Are you beginning to think about wrapping packages for holiday gift-giving? My niece, Shel, turned it into a photocrafting opportunity – photo wrapping paper!
Shel picked Minted.com to use for this project. It’s a somewhat different and interesting site generally because all the products are designed by independent artists. Their primary focus is stationery, especially for holidays and special events (e.g. weddings.) There are several good photocrafting possibilities as well as unique prints without photos.
To create photo wrapping paper on Minted, simply pick out your favorite gift wrapping layout set up for one photo or multiple photos. My niece chose a simple layout with the ability to include two different images but she used the same image for both! (Clicking on the blank image instructs you to choose or upload an image.) She suggests editing your photo before you upload. This is generally a good tip for photocrafting because most product sites don’t include much photo editing capability. Minted does allow you to modify the image by rotating, zooming in, and changing from color to black/white.
Click on a blank image box to insert a photo. 
Cick to upload an new photo or select
one you’ve previously uploaded.
This layout allows two different images and various color schemes. 
My niece used the same image for both.
Note that some layouts allow you to use text boxes as well.
Tips from Shel:
- For wrapping paper, go to GIFTS (not HOLIDAY) and then Gift Wrap.
- Make a special, personalized wrapping for each child.
- Create a unique wrapping from Santa.
- Make special wrapping for grandparents and other family members.
- Minted sells ribbon so that you can have a one-shop stop for your holiday wrapping.
The gift wrap shown here was five 20”x28” sheets for $15 plus shipping. It’s all matte thick paper (easy to use for wrapping) which Shel likes because it makes it more homemade. However, that is the only option so it’s not glossy like traditional wrapping. Minted does have promos sometimes for free shipping or a % off as well as exceptional customer service. Shel says “They are a pricier site which detours me sometimes. But their service and quality is great so it suckers me back in.”
Want more? There are gift tags and stickers too. Shel didn’t want to have all the tags be the same so she got stickers and then used one per tag so she could add her own TO and FROM. They were $10 for 8 stickers.
Several other sites offer personalized photo gift wrapping paper. Zazzle has rolls of photo wrapping paper, 30” x 6’. (A 6’ roll wraps three shirt boxes.) You can get it in glossy or linen (about $22/roll) or matte (about $17/roll). As with other photocrafting projects, choose the photo(s) you want to use, select a layout you like, upload your photo(s) to the site, and drop each photo into the blank image box.
Photocrafting Fun 