Christmas Report: Last Minute Wrapping Inspiration

Today I'm ceding my "Book Report" post to offer some last minute Christmas wrapping inspiration. A couple weeks ago, I showed you how to make tassel gift toppers from ferns and fir trees, but the other ribbon and bow replacement I'm using this year is inspired by the leather laces from my cowboy hat band DIY...

You can pick up leather laces at JoAnn's for under $5.00 and the paper is just standard brown kraft, but you could also use brown paper bags--just like we did for our Buzzfeed wrapping challenge last year.

Now, I know knots can seem a little intimidating, but don't despair! There are tons of online resources dedicated to this sort of thing. Personally, I rely on the Pinterest community over Google. Pinterest is my go-to craft vetting service.

From top to bottom:
1. Standard knot. To fancy things up a bit, I cut the ends of the laces at an angle.
2. Square or reef knot. There are bunches of tutorials out there; I recommend Forrest Trenaman's on YouTube.
3. Carrick bend knot. I always go back to Design* Sponge's 2009 Knot Trivet tutorial by Derek & Lauren (formerly of The Curiosity Shoppe, which no longer exists!). I find their pictures and patient instructions really helpful. Plus, the trivet project is excellent. Since you use most of the leather lace making the knot (make sure to start with a long piece), I just ran a couple extra laces through the sides.

To secure the laces at the bottom of the package, I sewed them together. It's not fun to sew through thick leather (make use of your thimble), but you really only have to do it once per thread--just enough to string them together. Now for tags...

The tags are cut from brown kraft paper. To accommodate the thickness of the leather laces, I cut little triangles into my tags, but you could also use an X-acto knife to make a slit and then slide a flat ribbon through. Not too tough, right?

I hope you're all set to have a wonderful Christmas holiday!