diy: my favourite wrapping

I don't know about you, but for me the presentation of gifts is almost as important as the thought put into the gift itself. Receiving something that looks really beautiful makes you feel extra special - what can I say, I'm a girl, I love pretty things!

A couple of months ago I made a little thank you gift for a friend's mother, it looked so pretty that I made a little mental note to use the same idea for my eldest daughter's birthday. Well it appears I'm not alone! Ever since I posted the pictures of my washi bows I have had people asking me how I did them, so with Christmas around the corner, I thought I'd show you my current, absolute fave way of wrapping presies ...

Before you begin, wrap your present in a plain wrapping paper. I love to use kraft paper for it's raw simplicity and it creates the perfect back drop for decorative details, but you could substitute this with anything plain from brown paper to brightly coloured tissue paper. Make sure you have a stash of washi tape at the ready and you are ready to go ...

1. Turn the present over so that you have the reverse side of the wrapping facing upwards. Start by sticking the end of your washi tape slightly off center. Then pull the tape across the reverse side of your present until you reach the edge.
2. Carefully turn the gift over with the washi still attached. Again pull the tape right across the right side of your gift until you reach the other edge.
3. Turn the present back over to the reverse side with the washi still attached and complete the round, sllightly overlapping the washi over the starting point. Tear off washi.
4. Turn the gift around and repeat points 1-3 in the opposite direction to make a cross.

5. Next tear off lots of small pieces of washi to make the bow shape.
6. With right side of the gift facing upwards, start by placing a piece of washi on the centre point of the cross, positioning it to create a tear drop shape (see arrow). You need to slightly scrunch and shape the washi as you stick it down to give it a three dimensional look, and to help create a small amount of curve.
7. Continue doing the same scrunching and shaping with more small bits of washi until you are back at the centre point and have created a tear drop.
8. Repeat to make a mirror image of the tear drop, and you will end up with the top part of bow complete.

9. Now you need to make the tails of the bow. Start by tearing off two longer pieces of washi.
10. Again starting at the centre point, place the washi in a gentle curve, scrunching and shaping as you go, to mimmick the movement of bow tails.
11. Repeat on the other side. The tails needn't be symmetrical, in fact they look more natural if they lie differently on each side.
12. Now all you need to do is write a lovely message to the person receiving the present. I like writing my messages in pretty colours, along the curves of the bow shape.

So there you go ... it's not expensive, nor is it time consuming, and it's easy, in fact there is no excuse,  everyone should have washi bows under their trees this year!