The Best Gift Wrapping Tool Ever (Style Me Pretty Living)

Hello lovelies, Maggie here from Eat Boutique. One of the very first food gifts that I remember making (and wrapping) myself was a jar of lemon marmalade. I was going through a citrus fruit phase, which has basically never ended, and I didn’t know much about preserving. I just boiled lemon slices, lemon juice and sugar until it tasted good to me, jarred it and slapped a piece of masking tape across the jar.

I was hooked and as my food gifts evolved — from jams to drink syrups, spices to infused salts, candy and chocolate to cordials — my gift wrap materials remained classic. The plainest of materials — masking tape, craft paper, parchment and string— became my signature style. But there are moments when even elegant white paper and kitchen string need a little more embellishment, like, perhaps, when decorating something special for the mother-in-law.

In these moments, I turn to my prize pinking shears. Traditionally found in the tool box of a tailor, sewer or embroiderer, these scissors cut a zigzag pattern and polish off the simplest of wraps. If there new to you or just not a tool you’ve considered, here are five reasons to add pinking shears to your gifting repertoire.

1. To wrap a jar: Cut a round of white butcher paper that’s 2-inches wider than the diameter of your jar. With the pinking shears, trim the circle slightly to create a zigzag edge. Tape it perfectly centered on the top of your sealed jar and fold the edges down. Secure with a little twine tied into a knot.

2. To serve cookies: Trim a piece of pretty paper to fit on a plate, under a batch of fresh cookies. With the pinking shears, trim one side (or both) of the paper to create a zigzag edge.

3. To wrap a gift: Before wrapping your gift, trim the edge of your gift wrap paper using pinking shears to create a zigzag edge. Wrap as you would normally but before you seal the paper, cut an extra strip of paper in a contrasting color to slip between the meeting edges. Trim the edge with pinking shears to create a zigzag edge and slide it into place. Add a piece of tape to keep it all in place.

4. To wrap a loaf: Cut a band of paper to wrap around your loaf. Trim all the edges with the pinking shears to create the zigzag edge. Tape in place and tie off with a piece of ribbon.

5. To decorate a gift bag: Trim the opened edge of the bag with the pinking shears to create a zigzag edge. Fill your bag, fold over the edge and seal with a paper clip.

The Italian pinking shears in this post are available through Studio Carta. The fig jam pictured will be in my forthcoming cookbook, Food Gift Love: 100 Recipes to Make, Wrap and Share to be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in Fall 2015. Also, check out the Behind the Scenes with Studio Carta here!

xo, Maggie of Eat Boutique

Photography: Heidi Murphy | Gift Wrap: Maggie Battista