DIY Stenciled Wrapping Paper

(This post is sponsored by DecoArt, however all opinions are my own. I only promote products I love and use, and really enjoyed using DecoArt’s products for this tutorial.)

Hey friends! So, a fun fact: I’ve never done an advent calendar before. This year I really wanted to do one, and I also decided to create my own wrapping paper to have all 12 of the gifts be fun and matching!

I partnered with DecoArt to make this tutorial and show you how I’ve made my own DIY Stenciled Wrapping Paper! So let’s get to it:

Supplies:

• Roll of Kraft Paper
• DecoArt Polka Dot Pop Stencil
• DecoArt Value Kraft Stencils: Believe, Joy, & Dashing Snow
• DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paints: I used True Red, Carousel Pink, Cotton Candy, Sour Apple, Light Buttermilk & Lamp (Ebony) Black.
• Paint Brush, Stencil Brush, and/or Sponge Dabber.
• Painter’s Tape

I used Kraft colored paper for my DIY Stenciled Wrapping Paper because it’s 1. Cheap, and 2. easy to customize, but obviously you can start with any colored paper roll you wish.

Stenciling your gift wrap is so easy. I’ll be sharing some of my tips and ideas for putting together a cohesive gift wrap theme!

Step one:

An easy way to start your gift wrap is to stencil on a first layer. Use a stencil brush to fill in the polka dot pop stencil.

You can also hold down the edges of the stencil with painters tape so that it doesn’t move on you while you’re working.

Step two:

Now we’ll be layering on more designs!

I used a small paintbrush to brush on dashes around each polka dot on a darker pink and added some smaller white polka dots. Once that is dry, it’s time for one more layer. I placed the snowflake stencil on top and brushed True Red acrylic paint through that.

Step three:

Another easy background is to do some abstract brush strokes onto your kraft paper. Squirt a little bit of each color onto a palette & use a 1″ paint brush to add strokes of paint in lines across the paper.

Step four:

And once your brushstrokes are dry, you can layer another design over top like I did with the ornament stencil below.

You can keep your backgrounds pretty simple, such as just painting stripes onto the paper, or go more detailed. For the gifts below I painted stripes, and once the gifts were wrapped, I used a couple of DecoArt stencils on the top of each present to further customize it.

To number my advent calendar, I used a small paintbrush and Americana Acrylic paint to number 12 black tags and attached them to each gift.

You can also wrap the gifts and twine, add tassels & candy canes for more festivity!

My best tips to make your own DIY Stenciled Gift Wrap:

• Tape down your stencil or use a sticky vinyl stencil.
• Use either a stencil brush or a sponge dauber.
• Don’t use too much paint, this is what causes your stencil to bleed. Instead, squirt a small amount of paint onto a palette, dip your brush/sponge into it, then pounce it a few times on a piece of scrap paper to get excess paint off before going over your stencil.

As I said, I made these as my own advent calendar, but now I think I’ll do some more stenciled gift wrap to use on my friends gifts. I love that everything from the gift to the wrapping paper is handmade!

For another fun Christmas project, check out my tutorial for Mixed Media Christmas Postcards!