A couple of weeks ago I came across this tutorial on how to create personalised giftwrapped presents by adding the recipient's name in cut-out letters.

I loved the concept but, as my family are quite into Christmas, wanted to make the wrapping a bit more festive, so customised the tutorial to use different materials - traditional Christmas wrapping paper for the main covering, and standard brown parcel paper for the letters.

Step 1: What You'll Need

- Wrapping paper
- Brown parcel paper
- Sellotape
- Scissors
- Alphabet templates (available here at the original tutorial)
- PDF reader or image editing software
- Printer
- Pencil
- Tracing paper / greaseproof paper
- Craft knife / Stanley knife
- Cutting board
- Pritt Stick / glue stick
- Tape measure (if you're as anal as I am)

Step 2: Wrap the Presents and Print Out the Alphabet Stencils

After wrapping the presents, size them up (or measure them if you have to be *really* precise) and resize your downloaded alphabet stencil using a PDF reader or image editing software. I used Illustrator as it's easy to set up an A4 print document to check the final size the letters will be when they're printed out.

Print out the stencils.

Step 3: Trace the Letters and Transfer Them Onto the Parcel Paper

Using tracing paper or greaseproof paper, trace the letters from the alphabet stencils (photo 1).

Flip the paper over, and trace over the letters to transfer them onto the parcel paper (photo 2). The transferred letters should be mirror images so that when you come to cut them out the clean side of the paper will have the letters on it the right way round.

Step 4: Cut Out the Letters

Cut out the letters, using the craft knife or Stanley knife to cut out the empty areas inside letters.

Step 5: Glue the Letters Onto the Parcels

Using Pritt Stick, glue the letters onto the parcels. Make sure to cover the entire back of the letter in glue so that the edges don't curl.

Repeat for the rest of your parcels, and put them under the tree (if that's the kind of thing you do).