Gift Wrapping Men's style...elegant and simple ways to impress...using only paper.

Thanks so much for your emails about the Gift Wrapping segment I did on Daytime Toronto on November 12, I am glad you found it creative! Yes! This is the package I wanted Chris to wrap, but because I only have a few minutes to do "my magic" I ended up doing a super-quick demo with Alana right after the commercial instead.

As I promised today I am sharing my Paper Pleating Tutorial with you. When it comes to choose a gift wrapping style it seems to be that feminine looks, or feminine accents are always predominant among the choices we make such as: bows, flowers...But what about gifts wrapped by men themselves? If we want men to wrap for us we need to teach them how...with a masculine touch. And by the way, I designed this unisex wrap above with them in mind.

Let's face it, men do not make bows! And they won't be looking around for flowery accents to add to a package. Do we want them to buy a bag of self-adhesive plastic bows and add one to ours? No, I didn't think so! We love opening beautiful gifts, don't we? Men prefer dealing with simpler things and uncomplicated scenarios...less is best. And I have asked around...it is a fact.

How about teaching them how to make gift toppers using the left over paper scraps from their packages? For this package I used two types of gift wrapping paper: a medium weight silver/black sheet from India {found at paper places} and a light and thin metallic/silver roll from China {found at dollar stores}. Black and silver make a very elegant yet sophisticated statement, and this combination is always trendy. I wrapped the package with the silver/black sheet. And used the metallic/silver roll for paper pleating.

Paper Pleating is a great technique invented by the Japanese, it's been used for the longest time. Some of you attended my Tsutsumi Workshop here in Toronto where I exclusively used Japanese papers. I saw wrap samples inspired by this technique during my visit to New York city last October at paper stores like Kate's Papery in Soho. You will see some photos I took at the store in a few days.

The best time to save your paper scraps for Paper Pleating is while measuring the paper you need to wrap your package. You can actually use most of it!

Let's do some Paper Pleating for your packages!

PAPER PLEATING TUTORIAL

MATERIALS:

Good quality fine paper {roll or sheets}
Tape
Glue gun
Glue sticks
Scissors

INSTRUCTIONS:

1- If you are going to pleat your paper you need to choose a good quality fine paper. This paper needs to be flexible but also strong to be folded. I buy my papers by sheets or rolls.

2- Folding your paper is a cheap way to add more interest to your package and you only need tape.
3- Start pleating your paper sheet on the right side.

TIP:

You can fold in an angle as I did or on straight stripes. That’s really up to you. Both styles look very elegant.
4-Using your scissors cut a few pieces of tape to have at hand to secure your pleats.
5-Turn your paper to the wrong side always holding the pleats with your fingers.
6- Secure your pleats using tape pieces.
7- Cut the excess.
8- Fold back and glue it with your glue gun.
9- Glue it to your package using your glue gun.

NOTE:

For those of you that asked me how I made the paper curls. I have good news! I just cut them straight using my scissors. They curl up by themselves because I used a paper roll. Isn't that neat?
All you have to do is glue them to your package using your glue gun!

Don't hesitate to email me any questions you might have! Happy Wrapping!

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Gabriela