This project does not have specific measurements nor do you have to remember any measurements for that matter. You can make it any size you want, and you don’t have to use vellum either (although the effect sure is pretty), you can make it from any material you have on hand – regular printing paper, gift wrapping paper (for bigger bags), kraft paper, etc. The basic process remains the same, so making a gift bag from paper becomes really easy.
Materials:
- paper for gift bag (for the bag pictured above, the vellum piece I used measures about 8.5” x 3.67” – or just cut a sheet crosswise equally into three)
- a scrap piece of paper, the width of which is how wide you want the sides of the bag to be (mine is about an inch wide)
- your favorite adhesive
- a piece of cardstock for the bag topper
Instructions:
1. Fold the vellum in half, but leave about a 1/2” wide flap on the top edge (the flap is where you are going to put adhesive on later).
2. Using edge of paper as guide, fold down the flap.
3. Open the vellum piece. Using the strip of scrap paper as guide and the middle fold line as reference, make another fold on the vellum piece.
4. Open the vellum piece again. With the strip of scrap paper and the bottom edge of the paper as guides, make another fold. Open along the fold, and it should now look like this:
5. Using the strip of paper again and aligning it to the long edge of the piece, make another fold. Open the vellum piece and it should now have five fold lines:
6. Using the fold lines as guide, cut out “V” shapes to make the bottom flaps and cut off the excess side flap.
7. Flip the piece over. Apply adhesive on the side flap and glue the sides together.
8. Apply adhesive on one of the bottom flaps and stick together.
9. Pinch the sides together (about an inch from the top up to the top edge) to form a fold on the sides:
10. Fill with goodies and staple a bag topper. The ones pictured below is a piece of card stock, about 3.5” high and as wide as the bag front (I didn’t measure it, just eyeballed it, LOL!). I used an edge punch on both sides, then scored and folded in the middle. Embellish as you wish. You can see that I’ve been having fun making these – they’re fast and easy to make!
