Searching for the perfect Christmas wrapping paper? Dreaming of DIY decorations with a literary twist? We’re here to help! We’ve combed the collection for festive images, prints and patterns to remix into Christmas crafts.

From plum puddings and pretty patterns to festive flowers and Father Christmas, we’ve created a selection of wrapping paper and papercraft stars using images from the Library’s Digital Image Pool.

With more than 200,000 images that are out of copyright or available to use, the Digital Image Pool is a great place to start your search for images from the Library’s collection. They are free to download, reuse, remix and publish, all we ask is that you credit the original creator of the work and the Library.

DIY wrapping paper

Make your Kris Kringle present stand out with unique wrapping paper made using images from the Library’s collection. You can print an image from our Digital Image Pool onto A4 or A3 paper (you may need to print multiple copies for large presents!) or you can make a repeating pattern. We used an online tool called Repper to create our patterns (a free version can be found here). We played around with the options in the tool to create a pattern we liked, and then saved out a large image using the settings below:

You can also use Photoshop to create a pattern using a tutorial like this or this. 

Here’s some we made earlier:

A Christmas pudding, Charles Norton collection, 1870

Download and print this wrapping paper.

Foy and Gibson’s Xmas Fair and Magic Cave, Troedel collection, 1881-90

Download and print this wrapping paper.

Father Christmas on eagle carrying basket of toys, 1906

Download and print this wrapping paper.

Selected pages of The “Nuremberg Chronicle”, 1493

Download and print this wrapping paper.

Image from the butterflies and moths series of Shell project cards, 1962

Download and print this wrapping paper.

Papercraft stars

We also made these papercraft star decorations using images from our collection. You can make your own by following this tutorial.

All you need is:

• an image or pattern from our collection
• a printer
• an A4 sheet of paper (you can make a square from an A4 sheet of paper)
• some scissors
• some string (if you want to hang them up!)

Start searching the Digital Image Pool for images and inspiration or download these patterns we made using the wildflower series of Shell project cards by Ralph Malcolm.

Share your remixed collection crafts with us online using the hashtag #remixvic. Happy crafting!

---

You may also like

How to make a paper lantern

Make your own 19th-century paper puppy