Gift Bag Tutorial!

Before we get to the tutorial, don't forget to play along in our Blog Hop!  You have until Monday, June 27th to play along and a winner will be posted here on the blog on the 28th!  See the hop and what you can win HERE!

On my blog for our blog hop, I created a gift bag and told you all to let me know in your comments if you wanted to see a tutorial.  You said you wanted to see it, so here it is!!  It looks like a lot of steps, but it's really easy- I promise!!

First of all, gather your materials.  You will need 2 pieces of patterned paper (or cardstock), a scoreboard/scoring tool, paper trimmer, scissors, adhesive, hole punch, eyelets/eyelet setter (optional), ribbon, tag or decoration for the front.

The first piece of paper should be at 12"X12".  You need to score it at the following measurements.

The 2nd piece of paper should be trimmed to 10"X12" and scored at the following measurements.

Now, fold all of your score lines as shown below.

 On the 12"X12" piece of paper, use scissors to remove the area of the paper between the 3" horizontal score line and the 2.5" score line as shown below.  Repeat on the other side using the 3" horizontal score line and the 9.5" score line.

 On the 10"X12" piece of paper, make one cut from the edge of the paper into the 1.5" score line along the 3" horizontal score line as shown below.  Repeat on the other side using the 3" horizontal score line and the 8.5" score line.

Now flip your paper so you are looking at the side that will face the outside of your bag.  Add a strong adhesive to the outer most flap (the 1" wide section) on both sides.  I used my ATG gun, but a sticky strip would work well, also.

 Stick down the 10"X12" paper on to the flap that you just put adhesive on.  The edge of the paper should run along the 1" score line of the 12"X12" paper.

 Now, fold the 12"X10" paper underneath and fold the 1.5" flap over onto the 1" section that has ahdesive on it.  Again, the edge of the paper should run along the 1" score line.

 Now, to form the bottom of the bag, add adhesive to the outer flaps of the bottom section as shown below.

 Fold the bottom flap over and ahere the sticky ends to the innner sides of the bag.

Now, add adhesive to the remaining bottom flap.

 Fold the flap over to close the bottom of your bag.

Now, the basic bag is made!  All you have left to do is decorate it!  And, you can do that any way you want!

Here's how I chose to decorate my bag...  I started with a 2"X11" strip of white cardstock and one of the red preschool paper.  I used my Fiskars Scallop Border Punch along the red and then adhered them together as shown.  You need to make TWO of these strips and score them at 1.5", 8.5" and 10".

 Now, adhere the strips to the top of your bag.  They should go all the way around and should overlap slightly.

 Next, punch holes for your handles and add eyelets (optional- you could use holes).  I put mine at 1" in and 1/2" down on either side.

To make the handles, I chose to use ribbon, but the only white ribbon I had was satin and too "floppy" to make good handles.  So, I cut two pieces of ribbon that were approximately 18" long and ahdered a 1/4"X9" strip of the red paper to the ribbon to make it stand a little straighter.

Now, feed the ribbon through the eyelets/holes and tie a know on the inside of the bag.  Trim off excess ribbon as shown.  Repeat on the other side of the bag to create two handles.

Finally, if you want to, you can add a tag or decoration of your choice.  I used my Nestibilities dies and a stamp to create mine. 

Here's the bag I just made next to the one I made for the blog hop!



Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Please let me know what you think of the tutorial and share your gift bag on our Facebook page so we can share some love!

~Nicole~