Wrap it up - washi style

I love wrapping presents .  It's one of my favorite holiday activities.  It's actually even possible that I dream of someday working at the gift wrapping center in a department store (sigh).

I have a definite process that I go about in wrapping my gifts (more on that here).  The paper must always meet on an edge - none of this tape down the middle business.  Every crease has to be perfect.  And watch out if I have paper with lines - I will spend the extra time making sure that the lines are perfectly straight and all line up.  I might have a slight problem :-)

I always do something a little different with my gifts each year.  Last year it was yarn pom poms in lieu of bows.  This year it was washi tape and embroidery thread.  My friend Karisse and I got some cute Christmas washi tape at Michaels for wrapping - cause we looooove it and we neeeeeded it :-)

Washi tape is pretty paper tape  - think masking tape, only CUTE :-)

Here is a pic of my wrapped presents:

See the cute red tape with deers and herringbone.  That's washi tape.  I love how it gave me so many options for placement.  A great thing about washi tape is it can also be easily removed and replaced.  

If you are wondering about the gift tags, they are made out of clay.  Yes, I roll out clay, bake it, and decorate it.  Crazy me can't just slap a sticker on a present.  Nope, I have to spend an hour creating gift tags.  That's just how I roll :-)

This year for my gift tags, I gathered inspiration from Anthropologie - of course :-)

Source: anthropologie.com via Melany on Pinterest

The fact that I have to ship my presents home means that I need to do simple wrapping - no big pretty bows that will get smooshed in a box.  So the washi tape works well.  

If you want to find your own washi tape, there are many options on Etsy.  I love the birds on a wire tape below:

Source: etsy.com via Melany on Pinterest

Now all my presents are wrapped and at their destinations far away.  I was sitting here earlier feeling sad about not having anything else to wrap.  I might start searching for empty boxes.  See, if I had a job wrapping presents at a big department store this would not be a problem :-)