Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Paths Through The Forests

Home
Pagan
Saegoah Pursuits: Creative Eco-Friendly Gift Wrapping

Saegoah Pursuits: Creative Eco-Friendly Gift Wrapping

Last updated on: December 21, 2016 at 2:30 pm by Rua Lupa

Saegoah Pursuits: Creative Eco-Friendly Gift Wrapping 2016-12-21T14:30:02-04:00 Rua Lupa

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

As this is the time of year when we reach the climax of seasonal gift wrapping, I have decided to share some of my creative eco-friendly wrapping techniques – and there are really two primary methods to it.

1) Cloth Bag Wrapping, and
2) Paper & Paint Wrapping

Cloth wrapping is fabulous for its reusability, and paper wrapping is compostable.

CLOTH BAG GIFT WRAPPING

For cloth bag wrapping for the Winter Holidays I find a textile already seasonally patterned and purchase the amount I need.

Winter Gift Bags by Rua Lupa

Winter Holiday Gift Bags by Rua Lupa

Depending on if you want a large/medium/small bag, you can choose 4/2/1 meter(s) of cloth respectively. While you are in the fabric store do not forget to pick up some ribbons for tying up your bags just like Santa’s. For a tag I simply cut out a rectangle card stock and cut a slit to slide onto the ribbon.

*Fun Eco-Friendly Tip from Megan Manson at Patheos: Pagan Tama – Reuse old Holiday Cards as Tags!

Putting It Together

With the fabric, I have found the easiest pattern is a U-shaped bag. Whatever size you have chosen, cut two matching U-shaped pieces out of your cloth. Then place the patterned sides together. From here you can either:

– Pin them in place and machine sew the pieces together, or
– Hold the two pieces together and blanket stitch them together (ideal for beginners, especially if you don’t have a sewing machine)

Make sure to leave the top of the ‘U’ open. Once done the belly of the ‘U’, flip it inside out and either blanket stitch or hem the mouth of the bag.

Image by Penguin & Fish.

All that is left is to place your gift(s) into the bag. Either one or two big gifts, or many small gifts per bag. Then slip the name tag onto the ribbon and tie off the top of the bag – And you are done!

I like to avoid and remove any shipping/display packaging from the gift before placing it in the bag. This is to avoid wasting resources and time on unwrapping and disposal on the holiday itself in order to spend more time with each other.

After it is unwrapped, remember to take it back home to reuse next year.

Furoshiki

Alternatively you can hem a sheet and wrap it like a regular paper wrap and tie it’s end’s together – also known as Furoshiki, which has a several methods to wrapping with cloth as shown below.

Cloth Wrapping Techniques

PAPER GIFT WRAPPING

Because some gifts are best left in the box they came in for transport, it’s ideal to simply paper wrap them. As a result, instead of buying predecorated rolls of wrapping paper, I like to use Kraft paper from the post office, and paper tape from Plastic-Free Life, wrapping like you would with normal wrapping paper. Then you can paint any way desired.

There are two primary ways you can paint – Solid background and foreground image, or stencils.

Rua Lupa's Tools For Gift Wrapping

Rua Lupa’s Tools For Gift Wrapping

Solid Background & Foreground

For the Solid Background & Foreground Image, I like to paint it black and flick white paint on it in a milky way pattern to celebrate Nox (The Longest Night). For name labels I simply cut out the name and lay it out so the ‘stars’ outline it.

Stencils

For the stencils, I use card stock or pieces of harder paper scrounged up from the recycling bin. Then I use an art scalpel to cut out the image I want. For stencil images I like to make ‘nature’ patterns – this year it was a pine tree sprig.

A helpful tip for painting with your stencil is to dab a bit of paint on your brush, dab once on scrap to remove excess, then dab the stencil for a clear image – brushing smudges your image.

*I have a stock pile of old paints I am working my way through and hope to eventually replace them with more eco-friendly options. I am currently studying paints via the SCA in order to find a simple solution. Which, I will get back to you when I’ve got something solid to share. If you have any recommendations, please comment below!

End Result

And here are this year’s results!

2016_12-Dec 093

Rua Lupa’s Winter Holiday Wrapping 12016 H.E.

That is all there is to it!

Hope you have yourself a Happy Holiday!

And a special Happy Solistice / Borealis Nox to my fellow Saegoahs!

For more fun and eco-friendly gift giving Ideas I highly recommend taking a look at – Simplify the Holidays.

Crafts

Nature-based Holidays

Previous Post

December 19, 2016

Connecting to Nature in Human-Centered Places

Next Post

January 17, 2017 The Scent of Winter

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Crafts Creating Connections Cultural Quandaries Earth Matters Earthly Rites Ecopsychology Fur and Feather Guest Posts Look & Find Natural Reflections Nature in the News Nature-based Holidays Nearby Nature Permaculture Quiz & Questionnaire Rituals & Ceremonies Science & Spirit The Sacred in Suburbia Uncategorized Wordless Wednesday

Select a Month January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 June 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz