We don't gift presents every year, sometimes we donate or put that money toward food drives for the homeless, but when we do I like to gift folks with added value beyond the contents inside the box. What better way to do that than custom wrapping and gift cards. This particular year, 2013, I created custom wrapping and hand sketched portrait gift cards for each recipient. The idea was to distinguish our presents from the rest with custom tailored gift packaging and portraiture gift cards to replace traditional prefab gift packaging and again repurpose some resources and art supplies in the house.
I chose plain, non-gloss wrapping paper colors in standard holiday colors (red, blue, green). Then I proceeded to sketch portraits of each recipient separately on square tile cards. Wrapping each package individually I then custom tailored each bow and ribbon with various mixed materials including tulip paint to give the impression of a real ribbon material. Lastly, I attached the gift card portraits to the exterior of the presents and some tulip paint details to tie it all together
The presents turned out even better than the year prior. The simple yet elegant design was elevated with the custom illustrative drawings of each gift recipient. The painted detailed ribbons and tulip paint added the perfect accents to the gift card and plain wrapping paper. The illustrated gift card was removable so each person could keep it as a keepsake if they so chose.
It's always a fun treat to surprise friends and family with a custom gift that feels specially tailored. Several people loved the added value of the keepsake gift card illustration and some even kept it on their fridge afterwards. It was a fun way to add a special handmade bonus gift to each person. The illustrations were probably my favorite but I also loved the simple plain colored wrapping paper that was the foundation of all the fun accents.
One foot deep in creative and one foot deep in the alpine. Designing solutions to solve big challenges & suffering in beautiful places.
