DIY Architect Print Gift Wrap.

I haven’t done a cool DIY in FOREVER, at least not for blog purposes. I still make things all the time – that’s called life! But this holiday season I wanted to do a cool gift wrapping story. Imagine how banal my life is, that I actually said aloud, “I think I should do a gift wrapping post this season.” Is Pinterest imitating life or is life imitating Pinterest?

Anyway, while brainstorming with Courtney, she reminded me of that time I made a jumbo architect print of the kids for their room, and suggested that for a cool gift wrap idea. This is why I keep her around, she’s a smart one! Engineering prints, or architect prints, are large cheap copies of photos that you can make at Staples or Kinkos. They range from $2 for an 18 x 24 to $7 for a 36 x 48. So basically – not much more than gift wrap.

You can email a photo off of your phone right there in the store. It doesn’t matter if it gets pixelated or blurry. My staples screwed up and printed a horizontal photo in a vertical shape, and basically morphed it and I still love the way that box looks! I chose all black and white photos of graphic floors, a beach scene and some leaves, the most recent photos I had, basically. You can shoot a photo of a crosswalk or something with your phone ON YOUR WAY to the damn store and still get a cool paper out of it!

The 24 x 36 size was good enough for my box coverage, and I basically just wrapped em up using tape. The only caveat is that the paper is not as thin as wrapping paper, so if you’re an UBER perfectionist, you may not like the way the paper folds at the corners. Although I found that if you make a sharp crease it folds just fine.

Of course, part of what makes these look so good, is that I finished them off with trimming from our very own M&J Trimming…When you wrap something with a freakin 2″ thick chrome spun grosgrain, the ribbon becomes part of the gift, does it not? I know I always keep the nice ribbons that come with gifts, and I have access to all the ribbon I could possibly ever want! I also used rope and then vintage mirrored trim on one of the packages, they have such an awesome vintage trim collection.

Finished em off with some metal rimmed gift tags. And that’s it! The making of the paper is a *tiny* little extra step in your regular gift wrapping routine, and I think it makes the whole thing so personal and cool! Like you could wrap each gift in a different photo that corresponds to the person or what’s inside. You could take it as far as you want, you know? I’m the type of person that either does something totally half assed (i.e., wrapping Hanukah presents on the floor of my closet with Xmas paper from Duane Reed while the kids light the candles in the other room) OR totally 100% badassedly awesome.

This year, I went with awesome.

Happy Holidays!

(And if any of you do this, I must see a photo!)