If you are one of the lucky people who have finished your Christmas shopping, you are probably ready to wrap the gifts, so here is a way to make a quick and easy Rudolph the Reindeer gift bag.  You probably picked up one of these kraft (or other color) shopping bags when you were shopping, and they are great for decorating and personalizing for gift-giving.  Even if the store name is printed on the side, just cover it up with cardstock and decorate!  I do it all the time!

If you don’t have a kraft shopping bag in your bag stash, you can purchase them at the craft store. To make the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Gift Bag, I used the Tree Builder Punch for his antlers. If you don’t own this punch, just cut some antlers free-hand.  It wouldn’t be that hard! On this bag, I actually used two “trees” on each side (trimming them to fit together) to make the antlers longer and larger.  You could add even more if you have a larger bag. I adhered the “trees” entirely on the bag because they would be too fragile to be sticking out over the top.  The eyes are punched with the  3/4″ Circle Punch and the 1″ Circle Punch.  Of course you can use sizes that complement the size of your bag or project.   The great big red nose for Rudolph is made with the Red Glimmer Paper, punched with the 2 1/2″ Circle Punch.  Then just tie a ribbon around the bag handles if you like with whatever ribbon you have.

It is really quick and easy to make a gift bag like this and the recipient will love it! There are an infinite number of ways to decorate these shopping bags that you probably already have in your “bag of bags”!

Here’s an example of a bag that had the company name printed on it.  I just covered it with a piece of cardstock and added the decorations and embellishments.

Try making a few gift bags for your holiday gifts!  You will enjoy doing it and your recipients will love it! Just think of making a Quick and Easy Rudolph the Reindeer Gift Bag for a child!

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Time is getting short and it’s time to wrap packages (if you shopped already!) so try this Quick and Easy Decorated Christmas Lunch Bag.  You don’t always have to have a fancy shopping bag, a lunch sack or small brown bag from a store will do!

Cut off the top that usually is a little raggedy and has that rough edge. Then start decorating.  Measure the width of the bag and cut your paper accordingly.  Or cut it larger and then trim off the sides if that is easier for you.

For this bag, I just chose a piece of designer paper.  This paper is in the Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper package. I just added a strip of Real Red Cardstock at the top and bottom of the designer paper (rather than use a whole piece of Real Red!).

The greeting is stamped in Real Red on Whisper White Cardstock from the Snowflake Sentiments Stamp Set.    You could use any holiday greeting.  I cut it out with one of the Stitched Shapes Framelit Dies. That greeting is layered on a die cut piece of Gold Foil from the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.

For the top of the bag, I folded over the top and punched two holes for ribbon.  I chose a piece of the Real Red Tinsel from the Mini Tinsel Trim Combo Pack.

You could dress up this bag even more if you wanted to with more embellishments, but most of us don’t have too much free time for creating at this stage!  I hope you will think of things you already have at home that you can decorate or stamp and use for your holiday wrappings instead of rushing out to the store.  If it only takes a few minutes to make this Quick and Easy Decorated Christmas Lunch Bag, isn’t it faster than a trip to the store?!

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I was reminded recently that we used to make our own gift bags, like this one that anyone can make with the Be Merry Designer Series Paper.  What a great way to use current designer paper or use up some of that paper you know you are hoarding! This gift bag just takes a few minutes to make, faster than making a trip to the store for a gift bag! And you can personalize it for whatever occasion or whoever you are giving it to!

You will need two full sheets of 12″ x 12″ designer paper…..or cardstock, if you prefer. Score each at 3″ on each of three sides and at 2″ on one side. Now, if your paper has a pattern, pay attention to which way everything is going. For example, since the one side of this paper has the trees all going in one direction, I had to think about the 2″ scored portion folding over at the top of the tree page, not at the bottom. The side that is scored at 2″ is the portion that will get folded over to show the pattern on the other side of the paper.  I wouldn’t want my trees to be upside down.

With both papers scored the same way, on one sheet, cut out the outside bottom squares. On the other paper, cut horizontally on the bottom score line just up to the vertical score line.

To make the bottom of the bag sturdier, cut a 3″ x 6″ piece of cardstock or light cardboard. This will go at the bottom of the bag in between the two bottom layers. Fold the bag on the score lines and see how it will fit together. Adhere the piece of cardstock actually to the front side of the bag at the bottom which will be folded underneath and will be sandwiched in between the two bottom pieces.  You will see when you assemble!

Use a strong glue to hold the bag together.  Fast Fuse is great or Tear & Tape, or at least Multipurpose Liquid Glue. If you use SNAIL Adhesive, put the adhesive on both pieces you are gluing together so that the strips of adhesive will intersect.  This will make it stronger.

Assemble the bag, paying attention to which side will be the front, so the folds are facing the front and not the raw edges. Punch four holes in the top for a ribbon handle if you like. Make a tag to tie on!

Once you make one of these Christmas gift bags, you almost won’t be able to stop making more! Pretty quick and easy to make your own Be Merry Christmas gift bag or use any paper you have!

