Hand-Made Gift Wrap

Sometimes, Necessity is the Mother of Invention.  It is, sometimes in my case, anyway.  Meet Skylar, my beautiful, soon to be a teenager, granddaughter:
Skylar is a harpist, writer, artist and a 7th grader.  Her birthday is on Christmas Day.  This year, as I finished up my shopping, I forgot to buy wrap for her birthday.  I refuse to let Christmas seep into birthday for her, so I decided, since it is snowing out and the nearest store is over 20 miles from me, to make my own.

If you are a crafter of any kind, you probably have all kinds of "stuff".  Well, maybe you don't, but I sure do.  I have alot of stamps!

I have collected these over a number of years at craft store sales, garage sales and even Goodwill.  Some were handed down to me.  But most are holiday stamps.  I sorted through all of them and picked out some "non-holiday" stamps.  The brown kraft paper roll, I picked up at a yard sale for $2 for a case.  I use it for packing and I thought it would make the perfect country gift wrap.  I unrolled a length of the size that I thought I would need and began stamping.

I used two stamps, a small heart, and a small gift box.  After stamping, I used markers to color in the bows on the package.  Be sure you stamp in a random order like commercial wrap because once it is on your package, it will be in all different directions.    I also wrote "Happy"  and "13" in a few spaces.  You could write names, dates, etc on your paper. 

Then, and (what girl doesn't like a little sparkle?), I used some paint dots, (just use the end of a paintbrush) and add some glitter.

And this is the final look!

Here are a couple of tips if you want to make your own gift wrap:
     1.  You can use any kind of paper.  You can use tissue paper (just be careful of bleed-through), newsprint paper, paper bags, or paper that I used which can be found in a home-improvement store in the paint department.
     2.  Work on a covered surface since paint and some markers will bleed through your paper. 
     3.  If you choose to use glitter, don't worry about it if some sticks to your design in areas that were not painted.  And don't forget to save the excess glitter.  I simply pour into a shoebox lid and then back into the container.
     4.  If , like in Skylar's gift, the gift is wider than the paper, put the seam down the center and cover it with a ribbon.  I had this ribbon that I picked up in a discount bin and the bow matches perfectly.  Another little hint:  Most ribbons will curl, even if just a little.  Just use the blade of your scissors.

Have a great day, my bloggie friends.  See ya later!