Fabric Gift Wrap

I made a vow a a couple of years ago that I would no longer spend money on wrapping paper. I have always saved every gift bag and piece of tissue paper to reuse. Currently though I have a few Christmas bags and a whole lot of baby girl and baby boy bags. I use these when ever I can but I need to find another solution to gift giving. For this reason I have been looking into reusable gift wrap. Most of what you find out there is bags. I think the reusable bags are great for birthdays but under my tree I still like the look of wrapped boxes with pretty ribbon.

I found a tutorial here that had some good information on making gift wrap. I thought I would get different fabric for each child so there would be no need to label the gifts. I knew I needed to make gift wrap not only for Christmas but also for the kids birthdays. This is when I thought why not make it double sided so one side is Christmas and the other side is for birthday. For those not interested in making gift wrap try Etsy there are many sellers of reusable gift bags and gift wrap there.

Here is my double sided gift wrap tutorial:

Making at least 3 sizes of gift wrap small, medium, and large in order to be sure you can wrap a variety of things. I also have 4 very large fabric bags which I use for extra large items. My smallest wrap is 12"x18" and my largest is 3'x4'.

First choose 2 different fabrics. I used a strawberry fabric and a plain red.
Lay out the fabric with the right sides facing each other.

Decide how big you want your gift wrap and cut about 1/2 inch more on each side. I did not use any precise measuring. I just eyeballed it and cut out different size squares and rectangles from the fabric I had.

Fold the top layer of fabric in half. Place a ribbon about the length of the fabric across the bottom fabric where the top fabric is folded up. Pull a small amount of ribbon out beyond the fabric and fold the top fabric back down.

Pin the ribbon and the corners of the two fabrics together.
Sew around the fabrics leaving a small area not sewn in order to flip the fabric.

Flip the fabric so the right sides are out. Push out the corners as needed and then sew up the unsewn section.
You now have a completed fabric gift wrap.





How the wrap your gift.
Use the fabric gift wrap as you would paper. Lay it out and put the object you are wrapping in the middle. Fold up the sides without the ribbon.

Then fold in the corners and fold up the sides with the ribbon.

Depending on the size of the object you may be able to wrap the ribbon around to the front of the package or just tie the ribbon in the back.


This is the first tutorial I have ever written. If you have any question please post them below I will be happy to clarify anything confusing.

Here are a few pictures of our fabric wrap being used though the years at both Christmas and birthdays!

Eco Friendly Gifts

I have done a few posts on green toys. We have a lot of them around our house, our favorite companies are Plan, Sprig, Anamalz, and Green Toys. Some of these toys are made from natural renewable materials and others are made of recycled materials, both of which are wonderful for kids and the environment. Although the first thing we usually think of when we need a gift for someone is to go down to Target and buy something. When trying to be eco-friendly running down to Target to get a present does not usually work. Unfortuantly even thought there are a lot of wonderful eco fiendly toys out there not a lot of them make it into the big chain stores. There are alternatives to buying a toy when a gift is needed some of these alternatives can actually be less expensive and greener then buying any toy. Here I put together a list of the different kids of eco friendly gifts for friends and family.

1. Items made from natural materials
2. Items made from recycled materials
3. Items that the recipient needs and that you know will be used such as: books, clothes, shoes, new cookware, paper- I know it does not sound all that fancy or fun but for some people a usable item is a wonderful gift. When ever we read a book or put on the cool shoes someone bought the kids we think of the person who gave them and how special they are.
4. Items handmade by the giver especially for the recipient. If you have a talent then use it.
5. Special playdates or trips- some ideas could be an afternoon at the park with a special picnic lunch, a morning at the movies with popcorn of course, or a trip to the zoo..something special that both the recipient and the gift giver can enjoy together.

More felt toys

I wanted a felt dragon for the kids to play with. I looked at felt dragons but nothing was what I wanted plus I did not want to spend $20-$30 on it. I already had a felting needle so I thought I would get some wool and try making one myself. For $1.99 in wool and 5 hours of work I made this little guy. I must say I was quite impressed with my work. He turned out incredibly cute and the kids love him. Exactly what I wanted!

Felted Toys

I only like to give natural gifts that are either meaningful or useful. I think that just buying something because you do not know what else to get is wasteful. I would rather get nothing then something I do not need or want. I guess that is just the environmentalist in me.

A year ago I purchased a needle felted Peter Rabbit for my grandmother. She likes Beatrix Potter and always gave us Beatrix Potter items when we were little. Needle felting is a process of taking natural wool and shaping it with a needle until it is dense and compact. The other day my son said that Grum (my grandmother) needed a Benjamin Bunny to go with her Peter Rabbit. Of course I was more then happy to oblige, teaching him the wonderful feeling of giving is something I strive to do. Kelley at Little Elfs Toy Shop does such wonderful work that I wanted to let others know about her. Check out her shop full of great natural toys. I just love Etsy!

Check out Little Elfs Toy Shop for more items like these.

Lunch Box

I spent today looking for an eco-friendly lunch box for the kids. I am thinking with our new schedual it would be best for me to pack them a lunch on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday because we are usually out until lunch time. If I had something to easily pack a lunch for them in it would make my outings much easier. We already have a few things like our Klean Kanteens, some wrap-n-mats, and some other fabric sandwich wraps from Etsy. I love all of these things but I wanted a cohesive set that I can use to make lunches. I really like the Bento Box idea but I was not keen on plastic. From the reviews I read I do not think my kids could use it effectively, not to mention all the pieces I know that they would end up lost.


