Wrap it Up!

Hamilton, Ohio – As a pre-teen, Carrie O’Neal Brenner spent winter evenings in front of the family Christmas tree rearranging the presents. She would stack them according to color one night, by shape the next or by size the third.

Then do it all again a different way.

“I was always fascinated by the display,” she said. “I did that over and over all the way up until Christmas.”

Brenner - the owner of Scripted Studio at 306 Main Street in Hamilton - brings her passion for making gifts look good to the Fitton Center for Creative arts Wednesday, December 3, for the final Celebrating Self luncheon of the calendar year, Wrap it Up.

She plans to show guests how to make a gift display look inviting, yes, but also how to make an individual package shine. Brenner will demonstrate three levels of wrapping, starting with basics like cutting, folding and taping paper for a standard square or rectangular box.

Next, some tips for odd-shaped items and how to use the wrapping to both disguise and enhance what’s under the paper. And finally, some showy, expert-level tricks for more experienced wrappers.

“I kind of live in Christmas world all year long,” Brenner said. “We have the shop, but I’m a graphic designer and I do a lot of licensing for Christmas items.”

She’s modest. In addition to Scripted Studio, Brenner has had her wrapping paper designs picked up by national retailers like Target. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York commissioned her to make a holiday greeting card based on an 18th-century vase in its collection. You’ve seen her work on the Today Show and Queer Eye, among others.

Brenner studied graphic design at Ohio State University (where she also was the first women to audition to play mascot Brutus Buckeye) and worked in agencies for a few years after graduation before founding Carrie O’Neal Designs in 2001.

About 10 years later, she responded to a design challenge from Minted – the online holiday card retailer - she saw in Martha Stewart Living magazine over Thanksgiving at her in-laws. She won the challenge and has been a regular contributor there ever since.

Brenner’s love of Christmas may be genetic. Grandmother Katherine Mackenson wrote a book called Christmas Forever almost 60 years ago featuring holiday letters from Philadelphia back to her hometown in West Virginia collected from 1947 to 1965. Her mom took Christmas seriously, too. (Look at those presents under the tree so far in advance.)

“Like a lot of families, Christmas was super important in our house,” Brenner said. “My mom would live and die by the family traditions. The same meal at the same time, things like that. My mom is already shopping for Christmas 2026.”

Brenner will have some Hamilton-themed items available for purchase at the luncheon, including two different styles of wrapping paper, as well as hot cocoa tins and throw blankets.

Tickets for Celebrating Self are $26 for Fitton Center members, $32 for non-members, and are available online right here, by phone at 513-83-8873, ext. 110 or in person at the Fitton Center box office.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.

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