Wrapping a bottle of wine for a gift for free !

Wrapping a bottle of wine for a gift!

I saw this idea recently and they used newspaper but yesterday as I was tidying the kitchen table and sorting the catalogues, there was one from a liquor store and I thought that would make great gift wrap for a bottle of wine ..so easy to do and its free ..As I've become more and more green I cannot understand spending good money on wrapping paper that just gets thrown away ..I'd rather spend that little extra on the gift instead...So this is a great idea and looks really festive..You could also use magazine pages joined together ..The catalogue had 4 pages with a staple in the middle so I opened it out flat and laid my bottle down and left enough paper to tuck under the bottom and then I cut strips into the paper just until the top of the bottle. Then I used my scissors to curl all the strips ..just like you do when using curling ribbon...But as its paper you need to be a bit more careful as they can rip quite easily ..I lost a few ... Of course this can be used for any bottle not just wine but maybe a bottle of your homemade lemon cordial ..A bottle of homemade chocolate sauce..Good for your pocket and the environment...

This is what it looked like before I curled all the strips!

You can use a piece of sticky tape or string around the neck of the bottle to keep it all in place ..

Birthday Cards + Make Envelopes To Match The Gift Wrap !

Birthday Cards !
I love making my own birthday cards to send to family and friends...makes them so much for personable, they are gifts from my heart... They also don't cost much to make either, but it's more about the love and thought, then how much things cost...Well that's how I feel any way..I'd rather receive something that cost a few dollars that I really needed or that really touched my heart then something expensive that I have no need for ..Any way I made this birthday card for a very special friends birthday that will be this Friday ..I also copied for her a favourite CD I have been listening too..Any way while wrapping the CD I had an idea. I 'd make a matching envelope from the gift wrapping paper. To me that makes receiving the mail even more special and it looks so much prettier then a plain white one, that would have been much easier, but I love making things a little more special..it's all about those special extra touches ..well again that's how I feel ...I hope others see it the same way..So I will post it off first thing tomorrow so it arrives on her special day ...

Gift Ideas & Wrapping Ideas No 4.

What to use to wrap gifts !
Here in the photo I have used tea towels .I brought some Christmas tea towels to use to wrap up gifts. Tied them with some jute string added a tag hey presto . No wrapping paper to buy or throw away and way better for the environment. Then the recipient gets another gift the tea towel. Another idea for gifts for people who love to sew,make quilts or general crafting you could buy some lovely fabrics buy a metre cut it into four fat quarters and wrap gifts, I'm sure they will be happier to add another fat quarter to their stash, rather then throw away wrapping paper. If you make aprons use them to wrap a gift also. I read a tip the other day about some one using buckets they had collected that had ice cream in them and making up gift buckets I thought that was a great idea...I remember when I was pregnant with my last son Jack, I had a real craving for feta cheese. So therefore I used to buy it by the kilo in those plastic white buckets, they would also be great to use. So instead of gift baskets make gift buckets.Buckets are very cheap to buy I saw them yesterday at Kmart for 85cents each, you could buy a few and fill with goodies then they get to use the bucket ...What are some other great ideas people use that are good for the environment ? I would love to hear what every one else uses. I would love it if you would post and share all your other great ideas with us all. I'm hoping to make my blog more interactive so I would love people to post and share what they do and if they have a blog to share details with us all . Jack keeps telling me how many days are left to go before Christmas...Like I need reminding ...life is going too fast ...well 4 days to go !
I'm in the process of making fruit cakes today ...all going well I will post recipe tomorrow !

Gift Ideas & Wrapping Ideas No 3.

Another Quick & Easy Idea !
Another idea is to put some chocolate truffles or home made biscuits in a clear cellophane bag and decorate with some red curling ribbon.Also make some lovely tags which have been printed on them home made chocolate truffles. Looks very Simple & lovely .

Gift Ideas & Wrapping Ideas ! No 2

Cute Mugs filled with home made truffles !
I brought these cute mugs from Woolies the other day at only $1 each and filled them with truffles for my two eldest sons. For Jack to give his brothers for Christmas ! So you could either fill the cups with truffles (I recommend washing them first) or you could put the truffles in a cellophane bag and put them in the cup. I think they look really cute . Or you could get really more fancy and buy a lovely bone china mug or cup & saucer and fill with the truffles or chocolates! You could also give the recipient a jar of coffee or an assortment of different teas, what ever you think they would like best. Or you could make up your own drinking chocolate and put into a lovely glass jar ! To make drinking chocolate mix 1/2 cup cocoa powder with 1 cup pure icing sugar, mix well and put into a glass jar . Note: To remove any lumps push through a sieve or blend to mix in either a blender or food processor !

Gift Ideas & Wrapping Ideas ! No 1

Here are a few ways to gift wrap home made chocolates or truffles !
My first idea is two buy some wine glasses and fill with truffles or chocolates, cover with clear wrapping tie some red curling ribbon around the top to hold the clear wrap in place, then add a gift tag. This gift would be nice to give to a couple with a nice bottle of red wine. If you have 3 couples to buy for, you could buy a box of 6 wine glasses and use 2 for each couple. After they eat the truffles they can use their glass to drink the red wine... Of course buy either red or white and glasses to suit. A very inexpensive lovely gift idea !