Wrap it up!

Want a great way to impress your loved ones on Christmas morning? Dress up and personalize your gifts by making your own gift bags and matching mini cards. While this project requires patience, the wow factor of the resulting gift bag set is completely worth it!

Materials (makes one 10 1/8” h x 3 3/4” w x 1 7/8” d bag and one 3” x 3” mini card):

·      12" x 12" sheet of printed card stock

·      3" x 6" piece of matching card stock (either the same print or a coordinating one)

·      10" piece of coordinating ribbon (narrow width)

Equipment:

·      Cutting mat

·      Craft or utility knife

·      Metal-edged ruler

·      Pencil

·      Eraser

·      Glue runner or other suitable adhesive

·      Bone folder

·      Single hole punch

Directions:

1.     Using the template below as a guide, measure and mark guidelines on the reverse side of the 12" x 12" piece of card stock (make sure the design on the patterned side is turned the right way up before marking). If you don't want the pencil marks to show inside the bag, use two or more small notches for each line (as shown in image below template) or have a really good eraser ready to erase the lines after step two. 

Bag template

2.     Use the cutting mat, ruler and knife to score (use the flip side of the knife blade to score without cutting through the card stock or use the sharp edge of your bone folder) and cut the card stock as shown in the template.

Scoring using the dull edge of the blade

Cutting

3.     If desired, erase pencil marks.

4.     Fold at the scored lines. This will help make the edges crisp and will make it easier to shape the bag.

5.     Glue the upper overlap flap (put glue on the patterned side of the card stock) to the reverse side of the other edge, tucking the flap in to make a box shape with the bottom flaps still open.

6.     Holding the card stock so that the lower overlap flap is on the bottom, begin folding over and gluing the bottom flaps in place, starting with the left small flap and continuing to the bottom large flap (remember to tuck in and glue the lower overlap flap before moving on to the right small flap). Finish by gluing the top large flap in place at the bottom.

7.     If desired, make creases in the top half of either side of the bag by pinching together the corners and creasing the middle. This gives your bag more shape and allows for the top to be fastened together to hide the contents.

8.     Fold the small piece of card stock with the bone folder to make a 3" x 3" mini card.

9.     Punch a hole in the upper left corner of the card. Attach it to the handle of the bag with the ribbon. Trim ribbon, if necessary.

You can use the template to make your bags bigger or smaller as desired. Just keep the 2:1 ratio for the sections (the front and back sections are twice the width of the sides and the bottom flaps). Try playing around with different heights and designs. If you plan on using solid coloured card stock and decorating the bag with stamped images, stamp the images before assembling.

Hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday! See you back again on Friday for more paper crafting!