How to Upcycle Packing Paper into Beautiful Gift Wrap

This post brought to you by Duck Brand provided by ShurTech Brands, LLC. All opinions are 100% mine.

We like to keep gift-giving simple in our home–and that includes the gift wrap. I'll be honest: That typically means that I save and reuse gift wrap and gift bags from previous years. I use them over and over until I wear them out!

This is both economical and eco-friendly.

But it recently dawned on me that what might be even more eco-friendly would be to upcycle various other papers that make their way into our home and normally end up in the recylcling bin.

Because I am a blogger, I receive an unusual number of packages in the mail for review items. (I admit: It's a huge perk of the job. 😉 ) Most often, these packages include some type of packing paper.

A few days ago my husband and I decided to salvage some paper from a recent package and attempt to upcycle it into gift wrap–the resulting gift wrap turned out beautifully! 

We simply folded the packing paper around the gift boxes in the same manner in which we would fold regular wrapping paper. Yes, the packing paper was slightly crinkled, but I recently read that the crinkled look is "trendy" right now. (Imagine that: I was trendy–on accident!) 

To dress the packages up a bit, we made bows out of EZ Start Printed Packaging Tape. The tape comes in both Christmas ornaments and peppermint designs, and we figured that if we had to tape the package anyway, we might as well make it pretty. 🙂 

This tutorial gave us some ideas for making the bows from the EZ Start® Printed Packaging Tape from Duck Brand®. They turned out sturdy enough that I think they will hold up year-after-year, so we can continue re-using much of our gift wrap–while upcycling any packing materials that make their way into our home! 

If you want to check out more create DIY projects using EZ Start® Printed Packaging Tape from Duck Brand®, follow @TheDuckBrand on Twitter or use the hashtag #EZstart on Pinterest. My husband and I were amazed at all the creative ways people use Duck Brand® tape. In fact, later this week I will be sharing a Christmas ornament craft my husband did with our girls! 

What do you typically use to wrap gifts? Have you ever used upcycled packing paper as gift wrap?