DT Project – Christmas all wrapped up!

Did you get the hint at the end of my last DT post, when I said I’d try to ‘wrap’ things up with a great last project?!

Last year I made my own wrapping paper for the first time and it went down a storm, and looked fab under the Christmas tree. So now I’ll share the process with you, and you can wow your guests too!

First you just need a cheap roll of brown parcel paper, and a template of Christmas designs – I’ve used the Fiskars Shape Template #2. I cut off a piece of brown paper so that I had a sheet which was easy to work on – my work surface was an A1 sheet of mount board so the brown sheet of paper was a bit smaller than this. I also ironed the paper (on a very low setting) before I started working on it, because my roll had been a bit crushed:

I then prepared the template by putting masking tape over any holes that were near the one I wished to use – so that paint wouldn’t go through the wrong shape. I chose the reindeer shape for the first sheet of paper, and for paint I mixed a bit of red poster paint and some acrylic paint together, you can use just one or the other but I find this mix gives a good consistency. With the reindeer shape it’s best to start painting along the bottom of your piece of paper, and work your way up:

Make sure you put the paint on using a large bristly brush, and using a stippling, dabbing motion rather than brushing, filling up all of the shape:

For the angel paper I used a mix of white poster paint and a little bit of ‘Naples yellow’ acrylic paint, to give a creamy colour. With the angel shape it’s best to start at the top of your piece of paper and work your way down

Make sure you clean off the template as soon as you have finished a sheet of paper, otherwise the paint will stain the template. If you were using neat acrylic paint you might have to wash the template halfway through as it dries really quickly and you might not be able to wash it off the template if you weren’t working really fast.

I left the paint to dry on the paper for a few hours, and then added some more details. I added gold and white glitter to the reindeer paper, using a glue pen to draw star shapes:

And on the angel paper I added the word ‘Joy’ from a papermania clear stamp set, surrounded by the bracket shape from the Fiskars Scrapbook Clear Stamp Set. Both were stamped with red ink:

I also decorated a piece of red tissue paper. I used the Fiskars Self Inking Stamp Press with the Fiskars Black Ink Pad to stamp Christmas trees (from the Fiskars Christmas Clear Stamp set) all over the paper. This took a long time to dry, you need to leave it for a few days and/or use a heat gun to dry the ink:

Then all you need to do is wrap your gifts! Use ribbon, twine, or raffia, and try not to use Cellotape. If you manage not to use Cellotape then your paper can be used again, just fold it up after the pressies have been unwrapped, and then next year, when you want to use it again, all you have to do it iron it on the reverse, on a low setting, and your paper can be used again! Of course, last year, all my gift recipients wanted to keep their paper as well as their presents, so I have to make a new batch again anyway!

Well, I can’t believe that was my last project. I’ve had a great time being part of the Design Team here, if anyone is tentative about applying then just go for it! I’m sure I’ll still be spending lots of time on here, joining in with challenges, getting inspiration, and checking out the next DT’s projects!

Merry Christmas to all!

Jennifer xxx