These wrapping paper chains and baubles are a thrifty Christmas craft for kids, but they make very pretty holiday decorations! The gluing together of the wrapping paper for these was a bit fiddly, but after the preparation the crafts were very simple and produced a lovely result. It is better to use good quality paper that is less likely to rip.
From the 4 pieces of wrapping paper we glued together we made 3 large baubles and a long paper chain. From any remaining wrapping paper you could make bunting and an origami advent calendar and get a full set of decorations from a few rolls of wrapping paper. If you wanted to do this on a smaller scale you could print some of our scrapbook designs onto paper and glue these back to back.
Here's a wrapping paper bauble showing 4 different sheets of Christmas wrapping paper
Our double-sided wrapping paper chain
Wrapping Paper Chains
You will need:
4 sheets of wrapping paper with different patterns (or 4 pieces of wrapping paper cut from rolls to about 50cm by 1m)
Glue (spray adhesive or glue sticks - PVA / white glue won't work as it will wrinkle the paper)
Glue stick or stapler
Instructions:
1. Pair the paper up and then glue each pair together with wrong sides facing. This is quite tricky to do to get the paper to stay flat and avoid bumps and is best done by an adult. The trick is to lay one piece on a flat surface, put glue across the top fifth and carefully line up and stick on the second piece. Continue to stick down a bit at a time. When dry trim the edges so you have two rectangles of paper.
2. Cut these rectangles into strips.
3. Take one of these strips and staple or glue the ends together to form a loop. Take a strip from the second set of paper patterns and thread it through the paper loop, stapling or gluing to form a loop. Repeat with a strip from the first set but turn it over so the other design is on top, and again repeat with a piece from the second set also turned over to show the other pattern. Repeat, continuing the pattern until you run out of paper strips or you decide the chain is long enough.
The variety of wrapping papers makes these paper chains look extra pretty!
For this wrapping paper bauble we used one pair (2 sheets) of wrapping paper only
Wrapping Paper Bauble
You will need:
4 sheets of wrapping paper with different patterns (or 4 pieces of wrapping paper cut from rolls to about 50cm by 1m)
Glue (spray adhesive or glue sticks - PVA / white glue won't work as it will wrinkle the paper)
Hole punch
2 paper fasteners per bauble
Yarn (wool) or ribbon to hang
Follow steps 1 and 2 as in the wrapping paper chains above.
Take four strips from each of the two sets of patterns.
Lay them in a pile, alternating the designs (you can either pick one pattern from each set so you are alternating two designs or use all four patterns). Punch a hole in the middle of the strips and attach together with a paper fastener.
Punch a hole in both ends of the strips. Bring one set of ends over the others to make a loop and fasten with the other paper fastener.
Tease apart the paper strips so they open up to form a bauble.
Tie a piece of ribbon or yarn to one of the paper fasteners to hang the bauble.
We made large baubles to hang from the ceiling but by using smaller strips you could make small ones to hang on the tree.
This wrapping paper bauble looks so pretty!