Homemade Elephant Stamp and Gift Paper

I eagerly made this homemade elephant stamp for the son of my very good friend but was pretty delayed in delivering it.  So to make amends, I added a little extra surprise on the side - homemade, elephant-stamped gift paper!

I made the gift paper out of mahjong paper - when I finally purchased it!  Amidst the school-time shopping rush, I braved the school supplies section of the bookstore to look for mahjong paper and with hubby's help, happily went home with the heavy pad with 40 sheets of potential gift paper.

Mahjong paper is perfect for making homemade gift paper as it's sold flat (not folded) so if you want to stamp an image away, you could just go at it, line of sight undeterred!  Plus, when it's used as gift paper, you don't have to worry about the visible creases.  Also, compared to kraft paper, it has a more ideal width at 33"x 33" and has a better shade of brown.   A bit of a downside though (which I don't mind actually) is that all sheets are sealed with padding adhesive on all sides (hubby says it's because after a game of mahjong, the topmost sheet is meant to be torn off).  I used a cutter to separate the first sheet of paper from the rest of the pad.

Here's a shot of the homemade elephant-stamped gift paper.

So cute, isn't it?!

I found it so nice that I hesitated to give it away for a moment!  Hahaha!  Shhhh...

I can't wait to make more homemade gift paper with the 39 remaining mahjong sheets! ; )  I'll definitely post the finished products when I get the time! = )