Semi-Homemade Giftwrapping

If you like to make handmade cards like me, maybe you can relate to something that happened to me a couple of years back:

I was inundated by birthdays and had extinguished my supply of little girl cards. As I wrapped a gift for my friends' daughter, I thought, "She's so young, she won't notice if just this once I use a store-bought card." Well, she didn't, but as her mom helped her unwrap her gift, she exclaimed, "Julie? A store-bought card?!" Just then, her husband, who had been capturing the birthday fun on his camcorder turned the lens toward me and zoomed in, "What? No handmade card?!" Well, as you can imagine I was not only embarrassed but stunned by the realization that my moment of shame would be forever immortalized among their home movies.

Well, I think I have found a happy medium. My friend Yuki Zepeda likened this idea to Sandra Lee's cooking show.* I make semi-homemade cards and wrappings with things I have bought at the store. They still have a special touch, but they are super quick to make. In the slideshow you can see how I added stamping to plain (but oh-so-versatile) wrapping paper for a gift that is quick and classy. Real satin ribbon gives it a little extra style. My other favorites were the notecards I found at Target for $.74 for a package of 10 with the U monogram. I use all of my stamps that have the word 'You' and just cut that off to use with the cards. I also did some cute holiday cards where I just covered the U with a small image. Add a little Stickles or a little ribbon and voila! You'll be ready for all those birthdays that seem to all fall on the same weekend.
PS- Do you know why the second week of November has so many birthdays? It's nine months after Valentine's Day!

(*You know the one. The voluptuous blonde lady that turns husbands who like watching football and hunting shows into sudden cooking show fans.)