There are lots of Birthdays coming in August! So, I thought I’d share some of my re-use tips with you. It helps to have some storage space, as I rely on my craft ‘stash’ to help me minimise and re-use items. In the picture above, you can see this beautiful gift bag- I have a whole load of these stashed from presents that have kindly been given to me over the years or other occasions when I’ve rescued them from other people who were going to simply throw them away after one use! Think of the expense people go to to buy these and they’re usually very sturdy, so could withstand a lot of re-gifting.
This one came with a lovely little circular, matching tag attached- which you will be able to spot if you are eagle-eyed. Sometimes people don’t even use these, but on this occasion they had. So, you simply need to snip of the tag and find a new piece of card to stick it to- thus hiding the old writing behind. Again, I turned to my craft stash- I keep pretty printed papers whenever I see them. This pink patterned square came from one side of an old Kleenex tissues box! Yes, you really can find inspiration everywhere. I applied some sticky squares behind to give the circular part a little lift and voila! One beautiful, custom-made tag- just write your message on the back.
To re-attach, use a hole punch to make a hole in one corner. This bag was very straight-forward as I simply had to undo the knot in one end of the ribbon, thread on the up-cycled tag and re-tie. I think it fits in nicely with the patchwork theme of this bag.
I wrapped the gifts in tissue paper- I usually keep any that I get from any source- like bunches of flowers or gifts, but this time I had run out, as I’ve been using a lot of it lately. So this is new, but I fastened each gift (you can’t quite see this in the picture with re-used ribbons- so no need for sticky tape! I save ribbons whenever I see them- I snip out those ribbon tags you are supposed to hang your clothes with, but you rarely ever use. Sometimes boxes of chocolates have ribbons, or other gifts, bunches of flowers, cakes etc. So ribbons never cost me a thing and I stash them all at the bottom of my workbox- I have every colour, width, shape and pattern you can think of!
A friend recently gave me some gifts wrapped in sheets from an old calendar, they had wonderful photographic prints on them. You can also use pretty paper bags you may get given in shops from time-to-time. Or how about simple brown paper, tied with jute twine? You can add twigs, or pine cones or anything you like as decoration.
I frequently make my own cards, by saving the fronts from old ones that have been given to me and attaching them to a new base. Some cards have paper inside to write on, if you rip that part out- the card is often like new underneath! If there is a rip mark left, then why not glue in a new piece of paper? You can also save photographs from old calendars and anything else you like.
So there you go- just a few ideas on how to wrap presents on the cheap and also in an eco-friendly way 🙂 I’d love you to share your tips. Do you re-use wrapping paper? My dad used to smooth it out and carefully peel off any sticky tape and then iron it flat, well he did grow up in war-time. He’d still do it now, but it makes my mum cringe.
Minimalist Exposure 