Ho Ho Holy Cow!!! Is it Christmas Already?!?!?

Seasons Greetings Bloggers!!!

Here's wishing each and every one of you a safe and joyous holiday season. May you have all that you need and not need any more than you have.

I got a link to the photo below from Kelli the other day. Turns out that she snuck a photo of us over to the people at Time Magazine and they flashed it on the big screen at Times Square in NYC on Wednesday. Shame I missed seeing it in person as I was down there last weekend shooting, but odds are that I would have missed it even if I was consciously looking for it!!


In the spirit of keeping the blog educational, I've decided that its important at this time of year to share Wikipedia's indispensable guide to Wrapping Christmas Gifts. Following the simple steps below will guarantee gratifying gift-giving for years to come...

HOW TO WRAP A PRESENT
To give someone a neatly wrapped present makes you look talented and your gift look more carefully chosen. It's very simple to make a good impression. All you have to do is to be gentle, and patient.

Steps

1. Remove all price tags. There's nothing more annoying than investing your careful efforts into a gift only to realize you forgot to take the price sticker off. You don't want the person to see that you bought his electric shaver from the clearance shelf, now do you?
2. Put the gift in a box, if it isn't in one already. This optional step will make the gift easier to wrap. If your box will easily come apart (like a shirt-box), be sure to use a little tape to keep it from opening during the wrapping process. Use only as much as necessary to keep it from coming apart, but not so much that the person will need a machete to open it.
3. 
   Unroll a length of wrapping paper onto a hard sturdy surface.
4. 
   Place the gift on the wrapping paper and measure how much paper will be needed. Make sure you have enough paper to go around the box once and that the width leaves extra on each side. It's a good idea to have a small amount more than you need so that the wrapping paper overlaps.
5. 
   Mark your cut lines, especially if cutting in straight lines is difficult for you. Use a straight edge (like a ruler) or you can fold neatly along the line you will need to cut along, unfold, and cut along the fold. Put the rest of the roll aside.
6. 
   Place the gift or box upside down in the middle of your paper.
7. Fold the paper around the gift. On the horizontal side of the paper, take one side and fold it over to the bottom of your gift. Then take the other side, folding it over, too. Now is where you need that extra inch. Take the longer side and fold it under so that you have a nice smooth crease instead of jagged cutting. Put it on top of the other end and pull it tight. Then tape together.
   
   
   
   
8. Fold one side of the box at a time. On one end of your package, fold the corners in so you have kind of like a triangle. Fold the straight end over, then pull it to the top of your package (actually the bottom when you are done). Tape. Repeat on the other side.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Add ribbon (TOTALLY OPTIONAL!!). Make sure your ribbon is long enough and can go around the gift in whatever pattern you decide. Put the ribbon on top of the gift. Wrap it to bottom and turn the gift 90 degrees so that the ribbon comes up the sides. Tie a bow on top and get your scissors. Pull one of the sides of ribbon and tie using the scissors. With all the spare ribbon, cut it and then tie it under the bow, cut in half and curl again, do so until there is no un-curled ribbon.
   
   
   
   
   
10. 
    
    

Tips

• To create a nearly seamless look, try the following:
  
  
  • Use double-sided tape instead of regular tape.
  • Arrange the seam of the largest paper fold - the one that initially wraps around the gift - so that it is on the edge or side of the gift. This works best when you use a box. To start: Tape the paper in place about 1/4" from one of the box side edges. The paper should wrap all the way around. If you haven't cut the paper from the roll yet, cut it now leaving at least a 1/4" for the fold. Then fold the excess under to create the clean finished edge. Use the double-sided tape to secure not only the fold to the inside but then the fold to the package. The seam will be almost unseen.
• Don't have wrapping paper? For an informal and fun look, the colorful comics section from your Sunday newspaper is surprisingly good. Also, copied musical scores (especially from appropriate musical pieces) look good, too.
• If using a box, you can also slightly pinch all the edges of the package to give it a nice crisp, clean look - very professional.
• After your gift is wildly received, dispose of gift wrap, ribbon, and boxes in a environmentally-friendly way. Be sure to recycle cardboard after removing as much tape as possible. Most shiny gift-wrap and ribbon is not recyclable--ideally choose ones that are or are printed on plain (not glossy) paper. Raffia (available in most craft stores) is a biodegradable ribbon substitute that is a bit harder to work with, but also looks lovely.

Warnings

• Do NOT burn gift-wrapping in your fireplace, wood-stove, or burn pile. The chemicals released from burning the wrapping can be nasty.
• During gift-giving occasions, be careful with used ribbon. Pets (especially cats) may play with and try to eat ribbon. Ribbon can be especially harmful to a cat's digestive system ^[1].

Things You'll Need

• 
  • Gift
  
  • Wrapping paper
  
  • Scissors
  
  • Tape (regular and/or double-sided)
  
  • Curling ribbon
  
  • Card
  
  • A box (if you don't already have one)
  
  • Straight edge/yard stick/ruler

Well that just about covers it for now...I have to run off to get some wrapping done myself. Please take care of yourselves, and one another.

All the Best,

t