this was one of the things i'm most glad we did this year. it's so easy to pin do-it-yourself ideas all december + plan on getting them all done...and then all of a sudden it's the weekend before christmas + none of them have been checked off the list. well, here's one that can restore your diy street cred in just an hour -- hand-stamped wrapping paper!
we had a big ol' roll of kraft paper begging to be used that i cut up into four giant sheets. other than that, all you need is: an apple (we were out of potatoes), knife, white paint + painter's tape.
draw a simple design on the apple (i picked a "v". stamped, it looks like an arrow. or a tent. depending on how you look at it). and yes, that's a page from the phone book underneath my project. we were out of newspaper too, ok?
i tried not to use too much paint for each stamp, so i did a couple test stamps on that poor phone book paper to get the excess paint off. then we taped the sheets up around the kitchen with painter's tape (which, if you're careful, won't hurt your brand new awesome wrapping paper) to dry for a few hours. that made me think they'd make pretty cool wallpaper.
after a few hours contemplating stamping your walls with an apple while the paper dries, you're ready for wrapping!
your diy street cred is back. you're welcome. your gift recipients will be impressed, whether you tell them you made it by hand or not (i recommend bragging). especially when they hear that you carved your very own stamp just to make their present look better? forget it. you will be king of christmas.
