Classy, Free Gift Wrap for a Small Gift

So this is not quite free, but very close. My cost was the printer ink and copy paper. I have figured this cost to be about 4 cents per page.  I didn't need a lot of gift wrap, just enough for one small package and one slightly larger package. I ended up using 4 sheets of printed paper, for about 16 cents for both gifts.

Those gifts that I bought at clearance and semi-annual sales now need wrapping. The above gift is part of a birthday package for someone who is special to me. Wanting a chic and classy look for this birthday gift, I decided on a black and white color scheme. (By the way, this is very inexpensive to do with home office supplies.)

Using free clip art, I made this pattern on my laptop for printing onto a sheet of paper. In my experience, Apple Pages seems to work better for cut and paste of images than MS Word, so it's what I have used here and with other printed images.

The small gift used 3/4 of a sheet, while the larger package used 3 sheets, with strategic piecing to minimize visible seams. The most obvious seam runs across the center of the package and shall be concealed with ribbon.

I did invest some time making the pattern, but I considered this fun, down time. In addition, I now have this pattern stored on my laptop for future use.

For a price comparison -- I could have bought some gift wrap. Even at the Dollar Store I would have spent $1 for wrap, and likely would have used about 1/3 of one of their small rolls, or 35-cents' worth. Printing gift wrap at home was about half of the price of the least expensive option for me, meant that I could skip a trip to the store, and was an outlet for my creative energy.  A win all around! And I don't have any leftovers lingering in a closet, as I printed only what I needed.

The Finished Towels

The project was definitely not for the impatient, perfectionistic, or those who give up easily. Trying to dye a group of differently-colored objects a single final color is tricky. A very close approximation of color for all items is possible with patience and multiple steps. However, I was able to get the batch close enough in color to satisfy me and my daughters.

In case you didn't know this about me, I have a bit of a perfectionistic streak in my disposition. So, when everything is not easy-peasy, or a project does not turn out exactly as I had planned, it takes a while for me to shake that "failure" feeling. It doesn't make any sense to me, as I can look at the towels and think they turned out beautifully, but my mind remembers the missteps along the road to get to the final outcome. Now, after a little time to relax, I can see that they turned out nicely. The bathmat is just a tad more intense in color than the towels, and the washcloths are slightly more peach than the rest of the batch. Despite this, the group looks great in the bathroom.

Old towels, new life. Final cost for a "new" set of bath linens -- $3.74, including sales tax (I forgot to add in tax in yesterday's post). I don't think that you can't buy a single bath towel at Target for that price.