DIY ideas to embellish gifts using tape

It's been a long time since I posted a gift wrapping idea so I thought I will share some ideas to embellish your gifts using tape. This will come handy to you when you don't have any ribbon or you ran out of ribbon or just want to try something different to decorate your gifts. These ideas will not only help you survive this holiday season but it will be useful year long.

School Bus Gift wrapping Idea

This is totally an unplanned post. We (My husband and I) got a play toy for our friend's son birthday party a week ago. It is a launch and play raceway set and I got an extra car as I thought it will be helpful if any of the birthday boy's friend also wants to play with him. It was in my mind that I want to wrap this differently(Not a regular gift wrap) as I always think but I did not know like what I wanted to wrap. I suddenly remembered the party was this past Saturday and I did not pack it yet(On Friday evening). So when I started to brainstorm ideas, the first thing I was thinking was, where to stick the extra car. When I kept the car to the side , the outline reminded me of a bus. As it is the "Back to school" season I thought I will go with "School Bus" instead of a regular bus. Here is how I did.

Materials used:
Yellow Wrapping paper
Kraft paper
A Piece of poster board
Black marker/Paint pen
Sticker paper and printer(Optional)
Gift wrapping tape
Scissors

Step 1: Secure the extra car on the side with the tape.

Step 2: The side with an extra car is going to be the front of the bus. To form the body for the front of the bus. Cut a piece of poster board and fold it the areas as shown to form the front of the bus and stick it with a tape.

Step 3: If you have a thick wrapping paper, you can go ahead and wrap it. But the yellow wrapping paper I had was slightly transparent. So I needed something in solid color for the base and also  I needed something to shape the space on the sides of the front part and also in the area where the car is placed in the main box. If you have a solid surface you can go ahead and do it with the main wrapping paper. But if you can spare I would always recommend wrapping the gift in some kind of paper like kraft paper or newspaper before doing it with the main wrapping paper.

This process involves wrapping the box in the same way as you would normally wrap a gift except for the front part. Leave a lot of paper on the front part while doing the first wrap. Then cut the areas in the front as shown. Trim the excess paper on the sides. Fold the bottom as normal and tape it. Then Cover the whole thing with the top flap.

Step 4: Now repeat the same with the main wrapping paper. When you cut the sides, don't throw away the scrap paper. Use them to cover the back to hide the fold of regular wrapping. 

Back covered with excess paper cut from the front.

Step 5: Now is the fun part, decorating. I printed some tyres pictures along with some lights and stop sign from google in a sticker paper. Used them to decorate the bus. Also, I used a black paint pen for drawing windows and other parts. I felt paint pens were better to draw opaque lines compared to normal sharpie markers.  I also printed a school bus for a gift tag.That's it.Your wrapping is done.

I love how this school bus wrapping turned out.What do you think? You may ask why all this for just a wrapping. But according to me , a well-wrapped gift is worth a lot more and it increases the value of your gift as you have put it more love and effort into it. Also, the birthday boy can play with this bus until he is tired and I think he might not even know there is a gift inside(I'm talking about 2 to 3-year-old) unless you say him. In that way, you can save this gift for any bad mood day to surprise him.

You don't need to have the same kind of gift to replicate this idea. Instead, you can add a box of small goodies or candies for the front part of your gift where I have added an extra car. You can add a box to the front and back to turn this idea into a car wrapping. As always options are limitless. I hope you will give this fun idea a try. I think this is perfect for birthday parties during this back to school season. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. As always I will be happy to hear from you. Also, if you like this share with your friends and family in social media. 

Other gift wrapping ideas you might like :

Cupcake packing for odd shaped items

Gift wrapping idea for small gifts using disposable water bottles

How to make gift bows using Silhouette

DIY Reusable gift tags using air dry clay

Paper gift tags are often thrown away once the recipient consumes the gift . How about making gift tags that can be reused as ornaments next year or as fridge magnets, will it not be a cool idea? This gift tag idea is suitable around the year and it is so easy and quick to make. Let's see how.

Materials Required :

• ACTÍVA Products Plus Air Dry Clay in white
• Rolling pin
• Cookie cutter in desired shapes
• Ribbon
• Ball tool (optional)
• Rhinestones (optional)
• Paint pens
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Step 1: Take a piece of clay from the package and roll it flat using a rolling pin.

Step 2: Use cookie cutter to cut a shape for making gift tags. Or you can even use blade and cut any simple geometric shape to make your gift tag.

