Make Your Own Kraft Paper Gift Wrap

Simple white kraft paper offers infinite wrapping possibilities. Here are three to get you started.

White kraft paper, the kind that comes in big rolls from art supply stores, is the perfect blank canvas to use for wrapping  gifts. I like it plain, dressed up with beautiful ribbon topped off with greenery such as sprigs of holly or bits of twig. I also like it decorated in the ways I’ve shown here.

Potato Stamping gives kraft paper a lovely handcrafted look. For the wrap with green and red balls, I cut a small russet in half with a clean, even slice. To begin, I put a puddle of poster paint on a plate then dabbed the potato once in the paint and once on newsprint to remove any excess colour. I then made up to four dabs on the kraft paper to produce a variety of impressions before replenishing the paint.

To create my dot pattern, I began in the centre of the paper and worked outward making rows of red dots spaced four inches apart. Then I added green dots between the red ones. Kids love potato stamping on paper because it’s instantly gratifying.

Artist’s Paper Tape now comes in a range of bright colours that can be used to decorate packages, plus make adhesive tape and ribbon unnecessary. For the package I wrapped here, I created a kind of woven pattern in one corner with lines of tape running down and across the paper, some crossing over or under others. This brand of artist’s paper tape is supposed to be easy to remove, but on this particular kraft paper that was not the case.

Scrap Wrap One way to avoid wasting those extra bits and ends of commercial wrap or to reuse wrapping paper is to add it as decoration to plain white kraft paper (nice scraps of fabric are an interesting alternative to paper). Add ribbon or not: simple, easy, done.—Brendan Power

Brendan Power found rolls of white kraft 36 inches wide by 100 feet long (it feels like 30-40 pound weight) at Opus Framing for $23.10 a roll. Visit www.opusframing.com.  Artist’s paper tape is available online at findtape.com

Photos: Casey Phaisalakani