Newly Domesticated: December 2023

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Wrapping Scheme 2023: Old World Glamour

Oh hello! It's me in my...*checks notes*...THIRD post in 2023. Bless those of you who actually read this!

It's time again to celebrate my passion, my art, my muse — gift wrap.

When I initially embarked on my gift wrapping scheme journey, I was trying to subvert the traditional wrapping. I was zigging where Christmas paper zagged. So, after all these years, it felt like the biggest wild card yet would be leaning into an Old World palette — Christmas, but make it Gilded Age. I was trying to explain to my Mom that it's "Dutch masters meets Henri Bendel's" and she rightfully so was like, "Huh?"

It wasn't until I put the packages together that I saw clearly where this inspiration came from: Samantha, an American Girl doll. Samantha was basically my childhood icon and her wardrobe consisted of velvets, burgundy satin, brown checked taffeta and giant bows. So the inspiration may theoretically be "Old World" but it's mostly "Samantha Parkington, Victorian Orphan in New York."

I wanted something that looked *rich* and was delighted to find this Baroque still life wrapping paper from the Etsy shop SoChroma. The ribbon is from Michael's.

I've had a hard time finding burgundy wrap that fit the bill, but this wine-colored print by JunebirdPaperCo on Etsy was exactly what I'd been seeking! This ribbon was from Target.

And to pull it all together, I loved this brown stripe paper by RubyStripe that reminds me of the classic Henri Bendel's packaging (as modeled here by Fran Fine), and feels very "quiet luxury."

Lest you believe what you see on the internet, you should know I had to immediately hide all these presents again because my toddler does not yet respect my process.

See the whole retrospective of wrapping schemes here: