By Gabrielle. Photos by Amy Christie for Design Mom.
Oh my goodness. Amy Christie texted me a photo of some stamped wrapping paper she was working on and I fell in love! I immediately begged her to share it on Design Mom. It looks so dang cool — that perfect combination of handmade and chic — and it’s made using pretty much the easiest (and kid-friendliest!) technique in the world: stamping.
Even better, the simple “stamps” are made from bits of cardboard! There’s probably some sitting in your recycling bin right this minute.
Here’s what Amy says:
As you can imagine, I love when things look handmade which means I love the look of hand-stamped wrapping paper. It looks a little more rustic and imperfect and it feels like it means just a little more because someone spent time on it. (This is not to say I don’t love store-bought wrapping paper. There is some gorgeous stuff out there!) At least once a Christmas season, I try to make a few versions of hand-stamped wrapping paper. I don’t always use it all each season so I have a small collection of paper I’ve stamped. I’ll be honest — some of it I’m finding it hard to part with. Haha!
This time, when I went to my craft cupboard to make some stamped wrapping paper, I didn’t have the supplies I thought I did so I improvised. And they turned out great! Just proves you don’t need lots of fancy supplies to make cool things.
Stamped wrapping paper is a great project for everyone in your family. It’s a basic process — covering the stamp in paint and pressing it on paper — and there is no stress to make it perfect. Irregular prints and patterns just make the paper more interesting. If children are joining in, think about protecting the work surface with paper, and the ground below (just in case). Then let them stamp. It will be enjoyable for all!
Roll up your sleeves and let’s get started!
Supplies:
– plain wrapping paper (I got mine at Target!)
– cardboard, mat board, craft foam*
– scissors
– hot glue
– paint
– scrap paper or piece of wax paper for excess paint
*I used cardboard because I have a lot of it sitting around (too much online shopping!). Mat board works too as do the sheets of craft foam. The mat board can be manipulated like the cardboard below. The craft foam should be cut to shape and then mounted on a chunk of cardboard or mat board to give it firmness.
Cut out your desired shapes. I stuck with geometric shapes and traced objects around the house. Measuring cups are perfect for a variety of circle sizes.
To give the stamps strength, use two pieces of cardboard and glue them together.
Stack a few pieces of cardboard on the backside of the stamp to act as a handle. Glue in place.
Then start stamping! Put the paint in a flat container (like an old pie tin), and dip your stamp. Spread out the paper on a surface and press the cardboard stamp on to it. You can follow a strict pattern or stamp randomly, it all works!
As you work, use a scrap paper or a piece of wax paper as a place to work off the excess paint to ensure a clean print. And you’ll notice, you will get a better print using a rolling motion with the stamp instead of pressing it straight down.
Allow the wrapping paper to complete dry and then use to wrap your gifts!
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Thank you so much, Amy! I really adore how your prints turned out. I am trying this for sure. I don’t know if I’ll have time pre-Christmas, but this is one of those tutorials I would love to use throughout the year.
How about you, Dear Readers? Have you ever made your own wrapping paper? Or your own stamps? Would you kids enjoy something like this?
Credits: Images, styling & text by Amy Christie.
I love this wrapping paper idea! I love how customizable it is! Thanks for sharing!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
I love the idea of using cardboard as your stamp. I have always shied away from projects like this because I was worried about ruining good stamps with lots of paint. So simple and easy…Thanks!
As the Christmas crafting posts are starting to show up, I was reminded of a ways back when you talked about how your kids did handmade gifts for one another (if I recall correctly.) I was wondering what your family does now, and if it has changed as your kids have gotten older. I have six kids, too, and they are thinking of what to do for each other. I’m looking for ideas for gift exchanges among siblings that won’t break the bank or involve vacuuming glitter out of every floor crevice until eternity.
Hi Laura! When we moved back from France, the kids wanted to try something new for sibling gifts, so they put all their names in a hat and each pick one sibling to focus on.
Then they buy or make just the one gift, instead of figuring out gifts for 5 others.
This is our 3rd year doing it this way. It seems to be good. Sometimes I miss the big crafting days, but we do enough crafting and art projects through the year that I still get my fix.
Thanks! I like the idea of drawing names. We’ve done that with extended family, but never within our nuclear family.
Thank you for posting your beautiful works! I’m having a small problem with there being too much paint on my stamps. Any ideas on how to avoid this?
Thanks,
Kate
This is perfect! My oldest daughter and I like to decorate Kraft wrapping paper for birthday gifts so this she would love!
I love the white stamped on red, so pretty! As part of my daughter’s annual countdown to Christmas activities (in lieu of an advent calendar) she stamps wrapping paper – she loves seeing something she’s made on gifts under the tree!
I love this idea! When my children were younger (about 4 and 6), I had them create “art” by painting. They used non-toxic paints and had so much fun coming up with different colorful designs. I decided it would be fun to turn their art into wrapping paper! I hung them to dry and we used them to wrap gifts for many different occasions.
A few years have gone by but my kids are still relatively young. If time permits, I will see if we can make Christmas paper using your instructions. It would be fun! And, it’s something we can do as a family. Thanks for sharing.
Ms. AbFab
Super cute idea. Holiday themed cookie cutters would be great shapes to stamp as well. May be harder to cut out though.