DIY: Make Your Own Holiday Wrapping Paper

by Nicole Mendez on December 13th, 2018 | No Comments »

Happy holidays fellow crafters! I've always wanted to try making my own holiday wrapping paper so this year I decided to give it a whirl. The project was fairly simple and although my 18-month-old was a little too young to help, I think an older child would have a blast stamping out their own designs.

Holiday Wrapping Paper

How to Personalize Your Wrapping Paper

I decided to try a twist on the traditional potato stamp, by using a variety of fun shaped fruits and veggies to stamp out patterns on plain white paper. This was definitely experimental for me! I bought a large assortment of potential stamps and basically just had fun seeing what shapes they ended up making. My favorites to use were pears, apples, sweet peppers, and acorn squash. Here are some other supplies to consider when starting this project.

Start by using a large sharp knife to cut the fruit and vegetables in half. They don't necessarily have to be cut exactly in half. Just cut them so you have a decent size stamp to work with.

I found it easiest to apply the paint to the stamp with a brush rather than trying to dip it. This way you get a nice even, thick coat of paint. The type of paint you use is up to you. You basically want any type of quick drying paint. In this case I used non-toxic acrylic paint. If I had been doing this with my daughter, I'm sure I would have used washable crayola paints.

Once your stamp is loaded with paint, use it to make fun patterns on the paper. I found it best to re-paint the stamp surface after every 2 to 3 stamps in order to keep the color looking even.

If you decide to use different colors on the same stamp, I recommend letting the first color dry on the stamp completely and then applying a new color over the top. On my first stamp I tried washing the paint off before applying a new color and it didn't turn out to be a good idea. The water caused the original color to keep bleeding through even once the second color was applied.

It took me about two days (in between cooking, cleaning, and taking care of our energetic toddler) but I ended up making four rolls of custom wrapping paper for our family!

And the great part for me is that because I wanted to show you how my custom paper looks wrapped around a few gifts, I ended up finishing most of my wrapping already. And way ahead of schedule!

Thanks for letting me share with you today. Have a wonderful holiday season!

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Nicole Mendez is a homemaker and designer, and the author of Mendez Manor, where she blogs about family, food, and fun with decorating. She enjoys interior design, cooking, and being crafty, but she especially loves coming up with fun activities to do with her family. She has a lot of fun sharing her adventures as a stay-at-home mom and appreciates reading comments from readers who have found inspiration from visiting her site. You can also connect wither her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.