Mother's Day is just around the corner and I am loving all the beautiful gift ideas floating around the DIY blogosphere! In the spur of the moment, I decided to take a whack at my own mother's day gift wrapping and, as expected, veered towards floral and gold accents (there's something about me and gold if you couldn't tell already...my blog title is a lil' overboard...just maybe?). I saw these wonderful gold letter stickers at Blick's Art and Materials craft store in Boston and wanted to incorporate them somehow. With sticker letters, you can write messages on your wrapping paper specific to the mother, aunt, sister, friend, or grandmother that has had a special impact on your life. I chose the typical "love" message as my gift box was small, but a larger package would allow you to write several words. Well, that's enough chatter for now -- lemme show ya what I did!

Here are the materials you will need: small flowers (picked them from the street! yay for spring!), double-sided tape, gold sticker letters (find in craft or office supply stores), and plain wrapping paper.

The instructions are super easy and straightforward! After wrapping your present, decide on the word(s) you wish to use and start placing the golden letter stickers onto your packaging leaving a space to fit your floral accent bow.

Once satisfied with your gold letter placement, bunch together your flowers and leaves and tie together using a vibrant ribbon (I chose pink). Trim the ends so they are short. Attach a piece of double-sided tape to the top of the package and stick the floral bow onto it. Voila! All done! Now just wait and watch how troubling it will be for the recipient to take apart such lovely wrapping! Good luck, and Happy (early) Mother's day!

DIY Project || #18 || Gifting with Gold and Tassels

This week I was inspired by subtle spring colors and couldn't help but bring out the peach colored yarn I've had stashed on top of my drawer for the past few months. One of my friends' birthday was coming up and she loves very minimal, yet elegant styles. I got her this standard moleskin notebook, perfect for her sketches, and wrapped it in an untraditional style. Using just a small necklace gold chain, yarn, and a bit of tape you can ditch those boring store-bought wrapping bows and make a unique, long-lasting wrapping. What's best about it is you can wrap anything in it and in a variety of ways, check it out below!

Making the tassel is so quick and yet such a more delightful look than a typical present bow. Simply wrap yarn around your palm (try using a variety of colors, too!), then slide the wrapped yarn off your hand. Squeezing at the top, wrap the last strand of yarn around multiple times until you are pleased.

Afterwards, cut the thread and tuck it into the wrapping (or glue it). Then, cut the bottom of the circular yarn until it starts looking like the all wonderful tassel. Feel free to trim the bottom edges if they are uneven. Next, carefully slide or thread the gold chain into the top of the tassel and wrap as desired across your gift. Simply tape the chain on the back (as this is what I did), so that the person can remove it and even wear it as a necklace or hang as decor! Sweeeet.