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:
- Paint
- Ribbon and string
- Pencils
- Brown paper
- Masking tape
- Metallic pens
- Last year’s cards
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Glue for glue gun (not pictured)
- Make up sponges
- Craft foam
- Paper and card
- Glitter!
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!