It’s that time of year where the it starts to feel like summer (well in New Zealand at least!), the stores start playing Christmas carols, and everyone starts feeling a little bit festive.
I love Christmas because it means it is summer holidays, we have a big day with our family, and this year Arlo will be able to properly join in the fun. Last year he was just 2 weeks old so he slept through most of it!
There are some things I don’t love about Christmas though, and that is the pressure to spend lots of money, and all the unnecessary packaging and waste that comes with a lot of the Christmas season.
So one thing I love to do is create my own Christmas wrapping paper. Most of the paper you buy cannot be recycled so it just ends up in land fill. I like to create my own using plain, uncoated paper, recycled brown paper is even better, and a roll only costs around $2 - $3.
This paper can either be reused or folded up and placed in your paper recycling. I have a feeling Arlo will be creating most of our wrapping paper this year!
Here is how I use hand lettering and calligraphy to create some great looking paper…
Things you need:
Plain uncoated paper – white, coloured or recycled brown paper
Calligraphy brush pens ie. TomBow
Any other calligraphy tools and inks you like to use
Craft knife and ruler – not essential but helps if you are cutting up larger sheets
Pencil – for drawing guidelines
Steps:
Lay your sheet of paper in front of you on a flat table top.
You may want to rule some very light guidelines (2H pencil is the best for this)
Decide on what tool you want to use – are you going for some colourful TomBow brush pens or just black ink? Often black looks the best on coloured paper, and multicolour looks better on white, grey or light brown paper.
Decide on what word or phrase you want to write (if you are stuck on a style make sure to grab my free hand lettering phrases pack which has different styles that you can copy)
Lightly sketch in your word or phrase as a guideline
Use your chosen tool, write your phrase, and repeat until your page is covered.
Wait until ink is dry, wrap your presents and stack them under the tree
Tips & Tricks:
I find it can be really effective to use two different coloured TomBow brush pens. Then you can alternate colours between each word to create a pattern across your paper.
Repetition creates the best effect ie. pick one word or phrase and repeat it over and over across the paper.
I find writing on a diagonal across the page looks the best visually when the present is wrapped.
As an alternative to words, another really effective technique is to use your tools to create marks and patterns across your paper.
