I love gift wrapping.

Well the title says it all I love wrapping up gifts be it a present for family or friends. And I really love wrapping up the items people have purchased from my etsy shop or website. I don't use lots of wrapping some items like jewellery and the odd elf will be sent in a gift box but them I will add a ribbon and tag to them.  

I do try to keep the wrapping simple but pretty, I use this lovely glitter lime green tissue paper. So I wrap first in the tissue then I use one of my personalised Moo stickers to stick it down.

Then I use the curling ribbon, I got them from a florists section at a garden centre at a very reasonable price and they will last for a long time. I could leave it at that but I do like to add a pretty tag. I bought some Gorjuss tags a few years ago while I was still  papercrafting and I use those and some Handmade with love tags I found at a craft fayre. Its not a lot and doesn't take long but I think it does look pretty.

At craft fairs I just normally wrap in tissue and add the sticker but as now my daughter comes to help me I may train her up and have her wrapping the customers purchases with me. Now I'm going to find some new pretty tissue as I'm down to the last few sheets of the glitter tissue paper. I'm hoping to find something really pretty. 

Rivers and Oceans

One constant thing in my life has been I have lived by a river and the sea, most of my childhood was spent in Bournemouth on the beach and down by the River Stour near my childhood home.

We used to spend the summer holidays down by the river with a net trying to catch minnows and putting them in a bucket. There used to be a lovely spot near to the bridge in Iford and my sister always caught more minnows than me.

Old Iford Bridge

We also used to row and sail down the river down to Christchurch Harbour or go to Tuckton and launch the boats. We would eat a picnic lunch either anchored near the reed beds or pull the boats up at Hengistbury Head. Of course we would then go and explore the Head and look at the  archaeological excavation sites there.

Hengistbury Head

I have been remembering all this as my son has been reading a Famous Five book by Enid Blyton for his schools 50's topic. I read lots of the famous five books when little and it has brought back those memories.

Now I'm still living by water but this time its the Atlantic Ocean. We don't have miles of golden sand and piers at our local beach but it still beautiful in fact I think more so. If its a stormy sea you can sometimes hear the waves pounding into the rocks at night. 

Duck Pool Beach

Sometimes we go down there in the early evening with friends, our children & dogs, no picnic tea but a beach bbq. The children and dogs explore the rockpools and often swim with their body boards. Hopefully they will have some great childhood memories like I do.