Did you know that a roll of ordinary gift wrap can open a world of possibilities for you and your long-distance grandkids? Join me now on a creative journey that begins with a quick glance and an idea. The result: wrapping our way to a story.

One afternoon at home, I happened to be looking around for something to do with my grands on our next video chat.  Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a roll of birthday wrapping paper with dogs in party hats. “Hmmm…”, I thought, “the grandkids love anything with dogs. Maybe we’ll have some fun with this.” We did, and you can, too!

Supplies

Gift wrap – see tips below
Regular scissors and/or nail scissors
Glue stick or double-sided tape runner
8 1/2″ x 11″ blank book (comes in a package of 6)
Markers or colored pencils
Plain or colored craft sticks
If desired- stickers or construction paper

Cut It Out

At the time, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the gift wrap. So, I just cut out one set of the party dogs. On our next chat, I shared them with my grandkids. They were so excited. After picking out their favorites, they gave each dog a name.

The Story Begins

Kids are such natural storytellers. When we talked next, I asked them to tell me a story about the dogs. With pen in hand and a little encouragement, I took out a notebook and wrote down their words. And that is how, “Stories of the Puppyville Dogs” began. Then, at their request, I read the stories to them each time we talked.

Booking It

Over time, I realized that the stories from my notebook were missing an important element: the dog cut outs! Fortunately, I discovered a blank book to put the stories in, and that worked out great. Using the dog cutouts and just a little drawing, the Puppyville dogs officially celebrated a birthday in story number one. And in story number two, the Puppyville dogs celebrated two weddings. Here are some of our pages.

From story to real-life puppets

With my wonderful gooseneck phone holder, I shared the new Puppyville storybook. The arrangement worked fine, but as time passed, I decided the storybook really belonged with my long-distance grandkids. But before I was ready to mail it, I thought of one more thing I could do with the gift wrap!  I glued another cutout of each dog onto a colorful craft stick to create a set of puppets. The puppets brought their stories alive. Since then, I’ve been treated to adorable puppet shows from afar.

Wrapping your way to a story

What are three great things about using gift wrap?

1. It’s easy to use. Only basic supplies are needed- scissors and glue. Nail scissors, by the way, help with details.
2. The design repeats. It’s perfect for stories and more, because you can cut out multiples of the same object.
3. Minimal drawing skills are needed! You just need to add a few lines to the cut outs to complete a picture.

Where can you find this kind of really cool gift wrap?

First, take a look around your house. Sometimes we have more possibilities than we realize. For example, holiday gift wrap with snowmen can become a winter fantasy story or flowers can become the story of a secret garden. If you don’t have any gift wrap handy, your local retail and discount stores are great. Also, here’s a few other places to try:

• Papersource
• Etsy
• Papermart

HAVE FUN!