I have a thing for pretty gift wrap. Brown paper packages tied up with string are great if you just got out of a convent. I like something with a little more style. One way to amp up your gift wrapping is by personalizing it with photos. I recently had a little photo session with my dogs Fosse and Gershwin, and I printed their cute little mugs out onto sheets of Craft Attitude. Craft Attitude is a printable film; you use your inkjet printer to print any image on it, cut out the image, and then apply this film to practically any surface with a glue stick or spray adhesive. So here’s what I customized: some ribbon, some wrapping paper,and a gift bag. So easy peasy.
MAKING PHOTO RIBBON: Measure the width of your ribbon. Mine was 1.5 inches. Then size your photos so they are 1.5″ high, and put a bunch of them in a row. I used Photoshop for this, and I fit in 5 rows onto one document, and then printed it out on a sheet of Craft Attitude. Cut it into strips.
Leaving the backing paper on, apply spray adhesive (I use Scotch Super 77) to the ink side of the film. Place the strip face down on the ribbon, rub it with your fingers, and remove the backing paper. Personalized ribbon, people!
Of course, the Craft Attitude works best on a lighter colored background. The ribbon I used was a light green, which was a cool background to put my dogs against. Aren’t they cute dressed up like Santa and an elf? Now, one sheet of Craft Attitude can make a ribbon that’s about 52″ long. You’ll see from the photo that it’s really flexible, and once it’s on the ribbon, you can still tie it into a bow.
PERSONALIZING WRAPPING PAPER: This is just so easy, I don’t know why I don’t do it all the time. I have a 3″ hole punch, so I sized photos of Gershwin to 3″, and printed out the photos on a sheet of Craft Attitude film. I could fit 6 pictures on one sheet. Then I used the hole punch to create 6 circles of Gershwin’s face. Keeping the backing paper on, I applied spray adhesive to the ink side, placed the circle face down on the wrapping paper, burnished with my fingers, and peeled off the backing.
I love how the film is relatively transparent, so the design on the wrapping paper shows through. This makes the image look printed on the paper, rather than looking like a sticker.
PERSONALIZING A GIFT BAG: This too is crazy easy, but such a fun way to customize a gift bag. I bought a gift bag at Joann with some candy canes on it and printed out a photo of Gershwin on a sheet of Craft Attitude.
Leaving the backing paper on (I sound like a broken record), apply some spray adhesive to the ink side of the Craft Attitude and place it face down on the gift bag. Burnish it with your fingers, and peel off the backing. Instant photo gift bag. Amazing or what?
Just like with the wrapping paper, I love how the design of the paper shows through, so it looks like the photo was printed on the bag.
you make this look so easy — how did you peel the backing off — I have had so much trouble — is there an easy way?
Sometimes it’s easy, and sometimes it’s hard. When it’s really stuck, I use the tip of an X-Acto knife.
I love these packages! I really have to go check out some of that film. Your fur babies are so adorable!!! Great shots of them! Merry Christmas and Love to you all!