Wrap It Up!

Okay, so being a recycling fanatic I never understood the idea of buying wrapping paper- I mean, does the landfill need more junk? I admit this year I bought some at the store (I had to! It was only $1.99 buy one get one free!!)..but this stuff I will use to wrap bigger gifts and/or if I run out of what I'm about to show you.

So a super economic way of wrapping gifts is using stuff you already have! I save paper bags from the grocery store- I have a stockpile under the sink (please tell me I am not the only one). I used to throw them directly in the recycling bin but then I read that a doing so isn't really saving the earth all that much. The proper way to recycle those paper bags is to first use them at least 6-7 times, THEN recycle them. Okay, so that made my 'getting rid of these bags' all that more unproductive.

So why not cut these suckers, turn them inside out and wrap gifts with them? I mean c'mon, most of these gifts are going to children anyways.. my kids, my friends' kids, nieces, nephews..my sister..lol. They will more than likely not remember what wrapping paper wrapped their gift. I searched my brain and I couldn't remember a single time I was doing headstands over a wrapped gift because of the bodacious paper.

These are the gifts wrapped in paper bags. Not so bad, eh? I have to tell you this as well- the Dollar Tree sells this 'craft paper' looking wrapping paper as well with regular wrapping paper (and it's only $1) that you can use if you still want the rustic recycled look but don't have any paper bags.

This is Jake stamping a tree pattern cut out of a potato onto the paper. My idea was to stamp all of the gifts, then add a little embellishment using glue and sequins. For stamping we used a potato stamp as stated before, cookie cutters, lids off of various items around the house, paper towel rolls, etc.

Pretty cute, eh? Remember, we are not Picasso's! We are just having fun!

Here we added the sequins and paper punched dots.

Then finally tied a bow with hemp. :)

Another great thing about this (other than recycling/reusing which is awesome) is that it's fun! It's fun for you and fun for any kid! And how kids are so proud of their art!
Have fun!