Merry Christmas Eve, everybody. My family does a Secret Santa gift exchange and I wrapped my presents this morning. I used brown Kraft paper to wrap, then I freehanded a design in pencil on the smaller gift. Then I colored in the lines with a silver gel pen (purchased from JetPens.com) and a thin-tipped Sharpie. Start:

Finish:

I taped this awesome textured red-and-black origami paper on top of the larger box on the bottom and then stacked the smaller gift on top.

Gotta go make some pierogi and drink some egg nog. Have a great day, everyone!

As promised, I’m including here a layout of The Moles so that you can print it out on your home printer and make your own mini book out of one sheet of paper to carry around in your purse, backpack, or satchel. Click on this image to download a pdf of the layout:

Check out the individual panels in my previous post, The Moles – All Done!

And here are the instructions for making your own The Moles 8-panel book from an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper:

Step 1: Print on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper

I printed on my home inkjet printer, using some semi-nice matte paper. Don’t use anything too heavyweight, otherwise the book won’t fold well. The pdf is 8.5 x 11, so print at 100%. Your finished mini book will be 3.25″ x 2.5″.

Step 2: Trim

(I’m using a blade, but you can use scissors for all the cutting too)

Step 3: Fold in half lengthwise

Step 4: Fold in half the other way

Step 5: Fold in top and bottom to the middle fold line

Step 6: Cut a line in the middle of the paper, using the fold lines as guides

This is what you should get:

Step 7: Fold stuff, making a kind of diamond shape

Step 8: Voila!

Use this technique for making your own mini-books, too. It’s eight panels worth of fun, which is just the right amount of fun for me.

I’m done with The Moles. It’s a story written by Gab Danon and illustrated by me, created as a mini-comic for childlike adults, or adult-like children. I’m still working out the page that you’ll be able to print out on your printer and fold into your own mini-book, but that should be ready within the next couple of days. In the meantime, here are all 8 completed panels.

Edited to add: I finished the layout for printing your own Moles mini-book! Click on the image below to download the pdf:

Go check out my subsequent The Moles post if you need instructions on how to print out the above and cut and trim it into your own mini-book.

Part 5! Part 5! Part 5! Part 5! Part 5!
Remember, all panels will be done by Sunday, December 20.