DIY Gift Wrap by Karen Brown – January 2022 Guest Designer

Hello everyone! We have the lovely Karen Brown as our January 2022 Guest Designer who is sharing how to create a custom, DIY gift wrap with you guys!

Karen is a Certified Altenew Educator and completed her certification in November 2020. She makes eye-catching, colorful projects and even today her projects are as colorful as the rainbow! Let's hear it from Karen herself and check out her DIY gift wrap.

Get to know Karen

Greetings, or as we say here in Texas “Hi Ya’ll”!  My name is Karen Brown and  I became a Certified Altenew Educator in 2020 and have loved working with Altenew and their wonderful products.  When not crafting, I enjoy playing tennis, dog-waking, traveling, and getting together with girlfriends.  I am so honored and excited to be guesting here at Altenew!

DIY Stenciled Gift Wrap

Hello everyone, Karen Brown here! I am so excited to show you how I created my stenciled DIY gift wrap. I love wrapping gifts and wanted to make some custom packaging for my daughter's birthday and I knew Altenew stencils would be perfect for my projects. I spent an enjoyable afternoon creating the paper and wrapping my gifts. I used three favorite Altenew stencils: Bubble Wrap, Mega Bloom, and Leaves and Berries.

How I Created My DIY Gift Wrap:

1. I had two colors of kraft paper plus a Gable Box in my craft room so I used them as the base for my projects.  I sorted through my Altenew stencils and picked three that I thought would be beautiful on gift wrapping:

• • Bubble Wrap Stencil
  • Mega Bloom Stencil
  • Leaves and Berries Stencil

1. I used painter's tape to adhere my stencil to the Kraft paper.
2. I selected six bright fun shades of acrylic paint and squirted a dollop of each onto a plate. Using a stencil brush, I dipped the brush into the paint and then dabbed the brush on a paper towel. Too much paint on the brush will result in smeared stenciling. Next, using a circular motion, I applied the paint through the stencil opening.  I went both clockwise and counterclockwise. I found the smaller brushes worked better than the larger sizes and I used one brush for each color.
3. On the Bubble Wrap project, after I filled the stencil, I carefully lifted up my stencil and lined it up, and filled it three more times so I would have a big enough sheet to cover the journal I was going to wrap. 

Pro Tips:

I found using high-contrast colors made for bright fun wrapping. I selected colors that stand out from the kraft background.
The stencils work best when the paint is not too wet. I loved working with it right before it dried out.

My daughter wanted a new journal so I made the Bubble Wrap paper specifically to wrap this cute bee-themed gift. All it needed was a simple twine bow.

The finished package is so happy and fun!

This Gable Box was very quick to create and the Mega Bloom stencil makes for a big showy design.

I really enjoyed creating this custom gift wrap and I hope you found some inspiration. I love reading your comments so if you have a moment, let me know what you think about the DIY gift wrap. Thanks for stopping by!

~Karen

These look BRILLIANT, Karen!! I love how happy and fun your wrapping looks! I am sure your daughter or anyone who gets something wrapped up in this fun, colorful gift wrap wouldn't want to tear it! Thank you so much for being our January Guest Designer and sharing with us your DIY gift wraps! Please do join us again here soon!

Everyone, don't forget to leave Karen some love in the comments and let her know how adorable and amazing her gift wraps look! If you do try some of these DIY gift wraps, don't forget to tag us @altenewllc or Karen at @karens_mini.  You can also check out Karen's blog HERE. Thank you so much for stopping by!

~SUPPLIES~

Bubble Wrap Stencil [ ALTN ] Mega Bloom Stencil [ ALTN ] Leaves & Berries Stencil [ ALTN ]