Not sure how, but this time every year things start to become stressful and frantic, between the whole organizing Christmas day and buying the last few presents and then wrapping them up. So seeing your Christmas tree all surrounded with beautifully wrapped gifts, perhaps that’s the view I most enjoy about the Holiday season. Or perhaps it’s about the process of putting wrapping paper and bows together that I truly enjoy, that’s when the Christmas spirit starts feeling alive for real.

I do enjoy a beautifully wrapped present when I spot it, but I also reckon most people usually don’t care about the packaging and all that pretty paper just goes destroyed in minutes after the gifts are exchanged. So to me it’s more about the process in itself: picking up a pretty wrapping paper, combining colours and patterns, learning new ways to tie a bow, or just getting creative and appreciate the atmosphere. And then getting to enjoy the view of all that glitter-y ribbons between the tree fairy lights.

Even though I do believe getting creative is the way to go in these cases, today I wanted to share some simple but effective gift wrapping ideas if you need some inspiration!

Add some branches

This is the simplest, most inexpensive yet very effective idea: just go outside, pick up some branches of holly, pine or small red berries like the ones we got from our backyard, and tie them between the knots of your red and white twine to add a festive feel to your gifts! This is so simple but makes for the perfect winter-y gift and your presents will smell very festive too!

Decorate with bells and candy cane

For a fun and different touch, I’ve bought a pack of cute little bells, that not only make the presents all jingling, but once the gifts will be unwrapped they can be hung or used as Christmas tree ornaments! While for kids or any sweet tooth in your life, think about tying a colourful candy cane between the knots of your twine.

Use a box

If you’ve created a themed gift set, consider buying a cute Christmassy box (that can be easily re-used to store objects), fill it with shredded paper and place your pieces in it. Add a cute bow on top and your gift tags and you’re settled!

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Here in Italy bringing a real pine at home to be used as Christmas tree is not really a thing (which I’m totally OK with), yet I love how pines smell and I’d like to associate that scent with Christmas as most of the people do! We’re not starting to bring home a real tree, but this year, instead of dusting off the usual artificial wreath, we thought it might be nice to try our hands at making our own real pine-smelling Christmas wreath!

I reckon we’re quite lucky to be able to go out and come home with two bags full of branches of all type of conifers out there (aside from pines which are mandatory, we found also beech and cypress work quite nicely), pine cones and holly; however I think if you’re not that lucky, you’ll be still able to find your supplies at your local florist and I also saw some boutiques selling decorative pine cones that could work nicely! Obviously nothing can beat going out and picking up natural wide branches smelling like only Winter does!

I can’t describe how lovely our home smelled after we brought all of our supplies in and started arranging our wreaths. Nothing could beat that, mixed with the smell of the finest hot chocolate you’re sipping in the meanwhile and the sound of Christmas songs whistled in the background, I’ll tell you!

To make our own wreath, we used small and medium branches of pine and cypress, as well as some small and medium pinecones, some hand-picked holly and red berries from our backyard. We totally improvised, but after two wreaths we saw some improvements in our technique, so here are some tips we learnt along the way:

• Make a thick circular base with some garden wire, at least three layers, then seal the layers with other wire twisted all around the base. This will create a solid starting point for your wreath.
• Start with the thickest branches and firmly link them to the base with the wire.
• Always make the branches follow the circumference in only one direction.
• Use smaller branches to cover any hole or poor space.
• Only add decorations like pine cones, holly and berries when you’re completely happy with your base!

We’re so pleased with how our wreath has turned out and you won’t believe how incredible it smells! I think, from now on wreath making must become a Christmas tradition of ours – the whole going out and picking up your own branches and then putting all the elements together surrounded by the most classical festive scent of all, this whole process might be even more enjoyable than decorating a Christmas tree, and I’m not joking!

Mittens ℅ Yoins

Will you give wreath making a whirl this year? x

Before being introduced to Brother I would have never thought a labeler could have ever come somewhat of useful in my daily life (yet I say I’m an organized person!) but I of course jumped at the chance to try one of them out on a daily basis and accepted the challenge to use a labeler to organize anything really: since I got my hands on my new Brother labeler I have actually found an unlimited amount of ways to put it into good use, from writing the names for my mailbox to creating page titles and little notes for our photo albums!

Their PT-H100R Labeler it’s specifically though for a daily use and with their slogan “At your side”, Brother aims to help women to organize their life on a daily basis, proposing colorful interchangeable labels to print on and the cutest little illustrations to add to your print.

I’ve found my labeler extra useful to print little bookmarks to apply to my agenda, simply by printing some small text or little images that help me at finding the section I’m looking for in no time at all: ‘to do’, ‘notes’, ‘budget’ and more! I would have never thought it but it’s such a staple to organize any side of office work, great to add notes where needed, to create little titles or dividers inside my agenda, organize my financial worksheets in chronological order and even organizing my work under client names in alphabetical order!

I can’t really wait to get my hands on their fabric labels to print my brand name and stick it on my handmade cotton products!

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What would you organize with your labeler? x

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