Christmas Crafts (Tutorial?)

This year I was looking for a new way to wrap some presents, and when my mom bought some gorgeous metallic gift paper, I knew I had to attempt a gift box. The paper was so beautiful. I couldn't resist using it in some craft project. 

The following is a basic overview of how to go about making your own.

So firstly is gathering the materials. I used pretty complementary gift paper, some cloth ribbon from last year's gift wrapping that matched the gift paper, a red decorative napkin, some Elmer's white glue and an old perfume gift box.

Materials: Gift paper, Burgundy Cloth Ribbon, Red Decorative Napkin

Once I sorted out all my materials, I used the cover as a guide and cut the gift paper with enough excess to also cover the sides as well as to fold into the other side of the box. This ensures that the edges of the box had a nice classy finish.

Ideally, you should cut a large piece of your main background paper (in my case, Gift Paper #1) and cover your box first with it and then cut your decorative piece (GP #3) and stick over it. (See next photo below) I personally did not do that because I didn't want to waste the gift paper that would have been hidden by GP #3. 

I was however very careful as to where I added the glue on the box to stick the paper. I only put on the edges of the box, where there would be an overlap of gift paper and in a few choice spots. This is my personal preference when using liquid glue to get a smooth finish on the surface of the box. I find that sometimes the same pattern that you apply the glue in, ends up showing up through the paper when you stick it. 

Next I stuck a piece of the burgundy cloth ribbon to add some texture and contrast to the gold gift papers. Later on, after completing the entire box, I decided to use some gold studs that I had been dying to use for some extra embellishments and to hide some of the glue stains that seeped through the ribbon.

Wrapping the cover and where to place the materials.

For the bottom half of the box, I opted to use the gift paper with the most gold tones in it to cover the bottom part of the box. It was the least fussy of all the gift papers and would not detract from the cover.

I was averaging the size of the gift paper with the box as guide and because I was not measuring it to the exact proportions of the box with my handy ruler (laziness on my part), I ended up with the paper in the inside lip of the box being at different lengths. I was not too worried because I already planned to line the box. 

I used a thick decorative napkin that I cut with 1 cm in excess on all sizes. I ended up folding the excess behind to make the napkin to size and this I thought was a much nicer surface than a cut edge to line the box. (Kind of like why you hem clothes) I also put the glue on the excess that was folded back so that if any glue seeped through, it was not visible.

Underneath of Box and lined inside.

When the entire box was properly covered, I checked to see if I wanted any extra embellishments to enhance it, e.g. glitter, sequins, stamps, etc. In my case, I simply used some gold studs on the burgundy ribbon. My roommate once picked off all the gold studs from a shirt she bought for a presentation to make it more professional. We didn't know what to do with them at the time, but 2 years later, they finally had a use!

After I filled the box with my gifts, I used the remaining Burgundy cloth ribbon to tie a beautiful bow.

Finished box (without the embellishments)

And that's how you make a very pretty gift box!

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you all get extra creative this year :)

Of Birthday Parties, Matting and Leopard Print Boxes

Lighting Star-lights from the birthday candles. Photography by Hailz

Thursday was my roomie's birthday. However being a medical student, it was just her luck that she had call on her birthday and would not be finished til 10 in the night. To make up for that, we decided to throw her a surprise birthday party to start her day right. Operation: Surprise Midnight Birthday Party was a success! We had old friends who rarely see each other except for occasions (e.g. the return of the Canadian scholar to the island) and yummy egg-less mocha cake :D Also some balloon contraption made out of garbage bags to release balloons when she walked out of the door. I think we did good, and her call was not bad. She got to deliver two babies on her birthday. How awesome is that?

Pre- cut Matting from Fine Arts

I got her print of my painting (Eze, France) framed with some dark purple pre-cut matting from Fine Arts. Apparently, the entire process with glass, etc takes about a week (which I did not have time for). Another surprise- Fine Arts is cheaper than Horizons?

I was also an idiot who forgot to carry the print with me when I went to the art store. I ended up buying a few other options because I could not figure out what would go with the piece the most. Plus I loved the other colours and I know that I have some old pieces that could use some matting. (My name is Shazanna Khan and yes, I have a problem when it comes to art supplies.)

Leopard Print Box perched on my room mate's laptop

This week also, I cleaned my apartment. I wanted some prettier containers for some of my stationery than an old cardboard box. So I went the primary school art & craft route, and brought out the gift paper. To the left is one of my creations.

This Leopard Print Box was once half of a box that once packaged printer ink. My bro, who once lived at my apartment, used it for paper clips.

I thought it needed some sprucing up so I wrapped it in a Leopard-print paper bag from some jewellery purchase. The bag was too pretty to throw away and I knew one day I would find a use for it.

Ribbon bow came from a hairclip that I broke accidentally. Who ever knew that you can't sit on them ? The entire thing was held together by my new spray glue (I was itching to try it out) and some clear tape. It was a great way to reuse old materials.

New use for my Leopard Print Box? Well, you will have to ask my roomie that question. She was studying next to me while I was making it and fell in love with the print and box. It was instantly added as one of her birthday presents.