Craft Tuesday: Wrapping Paper Collage

Every year for Christmas I spend money on beautiful wrapping paper only to see it used and thrown away without ever capturing how pretty it was under our tree. Not anymore! Here is a wonderful way for you to remember the excitement of Christmas morning- a wrapping paper collage!

By Mod Podging squares of the wrapping paper you use each year onto a hefty sheet of paper or cardboard, and then placing a picture from Christmas morning on top, you can create a great piece of wall art for the holidays (or a scrapbook page).

Left: Blue reindeer, lightweight "cheap" paper wrinkled
Right: Brown and silver, heavier paper did not wrinkle

After doing this one myself, I found that the heavier the paper the better, because it won't wrinkle up when the Mod Podge is applied. From a distance though, the wrinkles are not noticeable. On the same note, my square hole punch wouldn't punch through the foiled paper, and I had to cut it by hand. Also, I would suggest tracing out the bottom line of each row of wrapping paper, otherwise your lines may tilt a little, like mine. Of course, that's all in the charm of a hand made craft!

You will need:

• 1 12x12 piece of card stock or cardboard
• 1 square hole punch (I used a 3" diagonal square hole punch)
• 1 photograph
• Black cardstock/scrapbooking paper
• Stickers of your choice
• Glossy Mod Podge
• Wrapping paper scraps
• Sponge brush

Begin by gathering up some wrapping paper scraps. You will need to punch several squares out of each sheet. I used a total of 25 squares (5 squares by 5 squares, each square measuring a little over 2"), and punched about 28 squares to choose from.

Once you have all of your squares punched, play with them and arrange them in a way that you like! This took me a few minutes and a lot of moving around, right until I had almost every square back at their starting point, until I was pleased with the arrangement!

Then make a stack for each row to keep them in order as you proceed to glue them down. Doing one row at a time, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge and then lay your wrapping paper squares down. Your Mod Podge may dry before you get to lay down the last square or two, so reapply the Mod Podge before you lay those squares down.

After you have Mod Podged all of your squares, glue down any loose corners and let dry completely. This shouldn't take more than 10 minutes, max. Now, apply one or two thick coats of Mod Podge on top to seal the squares down and give your collage a nice finished look.

While this top coat dries, glue your picture to the black sheet of paper, leaving a quarter inch border around the edge.  On another piece of black paper, use stickers to write the year or your family name. Trim to size. Once the Mod Podge is dry, trim off any excess paper and glue down the black papers with craft glue, or a little bit more Mod Podge. Do not Mod Podge over this layer.

Now you can frame your wrapping paper collage, put it in your scrapbook, or keep it somewhere special for you to look back on whenever you like.