Style maven Carolyne Roehm captures readers’ attention form the start in Presentations: A Passion for Gift Wrapping with her confession that she’s held onto paper, tags, ribbons, cards and ornaments gathered on international travels for 30 years, knowing that the right time and occasion will come along for me to use them. This illustrated guide is all about finding that perfect moment, then packaging a gift to capture the anticipation and pleasure in the eyes of the receiver. Roehm, author of At Home with Carolyne Roehm, uses nature’s palette and a somewhat smug knowledge of art history to embellish boxes and bags with fresh flowers, sugared fruit, postcards of famous masterpieces, sumptuous velvet and taffeta ribbons and gold leaves, even making a moss teddy bear to hold a young friend’s birthday gift and using her computer to create a shirting-stripe wrapping paper (brief how-to and sources sections in the back of the book help more hapless crafters). But Roehm isn’t above using rubber stamps, stickers, artificial flowers, freezer paper and other inexpensive materials to turn even the simplest gift into an occasion.
Valiant Women is a vital and engrossing attempt to correct the record and rightfully celebrate the achievements of female veterans of World War II.
