Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With... Washi Tape!

This Christmas my gift wrapping was all about decorative tape!   

 

 

 

It's so easy to add simple stripes of washi or glitter tape to plain parcels, and the effect is fantastic. I wrapped all my gifts with brown paper then decorated them with lines of pretty tape: narrow but super sparkly glitter tape, and a trio of green and pink tapes with festive woodland designs on them.

I'd really recommend this as an easy way to wrap special gifts, whatever the occasion. Just choose tape in appropriate colours and designs and get sticking. Everyone was a lot more impressed with the results than my level of effort really deserved!

The glitter tape looked really fabulous against the plain brown parcel paper.

Top tip: if you're adding stripes to the centre of a parcel, start with the line that's in the very centre then work outwards.

Try to keep your lines evenly space and if you're adding two overlapping sets of stripes make sure to take extra care that you're sticking the colours in the same order each time. I wrapped these gifts quite late one night and didn't pay enough attention to the colours and was super annoyed when I realised my mistake.

Of course, this is one of those things where really no-one will notice you've made a mistake unless you point it out to them but if you're a crafty perfectionist like me it will get on your nerves!

The gifts I wrapped with the pretty woodland tape were much more subtle than all that colourful glitter (everything is more subtle than glitter, isn't it?)  but the finished effect was still very lovely.

As you can see I used six stripes per parcel, varying the position of the stripes to give each package a slightly different look. 

I didn't get a chance to take close-up pics of these so you can see just how pretty that tape looked because my camera battery died about 30 seconds after taking the photos in this post... but here's a card I made using tape from the same range. Isn't it charming?

Click here for lots of ideas for making simple cards with washi tape (this post was originally designed as a Christmas crafting post, but if you use non-Christmassy tape I think these card designs would work all year round), or visit my tutorial archive for lots more card-making and gift wrapping ideas.

Easy DIY Christmas Card Ideas #5: Baubles!

Friday already! Where has this week gone?

For the final project in my crafty Christmas cards series, instead of Christmas trees how about topping your cards with pretty baubles?

Psst - follow the links to find all DIY Christmas card ideas in this series:

1. Washi Tape.
2. Simple Shapes and Crafty Scraps.
3. Simple Lettering.
4. Christmas Trees.
5. And today's tutorial, Baubles.
 
This tutorial originally appeared on The Village Haberdashery's blog - visit their shop for lots of crafty goodness!

Click here to view and download the template sheets for this series, including the bauble shape.

I’ve kept my baubles pretty simple but you could decorate yours however you like! (This would be another great way to use up crafty scraps!) 

For this design I used a fir branch stamp to decorate the blank card, placing the card on some scrap paper so I could stamp over the edges without making a mess.

I wrote “Merry Christmas” on a bit of white card and cut it out, then cut out a bauble from patterned paper and added a bit of gold washi tape for the bauble cap.

Finally I framed both the bauble and the text with contrasting rectangles of paper then stuck them in place on the card.

I did more stamping for this card, covering a piece of brown paper with gold acorns. I layered this over two strips of gold washi tape to create the background for my bauble.

Instead of adding tape to the bauble cap, this time I added a decorative stripe across the middle of the bauble. I cut a small bit of ribbon and tore a piece of washi tape to attach the ribbon near the top of the card, then glued the bauble on top – holding the ribbon firmly in position, and making the bauble look as if it’s hanging from it.

If you’d like your bauble to actually hang from the card make the bauble from patterned card, punch a hole in the cap then thread it with a piece of yarn, baker’s twine or embroidery thread.

I decorated my final card with a symmetrical design of stripes (like the fancy stripey Christmas tree card I shared yesterday) – I just can’t get enough of lovely washi tape!

I decorated the bauble with a bit of gold washi tape on the cap, and a patterned strip of tape across the middle then glued it to a piece of white card. I then cut the bauble out again, leaving a border of white around the shape, and stuck it in position on the card.

Tip: if you’re doing vertical stripes like this, start in the centre and work outwards. I started at one side and ended up with a slightly lopsided pattern!

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Easy DIY Christmas Card Ideas #4: Christmas Trees!

Hello again! For today's entry in my DIY Christmas card series I'm sharing ideas for making crafty Christmas tree cards using washi tape, patterned paper, and festive stamps.

(Missed posts 1-3? Follow the links to make stripey washi tape cards, cards decorated with simple shapes and crafty scraps, and cards full of festive JOY).

 

UPDATE: follow the links to find all DIY Christmas card ideas in this series!

1. Washi Tape.
2. Simple Shapes and Crafty Scraps.
3. Simple Lettering.
4. Today's tutorial, Christmas Trees.
5. Baubles.

This tutorial originally appeared on The Village Haberdashery's blog - visit their shop for lots of crafty goodness, including Christmas paper pads and washi tape sets.

To make these easy Christmas tree cards, use my Christmas tree templates (click here to view and download the template sheets!) to cut out lots of tree shapes then use them as the focal feature your designs. There are three different templates to choose from: simple trees, mini trees for small cards, and fancy trees.

The minimal shape of the simple tree means you can go bold with the patterns:

Instead of using a blank card for this design, I used half a sheet of fancy festive card – cutting it then folding it in half, and pairing it with a brown kraft paper envelope.

