How To Make Your Own Christmas Wrapping Paper...& Tags Too!

Every year I plan a home made Christmas and every year I completely fail to put these plans into action, so I thought I would start with some simple steps for the Christmas wrapping and outer décor. So without further ado...

You will need:

1. Paint
2. Ribbon and string
3. Pencils
4. Brown paper
5. Masking tape
6. Metallic pens
7. Last year’s cards
8. Scissors
9. Glue stick
10. Glue for glue gun (not pictured)
11. Make up sponges
12. Craft foam
13. Paper and card
14. Glitter!

And 15 is the most important...

 

Mince Pies!

Making a stamp

• Place a make up sponge (any sponge will do, so you can use what you have)
• Draw around the sponge leaving a small boarder
• Cut out card, this is going to provide support for the stamp and less paint will end up getting on you
• Glue the sponge to the card; I used a hot glue gun for speed, but if you have more time PVA would work just as well
• Ta dah! stamp 1 is made...wasn’t that easy?
• Draw the stamp shape on the reverse to help remind you which is which

• Get another sponge.
• Upping the skill slightly, draw a simple tree shape on said sponge.
• Cut out a tree shape
• (repeat steps 3&4 from first stamp) Doodle a tree on the back, making sure it’s the same way up at as the stamp…and that’s stamp 2 finished!

• For this one I tried out a different base for my stamp; this is craft foam that can be picked up from any craft shop and is normally used for childrens masks.
• Draw out any design
• I went for a gingerbread man, than follow steps 3-6 from first stamp.

Let's get stamping

• Get yourself a pallet; I used a piece of card, but plate would also work. Choose and lay out paint colour.
• Cut off a piece of paper, roughly 50-75 cm - this would wrap most sizes of gift.
• Secure corners of paper to the table with masking tape, to stop it moving around.
• Make sure paper is flat and there is nothing underneath it.
• Cover stamp in selected colour.
• Start stamping, I chose to go evenly spaced but you could go more random. I found holding the edge of the stamp with one hand and pushing down and with the pressing down in the middle gave the best even coverage.

I was able to hang a temporary piece of string up from two picture nails to hang the finished sheet up to dry. They don’t take long so laying them on a child free floor would also be fine.

Repeat steps 2-6 with the different stamp until you have the desired amount of wrapping paper sheets.

Now you could stop there and you would have 3 lovely designs, but I decided to add a little extra customisation and final touches to my wrapping paper.

To turn snow balls into this snowman simply draw on eyes and a mouth with a black pen and for the carrot nose use an orange pen or, as I used, a metallic copper pen…fancy!

For a decorated Christmas tree I started off by drawing the all important gold star at the top, then with a glue stick I drew two diagonal lines across the body of the tree and added the all important glitter.

And last but not least and simplest, but in my opinion the cutest - the gingerbread man! Just simply draw on eyes, a mouth, and three buttons.

That’s the homemade wrapping paper done, now just for the hard bit…wrapping the presents.

For a final touch and a way of using up previous years' Christmas cards, which just seem to pile up over the years in a forgotten part of the cupboard under the stairs, here’s how to make gift tags.

• Choose your favourite card design
• Cut into a tag shape
• Placing a rubber or blu-tac under the tag and pierce a hole - I used a compass
• Then make it bigger with a pen or pencil
• Cut a length of string or ribbon
• Tie the string through the hole and your gift tag is complete

Now just to sit back and enjoy those mince pies with a cheeky glass of mulled wine…mmm mmm!