More Green Wrapping

Two more sets of presents are wrapped and ready to go!

The first set had some large, awkward shapes, so I used leftover fabric, in addition to comics, onion bags, and brown paper. My favorite wrapping though, is the striped paper. That was a bag from a local store, that I've been saving since Spring. It has a beautiful sateen finish on it, and I was so excited to use it as gift wrap. The ribbon came from a gift I was given last year. On the little gift below it, I used a left over strip of the bag and one brad to make a makeshift gift bow.

The next set of gifts used more bags from retail stores. I centered the tree from a Starbucks bag, and the sticker from a bag from a local boutique, "Eden in Love", to make the presents pretty. Instead of buying stockings for my niece and nephews, I layered sheets of comics, then rolled the gifts in them, and tied off the sections between gifts with ribbon, making a Chinese Cracker style string of gifts. I used stamps on recycled craft

paper to spruce up the more basic packages.

All I have left to wrap now are the presents that will be exchanged here at my house, with my Mom and Husband. So far, I haven't spent a dime on wrapping this year, and I'm using up things that would have otherwise gone in the trash. And I'm making room in my craft closet - that might be the best benefit of all!

It's Holiday Time Again!

I love the Holiday Season. And I love decorations and wrapping presents and making everything look beautiful, and... and... and... I hate all the waste!!!

Since I haven't written since last December, it's obvious that the huge excess of the season inspires me to be a little greener. To accomplish a more planet-friendly version of Christmas this year that still fits within my ideals of decorating, I've been setting things aside all year to use in December. I put a basket in my craft closet, and I've been adding to it whenever something strikes me as beautiful, even in an unconventional way.

The first round of wrapping is complete! This collection of gifts will be going to our nieces and nephew in Tennessee. The paper is recycled brown paper. The ribbons are either scraps, or from my stash (that I am no longer adding to). And the decorations are all onion and potato bags. The tags are scraps that I've been saving from my scrapbooking projects.

At the beginning of the year, I was worried that I would start to feel like a trash packrat. But it really didn't add up to much, and it only grew out of the basket when I started saving a few containers, like the tins that hold steel cut oats. I cut back on buying bagged onions and potatoes, and now only buy those when it's the only option, or when the loose ones don't look good. I'm also not scrapbooking as much, because it's so time consuming and costly. So for the whole year, the pile didn't get out of control, not even close. And of the parts of the family I send gifts to, one whole family's gifts were easily covered with these scraps.

Best of all, except for running out of tape, I didn't have to spend a dime on wrapping these presents. I had the paper leftover from a previous project, one spool of ribbon came from my stash, and everything else was scraps.

I already sent off one box - and I didn't wrap those gifts at all. I used a basket that was a gift to hold the rest of the gifts, no wrapping needed. This completes box number two. That leaves one more group of gifts to wrap and send, and then the gifts we exchange here at home. I'm hoping they all end up as green as these!