Quick, wrap the presents! A last minute guide to gift wrapping.

If you're anything like me you've left your Christmas shopping until the absolute last second. This means that this dear little house is in a mad flurry of paper, tape, and ribbon. I thought I'd share a few little tips to make last second wrapping look... better than last second!

Add a bauble

Jazz up your Christmas gifts with a cheerful little bauble to add a bit of sparkle and pep. I've just used some twine from Ikea and some different baubles that I picked up at a two dollar shop (or 'dollar store' in the States). Having a bunch of gifts under the tree with a little sparkle looks beautiful.

A big, beautiful bow

Use a contrasting ribbon on some nice paper. I had this present wrapped by the gift wrapping people at the shops so I could sneak it in to the house without Michael seeing it. Real ribbon trumps that weird plastic Christmas ribbon any day so I just had them wrap it with paper and I put the ribbon on when I got home.

Bag it up

Got a gift with many parts? Or just a really, really weird shape that's just about impossible to wrap? Easy, bag it up. A nice, thick kraft paper bag makes a perfectly sweet gift wrapping. Fold the bag over at the top and punch two holes, thread some ribbon or twine through and tie with a gift tag and a bauble for a special touch.

Use some fancy scrapbooking paper

Scrapbooking paper comes in some amazing patterns and colour combinations. The paper I used here is double sided so I wrapped the gift up with the red side facing out and then made a band around it with the contrasting yellow side out. Add a little bit of washi tape at the back to secure it all and wrap some twine around it a few times.

Gift vouchers made easy

Gift vouchers are notoriously boring to wrap. Nobody wants to look at a pile of gifts under the tree and see that they have a boring envelope. Opening a gift is supposed to be fun, so why not add some fun to just ripping open an envelope? A little bit of twine and a gorgeous decoration around the envelope does the trick.

I had designed and ordered some gift tags online, but with Australia Post being crazy stupid backed up with Christmas mail they haven't arrived. I guess it just means that I will be super prepared for next year! I had to whip some up using scrapbooking card and a hole punch. Nice!