How To: DIY wrapping paper

I recently was gifted a small collection of beautiful vintage trims from a friend of a friend. I'm totally infatuated by them and don't know if I will ever find a project special enough to warrant cutting into them...and then I had a brain wave! Wrapping Paper.

It's easy to create your own personalized decorative papers, all you need is a scanner/printer or colour photocopier. Get the kids involved, they will love creating their own designs.

How to:
Gather up interesting and colourful objects. Things that lay flat on the scanner bed tend to work the best.
Depending on your make of copier, you may not even need to use your computer.
Lay out your objects face down on the scanner bed, be careful not to scratch the glass.
I've used vintage ribbons and some spotty tissue paper.
Press copy and in a few second you'll have yourself some super original paper.

You can use your pretty papers as I have for wrapping small gifts (you may need to join a few pieces together), or covering a note book. But there are so many other uses...scrap booking, decoupage, collages, origami, kids crafting, wallpapering doll houses...

Just remember that some objects you copy may be subject to copy write so its best to keep the papers you create for personal use only.