Make Your Own Magnificent Wrapping Paper

My favorite activity around Christmas is the gift wrapping. I spend a couple of nights with the dining room piled high with ridiculous amounts of paper, tape, glue, paints, rubber stamps, paper scraps, and all sorts of things that I’ve collected over the year. And then I go into a sort of improvisational crafting frenzy and have the greatest time making it up as I go along, uniquely wrapping each gift. I can’t say the results are always spectacular, but I have the best time and my recipients can at least tell that their presents are custom-wrapped with great fun and affection.

My main wrapping approach is to get a roll of matte white (or brown) paper at the craft store and work that up with rubber stamps, washi tape, images I print out and collage, and then I use handmade tags from blank tags (also from the craft store) that I rubber stamp, paint, and collage. Another tip is that, for small items, you can easily make any wrapping you want using art you find online. And if you have small children, use their prodigious output of art as wrapping paper. My son is grown, but I still have rolls of his art from kindergarten that I’ve used on appropriate gifts (e.g. presents to new wee ones in the family). Here are some of the wrapping paper projects that we’ve featured on the site over the years.

DIY Stamped Wrapping Paper

My favorite type of wrapping paper is made with rubber stamps. You can use commercial stamps, make your own from eraser carvings, potato stamps, you name it. Once you start looking, all sorts of things can become stamps.

Holiday Font Wrapping Paper Printables

Text-based wrapping paper, or accents made from a text-printed paper, can really make for a compelling presentation, especially if you’re gifting to a bookish recipient.

Printable Cross-Stitch Wrapping Paper

Check out the B&W 8-bit look of these printable cross-stitch patterns.

How-To: Shakeable Confetti Wrapping Paper

I love this idea for creating interactive wrapping paper with confetti inside that moves around when you shake the box.

How-To: Washi Tape Wrapping Paper

Washi tape, Japanese adhesive paper tape with all sorts of available designs, makes the perfect accents or repeating patterns for DIY wrapping paper. Here are some ideas for how to use it on gift wrap.

How-To: Rolling Pin Paper Printing

You may have not thought of your rolling pin as a pattern printer, but this project shows you how to do just that, and you cover the roller in cling foil, so you can even press your regular baking pin into service.

How-To: Wine Cork Gift Wrapping

Here’s a cool idea for turning saved wine corks into package decorations.