Splatter Wrapping Paper with Christmas Phrases

Here we are just a couple of weeks before Christmas. Can you believe it?! Wasn’t it just summer vacation? 

Nope! It’s time to find wrapping paper and cover all of those carefully chosen gifts. 

I love this time of year. It’s an excuse for this careful spender to lavish a few gifts on her kiddos and family. Wrapping them makes them a little extra special too. I can’t say I get bored with the usual wrapping paper, but in recent years, it’s been fun to experiment with different ways of wrapping. 

For example, when I’ve finished wrapping most of the gifts, I take the snibbles that don’t fit any other gift and wrap a few that look like patchwork. They end up being for my kids, husband, or gag gifts. 

Sometimes, I keep the gift wrap really simple and dress the package up with colorful ribbon.

One of my favorite ways to wrap is with splatter wrapping paper that I make myself.

Why don’t I show you how?

Here’s what you need:

• Kraft, white, and/or black paper, about 36” wide (I buy this by the foot at a local office supply store, but you can find it on Amazon)

• White paint (or color of your choice. I also use black on white paper. I would choose an acrylic paint rather than watercolor or ink. In fact, I use leftover fabric paint from a project with my kids years ago. It’s already in a spray bottle, but I usually don’t spray the paint. It’s more fun to throw it.)

• Paint brushes or an old toothbrush

• Lots of newspaper

• Something to hold down the edges of the paper

• Gel pens, if you want to add Christmas Phrases

Here’s what you do:

Cover the area where you want to paint with newspaper. Make sure you leave plenty of newspaper around the edges to catch the extra splatter. 

Unroll the amount of paper you want to paint. You can leave it attached to the roll or cut it off. I left it on the roll so I only had to weight down two corners to keep them from curling. 

Next, open your paint. I use the spray tube of the fabric paint, but you can use your a paint brush in the same way. Dip it into the paint. Then, flick it onto the paper. Be careful to stay close to the paper to ensure the paint lands on the paper and not on the wall or floor beside the paper. 

Repeat until you have the amount of splatter that appeals to you. I shake the paint tube several times before I re-dip it. This creates different sizes of paint splatter. 

Other ways to add splatter …

Add some paint to a small spray bottle and spray the paper. For this method, make sure the paint is thin enough to work with the sprayer. I sometimes add a little bit of water to the paint to thin it down. The nozzle will still clog sometimes. Just rinse it under warm water and try again. 

Or…

Put paint on the bristles of an old toothbrush. To make the splatter, just run your thumb across the bristles with it pointed at the paper. This works best for a smaller piece of wrapping paper and gives it a fine snow effect. 

When your splatter wrapping paper has dried, Wrap it up! Add ribbon, names or Christmas phrases to make your gifts extra special.

For those of you who want some practice with different styles of lettered Christmas phrases, I created a worksheet for you that I’ll add to the Resource Library (get the password when you sign up to receive email updates).

Experiment with splattered wrapping paper. It has so many possibilities (and you get to throw paint!). 

Happy creating!