diy gift wrap

This year I did not want to buy gift wrap and trust me it was so hard not to because there are so many beautiful gift wrap choices everywhere. Every year I like to choose a theme. One year was black and white, another year white wrapping and red bows. Many people choose their wrapping as a reflection of themselves. This year I wanted to be more eco–conscious. I usually re-use ribbons I received from presents, but this year I wanted to make eco-friendly wrapping paper.

Every year we throw 4 million tons of wrapping paper and shopping bags away in the trash. During the holidays there is a 25% increase of waste produced. That's 5 million extra tons.  If every family wrapped just three presents in re-used materials we would be able to save an equivalent of 45,000 football fields. Additionally, the cost of wrapping paper reaches 2.6 billion worldwide. I think we can all do better.

I gathered the tissue paper from packaging materials from all the online shopping I have done recently and in the past and I collect them all year and put them in a huge bag. I also collect it from family and friends.

Amazon for example piles long thick brown paper (like 10 feet) in their boxes. Though very wrinkly I laid them on the floor and flattened them out as much as I could.

Next, I grabbed a cork from an empty wine bottle dipped it in acrylic paint and made dots all over the paper.

I made a few sheets with white dots, green dots, red dots and gold dots. I love that these are eco-friendly and handmade by me. That makes this gift wrap very special this year. I hope this gives you a few ideas for this holiday season.

Happy Holidays!