first, a confession - then, some creative wrapping

First of all, THANK YOU for your sweet comments and entries on yesterday's "gift-away".  Every time my phone "binged" signaling a new comment, my heart swelled in appreciation.

I also want to apologize for how utterly selfish I have been over the last year in blogging.  Things have gotten busy and I have neglected to respond to about every single comment that was left on my blog.  There is NO excuse for that.  It pains my heart to know that many of you take the time to comment and then never hear anything back from me.  Talk about talking to a blank wall!

I DO want you to know that I read EVERY. SINGLE. COMMENT. and beam with joy at some of the encouraging things you say.  I usually then click on your blogger profile and stalk your own blogs that you write!

Besides promising to do better in this area and actually talk to you like I do over email and our Facebook page, I want to reward you for commenting.  SO... I installed a new feature on the blog that pulls the top commentators (from the last 500 comments) and displays them on my side bar (down below "followers).

Every so often, I will reward the top THREE commentators with a Better Life Bag gift certificate:
$15 to 1st place
$10 to 2nd
$5 to 3rd place
Click over to see the new feature if you are in Google Reader or email to see if YOU are one of the winners!  If you are, email me at betterlifebags@gmail.com to claim your prize!

And thank you for your grace and forgiveness in this area.

back to the blog...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wrapping presents is one of my least favorite things to do.  Although, shopping for wrapping paper is one of my favorite things to do!  Similar to my love for doing laundry and my serious distaste for folding it.  Go figure.

So, to increase the fun-factor in wrapping, I decided to use some fun Christmas fabric and plain brown packing paper.  Ruffles, bows, and twisty wraps make these so pretty under the tree!

While it may seem self-explanatory for some of you, I've included a tutorial on the two different fabric embellishments I used on the gifts.

The first - a simple ruffle.  If you can operate a sewing machine, YOU CAN DO THIS.

1. Wrap up the gift without tape and making sure the creases are clear.  This will give you an idea on where you want the ruffle to go.

2. Unfold and cut a strip of fabric about 3" - 4" wide.

3. Place the strip of fabric at the edge of the brown paper in the place where you want your ruffle to go.  Then, as you sew a straight line, squish and crunch up the fabric before you sew over it to make a simple ruffle.

{hint} There's no need to ruffle the fabric on the sides of the package, so start scrunching that fabric up once you reach the crease that signals the top of the package.

4. Wrap your present back up and admire.

Another easy way to embellish a gift using fabric uses two fabric strips about 3" wide and long enough to tie around the package.

1. Tie the first strip around the package and tie in a knot.

2. Tie the second strip around the package going the opposite way and tie in a knot.

3. Take the end of one fabric strip and tie it in a bow with the end of the opposite fabric strip.

4. Tie a bow with the last two ends for a full ribbon on top.

Easy, right?  Have you done a Pinterest Search for Christmas Present Wrapping ideas lately?  There are SO many cute ones out there!

BLB of the day: 

The Lydia 

Save 10% with BAGOFTHEDAY {good only on this bag until midnight on date of blog post}