Recycle...

Good morning all. thanks for visiting the Funky Hand crafty blog.

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 collection 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 need 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) will 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 this month.

and here is how I made it.

You will need an old (or a new) envelope of any size and it can be used for top opening envelopes too.

Tape down the flap making sure you don't stick the front to the back of the envelope! Then trim approximately 1/2 cm from one of the short sides, this will be your bag opening.

Next you need to score each of the other three sides at 2.5 cm from each edge and fold making sure each fold is crisp using either your bone folder or the back of a spoon. Now is the time to decorate your envelope with whatever you have to hand. I used paper #7 from the new Spring Wedding Collection on the Funky Hand web site www.funkyhand.com

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

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

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 :) I will add this post to my blog too with a couple more pictures.

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

See you in a month's time, thanks for dropping by.

Jackie x