How to Make Your Own Stamped Wrapping Paper

This year, I wanted to make my gift wrapping special. I bought a big box of large rubber erasers and a roll of brown shipping paper from Office Depot. It took a bit longer than using store bought paper, but it's much more personal and a lot more fun to do. So, here's how to make your own pattern stamped wrapping paper!

Materials

Rubber Erasers

Exact-o Knife

Pencil

Stamp Pad

Paper

Start with a plain rubber eraser.

Draw or trace your design onto the eraser.

Cut around the edges of your design.

Try to keep your knife at an outward facing angle.

Angling it outward makes it easier to remove the unwanted areas and makes the design area stronger.

Carve out all the unwanted pieces and cut the stamp down to size.

Press the stamp into a stamp pad and stamp on paper!

Here are a couple of the designs I made. The snowflake was probably the hardest one to carve.

You can stamp it in a pattern (i.e. rows or offset rows) or just randomly.

Thumb Print Tree Guestbook

This is a simple a fun guestbook for any wedding or event. I made one for my wedding and I thought I'd share how it's made.

Materials:
Watercolor Paper - 16"x20" work well and is a suitable framing size for a party of 100+ people. 11"x14" is good for about 50+, and 8"x10" is good for parties of 20+
Pencil
Pen - you'll need one that won't bleed if you want to paint over it with watercolors
Watercolor Paints - If desired
Frame - sized to match the paper
Ink Pads
Extra Pens
Hand Towelettes 

On a piece of watercolor paper, draw a simple tree. You may want to start by sketching lightly with a pencil and once you have a tree you like, draw over it with pen. Short sketchy lines give the tree a nice texture. If desired, you can draw your initials in the tree. You can stop at this point or use watercolor paints to color in the tree. 



It works best if you frame the image without the glass in front of it. I put the glass behind the image in the frame to keep it safe. Get 2 different shades of green stamp pads to use for the leaves. Michael's or Joann's will have a variety of colors. You may choose 2 standard green leaf color or you may want to use different 

colors such as brown, orange and yellow for an autumn look or pink and purple for a spring, floral look. Purple and pink might be cute for a girl's baby shower. Blue and green would look cute for a boy's baby shower. 

If this is for a wedding, the bride and groom should "sign" it prior to the wedding so they get a front and center spot. I choose to have mu husband and I stamp it right it the middle with red and blue ink(the colors of our wedding) and then draw little beaks, eyes, feet, a veil and a top hat  make them look like bride and groom birds. 

Make sure to get hand towelettes for people to clean off their fingers and have a basket or trash near by for the disposal of those. Amazon is a great place to buy the individually wrapped ones. Be sure to have a couple pens for people to sign with as well. After the wedding, place it behind the glass and enjoy it forever. I arranged mine in the center of a collage of wedding photos.

If your tree isn't turning out how you want, you can buy one from me on etsy!