Cooking & Crafting 2013 – WRAPAGAMI

Who's going shopping this weekend? We are, too. If you don't have a good hiding spot for your gifts, why not wrap them right away? Better yet, wrap them creatively without paper or tape! In WRAPAGAMI, Jennifer Playford shows you how to wrap boxes, bottles and even odd-shaped items like dishes and cookie tins (Anne's excited about that one). It's eco-friendly and depending on the fabric you use, can serve as two gifts in one (ex: a scarf wrapped around a jewelry box).

Today, Anne's going to demonstrate a wrap that most of us should find very useful: the Single Book Wrap. She didn't have extra fabric lying around the house but found that a dish towel worked perfectly well for this example (Gift idea: kitchen gadgets wrapped in a dish towel! See how easy that two-in-one idea is?).

Read on for the step-by-step instructions and don't forget that you can enter for a chance to win WRAPAGAMI and other crafting and cookbooks!

WHAT YOU NEED:
One square wrap. A 28 inch x 28 inch (71 x 71 cm) wrap works well for a 8" x 5" x 1" size book. If your books is wider than 5" get a larger size piece of fabric to ensure you can tie a knot. Ideally you want the fabric to wrap two to four times around the book.

Step 1: Lay the wrap flat on a diagonal and place the book closest toward the bottom corner "C."

Step 2: Take corner "C" over the book and tuck it underneath the book. Roll the book away from you toward corner "A."

Step 3: Fold corner "A" under the wrap so it doesn't go past the book. Turn the wrap over so the corner "A" side is on top.

Step 4: Bring the "B" and "D" corners up and tie a square knot in the center of the book.

How easy was that?! If you wish, you can tuck a bookmark or a card into the knot, or clip a book light to the package.

Happy wrapping and don't forget that from now through December 15 you can enter to win WRAPAGAMI and other crafting and cookbooks!

UPDATE 12/16: Congratulations to our winners, Sarah Bourg of Hamilton North Public Library in Cicero, IN and Pam Aghababian of Ashland Public Library in Ashland, MA!

To enter the giveaway, email Library@MacmillanUSA.com from your professional/library-issued e-mail address (subject: Cooking & Crafts) with your library's mailing address to be placed in the random drawing. This sweepstakes is open to librarians in the United States. Entrants must be age 18 or older. No purchase necessary. Entries must be received by Sunday, December 15th, 2013 to be eligible. The winner grants Macmillan Library the right to announce his/her name on Twitter, MacmillanLibrary.com, and any other platform we want to congratulate him/her on. We will select the potential prize winner at random from among all eligible entries received. If a potential prize winner cannot be reached after three (3) business days, we will select an alternate winner, so check your email. Good luck!