I don't have giant stashes of gorgeous wrapping paper. I have rolls of white, black and kraft butcher paper. And the occasional roll of gift wrap. But it doesn't always match my mood or occasion, so here's a fun little DIY I did to dress up my gifts this year.
Santa doesn't have this much creativity when it comes to his gift wrap. That would take him way too long.
The key to this whole operation is in the marker. Some time ago Sakura sent me their Pigma Professional brushseries. I use them for everything. Heck, they're even in our brush lettering kits that I send out to all of my beginning brush students. These brushes come in 3 sizes: fine, medium and BOLD. I use the fine brush for small detailed work and little illustrations. I'll use the medium in cases where my x-height letters are about 3/4" tall. The bold I'll use for everything else.
The bold brush is pretty stiff so you still get very fine hairlines even though you can get a ton of drama out of the side of the marker.
And when mine dry out, I'll use them on textured paper for a more organic look (like above). Want to learn how to make these easy-peasy holly berries? Watch the video below.
Supplies
Pigma Professional BB Brush
Large sheet of white or kraft paper
Sakura Koi red marker (optional)
I love the BB brush, but you can get similar results from even a crayola marker. Granted, if you want this kind of drama to scale, you'll need to make smaller holly berries and leaves.
Basic jist: get a piece of paper and spread it out on the floor or table. Draw out the berries first in random clusters of 3. Then draw in the center of the leaves, coming out from the berries with a light touch. A fine line helps. Then fill in the remainder of the leaves with two mountains and meeting just beyond the tip of the center line of the leaf. Fill in any awkward blank spaces with leaves. Messy is usually better in this case.
If you want to go for a more ornamental approach, draw out a berry grouping on cardstock. Watercolor paper is going to give your cluster more texture and depth. Punch a hole near the cluster of berries.
With your scissors, cut around the cluster leaving a 1/4"-1/2" border. Thread through ribbon or string and use as a decoration on your gift.
Easy? Brainless? Awesome? Yes to all three. Happy last-minute gift-giving and wrapping!!
Santa doesn't have this much creativity when it comes to his gift wrap. That would take him way too long.
The key to this whole operation is in the marker. Some time ago Sakura sent me their Pigma Professional brush
series. I use them for everything. Heck, they're even in our brush lettering kits that I send out to all of my beginning brush students. These brushes come in 3 sizes: fine, medium and BOLD. I use the fine brush for small detailed work and little illustrations. I'll use the medium in cases where my x-height letters are about 3/4" tall. The bold I'll use for everything else.
The bold brush is pretty stiff so you still get very fine hairlines even though you can get a ton of drama out of the side of the marker.
And when mine dry out, I'll use them on textured paper for a more organic look (like above). Want to learn how to make these easy-peasy holly berries? Watch the video below.
Supplies
If you want to go for a more ornamental approach, draw out a berry grouping on cardstock. Watercolor paper is going to give your cluster more texture and depth. Punch a hole near the cluster of berries.
With your scissors, cut around the cluster leaving a 1/4"-1/2" border. Thread through ribbon or string and use as a decoration on your gift.
Easy? Brainless? Awesome? Yes to all three. Happy last-minute gift-giving and wrapping!!