Today though I found this from Planetbox.



I am loving it and can not wait to get one for each of my kids.Basicaly it is a one piece Bento Box. The magnet are super cute as well (I just love the rainbow one).


I am hoping that they will last the kids a long time maybe even through elemtary school. They have a 5 year warranty on them which when you look at it it is only $12 a year if spread out over 5 years. Plus they are likely to last longer then that. It even has a carrying case that will fit our Kleen Kanteens. I just wish they had more colors to choose from in the carrying case.

Celebration Flags

I wanted to make reusable fabric flags for my children's birthday parties. After looking at many different tutorials I made these.


I started by buying 4 different types of fabric. I went with a light blue, green, and blue and green plaid, and a pink. I bought 2 yards of each fabric. I also bought about 8 rolls of an off white 2 inch ribbon.
I then cut out a triangle from cardboard. I decided on the size I wanted my flags and then made my triangle 1/2 inch bigger on all sides. Using chalk I traced the triangle on the fabric.



I then used my pinking shears to cut the triangles out.



Next I place two of the fabric triangles back to back and sewed around the bottom two sides of the flag. Leaving the top open.



Flip the triangle rightside out. It is helpful to cut the bottom of the triangle before you flip it so that there is less fabric on the inside, this will make the bottom point sharper. Next iron the triangle flat.



Next I folded the ribbon in half and ironed it. I then cut it into 3 foot sections, this was just long enough to cover the top of three flags side by side with enough extra to tie to another strip. I then burned the edge so it would not fray.



Next I placed three flags in the fold of the ribbon and pinned them there. I sewed across the ribbon to attach the flags.



Finally I tied three sets of flags together and placed them across the fence in the yard.



A not on why I put three together at a time. After finishing the individual flags I decided to put them in groups of three so that I could change the color schemes as needed. I can connect green and blue, or pink and green, or any combination that went with the party theme.

Eco Paint

A while ago I bought this eco-friendly finger paint. It is made by eco-kids they also make dough. All of their items are made from plant extracts. I was excited to find paint for the kids that was not made from chemicals.
While out one day I found little spill proof jars with paint brushes I had used them before when teaching and they work great. These were extra small ones so they work perfectly for Bry's little hands.
It has been a while but I finally took some time to try them out. They come in powder form and you add equal parts powder and water. You have to mix them really well and they are still a little powdery but they paint well. The kids had a blast and they both made great artwork. I would recomend these paints for anyone who has kids.

Eco Art

We recently bought some eco friendly art supplies from Stubby Pencil Studio. They have many good for the earth items made especially for young kids. My bought soy crayons, crayon rocks, and some natural play dough. The prices were very reasonable and I am incredibly happy with everything we got. Andon thought the crayon rocks were pretty cool and they both loved the play dough. We will be ordering more stuff very soon.

Toys and Gifts for Kids

Over the last few years there has been a huge amount of green toys hitting the market. Here are some that I love. These toys are made by companies dedicated to ecofreindly production. The best thing about these toys, besides being green, is that they are all kid powered. No batteries, which are an extremly wasteful product, only kids imaginations are needed. For now most of these toys can only be found online, but hopefully we will be finding more of them in the local stores. Think ahead to all those kids you buy for throughout the year (especially if you are buying for my little angels) and order some great toys you will feel good about giving.

Green Toys
I bought the kids the Sand Play Set and the Tea Set. We love them not only are they made from recycled milk jugs but they are ultra sturdy and made entirely in the USA. I would recommend these to anyone. We take the sand set to the park with us and I am always getting comments about how nice they are.


Plan Toys
When we buy Bry her first doll house it will be a Plan Toy. These are great wood toys made in a very ecofriendly way. I am loving some of the new designs. What child does not need a dollhouse with a solar panel roof, a wind turbine, rain barrel, recycling bins, and many other great green building elements.


Anamalz
I am getting a bunch of these for Andon. They are great for keeping in my purse for pretend play anywhere and they are just so cute. Anamalz come in four catagories wild, farm, austarlian, and prehistoric


Sprig Toys
These cool toys are paint free, ecofriendly, and battery free. Thay are made from a bio composite made from recycled wood and reclaimed plastic. I know Andon would love these construction vehicals.





I have also bought many items from Etsy, in particular those in the teams EcoEtsy and EtsyOrganic. Handmade pruducts are unique and often ecofriendly. (Although you may have to do some questioning to find out if they are indead ecofriendly products.)

Eco friendly colds

With two little ones someone always has a running nose around here.
I do not like tissues for many reasons
1. I hate going through boxes of tissues
2. they always end up in the laundry and all over my clothes
3. babies tend to find the tissue box, pull out tissues, and rip them apart

I decided to do something about the tissue problem at our house. I did not want to go buy a ton of handkerchiefs so I looked around the house at what we had. We have a lot of receiving blankets that we are no longer using. Instead of just giving them away I thought I could use them. I have started by just cutting up a few with pinking shears. It is great. We now throw them in the wash instead of the trash. If they get left in a pocket there is no mess in the laundry. Bry can not make a mess with them.
I might sew some up into nice squares but for now the pinking shears work.