So, you're in the office, and doesn't it seem like there's always somebody having a birthday when you work in a big office? Someone in the next cubicle is singing Happy Birthday to somebody pretty much every day. And you have something that you need to give to somebody, but you can't run out on your lunch and waste your lunch hour buying wrapping paper. So, what can you do with typing paper? This actually, you know we all have typing paper or printer...it's not called typing paper anymore is it? It's called printer paper. I'm dating myself, for lack of anyone better to date. If you've got printer paper in your house, you can make wrapping paper, like that. Save the day. So what I'm going to do is show you a couple of things you can do, just with whatever markers you've got lying around. Everybody's got a highlighter; you've got a Sharpie. And you don't have to know how to draw to have some success making your own typing paper wrapping paper. You want an all-over pattern. So what I'm going to do is just make dots. So easy, just circles. And you know, they don't have to be precise at all. They can be really casual, because you see in the stores all the time these very loose illustration styles that I think are actually quite whimsical and attractive. I am drawn to that kind of style. And you can create that right at home. And look how fast this is going too. Now, there are two ways to -- actually there are three ways -- that you can transform these dots into something really special. One is you can just make them into little happy faces. Is that precious? Just take your Sharpie. Some of the smiles go one way, some go the other. And you don't have to actually draw on all the dots. Some of them can be just dots. Another thing you can do is you can turn these into little flowers by just doing a spiral. Anyone can do it. You're going to draw a circle around the outside and then spiral in toward the center, like this. Spiral in toward the center. It goes very fast. You don't have to be artistic, just kind of like making an "at" sign, and you know how to do that. I won't do the whole page, but I want to show you the finishing touch that really makes this look so cute. And that is little leaves. You see how they don't have to be precise? This isn't, you know, you're not getting graded on this. Oh, so cute. And if you're wrapping a little box with this, it's going to look so darling. And, you know, go put this on a piece of paper when you get started so you can have some of them going off the edges too, that's nice. Then, when you put it on your box, it will be more like real wrapping paper. Some other fun ideas: taking a pink highlighter and making some little hearts and just outlining them with a black fine-tipped pen. Here's those swirls again, only this time I didn't make them into flowers. And then I added, just every once in awhile, three dots. Three dots, that's it. Kind of a little triangle: dot, dot, dot. That can go anywhere. Really adds a lot of pizazz. In fact, you can do the three dots without even having the swirls on it. Oops! Just dots. You can do that in any color. So cute, and it really looks sharp on a present. Another thing that we can go to is the X. You can make an X. Make an X all over your piece of paper with a colored highlighter, and then just go over each of those X's with your Sharpie. Easy-peasy! And those dots that we made at the very beginning, we've come full circle, and we've added some very casual petals to them. Look, just like something you'd buy in a stationery store. It's very casual and cute, and it looks so darling once you get it on the box. You could wrap a little box with it, or you can make a little tote using that all-over print. Next, some cute ideas with more office supplies.
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