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Here’s something you don’t hear often, one of my absolute favorite things about the holidays is wrapping presents! I believe if a recipient sees my gift and doesn’t say, “it’s too pretty to unwrap”, I’ve stolen half the magic of opening a present. Perfectly creased edges of unique wrapping paper adorned with coordinating ribbon twisted and fluffed into a crowning bow are of joy and good tidings to me. I love coming up with new ways of stacking related presents in complimentary papers and using unusual items for ribbons and bows. Some of my go-to’s are ric-rac ribbon trim and hot-glued pompoms that create a bow of snowballs.

After we at Happy Mango Beads added so many fun and one of a kind pendants this year, I’ve been itching to play with how some would look on gift-wrapped packages. I paired the sparkle and class of the plated leaf pendants, a large pewter skeleton key and Tibetan amulet with simple papers and ribbon to really make them pop. To adorn a more masculine wrapping style I paired a rustic iron 'letter' pendant with natural colors and raffia. For the more colorful and festive papers I used ric-rac ribbon and assorted resin beads as focal points and painted a rustic iron snowflake pendant in matching colors to add sparkle. Most were tied on with the ribbon but some had to be sewn onto the ribbon to create the perfect hang and sway. Let’s be honest, we all have extra beads, why not use them!

-Courtney