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Did you notice the cute little Mini Pizza Boxes in the Holiday Catalog?  Make an assortment of Christmas tags and decorate a mini pizza box to hold them and give to a friend! This is what I did the other day when we were going to be seeing some friends who were in town. I could have planned ahead since I had advance notice, but better to just wait until the afternoon before dinner and fly by the seat of my pants! Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I was rushing so much it was hard to concentrate on my own ideas and pretty much copied ideas I was seeing online without giving it too much thought.

The Mini Pizza Boxes come flat so they store easily.  You assemble by folding on the scored lines when you are ready to use them.  Very easy. There are MANY ways to decorate these cute little boxes.  I chose something simple and that went along with one of the tags I put inside.  Since the boxes are only about 3 1/2″ in length and width on the inside, I had to make the tags pretty short.  I used the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch and put the scalloped top edge at the 3 1/4″ mark on my Paper Trimmer and then trimmed the length and they came out the perfect size to fit inside the box.  These boxes are also perfect for little 3″ x 3″ note cards!

To decorate, I just used a square of a striped pattern in the Be Merry Designer Series Paper package.  I stamped and punched the reindeer from the Cookie Cutter Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set and the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch. Of course he had to have a Red Glimmer nose punched with the 1/2″ Circle Punch.  The greeting is stamped with the Watercolor Words Photopolymer Stamp Set and punched with the Everyday Label Punch. I added a bow with the fun Red Mini Tinsel Trim.

I made this assortment of Christmas tags with various papers, punches, die cuts, and stamps!  One is even made with retired products because I looked in my little box of scraps and found that tag partially made!  Just look through your currents products and papers and see what you can come up with. You might even have retired things you want to use.  Now is the time to make things like these tags to be ready to go when you wrap packages. If you wait until you are wrapping, you will not stop and make tags!  And you probably only want to make these for special gifts, if you give a large quantity of gifts like I do!  Once you come up with an idea, I recommend making maybe 5 of the same tags at once, as long as you have the supplies out and idea!  I recommend this with cardmaking too!  Might as well make more than one of the same card because we know we will eventually use it and good to have a stash on hand!

Year-End Sale Begins Tomorrow!

Just a heads up!  Watch for more details tomorrow!

Stampin’ Up! is wishing 2017 a fond farewell by throwing a Year-End Sales Event in its honor! Tomorrow, Friday, December 1st,  you’ll be smiling over special deals on select retiring and extra items while supplies last.

The Year-End Sales Event will run from December 1, 2017, to January 2, 2018, and supplies are limited. Be sure to jump on any products you see that you want so you can snag your favorite items before they’re gone!

Click on this link below to shop at Stampin’ Up! or email me to put your order in for you!  If you click tomorrow, you will see the Year-End Sale category come up!

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Now that you’ve done your Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping, it will be time to wrap all the Christmas gifts, so maybe this Easy Christmas Gift Bag With Paper Scraps will give you an idea of how to decorate your own gift bags!

You can either save the cute little shopping bags you might get at certain stores and shops, or you can purchase plain kraft or colored shopping bags at the craft store. This one I did is a little smaller than usual because it is from a makeup purchase.  It is a beautiful white bag with nice handles, but of course it has the makeup brand emblazened on the front and back. All I had to do was cover what was imprinted on the bag, front and back, with cardstock and decorate the bag!

I saw an idea like this one on Pinterest using washi tape, but I chose to use strips of paper from the Be Merry Designer Series Paper.  This is a one of those great ideas for using up scraps of paper!  I measured mine carefully, cut 1/2″ wide strips of the Cherry Cobbler patterns of the Be Merry paper, and then cut them down lengthwise to make the tree shape.  Honestly, you could be less careful in measuring and have a much more unstructured paper tree.  The tree trunk is a strip of Crumb Cake Cardstock.

The star on top of the tree is die cut with the Stars Framelits Dies (retired, unfortunately!).  You can use any star punch or die you have or cut one by hand.  I used the Red Glimmer Paper for the star to top the tree.

The greeting on the tag is stamped from the Labels to Love Stamp Set.  It is die cut with one of the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.  Then it is layered on a piece of Cherry Cobbler Cardstock cut with the oval in the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies. I punched a hole in the top of the tag and tied it on to the bag with the Whisper White 1/8″ Sheer Ribbon, then tied a bow on the bag with the Cherry Cobbler 1/4″ Double-Stitched Ribbon.

You could easily make a Christmas card the same way!  Click here to see one I made last year in the same manner but with washi tape!

This is the best way to recycle bags of almost any kind, actually!  Just decorate with paper scraps or stamping to personalize the bag for the occasion or the person!  So many possibilities! Make it simple or embellish it a lot. Dig around in your supplies, old and new, and see what you come up with!

Since the back of this bag also had the company name on it, I covered the name with a piece of the Be Merry Designer Paper layered on a piece of Cherry Cobbler Cardstock just cut in a rectangle, no decorating.  Super easy and makes it all look nice.

Look through your bag of bags like I have and see what you can make with this Easy Christmas Gift Bag With Paper Scraps as inspiration!