New Website is open......Giveaway Winners are.....

Introducing A Gift Wrapped Life website.........at last!

Pretty Boxed Gifts to ship to wonderful and special women anywhere........

I think you will love the new Wrap Room ~ a unique gift wrap concept and a

gorgeous gift.

Watch for more styles as we move along...... Wait until you see the Versailles collection! I'm working on it now.

Gorgeous gifts to add to your Wrap Room collection........

Petite treasures........

......larger ones too.

More pretty boxed gifts......... and still more to come.

The most patient Thank You Giveaway winners are:

Beach Cottage Studio

Nicole - Kirei Nest

Simply Mel - Reverie

Go to The Gift Wrapped Life website ladies and pick your favorite

Wrap Room - gift wrap ensemble and email me

at [email protected] your choice and address.

Please, please pick your favorite (don't worry about the price- now who says that?).

You are going to have so much wrapping fun!

Thank you to everyone who entered and all your

lovely comments and support ~ I truly have the most wonderful

readers and followers.

Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

Looking for Embellishments

Besides the ribbon, besides the gift wrap, and besides the gift products, I absolutely love embellishments as you may have noticed. My little wired paper roses, my voluminous silk flowers, the gorgeous new paper flowers from Fanciful Designs, these little crystal hearts. It has gotten to the point where a gift package isn't complete unless I add something to top off all the ribbon. I know the ribbon is enough and I admit to my overly-embellished state of mind. But I just love the layering and execution of a beautifully wrapped gift and there is no stopping me now. This was a gorgeous custom gift that made it's way to a California customer last week and the customer liked our crystal heart detail. So I added one to every gift in this lovely turquoise and ivory gift ensemble, how could I not?




My embellishment supply has been keeping me fairly content, but I hunting down some new possibilities this weekend. My mind is wide open and I hope I find what I am picturing in my head. In website terms, Christmas is just around the corner so I have to get in the holiday mode now. I will leave Sunday with my hairdresser (who has her own buying to do, but how good is that to have your hairdresser with you on a 3-day trip?) to scout the Toronto Gift Show. Trade shows always have the effect of putting my creativity into overdrive and I'm ready for a bit of that.



I adore the colour and elegance of this silk photo album that went into this custom ensemble. I do prefer to match up the gift wrapping to the box products. I found this luscious turquoise colour to be inspiring so I added lots of the hand-dyed silk that has such a unique, special nature. It is whisper-soft and ties like a dream.
This album proves I am not the only one who loves embellishments!


Parlez-moi d' Amour (Speak to my of Love) is my personal candle of choice and I will be looking to re-stock this beauty at the show. Though I am highly-fragrance sensitive, this France import doesn't seem to bother me as it burns and releases it's soft fragrance in my office for hours on end. I am careful with my candle selections in fragrance and burn quality, I truly believe there is nothing worse than a cheap and overpowering candle scent. Parlez also has a Pillow Mist in the same fragrance and I use it quite liberally on my bed linens, sweet REM dreams and all that.



It has been wonderful to see the response to the Thank You Giveaway and meet all the new followers. I will be working my way to your blogs in the next few weeks to say hello. You still have time to post a comment if you haven't done so as I have delayed the website launch for another week (Note: Do not try to launch a website in the summer, it is definitely a winter job). Nothing like a meltdown (just a small one) to tell you that you are moving and pushing too fast. In the next 6 days I have overnight guests, dinner out, a big party, cooking, packing, 2 hair appointments, some shopping, some banking, proofs to check, meals to leave, a 3-day trade show, and people to catch up with without stressing about a website going live and me not being here. What was I thinking? It's obvious I wasn't thinking, hence the meltdown (just a small one) and I will be back next Wednesday. Have a fabulous weekend. XO


All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

100 Posts and A Thank You Giveaway

A Gift Wrapped Life ~ Wrap Room Ensemble

As I told someone the other day........I love blogging. When I hit Publish Post on my first post in February, I knew it was going to open up a new world. I looked at it as a way to share some information and inspiration (I had hoped) about a subject I have become passionate about........beautiful and special gifting for women. What I failed to know on that first day was that I would be the one receiving the gifts. For the past 99 posts you have given me the gift of immense support, you have read, listened, commented, called and emailed. You have become followers, friends, cheerleaders, customers, and the most incredible support system I have ever seen. I need to thank you for all your wonderful support over the past 99 posts and the most heartwarming comments to me and my family in my last post. It's the perfect time for a Gorgeous Giveaway.

