Present

Today’s prompt for the Xmas Magic challenge was present. Now this is one of those tricky English words that has multiple meanings but given that the list was based on words children gave when asked what they thought of when they thought about Christmas and New Years, I’m going to go with the gift definition.

Normally, I love wrapping gifts. To me, it is a labor of love that matches the effort I put into giving the gift. This year, I didn’t wrap gifts. The months leading up to the holidays were stressful and I lacked the energy. I also was dealing with some insecurities that ultimately proved unfounded. I love giving gifts and I’ve always wanted to enjoy receiving gifts but it’s been a struggle in the past. Over active imagination leading to high expectations resulting in extreme let down. This year was different. The gifts I received were thoughtful and personal. They made me feel seen and special.

While I didn’t wrap gifts this year, I am am thankful for this challenge giving me a second opportunity to express myself through the art of decorating presents.

For this prompt I decided to work with washi tape, PET stickers, and regular stickers. I took a nice heavy piece of paper and sketched out a pile of presents. I cut out bows from some different PET tapes that I have to create stickers. I decided which of the presents those sticker would go on and decorated the boxes accordingly. To decorate the boxes I used a variety of washi tape. Creating each present in the pile brought joy but also reminded me of the time and effort it takes to wrap actual gifts. I probably spent as much time on these 2D gifts as I do wrapping real ones.

I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor.