— Someday Someday

Cereal boxes, disassembled box as template (or Google “paper box template”), X-acto knife, glue dot.

This feat of origami genius is the Rewrap design by Tina Dhingra from [re]design design‘s book “Why Don’t You [re]design Christmas?” It’s meant to be made with found papers, but in this version I’ve used coloured paper to show off the complex and beautiful construction — it’s like sculpture!

Patterns hand-screenprinted on rescued greyboard from my favorite local bookbindery.

I love the patterns on the insides of envelopes. As an alternative to those nasty gift bows you can buy by the bag, make your own from any paper with nice patterns or colours. Full directions are at the lovely blog of graphic and textile designer Jessica Jones, How About Orange.

You can also use all kinds of other scrap paper, like the glossy flier used here. Note that glossy paper requires a stronger adhesive (I used glue dots for this glossy one; a glue stick for the envelope liner bows). How About Orange has an example of a beautiful bow made from maps.

wrapping paper, Xmas 2008
A mash-up of NYC subway maps, tissue paper, and “God Jul” stickers and felt ornaments from Sweden. The red paper ribbon is folded up lengths of leftover tissue paper.