Christmas Wrapping and Surprises in the Mail

Although I haven't had much chance to go all out with my Christmas preparations this year, I did manage to try two new wrapping techniques I love.  The first is a very simple way of wrapping Christmas goodies which leaves the recipient something to keep after the treats have been eaten.  I used this wrapping technique to wrap home made Christmas sweets.

I like to make a little something sweet for our neighbours each year at Christmas time and this year I decided to try making chocolate cake pops from a recipe I saw in the Coles supermarket Christmas magazine.  Rather than fiddling with coating cake balls in chocolate, sprinkles and then poking them with a lollipop stick, I left my "cake pops" as "cake balls".  These were then sealed into a ziplock plastic bag before the entire bag was neatly piled onto a little dish I found at my local op shop (thrift store).

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the cute little dish (I almost forgot to take off the price tag!) - it was a little leaf-shaped porcelain dish with a floral design on it.  I guess in a past life it may have been used to hold used tea bags or perhaps even have acted as a spoon or ladle rest.  Once the treats were on the little dish, all that was left to do was to wrap the lot in cellophane and ribbon and add a gift tag.

My next new favourite wrapping technique is to team sweet doilies with plain wrapping paper and a rustic-looking gift tag upcycled from a vintage book.  I think this method of wrapping gifts is great for jazzing up plain paper (I used tissue paper and brown kraft paper) or adding a vintage feel to your gifts.  It is also very versatile since the doily placement is up to you, they don't have to sit in the corners of your gift.  The only thing I would recommend is to first fold your wrapping paper around the gift to give you an idea of where to attach the doily (or doilies) you wish to use.  The doilies can then be glued or taped (using double-sided tape) in place.  You can use raffia or twine to tie up your gift, if you wish, or simply leave the present as is, as I have done in the next photo.

The two gifts you see pictured were put together for two special online friends as part of a Christmas gift swap for my Christian Artists Street Team and a kris kringle for my Melbourne Etsy Street Team.  Both of these parcels have been mailed off to their recipients, but if you want to know what was in them, you'll have to wait until after Christmas as I don't want to spoil the surprise!  And speaking of surprises in the mail, I received the sweetest goodies from my CAST Christmas swap partner, Jocelyn of NewCreatioNZ.

The first item was this gorgeous lavender card, which can also be purchased from NewCreatioNZ.

The second item was this cute Christmas card - love the embossing!

And the third item was a stunning photo print, which I didn't have time to photograph.  But trust me, it is GORGEOUS, just my kind of art and I can't wait to frame it and put it on one of the bare walls in my home.  If you are ever in need of beautiful photo cards, photo prints, bookmarks, gift tags or artwork, pop on over to Jocelyn's store - her creations are magnificent!