Free or Very Cheap Crafting Projects No2

 Project No 2

Wallpaper Gift Bags 

Oh my !!! how I love this project. A lot of homes have an odd half roll of wallpaper left over from decorating, and if you do not, ask around family and friends. 

I have to admit to not having any in the house as I have a modern bungalow and prefer painted walls. But even so I have used wallpaper in the past and so for the purposes of this months posts I checked out the local B&Q when hubby was visiting for something else. 

I was in luck and managed to find a roll of Laura Ashley wallpaper for just £1. This gave me a smile for the rest of the afternoon. The roll measures 20.5” wide by 11yds long, so plenty to play with. 

So here are some of my projects for £1.

 Here we have:

Gift Bag

Large folio file

2 folio envelopes

1 pocket folder for storing dies or giving cards etc

All were made from 5 pieces of the Laura Ashley paper

I started by cutting pieces from the roll. The easiest way for me to manage this was to put the roll on the floor and pull up to my large glass cutting mat. I placed the edge of the roll at the top of the board placed my hand in the middle and cut, using scissors, running the scissors along the bottom edge of the mat. So each of the pieces cut measured 21.5” wide and  14” High. So the roll would cut 28 of these. I cut 6 to start. I knew I wanted to make a gift bag and after that use kept making items I like to make that suited the paper. 

To make the gift bag I folded 2 of the pieces in half and cut along the fold line.

1 became the front and back while the other I used one half cut in half again for the sides and the other half I put away for another project.

To make the bag I folded and glued down about 3/4” on the tops of both front and back pieces and scored along the bottom edge at 3”

For the sides I cut the 1/2 sheet down to 4.5” wide and folded down the top edge 3/4”the same as front and back panels, but do not glue yet.

Next for the side panels I scored across the from the bottom 3”, turned and scored from the top down 8” from the folded top, I then scored the length at 3/4” and 3 3/4” and at 2 1/4” down to the 8” score line.

Score from the 8” score line centre point to the bottom 3” score line out to the 3/4” score lines, as in the picture above.

Cut the outer panels off from the base 3” and the top corners. Glue the top fold down.

While they are drying glue the bottom 3” together so that the front and back are in one length and then glue the 3” base pieces on the side panels to form a square (see picture below)

For all the previous glueing I used a wet glue. To attach the side panels I have added sturdy double sided tape (red tape) to the outside of the side panels and a little wet glue to allow manoeuvrability before pulling up the sides to attach to the front and back. Once the bag is altogether i marked 3” in from both sides about 1” from the top to punch the holes for the handles. For these I used very narrow ribbon in a matching blue.

 

I am so pleased with the results. A very pretty and practical gift bag.  I am definitely going to be making more of these. The finished bag measures 10.5” H, 10.25” W, 3”deep.

NB You could strengthen the base with a little card insert 2 3/4” wide by 10” long.

Next I made some folio files. I used another piece of the cut roll cut in half to make the envelope folios and one whole one to make the larger folio cutting the circle tie holders from the pieces cut off at the sides. To see how to make these envelope folios see my post on 25 May.

Or click here.

https://youtu.be/WGoU3cBJX_M

To make 2 gift bags took 3 of the 6 cut pieces

The folio envelopes took another 2 and the last one was use folded over to make a mini folder to gift cards or die cuts etc 

And that is the 6 pieces used up very quickly.

I loved this project and will be using up the rest of the roll making another 6 gift bags (9 pieces) and the remaining 12 or so pieces will be used to make pretty folders to use when sending out my items I sell on Ebay or Etsy. 

The items made for the post will be donated. 

I hope you enjoyed these makes as much as I have enjoyed making them and it is definitely a great project to make for charity stalls or with the children in the holidays. So we have had one project making paper flowers for nothing, and this one making 8 gift bags 3 folios, and approximately 24 folders all for £1.

Back soon with more ideas for creative crafts

Happy Crafting

Dee