Holiday Project: Recycling Wrap

I'm one of those people who carefully save the wrapping paper from every gift I receive. I always have good intentions of re-using it to wrap future gifts . . . but the reality is, this saved paper is often kind of dinged-up, torn, and wrinkled. Not really usable except for very small gifts.

And so, I finally devised this little project. It's a nice way to use up all those pieces of leftover wrap. By cutting them into strips and weaving them, you can hide all the little rips and wrinkles, and you end up creating something very pretty. So here you go!

Start by finding a flat, clean work-surface. You can make as large a piece of woven wrap as you like - it just depends on having a work-surface large enough.

Then, collect some pieces of wrapping paper, and cut them into strips. I think the finished product is nicest if each of the wraps you use has a strong color-presence. I'm using 1 1/2"-wide strips here, but feel free to use any width you like. (Boy, is a paper cutter your friend here.)

The length of your strips, of course, determines how large your finished sheet of wrap will be. If you need to, you can tape your strips together end-to-end with some clear tape to make them longer.

Think of it this way: how wide do you need your finished sheet of wrap to be? Make the strips that will weave horizontally that same measurement. How long do you need your sheet to be? Make the strips that will weave vertically that same measurement.

Okay, next, take the vertical strips and lay them out side by side on your work-surface. I'm using two different papers here and alternating them, but maybe you want them to be all the same. Up to you.

When you have these strips the way you like them, you'll want to gently tape them down so they won't move around. For this, I use small pieces of masking tape, but I put my fingers all over the adhesive first, so they're less sticky. (Or, if you have some drafting tape, use that.) See how lightly I'm sticking the tape down? You don't want to be too firm here, because you don't want to rip the paper later when you pull these pieces up.

You're all taped down and set to weave now. See how I used one bit of tape between every two strips? That works well.

Time to weave! Take one of your horizontal strips. Start at the bottom, and weave it over and under, and over and under, the vertical strips. Just think back to Scout Camp. Or grade school.

Now, slide that strip all the way up to the top, where your masking tape is. Make sure the strip is centered side-to-side, and snug against the top.

Weave a second strip, starting at the bottom and sliding it to nestle right under the first strip. Weave this one opposite to the first, under and over, under and over.

Keep going, and each time you add a new strip, just make sure it's nice and snug under the previous one. You don't want any gaps between strips.

When you don't have space to weave in any more strips, you're done!

TIme to secure the edges. The first thing I do is secure the two vertical sides of the sheet. I put a tab of clear tape at the end of each horizontal strip . . . .

. . . And wrap that tape around to the back. Do this for every horizontal strip, along both sides of your sheet.

Then, very carefully, pull up that masking tape so you can liberate your sheet from the work-surface. Carefully turn it over. We'll do the rest of our securing on the back.

If you have any tabs of paper sticking up along the edges here on the back, go ahead and tape them down. And if you've woven a fairly large sheet, you might also want to apply some little pieces of tape here and there around the back of the sheet, placing them over the junctions between four strips.

With your paper thus secured, you're ready to wrap something with it. And be sure to use some ribbon you saved from last year's gifts!