Target $1 Section Gift Wrap Swag

The Target $1 section is kind of a wonderful place. I've found many cute things in there and I love the scented lip balms they have for every holiday. I spotted these pink felt placemats sitting there and had an idea. I could use them, get my HELLO SANDWICH on, and make a cute wrapping that was both cheap and re-usable. For once, I could give someone a present that actually looked like EFFORT was put into it, instead of my usual "bags & tissue paper are amazing" stance.

This was a belated birthday gift for my aunt. As you can see, I've got a pretty bag, a card, a loofa sponge thing that looks like a flower, The Band Perry CD, and two pink felt cutout placemats. Behind the placemats are some wrapped up decorations from my Grandma's house that I gave back to my aunt. ALL of this, except for my Grandma's decorations, the CD, and the card, came from the $1 section. The card probably cost more than the bag, flower, and placemats put together!

Not pictured are silver holographic ribbon and tissue paper.

So how'd I do it? Easy! I took the two placemats, placed them end to end and used the ribbon to weave in and out of the cutouts. I then tied the ribbon together and since it still seperated a lot, I tied more ribbon horizontally across the woven parts.
I SHOULD'VE taken pictures while I was doing it, but as usual, I was running late and did this at the last minute before getting ready. I did a quick diagram in Photoshop. Obviously when I did this, I pulled on the ribbon to make it as tight as possible.

Then I placed the CD on the bottom, put the wrapped decorations on top, pulled the placemats up and used the loop of the loofa flower to hold it together.
The loofa flower reminded me a lot to the fancy package decorations you can get in the gift wrap aisle. Except those are usually several dollars. This was $1 and if my aunt wants, she can reuse it.

I put the entire thing in the bag and called it a day. My aunt loved it! She's already hung her decorations up and she says The Band Perry CD is really good. I might have to check it out. They're no Slaughterhouse, but then again, who is? <3
I had fun putting this together and I might do creative things like this more often.