Gift Wrapping with Old Photo Negatives

Do you have a box of old photo negatives from the days before digital cameras?

Strips of negatives from family Christmases, summers holidays and other special memories make quirky and nostalgic gift toppers.

For these pictures I used a gift that was just the right size for the photo negatives, but of course your negatives probably won't perfectly fit your parcel like this! You can trim them to fit smaller gifts, or add several negatives (with thread either side) to larger parcels.

It's really easy to attach the negatives to your gifts. Cut two long pieces of embroidery thread or yarn (one for each side of the negative strip) then use a large sewing needle to thread them through the holes along the edges of the strip.

If you want, you can then add a second thread colour for extra detail. Once your thread is nice and neat, use the excess thread at each end to tie the negatives to your parcel, knotting them securely then trimming any loose threads. You could attach one or two strips, or a whole row for a striped look.

Once the parcel is opened, you can all have fun holding the film up to the light to see the images and explaining to any kids or teens in the vicinity what these strange little dark pictures are and how you all used to take your family snaps with this thing called "film" back in the day.


Don't have any old film negatives, but love the retro photo look? Click here for a how-to on making Polaroid-inspired cards and gift tags featuring your old family photos.

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100 Gift Wrapping Ideas, Part One: From Pompoms to Hydrangeas to Old Photo Negatives!

I recently set myself a challenge, to share 100 crafty gift wrapping ideas over the coming weeks and months. And... I've just completed the first 10 ideas! Hurrah!

I know I'm only a little way through this challenge, but I'm really enjoying it so far and I hope you guys are too.

I've started with a plain, brown paper parcel each time. I love the simplicity of brown paper (it's a great blank canvas!) but you could use any plain gift wrap you fancy.

1. Pompoms.

2. Beads.

3. Lavender & Washi Tape.

4. Buttons.

5. Hydrangeas.

6. Painted Leaves.

7. Feathers. 

8. Woven Threads. 

9. Yarn. 

10. Photo Negatives. 

And now... my challenge continues! You can follow along on my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I'm sharing the gift wrapping ideas under the hashtag #100giftwrappingideas as I slowly work my way up to 100.

You'll also find lots of creative gift wrapping ideas in my archive of free crafty tutorials (scroll down to the bottom of the page, you'll find card and gift wrap ideas below the Christmas tutorials).

P.S. Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Nostalgia, Negatives and a New Project

I'm slooooowly editing lots of photos at the moment: some for blog posts about my Nice Days Out, some for a new Book of Craftiness... and some so I can get them professionally printed and put them in actual photo albums.

I've got half a shelf of photo albums but they pretty much stop at the date I bought my first digital camera (around when I left University... which was a while ago now!).

Digital photography is great. Of course it is. Instant photos? That I can easily edit and share? This is magical stuff!

But I can't help but miss the simpler days of finishing a roll of film, and taking it to the chemist (or popping it in the post in one of those pre-paid envelopes) then waiting for that exciting moment when you get to see how your snaps turned out.

Realistically I'm probably never going to go back to using a film camera (do local chemists even still offer cheap next day photo processing like they used to??).

During a recent bit of decluttering I even cleared out the box of negatives I'd been collecting for years "just in case" I wanted to reprint a photo or two. Guess what, younger self: you never, ever did.

Although I might not be able to go back in time or willing to give up the perks of all this shiny modern photo-taking tech, I can still have albums full of photos!

I've made a few photo books of special events (like my sister's wedding) over the years but I'm determined to gradually get my everyday snaps of family and friends and cats out of the (metaphorically) dusty depths of my laptop and printed and into the pages of an album or two.

I've been planning to do this for simply ages (literally years) but I am resolving to devote the time to making it actually happen this year.

Real photos, stuck on real pages with those lovely little old fashioned photo corners and handwritten captions to help me remember who was who and what was what.

What could be nicer than that?