Over the summer, there were quite a few birthdays to celebrate including 3 out of 4 of us in my household so I decided to try out an idea I had about handmade wrapping paper.  I am a bit dubious about calling it handmade though since I didn't actually make the paper and because I used rubber stamps and inks for the images.  At the very least I made plain brown wrapping paper a bit more interesting!

This one was for my other half's birthday present.  He said he liked it but I think he was more impressed with the fact that I saved a bit of money on wrapping paper!  Oh and my six year old son helped me to do the stamping.

 

 Next up was the wrapping paper I did for my nephew who turned 4 this year:

 

 

I'm not as happy with this one mainly because I think that the kites (yes, they're supposed to be kites!) look a bit like tadpoles from afar and that overall it is not a fun enough wrapping paper for a child, despite me colouring the kites in.  Maybe it would have looked better if I had spaced them a bit more uniformly on the paper in rows. 

I bought some recycled sugar paper to try as well because it is a bit lighter in colour and may show up different coloured inks and markers a bit better.  I've even thought of illustrating small sizes of paper by hand but I think that may be a bit too time consuming. Overall, it was a very fun experience and I will definitely do it again.  Maybe even to wrap up orders from my shops when I come up with a design that I really like.