I am always so inspired by the homemade wrapping paper I see in my Pinterest feed, but I’ve never tried it. Having a blog certainly pushes me to try new things so that I can share my affordable DIY inspirations with all of you!

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This wrapping paper is very simple to create and would be a great family craft! If I’m being honest, the perfectionist in me was a little hesitant to let my 5-year-old help with this project because I had the opinion that his “aesthetic” was not up to snuff with my own. But time and time again, Jackson proves to me that his ideas and creativity can be truly stunning when I give him free reign over his process (i.e. mess).

Our materials were almost completely free other than the roll of paper I ordered. Here’s what you need:

what you need

• potatoes
• cookie cutters
• sharp knife
• paints or ink pads – I used acrylic paints we had in our crafting cabinet.
• roll of craft paper – brown or white
• extra accessories for wrapping

how to make it

For the potato stamps, I used a cookie cutter to cut out shapes rather than trying to carve my own designs. After slicing the potato in half, it didn’t take much effort to push the cutter straight through. I blotted them with paper towels to get rid of excess moisture.

Once you have all of your stamping materials, lay your paper out on a large flat surface. Use your potato stamps, or the cookie cutters themselves, to stamp out designs onto the paper.

I played around with layering a cookie cutter outline over a potato stamp in a contrasting color, which created beautiful depth to the design.

If you don’t want to commit to a large sheet of paper right away, try out different styles and color combinations on scrap paper! And obviously, let your paper dry fully before trying to wrap anything!

Once your gifts are wrapped, the possibilities are endless for your gift toppers and tags! Here are a few of my favorite ideas:

1. Use a shatter proof ornament as a gift tag by writing the recipient’s name or initial in sharpie. I strung the ornament on a small safety pin and attached it to the back of my satin ribbon.

2. For an organic touch, wrap rosemary, twigs, or holly with twine and attach. I couldn’t resist adding a little pop of color with a dried orange slice. You can find my tutorial for those here.

2. Use candy canes to make a heart and glue to your package for a sweet sentiment.

4. String small jingle bells together for a little metallic flair.

5. Invest in a few shape punches to create your own gift tags out of scrap paper, old book pages, or the wrapping paper itself. I often find myself reaching for these punches for new projects!

I hope you find some inspiration here! And if you’re anything like me in feeling the need to control or have things be a certain way, I encourage you to relax and allow your children to express themselves, even if it means a little extra clean up time. The gift you give them by allowing free expression is so precious and so empowering for their self esteem! Cook with your kids, craft with your kids, get messy with you kids! You won’t regret it. And send me pictures of your sweet family memories together!

xoxo, L

Looking for more holiday DIY inspiration? Check out more tutorials here!