By Noreen Doll.
These quick, cheap small gift bags can easily hold a gift card or cash, as well as other small gift items.
You can easily craft lots of small paper gift bags that are created with an envelope, and you can use any size or color.
What You Need
Envelope
Pencil
Ruler
Scissors
Card Stock Scraps
Embellishments: ribbons, flowers, buttons, twine, photos, charms,
What You Do
1. Seal the envelope.
2. Turn the envelope so the long way is vertical and measure down 1 3/4 inches from the top edge and mark it for scoring.
3. Lay something round on the end of the envelope. I used a ribbon reel, but a plastic lid or other item would work as well.
4. Draw around the circle to the score mark on either side.
5. Cut a tiny bit across the end of the envelope, and then cut around the half circle. You will have 2 half circle flaps.
6. Score across the envelope end between the 2 score marks you made.
7. Fold the flaps toward the envelope front (where there is no seam).
8. Unfold the flaps and cut off the under one or front flap, so when you fold the other flap over you can see the seam on the top (the outside of the envelope). This is a different bag, but the step is the same – the right (or bottom) flap has been cut off.
9. Cut about 1/4 of an inch off the rounded part of the flap you cut off, and use it for a pattern to cut the decorative paper you will be attaching to the flap on the small gift bags. Once attached, this will hide the seam.
10. Cut another piece of matching or coordinating paper for the bottom front of the envelope.
11. Attach both pieces of decorative paper to the bag. Add ribbon, flowers, buttons or whatever you want to use to decorate the small gift bags.
12. To close the envelope, punch 2 holes through the flap and back of the gift envelope bag, and tie ribbon or twine through it. Or use a pretty sticker. Or put a very small piece of double sided tape under the flap.
Here are a few more ideas for ways to decorate these small gift bags.
Tips
Instead of cutting the flap in a half circle, bevel the corners, (see above photos) or cut it in a triangular shape.
Use decorative edged shears to do the cutting for an attractive edge on your small gift bags, or around the decorative pieces you attach to the top and front of your bag.
I goofed on the blue bag with 3 white buttons and cut off the wrong flap, leaving the envelope seams on the bottom front of the bag. So I made a wrap around colorful piece to fit over the whole bag.
You can fix almost anything and make it look like you intended that result.
Noreen Doll
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