How to Make your own Wrapping Paper
You don’t have to buy store-bought wrapping paper to wrap your gifts this season. Below are five ideas for creating awesome wrapping paper for your loved-ones’ gifts, which will cost you very little to nothing at all!1. Potato-stamped newsprint.Things needed: newsprint, a potato, colored ink or food-coloring.For this kind of home-made wrapping paper, you can use either newspaper, newsprint (which you can buy in huge rolls for very little money) or any blank paper you may have lying around.Cutting a potato in half, carefully carve stamps into the exposed sides of the potato using a small kitchen knife. Make the image you want stick out from the rest of the potato’s surface, i.e., raised above level like a stamp. Then dip the stamp in colored ink or food-coloring, and stamp it all over the blank paper or newspaper.You could make stamps of anything from Christmas trees to puppy dogs, and completely cover the paper or stamp it in decorative patterns.2. Pages from magazines or picture books.Things needed: old magazines or picture books.Your local bookstore or thrift store will probably have old magazines and picture books available for next to nothing, if not free.For your small gifts, cut out pages with beautiful images on them and use them as wrapping paper.Personalize gifts by wrapping them in images that would appeal to the loved-one you are giving the gift to.3. Pretty scrap fabric.Things needed: scrap fabric, needle and thread.Why not use beautiful left-over fabric from other craft projects, or even attractively-patterned sheets you may find at the thrift store for very affordable prices.Use a needle and thread to sew your fabric wrapping closed to give it a beautiful, home-made appearance.
4. Wrap gifts in other gifts.Things needed: Books, clothes, handbags, shoes, etc.You can use one gift to hide another. Your loved-one could open up their new item of clothing to find a piece of beautiful jewelry wrapped inside. You could put a gift-card inside the pages of a great new book.One fun idea is to “psych out” your loved-one with a gift that looks less-than-desirable, with a wonderful gift hidden inside. Carve out the pages of a silly-looking romance novel and put an iPod inside.
5. Vintage bottles and Tins.Search your house, local yard sales and thrift stores for beautiful old tins, bottles and jars. You can use these to contain your gifts in an attractive and unusual way. The vintage containers themselves might be great keepsakes in themselves.
Happy holidays! I hope that you have a fantastic holiday season while still keeping some money for the new year!
