I love Christmas design and wrapping. I normally spend a lot of time picking out the *perfect* wrapping paper for my gifts each year so that they all look like a cohesive set.  However, because I have two Christmases – one slightly early in London and the other on the 25th in my hometown of Allentown- it’s always a challenge to get things to match up on both sides of the Atlantic!

Last year I tried using Washi tape as the small, convenient, and easy to pack gift wrap design, and it worked out pretty well – you can see this here and here! This year, I’ve slightly optimistically stepped it up a notch by doing some carved linoleum stamps to add patterns to plain paper. This way I could transport both stamps and washi tape, and all I’d need in each country was plain paper and paint. Simple, right?

Here’s how it went!

First, I drew out and carved a single colour/print pinecone design. Not shown is that on a whim I also drew and carved a red berry stick stamp as well.

Next, using a set palate of red, gold, and white slightly diluted acrylic paint, I got to printing. I didn’t purchase any paper for this part; I just used paper that had arrived as fluff or wrap for previous purchases.

Next was to wrap the gifts and get the Washi tape involved! I also printed some pinecones onto thick coloured card for gift tags!

And the finished gifts!

Even though the red berries were a whim, I think they ended up being my favourites! I’ve now flown all the stamps to America, so stay tuned for round two!

Here’s some rather nice photos from my buddy Paul- the camera and the brains behind enjoytheview.eu

PS – I’m on twitter @makingthemarrow