Step 3: As Christmas is approaching, I made few Christmas themed gift tags.

Step 4: To make it more interesting, add few rhinestones to the gift tags. Just press them wherever you think they are appropriate. Glue is not required. Use a ball tool to engrave your personalized message, add details like eyes and other decorative elements. Use a straw or a small cookie cutter to make a hole on top to string a ribbon. Allow the gift tags to dry. It will take a day to dry completely (depending on the thickness). String a piece of ribbon on top and secure it with a knot.Your gift tag is now ready !!

Here is the close up of the snowflake gift tag. If you don't have ball tool, you can even use a toothpick or even a bobby pin to add finer details as shown here.

If you know someone who is celebrating their birthday on Christmas day, you can also use the ball tool and engrave "Happy Birthday".

And use paint pens to decorate the front of the gift tags.

I also tried the image transfer technique to add more personalization to the gift tag. To do this, just print your photo on plain copy paper using an inkjet printer. Just press the photo on the wet clay and leave it for 20- 30 seconds and remove them.You will get a light imprint of the image on the clay. Be sure to flip the image before printing. You can use markers or paint pens to add any message on top once it is dry. Add a ribbon on the back with a piece of tape so that the recipient can use them as fridge magnets if they want to.

Here is another close up shot of how I used the image transfer technique to make a personalized gift tag for an "Anniversary gift".

If you want, you can also highlight the engraved details using marker or paint pens. I hope you enjoyed these easy peasy reusable gift tags using ACTÍVA Products Plus air dry clay.

I made these using air dry clay but you can use the same technique to do gift tags using polymer clay if you want to make colorful and quick gift tags. As air dry clay takes a while to dry , you can use polymer clay and bake to make it hard if you want a quick gift tag using this technique. You can even use thumb prints of yours or even hand prints of babies(May be for grand parents :)) if you want to take the personalization to the next level.

Hope you will give this a try and add more personal touch to your gifts this holiday season. Share what you think about this idea in the comments below. As always I will be happy to hear from you. Be sure to share a picture with me in any of my social media if you happen to make these. I would love to see your creations and share it with other readers. 

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Activa products for making a guide in guidecentral.However all the ideas shared are my own. 

Gift Wrapping Ideas for small gifts using disposable water bottles

At times we all find it difficult to wrap those tiny gifts like a jewelry or a USB or anything that is small(You name it). Even though most of the time small gifts are quite expensive & memorable ones(You know & also the recipient knows that) , you like to see them big in size when you gift it to the recipient or you wish to do them at least for fun. Hey, Wait! There are people who think like that. I'm not crazy.If you are one among them.Comment below! When you want to implement the idea of gifting a small gift in bigger size you often end up searching for the right size box to put the gift in, do you know that a disposable water bottle can do that? Isn't it a nice way to re-use them . Lets see how.

Materials Required :

A disposable water bottle

A Tissue Paper in desired colors

Wrapping paper 

Gift Wrapping Tape or any clear tape

Ribbon , decorative tape ,stickers (Optional according to your taste)

Of course, the gift you want to wrap

Scissors

Step 1: Cut the top part of the water bottle as shown below. If you did not end up with a clean cut , you can use a piece of tape to secure the cut end of the bottle. I also have seen that some people use iron to make it even but I will leave that idea to you . Now make sure your gift fits in well. If not you can cut more of the opening. I have shown how a bottle of body spray and a small jewelry box fits in well just to give you an idea. 

Step 2: Take a tissue paper and fold it lengthwise to the length of the bottle and leave the remaining as a single layer. The width of the tissue paper should be the twice the amount that you need for wrapping a bottle. I just went with the actual width the paper came. More the width fluffier the flower .

Step 3: Fold the tissue paper in a width little bigger than the bottle, over and over again.So finally you will have a folded tissue paper.Cut the top part with scissors in the shape of a petal as shown below. 

Step 4: Now unfold the tissue paper and wrap the bottle and secure it with tape. Also fold the tissue paper to cover the bottom part of the bottle and secure it with tape.

Step 5: Now gather top part of the bottle to make a tissue paper flower and secure it with a tape or a pipe cleaner. It should look as shown below. You can end here or go one step further. 

Step 6: Use an alternate color tissue paper and make a center part of flower. Fold a rectangle piece of tissue paper into half and cut fringes with scissors and roll it up to make the center part of the flower.You can see the detailed step with pictures in step 6 & 7 of the DIY Paper Dahlia post. Insert the center piece , before securing the flower with the tape. 

