It’s so frustrating when you come to wrap a gift only to find you don’t have anything suitable. I have blue baby paper. In fact I’ve had that blue baby paper for quite some time, but it’s not what I need. So several years ago I decided that the only way to make sure I have the wrapping paper I want is to make my own.
I trotted down to my local U-Haul depot (a moving company here in Canada), and bought a box of wrapping paper. The box I chose had about 100 sheets of clean white newsprint approximately 24″ x 30″ and I paid just under $9 Canadian, So now using some stamps, ink and a little time I get the perfect gift wrap for 9 cents a sheet. Bargain!
WRAP IN COLOUR
In the past I’ve made my gift wrap using solid stamps, each one stamped in a single colour. For this sheet I decided to invest a little more time and do some two-step stamping.
From the Hand-Penned Petals Stamp Set I chose the large image with two flowers. Then using Mossy Meadow ink I stamped the outline image randomly over the large sheet of paper.
Next I switched to the two small solid leaf stamps stamping into the leaves and base of the larger flower using Olive Olive ink.
Then on the large flower head I stamped the solid image in Calypso Coral. Finally for the smaller flower I stamped that solid image using Blushing Bride ink.
Once I’d finished I went back carefully over the sheet and filled any sections I’d missed.
And that was it. I do admit that stamping your own gift wrap can take a little time, but it’s certainly not difficult. With the Hand-Penned Petals Stamp Set the solid stamps are designed to not line up exactly with the outline image. This makes the job much less stressful. What’s more I can make wrapping paper and gift tags that match. Have you tried making your own wrapping paper?
For even simpler examples of hand-stamped gift wrap see my earlier blog posts:
PRODUCT LIST
PAPER – As I explain in my introduction I bought the plain paper at my local U-Haul depot here in Nova Scotia. If you don’t have a U-Haul close by, you may be able to order the paper online and have it delivered to you. If this is not an option, or if you live outside Canada, do an online search for moving companies in your area, and/or search for “clean white newsprint”.
BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Hand-Penned Petals Stamp Set and coordinating Penned Flowers Dies (not used today) using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included links for both options below in case you want to explore these further.
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