper I made. My sister Molly is a glamour girl and so I wanted something fun and sassy for her wrapping paper. I happened to have a lip stamp (I have a bizarre collection of stamps) and so I made it Christmas-themed by alternating the red and green for a festive take on lips. I was tempted to write "Holiday Smoochies" all over it, but decided that would be taking it to the level of tacky and withheld. 

You cannot get more simple than this. All I did was add a big ribbon! However, I think it still looks great. You can do this for any season or occasion! That is one of the things I love about brown paper. It is rough but artsy and elegant. It is clean, thick, and durable. Plus, if you add a bow you are good to go for any type of gift-giving function!

I am very happy with the way this particular wrapping paper turned out. It was a bit more work intensive because I used Crayola markers to color on the stamp again and I had to do the color of the light plus the green boughs. But I picked a color and covered the paper and then switched to my next color, and I ended up with a cheery bit of holiday wrapping! Hooray! 

Well, that is all I currently have on the wrapping front! I still have Andy's family to wrap for so we'll have to see what that turns out because I am slowly running out of ideas (and holiday stamps!). But regardless, today  was a success and it makes me even more excited to give away these gifts!

Happy Holiday Wrapping!

Kate

Thanksgiving Results

Thanksgiving was an odd day this year. Being a new mom and newly engaged we decided to spend the holiday on our own as a family, just the three of us. This marked the first Thanksgiving that I was not with my parents and sisters. It also meant no football games or Thanksgiving Day Parade. It meant no obnoxious people or relatives. So, our day was quiet. We woke up and went for a run as a family in the ghost town of Ripon, Wisconsin. Then we got home and slowly worked on prepping our meal and began cooking our meal. In between cooking and listening to Christmas music (FINALLY!), Andy and I snuck in a game of Monopoly, which has always been one of my favorites. I got Andy hooked on it, too.


Overall, the food was delicious, and we ate well that night. The green beans were a little under-seasoned, but for a girl who isn't a green bean fan, I thought they were alright. Naturally, all that cooking means a lot of cleaning.

Our kitchen mid-day

But we kept up with it all and did multiple loads of dishes throughout the day. I'm a big believer in cleaning as you go (Andy seems to believe otherwise).


The cranberries were beyond tart! I knew that was the point, but I couldn't get past a few small bites. Andy, on the other hand, loved them. Alex, after making a few disgusted faces, enjoyed them, too. 

Cointreau Cranberry Relish

The stuffing was quite tasty but not how I expected it to taste. The Cooking Light recipe that we used had you make your own cornbread, but in an attempt to make things easier, we used a basic box mix. However, I think the box made more than what the recipe would have so the stuffing was heavy on the cornbread. Now extra cornbread is not exactly bad, but it overpowered the jalapeno and chorizo's spiciness just a little too much. I was hoping for a little bit more of a zip! So, my advice would be to stick with the recipe and nix the shortcut. I will say, Alex was a huge fan. He ate most of the leftovers, too.

My plate of deliciousness

            

The sweet potato gnocchi was great! Andy did a fantastic job with it. He put crushed red peppers on a plate and poured oil over it and let it soak for several hours so that the oil took on the taste of peppers. He sauteed the gnocchi in the hot pepper oil and then cooked them with pecans in maple syrup and bourbon. So we had two dishes that played with the balance between sweet and spicy. However, the gnocchi was the clear winner.    

Sweet Potato Gnocchi Pre-Baking

                                            

That day I also prepped homemade spiced cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Friday morning. The recipe came from Cooking Light. I have included the link here. They were pretty easy to make on a technicality scale, but they were a little involved. You have to let the dough rest several times. It actually worked well to make them on Thanksgiving because I could cook other dishes while waiting for the cinnamon roll dough to rise. Once I had them all rolled up, I parbaked the rolls and then kept them in the fridge until Friday morning. Then on Friday while I let them finish baking in the oven, I made the glaze to pour over them. Yum!

Par-Baked Spiced Cinnamon Rolls

All in all, a nice turn out of food and a sweet day spent with my family, and gave me the break I needed to remember why I am so lucky and to be truly thankful for all of my blessings.

Happy Holidays!

-Kate

Gettin' Through It

Today has been a frustrating so far...bills, angry babies, working boyfriends, not enough sleep. This is what is getting me through it.

Hang in there
-Kate