Today we’re continuing our series with Craftsy, an online community for makers with classes, patterns, templates, and supplies. I’ve been collaborating with Craftsy over the past few weeks to take a few of their online classes and learn some new skills – and since we’re getting close to the holidays I thought we’d focus on the gift wrap tips and techniques that I learned from Paper Arts with Alton DuLaney! And for those of you looking to brush up your gift wrap skills before the holidays, Craftsy is offering a huge discount (50% off!) just for Oh So Beautiful Paper readers through November 24!

I’ve always considered gift presentation to be just as important as the gift itself – and I have several friends that always impress me with their gift wrapping and gift presentation skills. I hoard beautiful gift wrap sheets ribbons and gift tags throughout the year, but when it comes to actual gift wrap construction I’ve always fallen a bit short. My corners are wonky, paper bunches up in weird places, and I never know where to properly place paper seams – until now! I learned so much from Craftsy’s Paper Arts with Alton DuLaney, including some essential gift wrap techniques that really elevated my gift giving game. You can click here to take the Craftsy Paper Arts class – and take advantage of the wonderful discount!

 

I love that you can watch portions of a Craftsy class over and over whenever you want – I must have watched the tutorial on how to tie the perfect bow a dozen times! And you can even watch on your phone or tablet with the Craftsy app while you’re in the middle of a project. I focused on the gift wrap lesson here, but the Paper Arts class is organized into twelve (!!) lessons covering everything from gift wrap to the art of letter writing to home decor ideas, and each lesson is divided into subsections for easy reference later on.

I love mixing a neutral paper with beautiful ribbon for a pop of color or metallic sparkle. I used a technique that I learned in Alton’s class – layering two ribbons – to pair hand-dyed grosgrain ribbons with frayed denim and raw linen ribbons over a warm gray wrapping paper. I also mixed a soft gray twine with metallic silver and gold ribbon on a smaller gift box. I love the combination of the subtle gradient color in the hand-dyed grosgrain ribbon with the texture of the linen and denim ribbons.

I sadly don’t have any photos of the hand dying process (it happened too fast to take photos!), but it’s really simple if you want to recreate it at home. Just wind your ribbon into a coil around two fingers, then dip one edge of your ribbon coil into a small container filled with just a tiny amount of liquid fabric dye in your chosen colors. I used fuchsia and teal dye diluted with just a little bit of water. Once your ribbon has absorbed the fabric dye (usually just a few seconds), run it under cold water and allow to dry. And that’s it!

Click here to take the Craftsy Paper Arts class – with a discount for Oh So Beautiful Paper readers! Craftsy has generously offered 50% off the Paper Arts class, so this is a great opportunity to learn a ton of new paper skills for just $14.99. This discount is only available through midnight MST on November 24 – so sign up soon!

Styling + Photos by Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

This post is sponsored by Craftsy. All content, photos, ideas, and words are our own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that help make Oh So Beautiful Paper possible!