How to Make Home Made Wrapping Paper

For most people the end of November marks the starting point of their Christmas shopping and December is when they finish buying their Christmas presents. These days gifts can be bought already wrapped or you can have them wrapped in the store for a little extra cash. If you're like me, you'll know that big part of the joy of giving comes with carefully wrapping the presents and writing just the right words in the little card attached to them. 

Many stores here in Switzerland, too, have a gift wrapping service and while it may be very convenient to buy your gift ready and wrapped, so to speak, I think that is rather boring. I mean, if you found an amazing gift for your husband or best friend why would you want to waste it with average wrapping? Exactly! Especially, if your gift has vintage character or is home made I would advise you to give it the wrapping it deserves! However, it turns out I can't always find wrapping paper that is to my liking.

I want to thank my fellow blogger Made in Suisse 

for her post about creative wrapping paper. 

It was the starting point of this venture! 

So, I started looking for creative ideas to create wrapping paper with just that personal touch. This is what I did: I rummaged through the memories from my childhood and came up with this fun way to design your own wrapping paper: potato stamps. As kids we used potato stamps to create pictures and decorate our aprons, t-shirts and other gifts for our relatives. It's easy and I'm sure it will look great on wrapping paper as well. Besides, spending some time doing handicrafts is always fun, even (or especially) as grown ups!

You can wrap any kind of gift with this wrapping paper 

- not just Christmas gifts! 

How to make your own wrapping paper

This is the material you'll need:

• single color wrapping paper
• at least one potato of average size
• a pen
• a sharp and pointy kitchen knife
• a paint brush
• paint (can be water color but acrylic is better)
• some yarn or lace 

potato, paint and brush

First, you have to make a stamp from your potato. (Actually, you can make two since you're gonna cut the potato in half.) Dry the section and draw a pattern onto the potato. Make sure not to use pressure because the pen could leave traces that might later affect your stamp!

Once you're done drawing your heart, star, snowflake or Christmas tree you take the knife and gently trace the lines of your drawing. You'll want to cut down at a vertical angle towards the surface of the stamp for best results. Afterwards cut away the pieces that are not part of your pattern. Et voila! The stamp is now ready for use.

snowflake pattern

star pattern

heart pattern

Second, take the wrapping paper and spread it on the table. You can either cut it up in squares or rectangles that fit your gifts or simply use a whole roll of wrapping paper.

Choose a color that matches your wrapping paper and daub the patterned side of the stamp with a bit of paint. Then press it on the wrapping paper and lift it up carefully. Chances are that you won't get the right amount of paint the first time so make sure you have some newspaper nearby where you can test your stamp. As soon as you get the hang of it, stamp freely on your wrapping paper.

Personally, I like random patterns with a mixture of two or three colors on a single colored wrapping paper. More regular patterns might look neat as well and total chaos certainly has it's attraction as well. In the end, whatever you like is what will work for you.

TIP: If you get bored with your stamp,

 you can simply cut off the top layer of the potato 

and make a new one!

Once you're done imprinting the wrapping paper put it aside and let it dry. The paint has to be really dry before you wrap your gifts with it, especially if you're using acrylic colors since they don't wash out easily. I accidentally left marks on my table while wrapping my gifts; thankfully I could just wipe them off.

Once dry, you can use your wrapping paper to wrap the gifts. Use a piece of yarn or lace to tie them up nicely since they go well with classic patterns. Funky colored wool or twine look great with more colorful patterns. Let your creativity decide!

the final result

As you can see, my gifts were wrapped in a wintery blue with stars, hearts and snowflakes! I used simple yarn to tie around them. I'm not gonna tell you what is inside them though!

Happy wrapping paper making to everyone!




© 2011 IRENE WYRSCH "A HUMOROUS GUIDE TO SWITZERLAND" ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, UPDATED AND REPUBLISHED NOVEMBER 2022