Step 7: If you don't like the look of the tissue paper, you can use same color wrapping paper or a contrasting one and wrap the bottle. Decorate it with tape , stickers or anything you like. Tie a ribbon and attach a gift tag to complete the wrapping. Now, your tiny gifts are wrapped in gorgeous style.

 If you don't want to make a flower on the top as shown above. You can just gather the top and complete the wrapping . Or you can do the normal candy style wrapping by wrapping the bottle with tissue paper and gather the ends to secure it with tape. I just made a zig zag cut at the ends to add some style to the traditional candy wrapping. 

Hope you like this simple wrapping ideas. Give it a try this holiday season and share a picture with me if you do. I would love to see them and share it on my social media. Share what you think about this idea in the comments below. As always I would love to hear it from you. 

How to make gift bows using Silhouette

Today is something new and different, I am sharing my first ever tutorial using silhouette (If you are totally new to the word itself,you might want to check about the wonderful craft toy -an electronic cutting machine by clicking the link).Before starting I would like to say, I am not a pro or a experienced silhouette crafter yet so please forgive me if I make any mistakes and tell me in the comments below so that I can learn. (I always appreciate suggestions & comments from fellow crafters :)) 

I also wanted to share a little story about how I got this cutting machine. During April to May, Instructables (You might also want to check that website if you are a DIY addict & Contest lover ,like me) and Silhouette America conducted a Crafting 101 contest in which I submitted my DIY Paper Dahlia  and won second prize in the contest(Yay!!)  for which I received Silhouette Portrait (In last week of August). So lately I have been experimenting and playing a little bit with this crafty tool. 

While I wanted to learn more and get some help from fellow crafters, I joined a Facebook group called Silhouette Design & inspiration and there was a raffle going on when I joined. Like everyone, I entered it just like that and was totally surprised the next day when I got the notification that someone tagged me in a post saying "Congrats" you won a Silhouette Curio(Which is the latest release). I got so surprised and was jumping like anything (Thanks to my hubby for tolerating all the craziness :P).I couldn't believe it happened to me because I have never won anything big like this without putting much effort and time into it. I felt and feel so blessed :) :). So, with two cutting machine in hand , I am telling you before hand that I will sharing some of my experiments with these machines in future posts. 

I think this is the biggest intro ever(Sorry for that!!I had to share it with you) , so without ado  lets move on to the post. 

Cup cake packing & gift wrapping idea for odd shaped items

A while ago I posted "How to sew an Apron with gathered bottom" which I made as a gift for my brother's friend who loves baking. I wanted to gift wrap that pretty apron in a pretty way but not in a traditional box because the first thing is I have to search for a box that fits for apron and second I have to think whether that box fits into the standard USPS shipping box.I wanted to avoid all that and as always I wanted to try something new and attractive.Also the recipient should feel extra special when they see the wrapping and should consider the wrapping as a additional gift.(May sound more dramatic but that is how I think while I am wrapping a gift, pardon me :P). With all these in mind, lets go to the wrapping.

Materials Required :
An gift that you wish to gift wrap
Wrapping paper
Variety of cardstock if you wish to add some extra touches
Stickers(optional)
Double sided tape
Scissors

Step 1: I wanted the final wrapping to look like a cup cake so I folded the apron and tied it with a ribbon. Next I made a paper bag that fits the apron. This paper bag suits for any kind of odd shaped items that you wanted to wrap like a basket ball or an apron like this. I actually made these paper bags as treat bags during Halloween time but as I said these bags can be used for anything. To learn how to make these, Click here. I have explained them in detail .

Step 2: Make a decorative edge on the top of the paper bag and close it with a sticker.You know how much I love emoticons :)

Step 3: Cut your card stock in the cup cake shape(You can make any shape that suits your gift or theme) and add the details.Make sure the cup cake size is bigger than the paper bag so that the bag hides at the back of the cup cake. I made the cup cake similar to the print on the apron but you can make your own .Add some sentiment in the cup cake and more sprinkles(Who doesn't love sprinkles?? ;)).

Step 4: Now glue the paper bag to the back of the cake to complete the packing . Adjust the bag and glue it so that it hides. I folded the bag a little over the top on both the sides but you can adjust it according to the gift you are wrapping.And that's it !!

How easy it is to customize a gift wrapping?? Will you try this next time when you are wrapping a odd shaped gift ?? If you do so, share a picture with me in any of my social media. I will be happy to see and share it. Feel free to share your comments below.

Happy Wrapping !!!