I’m always on the lookout for lovely, unique, inexpensive artwork. I would love to support artists and buy huge, one-of-a-kind canvases covered in marvelous colors and perfected dabs of paint, but alas, my funds are insufficient. And I adore artwork from a trip or that has a special memory — that’s the best. But sometimes a girl who can’t afford masterpieces or a vacation just needs to fill a frame because she can’t stand a white wall staring at her one more second!

This time I used World Market gift wrap. Every time I walk into the store, the gift wrap/bag section is like a magnet. So many fun patterns and colors. Sometimes I buy them, with no gift or project in mind. It’s not something I normally do, but I just can’t seem to help myself. It sort of bothers me that a gift will be wrapped in the beautiful paper and then torn apart and discarded.

Anyway, the paper is handcrafted from repurposed cotton remnants with traditional silkscreen printing techniques in India, and it’s lovely. The roll is 21″ x 30″ and costs $2.99. You can see texture from the cotton paper and ink.

With paper or fabric, patterns with big elements or patterns that vary quite a bit tend to work well for framing. In other words, small and repetitive patterns don’t create as much visual interest.

Speaking of frames, who isn’t obsessed with the Ribba frame series from Ikea? I specifically love the clean, bright white frames that let the artwork be the focus. The Ribba frame shown above, with mat, holds a 11.75″ x 15.75″ photo and is $14.99. Can’t beat it.

So, all that to say: You can use gift wrap as artwork, too.