Eek only 5 sleeps to go, I can barely contain my excitement!! With only finishing my Christmas shopping properly yesterday it was time for my favourite part of all – the wrapping of the presents! As I mentioned in my favourite things about Christmas post, my obsession with gift wrapping stretches to a dedicated board on pinterest of gift wrapping ideas. With an abundance of ideas in my head, I knew that I wanted to wrap everything in brown paper, it gives such a beautiful vintage look to all your presents and it really can be decorated any way that you want.
Incorporating lots of foliage and festive colours, I have put together quite a few different ideas to show you just how creative you can be with brown paper and which are actually really easy. It also gives me a benchmark to improve on next year!
Before you get stuck in I must warn you that I spent a good few hours perfecting this lot…
All materials used were from a range of shops & things that I already had including: Ebay, Wilkinsons, The Works, The Range & Hobby Craft. Brown paper is so easy to come by and is incredibly cheap by the roll, I usually get mine from Poundland.
A lot of foliage was used in this post but no trees were harmed in the making, I promise! Fir trees are plentiful at this time of the year, as are holly bushes – sadly the bush in my garden didn’t have any berries on it anymore though. Some of you may be lucky like me to have access to fir trees etc, but if not head to your local park to see what you can find. Pine cones would also make a great addition to these presents.
Hence the reason for the blog post, everything was wrapped in brown paper. It’s super affordable to buy and you can get it relatively cheap and in big quanities from Ebay & Amazon. I know that Poundland also sell it though if you’re looking to get some in time for Christmas.
I absolutely love the way old fashioned stamps make unique gift tags, wrapping paper & cards. After seeing this done a lot on pinterest I popped over to Ebay and picked up this amazing alphabet and number stamp set which included the ink pad for only £8.99!
It was the pivotal piece for my gift wrapping and as you’ll see I used it on all my gift tags and even the wrapping paper! As a tip if you want a clean finish on the stamp make sure you wipe the edges of the stamp with a tissue or a paper towel beforehand to stop a border showing once printed – this makes it look much more neater and professional.
The festive of the lot, this present was super easy to put together. I am a big hoarder of ribbons so I found this gorgeous red ribbon lying around. Once tied in with the brown gift tag (The Range), I simply slotted four separate cuttings of the fir tree through the ribbon.
Such a simple yet stunning touch to these presents, the doilies were picked up from The Works for about 99p, and the white ones came in circular and heart shapes – so they can definitely be used for Birthday’s & Valentines day too.
I used the doily as a gift tag in the first image and used my stamps to print the name. I then tied them up with some twine (Ebay) and finished each one off with separate little details. The star was from one of those grow your own trees a few years ago. As I said earlier, I really am such a hoarder for anything crafty, as it does always come in handy at some point!
Using Bakers twine (Wilkinsons), fir tree and tiny pegs (Hobby Craft) to put this together, it creates such a cute finish that has a really timeless style. For me bakers twine is an absolute essential for wrapping Christmas presents, it reminds me of old fashioned letters & bakeries.
Using leftover raffia (Ebay) from when I made Santa sacks a few years ago, I cut it into a long runner shape that I attached down the middle of the present. I then topped it with an old napkin ring holder for a really unique look! You can also create your own wreaths with fir trees by arranging the pieces around a plastic ring or wire.
Spare mini baubles lying around? No better use for them than adding them as a finishing touch for a bit of sparkle! It gives the receiver an additional little keepsake to keep hold of too!
Using my favourite bakers twine again in two different thicknesses, this time I added a jingle bell and a piece of holly for a finishing touch (mind those sharp points though!). I also used the stamps on the paper this time, the possibilities for the text you use are endless!
I absolutely loved putting these gift wrapping ideas together from scratch, gathering all the materials and watching them come together. The underneath of my Christmas tree is now looking incredibly stylish, I think they might even be too nice to open?
If you haven’t wrapped your presents yet these ideas will hopefully give you some inspiration, but if you have already wrapped all your presents then you might want to bookmark this post for next year!! Do let me know if you give any of them a go!
As a side note, brown Kraft paper is 100% recyclable as it is made from natural ingredients such as wood pulp, in comparison to shiny and glittery paper that a lot of us receive over Christmas time, using brown paper not only looks amazing with your own unique touches, but it helps to cut down on the excessive amount of recycling that is accumulated at Christmas time.
What do you think of my wrapping paper ideas? Do you like wrapping with brown paper? Which wrapping paper idea is your favourite?
