These Peach Roses: Wrapped With Love

I am partial to skipping the bag + tissue paper and personally wrapping a gift. Unfortunately, I know too many people that struggle with this task. With Valentine's Day around the corner, don't get frustrated like you did two months ago. (Picture the clouds parting) I am here to save the day! ...or at least give you a few pointers.

1. Get all your supplies ready before you start. There's really nothing worse than realizing you forgot the tape, mid-wrap.
2. Place the gift on the paper and measure 2.5 times its size. Better to have too much paper than not enough.
3. Fold the two long ends around the gift so that they meet at the bottom. Use clear tape to secure.
4. Fold the sides for nice clean edges. Double fold if you have excess paper.

5. Secure the folded sizes with tape. Make sure the folds are facing towards the bottom of the present.

6. Wrap with ribbon, twisting on the underside.

7. Cut ribbon at an even length.

8. Tie the two strands into a neat bow. Using someone else's finger sometimes helps keep everything in place.

9. Cut shorter pieces of ribbon and tie more bows directly on top of the one from Step 8. Repeat until you have a sizable detail on your gift. Curl any too-straight ends.

10. Slide your card under the ribbon.

11. Smile as you hand over your pretty gift to the recipient, knowing that you did it yourself! You deserve a gold star for taking that extra bit of time to make a good first impression.

I like using butcher paper or other solid wrapping paper. It allows you to customize the look and really draw the eye to the details. Maybe use a silk ribbon, or tulle, or felt pompoms -- the possibilities are endless! Just try to steer clear of those dollar-store pointy stick-on bows. They don't really scream "wrapped with love" if you know what I mean.

Here are a few more intricate gift-wrapping ideas I found while surfing the web.