upcycled gift wrap

There is always that one family member who insists upon saving opened gift wrap and I am that family member! While I am not a hoarder, I do like to upcycle things in my creative projects that would otherwise get thrown out. Christmas is my favorite time to stock up on colorful paper that I can put to use in projects throughout the year. After everyone opens their presents, I collect the paper (even the crumbled paper) that catches my eye- my favorites are tissue paper, colorful wrapping and interesting prints. There are SO many ways to upcycle gift wrap and today I am sharing three of my favorites!

Incorporating gift wrap into an art journal is super easy. Lately I have been making and binding my own art journals with my Bind-It-All. Recently I made myself a HUGE art journal filled with my hand painted paper but I also added gift wrap for a light weight filler paper that I can use to add pops of color, doodling, drawing and collage.

If you are not creating or binding your own art journals, gift wrap is great to use in the backgrounds of collage, with photos or even incorporated into painted surfaces.

I've been making paper and fabric beads for years! They are a perfect projects to put teeny tiny scraps of just about anything to use. 

Simple roll strips of paper around a tooth pick (or something similar) gluing as you roll. Once the bead it rolled up, let the glue dry. Take it a step further and dip the beads in a glossy gel medium for a little shine or even paint them!

Paper mache projects are such a great way to put scrap paper to use and it is kid friendly! We are working in a little collection of paper bowls to use for storing little goodies and tiny treasures. I love that this was created from trash!