How to Make Personalized Wrapping Paper

It's almost time for the gift-giving season to begin. If you are like me, you have many gifts that will need wrapping before Christmas Eve arrives. Sometimes we just tire of the store bought wrapping paper. Or maybe they just aren't your style. Maybe you would just like a nice, useful activity to do with your children. That's when it's a great idea to just go ahead and create your very own personalized wrapping paper. You can even get your children involved in making the wrapping paper.....well for the gifts that you wouldn't mind them seeing you wrap. Here are some tips on how to create your very own personalized wrapping paper.

Wrapping paper is almost a necessity when it comes to gift-giving. Everyone enjoys the pretty paper and the care that you can put into wrapping a gift for a loved one. Why not just create your very own personalized wrapping paper? It's very easy and even a little fun. When making wrapping paper you can go as simple or as elaborate as you would like. It's all a matter of your own likes and dislikes, the occassion that the gift is being given for, the person the gift is meant for or just anything at all that you would like.

To make your own personalized wrapping paper you will need to start out with either brown or white craft or butcher paper. I like to use both to give myself an assortment of wrapping paper to work with during the holidays. You can usually find the craft paper at places like Wal-Mart, Office Depot and Hobby Lobby or other stores similar to these. You can even use a brown grocery bag if you run out of the the other papers. You can then start collecting the items for decorating your personalized wrapping paper.

Paints and stamps are a favorite of mine. They are easy to find and my girls love to use them. You can find such a huge array of different stampers that there's just no way to run out of options. If you would prefer to create your own stamps, you can get cheap, new kitchen sponges at your local dollar store and cut shapes out of them to become your stamps such as stars, christmas trees, holly leaves and berries or anything that is associated with the gift-giving occassion. You can even use a potato to create a stamp. I find that the kitchen sponges are cheaper and easier than using a potato though. Then again, some people prefer the potato because it gives you something to hold onto a little better than a sponge allows. As for paints, you are only limited by the colors available at the store you go to. Always make sure to only buy and use NON-TOXIC paints.

For creating personalized wrapping paper with paints and stamps it's very simple. Just spread the amount of paper that you want to use out on a firm surface, like your diningroom table. Always protect your work area before you start painting just in case some paint gets spilled. If you are working with children it is almost inevitable that paint will be spilled at some point or another. Dip your stampers into the paints of your choice and lay the stamper firmly down onto the paper. Lift the stamper up smoothly and quickly and then you will have a cute stamp on your paper. Do this as many or as few times with as many or as few paint colors as you would like. Lay your paper in a safe place to dry. Once it is dry you can wrap your gifts with it.

If you would like a different look to your personalized wrapping paper you could let your children color. Just set out some crayons and/or markers and let your children draw pictures all over the craft paper. This makes an adorable wrapping paper that is definitely unique and personalized. No one else will have wrapping paper that will look like your's and everyone will know which gifts are from you. You could even paint your children's hands and do little handprints all over the paper.

Stickers work great as a way to make personalized wrapping paper. You can find thousands of different stickers at any craft and hobby store. You could even get alphabet stickers and use them to spell out the gift recipient's name on their gift. This makes for a unique decoration on your wrapping paper.

Another unique way to create your personalized wrapping paper is with magazines. Yes, I said magazines. Just go through any and all magazines that you have and cut out pictures that you like and that you think would be appropriate for the gift that you are wrapping. For Christmas gifts you might cut out pictures of Christmas trees, ornaments, snowy landscapes, colorful lights and maybe even Santa and his reindeer. For a baby shower gift you might look for pictures of babies, pacifiers, bottles, diapers, etc. If you are making wrapping paper for other occassions just look for pictures that would be appropriate for those occassions. Once you have found and cut out all of the pictures that you would like to use you will then just use some glue sticks and glue the pictures all over the craft paper in any arrangement that you would like. Once it is all dry then you proceed with wrapping your gift.

Other things that you could use to create personalized wrapping paper would be glitters, ribbons, strings, seqiuns, doilies or even old Christmas cards from the previous years. When creating your own personalized wrapping paper you are only limited by your own imagination. You can create wrapping paper for any and all occassions and for any person in your life. You can create wrapping paper that is something special for all of your gift giving needs or you can create a different personalized wrapping paper for each different person on your gift-giving list. It's all up to you. I hope that you try making your very own wrapping paper this year. It's easy and fun and the kids love helping out.