You’ve spent hours painstakingly choosing the perfect gifts for everyone on your list, and now it’s time to wrap them up. You could reach for the mega-roll of tissue-thin wrapping paper you’ve been working your way through since 2017, or you could try an upgrade that’ll make the packaging as special as what’s inside.

Artist and shop-owner Lana Effron with her Holiday Wreath gift wrap. Photo courtesy of Lana’s Shop

After packing up her paintbrushes and moving to Denver, artist and native New Yorker Lana Effron began making the latter—along with greeting cards, wallpapers, art prints, gifts, and more—which she sells from her online boutique, Lana’s Shop. Each pattern begins when inspiration strikes (sometimes out in nature; other times, in response to customer requests), sending Effron running to her studio, where she hand-paints an original artwork. The image is then scanned and printed locally on ultra-thick paper that’s recyclable and easy for even novice wrappers to use (no more torn corners!).

The lighthearted patterns, brought to life in a palette of nature-inspired hues, fill the “bringing-smiles niche” of the wrapping-paper market, Effron says—especially when it comes to her holiday-themed wraps. Take the Peppermint Puppies pattern, for example, which Effron created for her 90-year-old great aunt who loved dogs but couldn’t handle a real puppy in her apartment: “I painted her puppies in silly sweaters, and she was equally as excited,” Effron says. Now, that pattern is a customer favorite.

This year, Effron created the new Santa Cat & Mouse pattern for her cat-loving customers. Photo courtesy of Lana’s Shop
The Peppermint Puppies paper features cute pups decked out in holiday attire. Photo courtesy of Lana’s Shop

For cat-lovers, there’s a new Santa Cat & Mouse pattern “that makes me laugh each time I package it up,” Effron says. For kids, there are frolicking dinosaurs and bears on skis. And for those whose ideal holiday includes a hot toddy on the slopes after a morning of cinnamon buns and snuggling in matching pajamas, Effron says, there’s the new Winter Vacation wrap. “It features icons of all the winter activities we love here in Colorado,” she says.

Gift-givers who prefer a more subtle statement can opt for sophisticated wreaths in neutral hues, painterly stripes, mistletoe sprigs and champagne flutes, and the best-selling Peaceful Forest pattern, whose watercolor trees look lovely year-round.

Complementary colors make it easy to mix and match patterns. Shown here: Peaceful Forest atop Forest and Fauna Deer and Bear. Photo courtesy of Lana’s Shop
Effron often embellishes her packages with dried oranges purchased at Trader Joe’s. Photo courtesy of Lana’s Shop
When the patterns are this pretty, all you need are simple embellishments—Effron likes pine cones with thin ribbons, sprigs of fresh greenery, or even an ornament for an extra gift. Photo courtesy of Lana’s Shop

With so many choices, it can be hard to choose just one—which isn’t Effron’s style anyway. “I’m personally a fan of mixing and matching,” she says. “Pick a design that matches your family’s personality—like our Holiday Dinosaur wrap if you have dino-loving kiddos—and pair that with a more basic design like Green Stripes. But in my book, there can never be too many patterns going on.”

Effron’s locally made gift wrap is $5.50 for a single sheet (measuring 19” x 29”) and $14 for a set of three sheets. See the full assortment at lanasshop.com.