A Gift Wrapped Life ~ Wrap Room Ensemble

A Thank You Giveaway! Three of you are going to receive a gorgeous Wrap Room gift from my new website A Gift Wrapped Life. A special preview just for my blog readers. I tried to time it so the website was live by the time I posted my 100th post, but we are still a week away from it's official launch and I don't want to wait any longer to thank you in the best way I know how.........by wrapping up and sending a box of gorgeous. I was actually guilty of stalling a bit, the reason you haven't seen a post the past 10 days. To enter all you have to do is comment on this Giveaway post. If you are a follower or subscriber tell me, you will get 2 entries (this includes new followers so sign up). Mention This Giveaway on your blog and I will give you 2 extra entries (just let me know). Now let me tell you what's in this box of Wrap Room gorgeous.

The Wrap room section of our new gift website will have 18 different styles of Gift Wrap ensembles, with new styles being added as we go. This one pictured is Paris Bird. They are shipped in the presentation boxes as seen in the top 2 photos. Each Wrap Room box is lined with pleated tissue and holds an array of gift wrap paper, ribbon, tissue paper, enough supplies to wrap 4-6 large gifts or up to 16 smaller gifts and range in price from $39.00 to $79.00. The little takeaway boxes are where we put the generous ribbon lengths that match your gift wrap paper. I've done all the ribbon and paper matching for each of the 18 styles so you can mix and match and always be prepared to stylishly wrap a lovely gift. Depending on the price, some of the ensembles include embellishments (the wired paper flowers, the Paris labels) or they can be added as an extra to the basic ensemble. If you love gift wrapping, this will be your own personal version of gift wrap heaven. I have designed this section so that anyone who can tie a bow (or even a knot) or use a piece of tape can wrap beautifully. Our embellished presentation box is lovely to open and perfect for storing your wrapping supplies. My intention was to give you the same feeling as opening a dozen roses.........something beautiful and special just for you. My hope is that you will enjoy the pleasure of wrapping beautifully and pass along the special feeling that comes with giving a beautifully wrapped gift.



Along with sending the Wrap Room Boxed Ensemble I will be adding in a few of our Small Gifts, some extra petite pleasures to the Giveaway winners. I will do the giveaway the same day the new website goes live and then you can go on the site and pick the Wrap Room style your prefer. That gives you about 7-10 days to do your comment or add yourself to the blog followers (remember to tell me in your comment if you are already a follower or a new one). In the week ahead I will tell you what you can expect on this blog in the upcoming months.............. lots of new ideas to share. In the meantime ~ Thank you again, you have truly made my life gift wrapped in the most beautiful way.


All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life

A Girly Week of Wrapping

There must have been some girly-girl vibe in the air this week. I swear I am not influencing anybody when they call to place an order, but this has been an overwhelming week of orders where the request is "make it pretty" and "she loves pink". Girls love to gift their friends and when they do they don't want just a gift, they want a "gift". I love that about women, they understand that for the gentle gender the presentation is a good part of the gift, the admiring, the wait, the slow unwrapping, the multiple treasures just for her, and the re-wrapping so they can do it all again. The specialness of it all.

This portfolio presentation made it's beribboned way out the door in many variations this week. I love using these portfolio boxes. When they open the lid, all their gift items are sitting there in a layered fashion and the box becomes such practical and lovely storage. I try to vary the gift wrapping on each item so that there is a visual treat of patterns, ribbons, and colours. This engagement ensemble included some special glamour keepsakes, a collection of the Lady Primrose Bath Decanters, Crystal Tray, and Crystal Powder Puff Dish. The sparkly crystal band on the decanters gives these gorgeous products their keepsake status. One of the new Boxed ensembles on the website set to launch next week. And you are wondering what's taking so long? Me too......but I'm trying to be really sweet to my webmaster who is busy entering all this descriptive data. I am sure he is wishing this girly girl would stop sending more photos.

The same portfolio box but with white flowers. This ensemble included Paris Pink File Folders, Paris notebook, a good fiction read, a Paris bookmark, a luscious scented soap, some yummy Lip Silk, and more ribbon yardage than I care to know. Often my regular customers just tell me to wrap in any style I think best and I try to get feeling for the recipient. If they are more modern, I adjust with less ribbon and more layered ribbon applications.

This Lady Primrose pedestal candle with it's beautiful crystal band is one of my favorite gifts. It's a new petite boxed gift on the upcoming website shown with our Crystal key chain. Probably one of the most special candles and I like that it makes for a glamorous pencil holder when the candle is finished. I know because that's what I've been using it for and it looks fabulous. The crystal key chain is another affordable favorite around here and it will also be in our Small Gift section. It makes finding your purse keys easy and at $10.00 a little sparkly glitz is always a good thing. I send it with a length of gorgeous satin ribbon tied around it loop.

Our Bonjour in Celadon and Pink Paris Rubber Stamp Kit also had a popular week. In between doing orders I'm working with both sets to show a solid pastel-colored gift wrap done with these stamps. One of our new gift wrap ensembles that has plenty of creative possibilities. I always send a handful of matching solid card stock along with the stamp sets so they have something to fancy stamp right away. They make for lovely gift tags.

All photos by Sande Chase ~ A Gift Wrapped Life