The following tutorial was submitted by silkscreen artist Shannon Riffe.
This holiday season looks to be more subdued than previous years. With uncertainty about the economic situation, many people will choose to give fewer or less expensive gifts this year. They may even decide to give handmade gifts. Whatever your choice for gift-giving, make sure to take the time to present it beautifully to your recipent.
Here's a quick and easy tutorial for creating patterned paper bags. The finished size of these bags ends up being about 5" x 9," perfect for slipping in a small book, soaps or a set of handmade cards. Once you've got this tutorial down, it's easy to recreate at different sizes to accommodate larger gifts.
The papers used here are available in my Etsy shop, but you can create this with any patterned paper you have around your home, even newspaper!
Supplies Needed:
Sheets of patterned paper
Ruler
X-Acto knife or scissors
Double sided tape or glue
Bone folder (optional)
Cutting mat (optional)
Instructions:
Cut your paper down to 12 x 12 squares.
Use your bone folder to score the paper in three places as shown in the diagram above and fold paper along these score lines. The dashed lines represent the scores. If you don't have a bone folder, place your ruler in the correct spot and then fold paper over to get a sharp crease.
Your paper should look like this:
Now fold your paper over so it looks like the photo above. One edge of the paper will rest under the 1" folded edge of the other side of the paper. Glue or tape the 1" edge down.
For the other side of the bag, fold the side in on itself so that the bag can now lay flat.
It should look like the image below.
Fold the bottom edge up and over to seal the bottom of the bag. Glue or tape in place.
You now have a slim paper bag, perfect for wrapping small gift like handmade cards.
Tuck your present inside the bag, then fold the top over. Seal with tape and have fun
with coordinating ribbon and gift tags.
Comments