You've seen it all before - now it's time to take your holiday gift wrapping to a new level.

A. The gift of food - Birch Bark Wrapping

Steps:
1. Start with a plain wood box from the dollar store
2. Peel off the top layer from some fallen birch bark
3. Glue the thin veneer to the outside of the box
4. Make a handle from twigs
5. Glue to the lid

SUPPLIES:
o Wood box
o Birch bark to peel
o Glue gun
o Finished box filled with cookies
o Jar lined with birch and filled with treats
o Tray covered in birch and lined with velvet

* Here's a great way to bring the outside in for the holidays
* We've used a plain wooden box from the dollar store for this project
* Try to use the bark from fallen branches or trees
* The cool thing about birch is that the bark splits into layers like this
* Now you can take this veneer and glue gun it to the outside of the box
* You don't need a whole piece that's the size of the lid - because it's natural, it overlaps beautifully and you won't be able to tell.
* When it's set, you can take a sharp utility knife and go around the edge of the plate to remove the excess or you can leave it if you like the look.
* You can add a handle using a small branch if you like.
* Now you can fill them up with all those treats you've been working so hard on!
* Here we also have a vase that we've lined with a piece of birch veneer and we've also done a tray, which we lined with a little velvet.

B. A Little Stocking For You

Steps:
1. Choose some work socks with a traditional pattern
2. Wrap baked goods in cellophane or parchment paper
3. Fill work socks with cookies - or make a Christmas cracker style slip on
4. Grommet the top
5. Tie on a bow and nametag

SUPPLIES:
o Work socks
o grommets
o Scissors
o Parchment paper wrapped cookies
o Cello bag of cookies
o Red or white ribbon
o Nametags - metal ring on white paper

Talking points:
* The icon of the holidays - the stocking.
* Here's a really cute way to give some homemade treats.
* I've taken a NEW work sock and folded over the top of the sock to shorten it a bit. Then I added a grommet to the corner.
* Then I filled a cellophane bag with some of the cookies we've been baking here on the show - you can find all the recipes on the website if you missed them.
* Now just slide it into the sock and add a nametag and you're done
* We've also just cut off a little cuff from the top of the sock and slid in our twisted breadsticks from this week's HalfMadeHomeMade. Just make a little cracker with some parchment paper and slide it right through.

C. When Is A Gift Card Not A Gift Card?

Steps:
1. Find an orange that's bigger than a gift card
2. Slice into the bottom the width of the card
3. Wrap the gift card in Saran Wrap
4. Wrap a ribbon around the giftcard
5. Slide it into the orange
6. Wrap the orange with a wide ribbon to conceal the slit
7. Prepoke pattern with bamboo skewer
8. Insert cloves

SUPPLIES:
o Finished orange
o Orange with slit
o Orange to add cloves
o skewer
o cloves
o Gift card wrapped in Saran with ribbon attached
o Wide ribbon

* Whatever your opinion is about giftcards, they're here to stay. So you may as well make them a big surprise when you give one.
* Get yourself a huge orange - you can be that crazy person who's holding up a card in front of an orange in the produce section.
* Cut a nice big slit in the bottom of the orange
* Take your gift card and wrap it in plastic wrap to protect it. Then you take a thin ribbon and wrap it around the card. You're going to use this to pull the card out of the orange.
* Now, take the card and slide it up into the orange.
* Then you're going to wrap the orange with some wider ribbon. It helps to hide the slit in the bottom.
* You could stop there if you want - but why would you? Go ahead and push some whole cloves into the orange. You can make any pattern you like.
* This is what it looks like when you're done {Steven shows the final orange}. A very clever way to hide a gift card.

D. No More Mister Wine Bag

Steps:
1. Take a small basket/planter
2. Place in your wine bottle
3. Fill in with some greenery and branches
4. Add a string of battery powered lights

SUPPLIES:
o basket
o bottle of wine
o greens / branches
o pears
o string of lights
o Final wrapped in cellophane

* Here's a great way to give a bottle of wine over the holidays and it doesn't take much time at all
* Instead of going down the gift bag aisle at the dollar store, head over to the seasonal section and grab a little basket like this
* I've also found this great little string of battery operated twinkle lights.
* Take your basket and put in the bottle of wine
* Add in some of your holiday greens (or you can prune your cedars out front) and branches
* You can even add in some fruit if you like
* Now you're going to stuff in your twinkle lights and as you're going up the walk to the party, you're going to turn them on.
* Now yours will be the only glowing gift at the end of the hall.

So there you have it - a few fun ways to switch up your holiday wrapping. It's just that easy!