How much do you spend on wrapping paper – in cost? – in time? When did the act of wrapping a gift become so much more, requiring fancy papers and decorative ribbons? A couple of years ago I decided to use up my stash of white lacy ribbons together with lengths of brightly coloured ribbon to lay on top of the lace. And I bought rolls of plain brown parcel paper as the best background to my efforts. This year, inspired by something I’d read, I decided to ‘print’ my own wrapping paper. I originally planned to carve out a print block from half a potato, then realised that my sponge saucepan scourers would be much easier to cut. I already had some tubes of acrylic paint and a couple of rolls of brown parcel paper.
How to print your own gift wrap.
You need:
- Plain parcel paper
- Acrylic paint
- Paintbrush
- Paint palette
- Sponge scourers
- Scissors
- Roller or smooth sided jar
Instructions:
- Cut shape from sponge scourers e.g. star, Christmas tree
- Squeeze paint onto palette
- If paint is thick, thin with a little water so that it is easy to spread on the sponge “print block”
- Coat the print block with paint then press down on the paper
- Carefully lift the block and press down again.
- Instead of pressing with fingers, roll over print block with roller (or jar)
- After about 3 pressings, re-coat the block with more paint
- Repeat until the paper is covered and set aside to dry.
The best colours to use with brown parcel paper is red or green. Yellow is too pale.
![](https://www.coraljane.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG_6455-300x225.jpg)
Great idea! And you can use the same technique to print your own labels as well..
That’s an idea! This year I had cut gift tags from old Xmas cards with pinking sheers.