DIY Wrapping Paper Round-Up 23 December 2014  |  Nicola

Wrapping presents is one of the best parts of Christmas; festive music playing in the background, a glass of something warming and a good supply of embellishments mean you can really get into the Christmas spirit. Wrapping paper itself though, is a problem; firstly, it’s not recyclable and therefore creates a huge amount of waste, and secondly, it can be difficult to find designs you really like without spending a fortune. We had a look around the web to see what the crafters have been doing this year, and found some great examples of quirky, fun and sustainable wrapping ideas – so we rounded up our favourites and have included them below.

If you want to personalise your wrapping, it’s time to get handy with the pens and stamps. Unsurprisingly we love our chalkboard wrapping paper; the possibilities for decorating here are pretty endless, from festive drawings and symbols to phrases, words and even a simple name. Along the same lines was the wonderful hand-written paper at Walk in Love – plain white or brown paper and a selection of coloured markers worked together to produce a personal, fun and uniquely wrapped gift.

If you’re looking for something a little more vintage in style, we loved the idea of adding black-and-white photographs to the top of brown paper, as seen at Design Sponge; you could stick with the winter theme as used here, or opt for more festive designs, even using your own images converted to black-and-white on a computer. We were also really inspired by the tiny gift wrapped in a vintage map over on Dawn E. Roscoe design – to make it even more personal, you could use a map of a place or country that means something to the recipient.

Our favourites, though, were the ultimate in re-usable wrapping; printed and folded fabric, and even fabric gift bags. Not only do these act as great wrapping ‘paper’, they also act as an extra gift in themselves – everyone’s a winner! We loved the plain fabric stamped with the whale image at Unruly Things, and the Frock Files have a great tutorial on how to tie fabric effectively around a gift. We also spotted these great re-usable lunch bag tutorials over at the Purl Bee, and decided they’d make a great option for anyone wanting to use gift bags – they could even be used as a lunch bag once the festive season is over!