UK Scrappers Christmas Blog Hop - Scrappy Gift Wrapping

Hi!

Hello if you're a new visitor to Quirky Kits blog coming over from UK Scrappers. This is the Quirky Kits blog where lots of ideas are shared using Quirky Kits and some general crafting ideas too.

It's Leo here today bringing you a fun Christmas idea to try out. I wanted to do a gift wrapping idea and I also set myself the challenge of sticking to just using left overs.
I started out with little scraps of patterned paper, scraps of ribbon and some recycled brown paper that was filling in a package. This is all very eco! You could use any of these ideas individually too in your crafting.

Gift wrapping paper

I've started out with a piece of brown paper that was in some packaging. You could use any other type of paper you like. Lining wallpaper makes a really good base for gift wrapping as well as regular parcel paper or even brown paper bags. If you wanted to make something really special you could use sheets of handmade style paper, (like mulberry paper) you can get from art and craft stores.

Start with your stamp collection and pick out some stamps you want to use to decorate your paper. I'm using some that are like vintage style postage stamps. I think they're by Whimsy Stamps. You could use anything you have that would work for Christmas wrapping. Something simple like a star or a heart or swirls or snowflakes etc. If you don't have any stamps at all a piece of foam cut into a circle would make a great polka dot pattern. To stamp the images I've used a Versamark inkpad as I'll be embossing the images too. To cover the large area quickly I've used my clear block to build up the stamps on then stamped them all together rather than individually. Try to keep your pattern of stamping random or work in a diamond pattern so one stamp at the top then two either side of it on the next row down then the next one underneath etc. That'll help you to keep them at regular intervals if you can't work by eye.

As it's special Christmas paper I've used some glitter embossing powder. I've tipped the powder into the middle of the brown paper and then swirled it around until all the stamped images are covered with the powder. I've then tipped the excess powder on to a loose sheet of paper then used that to tip the powder back in the jar.

Finally I've heat set the powder with a heat gun. Make sure you follow the manufacturers instructions on your stamping heat gun.

Making a scrap paper garland

To make the garland first I collected together lots of off cuts of Christmas papers, I tend to keep all my off cuts but you could also have some left over from making your December albums or Christmas cards. If you don't have any paper scraps this would also look really nice made with crepe paper or tissue paper pieces.
Once I'd collected together the paper pieces I cut them into widths, varying depending on how big each scrap was but non of them I cut larger than 2.5 inches or smaller than 1.5 so in between those two. Then I cut the widths into half inch strips on my paper trimmer so it was nice and quick and easy to do.

To fix the strips into a garland I've used some doublesided tape just pulling out the tape from the roll and pressing each strip onto it with the right side facing up, (so the tape is on the back of the garland) keeping it one continuous length. I've used a very strong sticky tape, (Ranger) so that non of the pieces will come off. If you didn't have double sided tape you could use a long strip of paper with some glue on it to do the same thing.

 Wrapping

 I've wrapped the gift with the decorated brown paper. To give you nice crisp edges and not see any sticky tape use doublesided tape to stick down the edges.

To add the garland to the gift start on the bottom side and peel the backing off the doublesided tape and then press the garland down while wrapping it around your gift. I've used two pieces around the middle and from top to bottom but you could just wrap it one way around if you preferred to use less.

Give the paper strips a little bit of dimension just by bending up the edges.

Next I've used some twine, (Lawn Fawn Mistletoe Lawn Trimmings, this was leftover from my Quirky Christmas kit) to wrap around the gift over the top of the garland.

I've added a gift tag to the twine using a mini peg.

Making a ribbon bow from a scrap of ribbon

To add a last finishing touch to my gift I've used another scrap from my stash, this time a piece of ribbon to make a bow. Usually you need quite a large length of ribbon to make a nice chunky bow when you tie it but this method not only gives you a nice neat bow but you can also get away with just using a small scrap of ribbon. You'll also need a needle and thread.

Fold both ends of the ribbon to the middle.

 Hold the ribbon in place.

Pick the ribbon up at the middle and pinch the two sides together. Use a needle and cotton to sew a few stitches to hold the two pinched sides together in the middle.

Pop up the ends of the bow to shape and you're done.

Add the finished bow to your gift securing it down with a glue dot on the back.

Finished project

Happy Christmas!

x Leo