Fabric gift-wrapping

For my friend Emily’s wedding shower last weekend, I ditched the wrapping paper and instead covered her gift (a cookbook) in fabric! It turned out quite pretty and is a great, economical idea if you have extra fabric scraps hanging around the house.

Ready to get crafty? Here are the step-by-step directions:

1) Find some lovely fabric wide enough to cover your gift from end-to-end (just the way you would for wrapping paper.

2) Fold just the way mom would wrap a Christmas gift (but not the haphazard way dad does. Sorry, dad.)

3) Tape down the edges just to hold everything together.

4) Then, tie the gift using yarn, twine, ribbon or anything you wish (I used sisal twine)…and remove the tape.

5) Make into a bow. I also stuck in some imitation flowers and tied in this hand-written congrats tag.

Then, I added this great decorative teaspoon set to the top, to go along with the cooking theme. They come in so many lovely versions.

...and voila! 

The power of introverts

I've posted this on my Facebook page before, but I think it's so valuable. Beginning with a cute anecdote about summer camp, author Susan Cain makes a great case for introverts (and quiet time!), without overlooking the gray areas. I plan to pick up her book some day soon. I think parents, teachers, politicians...everyone could learn something valuable from her ideas. Watch the speech below:

Food: a life-long love affair

I took these pictures of my Nonna making a big batch of gnocchi back in 2008, but looking through them takes me right back to her kitchen in Pennyslvania. I can smell the sauce simmering, feel the dough on my fingertips...

Creating food with your own two hands really does give you magical powers. :)

Emily's wedding shower

Today was my long-time friend Emily’s bridal shower. It was a beautiful afternoon tea party with yummy food, funny games and shared laughs between old and new friends. Plus, we managed to sit outdoors before the rain clouds rolled into town. We’re all so excited for her wedding in July! Congrats, Emily and Jeff!

Here's a peak at some of the photos I snapped (isn't the flowers-in-the-tea-cup idea amazing??):

Red jeans!

So I recently bought a pair of dark red jeans from Express. I have never been drawn to red (and usually avoid wearing it because of my red hair!), but lately deep shades of red have caught my eye. Wearing red is almost an instant confidence booster.

P.s. How pretty does this girl look with her red skinny jeans and neutral top? 

Photo courtesy of navy & orange

I'm back!

The Tori Story is back! I’ve been inspired by Joanna Goddard’s wonderful blog updates to continue my own. Part of this site will be dedicated to newsy stuff and my photography (which can also be found on my Viewbook), but I also wanted a space to be more free-flowing and share thoughts/stories/things I find interesting. Hope you enjoy!

Photo from my mama's garden!