With the holidays coming up, it’s almost inevitable that there will be some extra wrapping paper laying around. Instead of just throwing this year’s wrapping paper away, save some scraps! Wrapping paper comes in so many unique patterns and designs these days, and reusing some of these paper pieces can make for some really fun journal spreads.

Today I’ll be walking you through how to use your holiday wrapping paper scraps to make a fun and meaningful journal spread. This is one of my favorite types of spreads and I make it every year! Overall, it’s a fun way to commemorate each holiday season.

Note: I’ll be referencing Christmas in my journal spread just because that’s the holiday I celebrate, but this type of journal spread can be made with any type of wrapping paper! So, feel free to take inspiration from whatever holiday you celebrate and really make it your own.

About Me:

Hello! I’m Lea Rose—a freelance writer and journal fanatic. I’ve been writing and creating journal spreads since I was a little kid and can proudly say it’s what’s led me to my current career. I love quotes, anything travel-related, and putting my creativity to use, so you’ll definitely see these influences in today’s blog post. If you’d like to check out some of my writing, work with me, or just say hello, head over to my site, Written World!

Bullet Journal Supplies:

• A5 Dot Grid Notebook
• Calliograph Pens - Jewel Collection
• Holiday wrapping paper
• Scissors
• Pens or pencils
• Glue stick
• Ruler
• Colored pencils (optional)
• Washi tape, stamps, stickers, or anything else decorative (optional)
• Extra paper pieces (optional)

To receive a discount on your A&O order, be sure to use my code “writtenworld10” at checkout!

Wrapping Paper Spread Instructions:  

1. Collect your leftover holiday wrapping paper

You can collect your holiday wrapping paper in a couple of ways. The first is to save any leftover scraps from the gifts you wrap for family and friends. This is a great way to cut down on waste. Another way is to save some wrapping paper scraps from the gifts that you receive! I especially like to save scraps if a gift I received was particularly meaningful.

Go ahead and collect your wrapping paper scraps throughout the holiday season. You don’t need to save large pieces, either. Depending on the pattern or design of the wrapping paper, you may just want to tear off some smaller chunks. Once you have a good amount of wrapping paper scraps collected, you can move onto the next step.

2. Take inspiration from your holiday wrapping paper

Now that you’ve got your wrapping paper collected, it’s time to select which paper scraps you want to use! Take stock of everything you have, and brainstorm ways you can reuse them in your journal spread.

For example, I ended up choosing the black and white dotted wrapping paper because it reminded me of snow falling. I also used the brown paper because it made me think of Christmas tree trunks, so then I decided to incorporate Christmas trees into my journal spread, too.

I recommend looking at your collection and thinking about what the paper reminds you of. This is a great way to take inspiration from the wrapping paper itself, and create a journal spread around that idea.

3. Brainstorm and incorporate other holiday elements

Now that you’ve got your main themes chosen, it’s time to start building the rest of your journal spread around that. Try brainstorming a list of ideas that come from your wrapping paper themes.

My brainstorming went a little like this:

Black and white dotted wrapping paper reminds me of falling snow. Here are some holiday ideas that go along with that:

• Watching snow fall outside the window
• Seeing snow fall in the city
• City colors like blues and gold

The brown paper can be used as Christmas tree trunks. Here are some matching ideas:

• Different types of christmas trees
• Gifts under the tree
• Brown paper packages
• Christmas tree green and gold

See what I mean? Doing this will help you figure out what direction you want to take your journal spread in, and help you solidify things like colors and other elements. You can do this with as many pieces of wrapping paper you want, and as a result, you’ll have endless ideas to pick and choose from!

4. Put the journal spread together

Now that you’ve got all your brainstorming out of the way and some solid themes picked out, it’s time to start putting it all together. Play around with how much space you want your wrapping paper pieces to take up, and where you want them to go. I recommend gluing the wrapping paper down first as the foundation for your spread, and creating everything else around that.

I also recommend sketching some things out with a pencil so you can make sure you like how things look before you put in finishing touches with your calliograph pens and other illustrations.

5. More ideas for your journal spread 

There are endless ways to take a holiday journal spread like this one. To help you out if you’re feeling stuck, here are some more ideas to get you started:

• Cut shapes or designs out of your holiday wrapping paper and glue them in like stickers
• Incorporate song lyrics or other holiday phrases
• Holiday illustrations like Christmas trees, bells, Hanukkah Menorahs, lights, etc.
• Leave some blank space for writing things like:
• Your favorite things about the holidays
• A favorite holiday recipe
• List of favorite holiday songs
• Gift list for your loved ones

For some extra help with planning out your holiday wrapping paper journal spread, use my planning sheet!

I’d love to see how you use your used wrapping paper in your bullet journal and tag us @archerandolive, @archerandolive.community and use the hashtags #AOShare and #archerandolive. Happy journaling!