Did you know that up to 109 km² of Christmas wrapping paper could end up in the bin this year? That’s 38 times the area of the City of London!* Foiled and glittery papers may look lovely under your Christmas tree, but unfortunately can’t be recycled, along with sticky tape, and shiny bows and ribbons. You can check whether your wrapping paper is recyclable by crumpling it into a ball. If the paper stays scrunched together, it can likely be recycled. If it bounces back, it’s not recyclable. Luckily, you can still create Pinterest-worthy wrapped gifts with a simple roll of recycled and recyclable kraft paper and a few stationery supplies!

Washi tape and kraft paper tape are a great alternative to plastic sticky tape, and can be used to decorate your gifts as well as seal them. I used four monochrome washi designs, and added a Zentangle gift tag for a pop of colour. The “woven” washi design was super easy to create as the washi peeled off and re-stuck to the kraft paper with no issues.

Monochrome crosses washi | Scalloped slim washi | Constellation washi | Star doodles slim washi

I drew a small Zentangle design with a Pigma Micron, and sandwiched it in one of these cut-out gift tags. I made the tags with my Cricut, but they could easily be cut by hand. If you have a Cricut, you can find the project on my Design Space profile here. It’s a great way to use up cardboard scraps and I created loads in different colours!

Next, I created a looped gift ribbon using this tutorial. It was a little fiddly but it turned out so cute! I stuck the washi onto strips of paper, and scaled down the recommended lengths to match the width of the washi:

• 3 x 15.75 cm long
• 3 x 14.25 cm long
• 2 x 12.75 cm long
• 1 x 7 cm long

If you’re wondering why you’ve never seen this washi design on Nikki’s Supply Store, it’s because it was designed for the Nikki’s Supply Store stationery advent calendar and isn’t available for general sale. Fear not, it’s available as part of this festive washi mystery set, but numbers are limited.

I found these cute mini gift boxes in my stash but the designs weren’t really my jam, so I decided to give them a speedy makeover with washi tape. It was easy to reposition the washi so I played around with the designs and placement until I was happy, and wrapped the excess around the edge of the lid.

I cut a paper bow from ombre dot grid paper, and made the loops double-sided for maximum rainbow goodness! I used this project on Cricut Design Space, although there’s loads of cute printable bow templates available online. It actually turned out a little smaller than I was expecting so it was the perfect size for this little box and matched the pastel washi tapes I’d used.

Just as I’d finished it, the postman arrived with this Quality Street washi tape and I had to immediately make another one! I used the co-ordinating rainbow star washi to make a matching cut-out tag, as above. I love that these could be used for storage by the recipient, re-used for gifting and re-decorated!

Finally, I made a different style bow using the “forest” paper from the botanical dot grid pad set, as I loved how this looked with kraft paper in my December bullet journal spreads. Again, I used my Cricut to cut the bow using this project, but very similar designs are available online to print and cut by hand, like this one. I made a matching cut-out tag with the green dot grid paper and I really love how this one turned out.

Of course, Nikki wanted to get involved in all the gift-wrapping fun too! She created this adorable kraft paper biscuit wrap by cutting out the individual biscuits from her biscuits kraft paper parcel tape, and I am OBSESSED! This would work really well for smaller gifts as you can choose the placement of the designs, rather than trying to work around a printed wrapping paper.

Finally, Nikki used a Posca pen to create this stunning snowy scene. The white pen pops so well against the kraft paper, and it’s a super easy way to label your gifts too! I think I'll be trying this method and doodle some snowflakes on my gifts this year.

I hope that’s given you a little inspiration for your gift-wrapping! Why not bookmark this page so you can come back to it every year? If you’ve been inspired by any of the suggestions in this post, we’d love to see! Please tag @nikkissupplystore and #NikkisSupplyStore on Instagram, where you can find heaps more journaling and stationery inspiration. You can also follow me, @joy.margot, for more craft content and pictures of my cat.

*DEFRA via Wildlife and Countryside Link