Recycle

Hi everyone, thanks ever so much for dropping by. I know it's been a while but I have lots to show for my absence, I haven't just been sat in the garden sunning myself although I do have an outdoor studio now :)

It's my turn today to host the post(!) over on the Get Funky & Craft blog so I decided that I would make a gift bag. Now read on to see how I did it.

"I have mentioned previously my mission to reduce my wallets of paper off cuts so I should really have concentrated on that in this post. However, our lovely leader, Anice, keeps feasting us with lots of lovely paper collections and digi downloads and it's such a shame not to use them.....so on my project today I have used one of each :)

If you have ever needed a gift bag at the 12th hour and can't find one, well this is the post for you. It takes about 15 minutes to make and anyone (even non crafters) eill be able to find materials to use around the house. Oh, and when I mention a 'bone folder', a spoon handle does just as well.

This is my make for the month

                                               

and here is how I made it

                                         

You will need an old (or a new) envelope of any size.....and this tutorial works for top opening envelopes too.

Tape down the flap making sure that you don't tape the back of the envelope to the front!

Trim approximately 1/2 cm from one of the short sides.

Next you need to score each of the other three sides at 2.5cm from each edge and fold making sure each fold is crisp using your bone folder or spoon.

Now is the time to decorate your envelope with whatever you have to hand. I used the paper #7 from the new Spring Wedding Collection on the Funky Hand web site.

Pop one hand inside the envelope and use the other hand to pinch along all of the creases and watch your envelope turn into a gift bag :)

Fold the pointed end and glue to the bottom of the bag. I weight mine down with a punch while it sticks. Fold and tuck in about 2.5 cm from the top. Not only does this make the bag look professional, it makes the top sturdier to take the ribbon handles, see the next picture.

Now finish decorating your bag.

I used a selection of die cut flowers and printed off a smaller version of the mug from the I'm a mug for you' download to use as a gift tag.....Job Done!

These are great fun to make, I must have shown loads of people how to make them. They are great to make with the kiddies too now that the summer holidays are upon us, especially if they have a birthday party to go to. So start saving your envelopes in different shapes and sizes and it doesn't matter what colour they are (mine was from a bought birthday card, I didn't buy it ;)) You can even use the ones with the see through window on the front, just stick some pretty paper over it.

We would love you to have a go at my tutorial and add it to the linky thingy so we can come back and take a look.