Printing your own wrapping paper is an easy way to add a personal touch to presents. We know you’re all really busy this time of year so we’ve got four
quick ways of creating lovely wrapping papers. Why not get children involved too?
Thermofax Printing
Start with a black pen drawing or image. Have a festive doodle yourself or hand the kids a black felt tip. This is a good opportunity to add a personal
message or your name as proof that yes, you did in fact make it yourself!
Scan in your drawing and make sure it fits into the thermofax templates on the website. It can help to print out the template first and draw your design in the middle. Send us your
design and we will send your Custom Thermofax back to you!
Use Acrylic Screen Printing Ink and a Thermofax Squeegee to print
your image in a scatter pattern all over your wrapping paper – we’re using plain kraft parcel paper. Be sure not to place your screen over a wet image
as it may smudge. It can help to print onto a slightly padded surface such as a thin blanket or piece of fabric stretched over your table.
This method also works really well for Christmas Cards!
To make this wrapping paper you will need:
- Custom Thermofax
- Thermofax Squeegee
- Acrylic Screen Printing Ink (or Acrylic Paint mixed with Acrylic Screen Printing Medium)
- Plain Kraft Parcel Paper
Read more about printing with a Thermofax Screen
and how to use a Thermofax Screen with foils!
Indian Block Printing
Indian Blocks make such beautiful, detailed prints
without the need to carve anything yourself! They come in lots of gorgeous designs including lots that are Christmas themed. For this paper we are
using one of our favourite woodblocks in a peacock design with Gold Acrylic Screen Printing Ink.
Use a piece of sponge to apply an
even layer of ink to the block.
Press your ink down firmly onto the paper to make a print. It helps to have a slightly padded surface under your paper such as a Foam Printing Pad.
Re-ink your block and print all over your paper.
You can also use Indian Blocks to print directly
onto boxes:
To make this wrapping paper you will need:
- Indian Woodblocks
- Acrylic Screen Printing Ink
- Paint Applicator Sponges
- Inking Tray
- Plain Kraft Parcel Paper
See our previous Indian Block projects to learn how to use them to Print onto Fabric!
Stamping with Mastercut and Versacraft Ink Pads
If you haven’t tried carving Mastercut yet then this is a great time to give it a go. It’s soft to carve and gives thin lines and lots of detail. It’s easy to cut with scissors or a craft
knife for shaped stamps. For this paper, we are using holly leaves cut from Mastercut with Versacraft Ink Pads and the end of a pencil for the berries!
Press your stamp into the Versacraft Ink Pad to pick up an even layer of ink.
Press the stamp firmly onto your paper. Again, it helps to use a slightly padded surface or a Foam Printing Pad.
Press the rubber end of a pencil into the red ink pad and into the paper to create berries.
Repeat all over the paper in a scatter pattern. This method would also work perfectly for cards and gift tags!
To make this wrapping paper you will need:
- Mastercut Easy Carve Stamping Blocks
- Carving Tool
- Craft Knife
- Versacraft Ink Pads
- Pencil with a rubber end
- Foam Printing Pad
- Plain Kraft Parcel Paper
Find out how we carved out holly leaves in our Christmas Card project.
Printing a Repeat Pattern
We used a repeat pattern block to print this wrapping paper. See our Repeat Pattern project to see how the block was made. This block is a half-drop repeat but you could use a straight repeat, rotating repeat
or just neat rows of any block you have. This block is made from Mastercut but a lino, softcut, vinyl or plywood block will work too!
Acrylic Screen Printing Inks work really well for block printing too if you use a sponge roller to roll out the ink! We are using silver. You could also use a block printing ink and a hard roller. Roll your ink
of choice onto your block.
Place your block face down onto your paper and print. For this half-drop repeat pattern we have to position it carefully.
To make this wrapping paper you will need:
- Repeat Pattern Block
- Acrylic Screen Printing Ink
- Sponge Roller
- Inking Tray
- Plain Kraft Parcel Paper
See how to make blocks with different types of repeat patterns in our previous projects: try half-drop repeat, straight repeat,
or rotating repeat.
Give one of these methods a try to create your own wrapping paper! We’d love to see your results – tag us in a pic of your project on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or send us a good ol’fashioned email.