The Weekly Green - Tip 4

Tip #4 - Recycled - OH, I mean "REVAMPED" - and creative Christmas wrap. I don't remember the last time I actually bought wrapping paper (well, I did buy some a couple years ago to support a friend's child doing one of those school fund raisers)!  Not only will recycling wrapping paper and bags save you money, it will also keep materials in circulation instead of sending them directly to the recycling bin, trash or fireplace, and get more "life" out of something that had used energy to create.  This week's green tip is in preparation for Christmas (or other holiday!), and all those White Elephant gift exchange parties you may be attending this month!

Idea 1 - Wrap the gift within another gift!  For example, if you are giving soaps, why not wrap it in a decorative hand towel and tie it with a pretty ribbon!  Or, maybe gloves and a scarf - you can wrap the gloves IN the scarf and tie it with a pretty ribbon.  You could also give a gift in a reusable shopping bag or reusable lunch bag, with a ribbon tied on the handle, or for the moms-to-be a diaper bag filled with goodies!

Idea 2 - Newspaper or magazine pages - this can have a fun and modern look to it, and you can customize the look for kids (using the comics, or toy pages from a magazine), for women (using lifestyle or fashion pages), for the gardener (using pages with flowers, outdoors, etc.) or men (sports or outdoor pages) or just have a fun modern look with just any black and white newspaper page with a fun bright bow!

Idea 3 - Paper bags - you can then color or decorate the plain paper side - the kids would like this project! You can also 'Bedazzle' it with glue-on gems, or make it scrapbook style with all those cute cut-out shapes, and spell out the person's name on the wrap!

Idea 4 - Canisters, jars and containers from pickle jars, cookie tins, plastic cracker/snack containers, tupperware, etc. - Instead of recycling these in the bin, re-purpose them into a gift container!  I've used those plastic containers from the Happy Baby Toddler Puffs to hold pens in my craft room, and I'm sure it might be the perfect size to hold one of the gifts on your list, or even for your homemade cookies!  Just glue or tape your own decorative outer on your canister/container, or make your own "food label" to put on the outside if you've made cookies to put inside - get creative with the ingredients list like "made with love", etc.

Idea 5 - Bows made from items found - Yarn makes really cute ribbon and bows!  Plastic shopping bags can be cut into thin strips (imagine paper gone through a shredder-sized strips, but don't use your shredder with the plastic, it will get clogged!) then gathered and tied in the middle to make a fluffy, frizzy bow topper!  You can also do the previous idea with scrap paper too, especially easy if you have a shredder so you don't have to cut!  Newspaper or magazine bows, or from recycled wrapping paper, or ribbons from past presents - It would take up too much space to describe how to do this, so click HERE for a link to some directions I found!

Idea 6 - This one is the easiest and most obvious - Reusing the bags and bows and nice-looking papers from the gifts given to you!  I do this all the time.  Just a reminder to save those nice-looking wraps this year for next year!

Idea 7 - Scrap fabric from your fabric stash, or even from your old (washed!) clothes!  You can "quilt" the fabrics together until they make a large enough square for wrapping!  You could turn this into something usable too, like making it a place mat or lap cover with a finished edge.

Do you have any ideas to add to the list?!!

Stay tuned next week for Tip #5