Organizing Wrapping and Tissue Papers

I really like to wrap presents (I think you know this by now?), but if all my paper and supplies were buried in the closet or under the bed I might be less inclined to wrap a gift - so we've come up with a way to display everything and have it close at hand so it's easy to wrap when I need to. There was a small empty wall in my "office" (I call it my office but really its the spare bedroom that holds my desk, a fold out couch, my piano keyboard, books, wrapping paper, and all my miscellaneous stuff that doesn't have a home anywhere else!) that is now a wrapping paper station. My friend Mark made me this cool  holder from 2 long pieces of wood that are 1.5" wide with dowels attached every 6" - the dowels are angled slightly upward so the rolls of paper sit on them without rolling off. Laying across the bottom 2 dowels I have a small metal rod with some ribbon rolls threaded onto it.

I  hang all my tissue paper on plastic skirt hangers (on the left bottom dowel) - I save all the good tissue paper I get, smooth it out and clip it on these hangers...I can easily see what colors I have and by hanging it up the paper stays nice and flat, and is easy to get to. I would do this even if I didn't have a dowel on the wall to hang them from - it's such a nice way to organize tissue paper, otherwise it would be stuffed in a drawer somewhere and I'd just buy more not knowing what I already have; find a closet or somewhere you can hang them so you can see what you have and you'll save yourself some hassle when you need tissue paper!

Hanging on the right bottom dowel is a pretty canvas tote bag  that holds gift bags, wine bags, little fabric bags, etc...

I have bows, tags, markers, etc. displayed on a tray nearby so all of that stuff is also handy. I have no excuse to not wrap pretty presents - everything is easy to see and use.

Gift Bag from Wrapping Paper

Have you ever made a gift bag from wrapping paper? I recently learned and love this -  no more having a gift that won't fit a store bought bag (and no more having to run to the store for a bag - just make your own!). It's a little hard to take pictures while folding the paper haha - I need a third hand sometimes. I took a bunch trying to capture what it is I'm doing exactly...


This is an especially good idea if you need a wider bottom bag or are wrapping something that has an odd shape, you can make the bag whatever size you need.

1. Start with a length of wrapping paper that will fit your item. Lay the paper on a flat surface wrong side up.

2. Fold the sides in, overlapping slightly, and tape.

3. Fold up the bottom as wide as you want the base of your bag to be (mine is approx 4").

4. This next part is hard for me to describe, but it isn't hard to do - open up the bottom part you just folded up and fold the sides that have the crease in them towards the center of the bag creating a diamond shape.

5.Then fold the top and bottom points in towards the center of the diamond, overlapping about 1/2" and tape.

6. cut off the top of the bag to however tall you want it to be

7. open up the bag and shape until the bottom is flat

8. put your gift inside and roll down the top to close. 

There - no more buying bags or putting your presents in garbage bags cuz they won't fit in your store bought bag! I guess I should point out that you can only make a bag as large as your wrapping paper - I'm not sure I could make one as big as a garbage bag haha...hmmm, maybe I'll go try. See ya!