Easy Gift Wrap 2014

With the Christmas season in full swing, I thought I would share a couple of gift basket posts.

Have a last minute get together and you don't want to arrive empty handed?  Put together an quick and easy gift basket!

This first one is from a baby shower that Mom and I attended for a cousin.  Keep reading to see the gift that we took the mom-to-be, as well as tips for taming your cellophane.




Supplies

Left:  A colorful green basket, pink shredded paper and a raspberry bow.

Right:  A whole bunch of adorable outfits and a cute little stuffed elephant.  Can we take a moment to say 'awwwwww'?  :D

All Tucked In

The items for this basket fit together nicely without much hassle.  If you do find yourself struggling to keep your items in place, use clear adhesive tape.  

Tape is your best friend when making up baskets.  I have made baskets before where I had to tape almost every item!  Just make sure you aren't adding tape to anything that might be ruined by the adhesive. 

Taming the Cellophane

Step 1:  (Left Photo) Set your basket into the cellophane bag and straighten the sides as much as possible.  You will most likely have an excess amount of plastic on either side of the basket.

Step 2:  (Middle Photo) Hold the cellophane at the bottom of one side of the basket, pull it around to the back and tape into place.  Repeat this step for the other side of the basket.  Now you will have a basket snugly fitted into a cellophane bag, with excess plastic at the top.

Step 3:  (Right Photo)  Gather the remaining plastic in the middle and use tape to close it off.  There may be a great deal of plastic sticking up at the top (like in the picture here).  

Tip:  Make sure you wait until after adding your bow before trimming any excess plastic.  Adding a bow changes the visual dimensions of the gift.  Cutting the plastic before the bow is in place can leave you with a skimpy looking package.

Another Way:  You can always bypass the frustration of cellophane by purchasing shrink wrap.  Shrink wrap is a heat responsive plastic that shrinks into place with warm air from your blow dryer.  However it does come with it's own set of frustrations, get it too hot and you will make lovely holes in your plastic! Yay!  I'm not really a big fan of shrink wrap.....turns out I'm really good at making holes in the plastic :D

Anyway, back to our gift.......

A pretty Bow

In addition to the raspberry bow, I added in a couple of pacifiers.  I's a cute way to add to the look of the gift and I love the practicality.  No need to throw all of this packaging away ;)

The Finished Basket

And if you think that's cute, you should see the little baby it now belongs to!

I'll be back in the next couple of days with another gift basket post and then I'll get back to sharing my Christmas decor (yes, there is more, hee hee!)

Until then, thanks for stopping by and happy designing!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2014