Oh Joy! Design blogger Joy Cho shows you how to get creative with your gift wrapping
Buying the perfect gift is only half the battle. You still need to wrap it. We turned to Joy Cho — you know her from her wildly popular design and lifestyle website, Oh Joy! — for some creative gift wrapping ideas using items you can easily find at your local craft store and shops such as Target, Jo-Ann, Michael’s and Amazon.com. And don’t worry, Cho says, you don’t need to be a crafting expert to pull these off:
Bag it
For a quick-and-easy way to wrap a gift — especially an oddly shaped gift — use a simple paper bag. “Then, tie festive bells or a small ornament (we filled ours with confetti) to a ribbon and secure on a bag with a clothes pin or with a hole punched through the top.”
Tape it
Using two or three colors or patterns of washi crafting tape, which comes in a seemingly endless array of colors, sizes and styles. “Simply cross them in both directions until you cover as much of the paper as you want.”
Paint it
“After wrapping your gift with paper, sketch out a fun pattern, and trace over with ‘puffy paint,’ ” which creates a fun and tactile finish.
Dot it
You don’t need to stick to traditional colors, such as red and green and silver and blue. “Stick neon dot stickers (from an office supply store) all over & finish with a ribbon!”
Cluster it
Add small squares of double-sided tape all over a pre-wrapped box. Bunch up a cluster of confetti — you can buy some or make your own using scissors and tissue paper — and then press onto the double-sided tape.
Want something a bit more challenging? Turn your gift into snow globe and WIN the holidays! Once you learn this clever method, you can personalize gifts galore.
In addition to scissors and tape, you will need: clear cellophane wrapping paper, confetti that you either made yourself or bought, colored craft paper and double-sided tape.
Step 1: Wrap box as you normally would.
Step 2: Cut out small paper shapes (we did trees) and mix with confetti.
Step 3: Cut a sheet of cello wrap for the box, and sprinkle loose confetti on the cello wrap.
Step 4: Center box on cello wrap, top side facing down, and wrap as usual.
Step 5: Shake to move around confetti.
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