I used the tree template to cut out a patterned green tree then glued it to a piece of white paper. I then carefully cut around the tree, leaving a border of white to frame it and help it stand out from the background pattern, and then stuck it to the card.

For this card I used two Christmassy stamps and a white ink pad to print a pattern on a blank card – the white ink stands out really well against the red! Then I added the tree shape and a handwritten “Merry Christmas” on a small strip of white paper.

To make this stripy tree, I cut out a tree shape from white card and covered it in washi tape stripes. I used gold tape for the tree’s trunk then used pretty festive tapes to cover the tree.

I then cut a piece of brown paper as a simple frame for the design and positioned the tree leaving space to write “Merry Christmas” underneath.

For small Christmas tree cards, use the mini tree template provided.

These are so quick and easy to make! I decorated one card with a stamp and silver ink, one with three strips of washi tape, and made the third from a sheet of patterned card... then added a little tree to all of them.

The fancy tree shape is a little more time consuming to cut out, but it’s totally worth it!

The first card shows off the tree’s shape, with a simple bit of paper to frame it – I chose a pale pink to make the dark tree really stand out. You could add a festive message at the bottom of the card, but I quite like the design as it is.

This is another simple design: I used four pieces of washi tape to make a frame, added a small piece of gold tape to the tree’s trunk then stuck the tree in the centre of the card.

 

You need a bit of patience to make this stripy card but the end result has a lot of wow factor.

Decorate a white card with stripes of Christmas washi tape designs, leaving a small gap between the tape. Start in one corner and work your way across the card, trimming the excess tape as you go.

Glue one of the fancy tree shapes to a piece of white paper or card and cut it out, leaving a narrow white border to frame the tree. Then glue the tree to the centre of the card.

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Easy DIY Christmas Card Ideas #2: Simple Shapes & Crafty Scraps

All this week I'm sharing some fun ideas for making your own crafty holiday cards.

Yesterday I posted a bunch of ideas for making simple cards decorated with lines of washi tape. Today's cards are all about geometric shapes, layering, and using up crafty scraps from your stash.

 

UPDATE: follow the links to find all DIY Christmas card ideas in this series!

1. Washi Tape.
2. Today's tutorial, Simple Shapes and Crafty Scraps.
3. Simple Lettering.
4. Christmas Trees.
5. Baubles.

This tutorial originally appeared on The Village Haberdashery's blog - visit their shop for lots of crafty goodness!

I used a range of coordinating festive craft supplies to decorate my cards which was super fun to work with, but any colouful and/or Christmassy paper will do! Mix and match holiday motifs and plain and patterned paper, embellish with stickers and tape and stamps and glitter, the possibilities are endless.

Simple shapes look great when working with patterned paper. I've included a couple of basic shapes on a template sheet to get you started - click here to download and print the PDF.

For this small card I added a strip of paper down the centre of the card, two contrasting paper circles and a line of metallic gold tape.

To add a strip of paper stretching the whole length of the card, use a ruler to cut a rectangle slightly longer than needed. Glue the paper in place so it overhangs the card at each end and leave the card face down while the glue dries. Once the glue is dry, trim away the excess paper.

For the envelope, I used a small stamp and a white ink pad to print a festive pattern – place the envelope on a piece of scrap paper so you can stamp over the edges without making a mess! You could leave the front undecorated, decorate it after you’ve written the name or address, or stamp the whole envelope then use an address label on top.

With larger cards you have much more space to play with shapes and colours and really show off a range of patterns. You could go super simple or cover the whole card with pattern for a maximalist look.

For this card I added two layers of paper, three large circles, and stamped two rows using a fir tree stamp – as with the envelope, above, I placed the card on a piece of scrap paper when stamping so I could stamp over the edges without getting ink on my desk!

This card has the same basic design but it looks very different.

 

I cut a strip of brown paper and used a stamp to decorate it. I added two lines of gold tape to the card then stuck the paper on top so the gold tape forms a lovely edging. I then added three circles cut from contrasting paper and finished the card by drawing two rows of scallops with a black pen. I then echoed the design on the envelope.

I stuck a piece of patterned paper in the centre of this card then added a line of tape in the middle and a paper star on top. I used a ruler and a black pen to highlight the central shapes (which I have to admit wasn’t entirely successful as I forgot to test if the pen would write on the tape! Oops!). To finish the card I added overlapping strips of washi tape. A couple of overlapping lines of tape look great on the envelope, too.

As well as using paper, why not make use of some of the scraps left over from your other crafty projects? Felt, fabric, ribbon, buttons, sequins, felt… they can all look great when added to Christmas cards.

I used paper and washi tape to create the background of this card, then topped it with ricrac and felt. I cut two pieces of green felt to size (trimming the lighter green felt with pinking shears), stitched them together with some metallic silver thread, stitched a piece of pink ricrac on top and stuck the whole lot in place on the card with craft glue.

Then for these two small cards I used paper and tape for the backgrounds and cut small circles from metallic gold faux leather and red wool felt. I decorated the felt circles with simple embroidery and some gold sequins then stuck all the circles in position with craft glue.

There'll be more DIY card ideas on my blog tomorrow - see you then! :)

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