Birthday Present Wrapping

I just had a lot of fun wrapping presents for my boyfriend's birthday.  I picked up some fun papers at Paper Place: "heroes and villans," sneakers, and sushi.

I also got some solid red and black wrap from waste not paper.  It's nice, heavy, and smooth, great for gift wrapping.

Since the boxes were fairly large, I couldn't use the decorative paper for the full box.  I ended up cutting it into strips, then experimenting with washi tape and black ribbon.  I used a lot of black, red, and grey tapes, and a hint of the thin green striped tape.

Here is the final result!  

Washi Tape

I've picked up some Japanese "washi tape" when visiting San Francisco and Seattle.  Washi tape is a special kind of masking tape made with a thin, colored papers.  It has a nice adhesive with the right amount of stickiness, so you can lift off and rearrange pieces.  Also, the tapes come in many patterns and colors, and have some translucency.  Here are some cards I made for my boyfriend:

The upper left one is a gift certificate for movie tickets, and the upper right one is for chinese sword wrapping.  Notice I used the tape to create a weave pattern.  The two at the bottom are just me playing with layering.  I really felt like I could "draw" with this stuff.

I just ordered a bunch of washi tape online.  I can't wait to play with it!