This is part two of a four part Gift Wrapping tutorial by our featured guests from the little shop in the middle of nowhere, McMaster and Storm! Click here for part one!

We often use flat bags that have funky old newsprint or floral print to make for an interesting gift. Here we are wrapping a box of Roger Gallet soaps and leather zip wallet. Below is a photo of the wrapped gift of soaps. Stick tissue in top, tie a square knot around the bag, use boxwood garland to shape a curly “A” and voila, a cute gift ready to go, personalized for the recipient!

Below is the finished wrapping of the zip wallet. Wrap tissue around wallet, fold down end at top and stable with our European stapler. Tie ribbon around and this time make a bow, then add the “loving” words into ribbon with a corsage pin that is poked through into ribbon knot. Use a small hole punch to make a hole in a torn row of tickets and stamp a letter of the recipients name. You’ll be ready for the holiday party in no time!

Oh, and stable ribbon to bag at very edge. Details, details!

Our stapler has a cute coppery gold staple, it’s petite, the stapler has a never jam mechanism and we use for creative projects and wrapping! It is a “staple” in our store! Contact us here for ordering details! We use French General scissors, the best!

Stay tuned for the Gift Wrapping Tutorial, Part Three (click here for part three) and Four, and then the Giveaway Post!

Welcome to day one of

Creative Inspiration Week!

I know it is a half a day early, but we are being threatened by a significant windstorm, the winds have begun to howl, and I would hate to lose power before I posted this. YIKES! So, I’m starting the party early! I hope some of you will join me, and the rest of you can join in on Monday! I’ve got my jammies on and am ready to soak in the inspiration!

My co-hosts for this week, Kara and Darcy, have been toiling away at their shop, preparing the premier day for this event, a wonderful McMaster & Storm Gift Wrapping Tutorial! From wrapping the gifts, to taking photos and describing each detail, they’ve gone beyond the call of duty to inspire us in new creative ways to present a memorable gift. I want to thank them for all of the time, effort & love they put into this for us. I’ve always fancied the idea of being a gift-wrapper extraordinaire, and maybe with a few lessons I can finally realize my dream!

Before we get a little background on McMaster & Storm and see the tutorials, I also want to remind you that these creative bursts of inspiration will be coming your way all week right here at The Inspired Room blog. We’ll peek at craft rooms, creative organizing ideas, learn another couple of holiday projects, be inspired by new things and meet other amazing women who are making their creative dreams come true. So, keep checking back. We may end up with multiple posts each day in order to fit it all in! Plus, there will be TWO giveaway posts so be sure to watch for those (they will be labeled as GIVEAWAY posts and all instructions will be provided at that time).

By way of formal introduction, today’s guests Kara Garber and Darcy Deaton run the irresistible store McMaster & Storm in the rural town of Greenville, Ohio, which is “on the way to nowhere and out of the way from everywhere.”

McMaster & Storm was established in April of 2005 occupying space in a historical building. They bring a mix of California meets the Midwest, influenced by the 8 years that Kara lived on the West Coast. Kara owned “Paris Flea Market” in California, and Darcy owned “The Clay Pot”. Back in their home state of Ohio, the two friends found a building in the middle of cornfields and McMaster & Storm was founded. The store name is derived from family names, McMaster is Darcy’s mother Judy’s maiden name and Storm is the last name of my husband’s great grandfather! They wanted that “established department store” ring to it!

Kara and Darcy have mixed and matched their favorite things in an environment they call “a petite department store.” They sell everything from vintage clothing to European staplers and lots of things in between.

I was reading Kara and Darcy’s bio and I had to laugh, Kara and I seem to be cut from the same cloth. Except for she is 5’10. She got a lot more cloth than I did! Here are some fun facts they provided about themselves:

Darcy is organized. Kara has piles but knows where things are in her piles!

Darcy is the funny one. Kara is the “I know I put that somewhere”!

Darcy is creative. Kara is creative. = DRAMA in their space

Darcy is 5’2. Kara is 5’10 1/2.

Darcy has two children McKell & Teague. Kara has a toddler, Luke.

Darcy gets so much done (her husband calls her “Mrs. Now”). She has arrived at Kara’s house and cleaned twice now! Without Kara knowing she was cleaning for her.

Together Darcy & Kara make a great partnership, they have covered a lot of ground, met amazing creative people, they work hard, have too many ideas, like a lot of the same things, serve a wonderful God, have husbands that put up with all of their phone conversations, & still manage to cook — sometimes!

I like these girls.

Without further ado, please welcome McMaster & Storm’s Kara Garber and Darcy Deaton and their Gift Wrapping Tutorial! By the way, if you want to contact Kara regarding any of the products featured in the tutorial, including their famous stapler, email her for details about shipping from the store.

Gift Wrapping Project #1:

A fresh start — an empty box. We have been using just the bottom to make a gift more dimensional, AND this box is from Kara’s former store Paris Flea Market. We have decided to use these and thus recycling what we had! Being green!

Next, fold two pieces of tissue crossways, tuck into box with tissue exposed, add filler

Now, to make each gift a present within a present. This gift had approximately 5-6 gifts within the package, which means the recipient will be able to enjoy the gift longer! Wrap tissue around the gift, place in a cello bag. Stick a sticker on the front of the bag (we used mailing labels from Cavallini), then have your ribbon ready!

Now, grab your ribbon of choice and make a square knot or in this case, a bow. We use quality paper ribbon as it is less expensive.

Twist your ribbon into figure eights, and tie onto the gift.

Stand the bag up and insert another color of tissue, wrapping the tissue underneath into a “poofy flower” shape. Insert into top of cello bag pushing it down so it’s tucked in.

The first petite gift is ready to be put into the box. And yes, we use corsage pins in wrapping! Another fun detail to finish things off!

Finish wrapping other gifts to put inside the recipients box. Add gold seal labels on the cello bags. We wrapped our famous boxwood garlands in cello with no tissue and a gold sticker with the word “dearest” on the front. We also left the crown unwrapped and Darcy handwrote on vintage music paper “Crown Him Crown Him” and tucked into crown. She also tucked in more pink tissue in between the petite packages to add panache. She left the vintage icicle paper unwrapped as it is vintage and came in the original glassine paper.

Now for some techniques you can use:

On the left, pleating the tissue paper to fold into the box so it adds what we call dressmaker detail. On the right, you can see tissue folded in half in order to make it smaller. These little details add a lot of interest.

Gift Wrapping Tutorial Part Two (click here), Three and Four will follow in separate posts!

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: All of the photos and gift wrapping tutorials, part one through four, are copyright of McMaster & Storm. Please contact them for permission to use or copy any of their material. But, you can link to these posts to your heart’s content, no permission needed!