Crafty Monday: Gift Bags

Why go out and buy gift bags when you can make your own?!

You will need:

Big pieces of heavy paper - tape several smaller pieces together if you need to.

Tape

Ruler

For my bag I used a double page from an old kids dictionary. The page measures 20 inches x 14 inches.

Step 1

Lay your paper out flat and fold it in half down the middle. Tape the open long sides together leaving the top and bottom open.

 Step 2:
Fold the long sides in by 1.5 inches. This will form the sides of your bag.

Step 3:

Fold the bottom of the bag up 3 inches, open up and then fold again up to the line so you have a fold at 1.5 inches too. 

Step 4:
Open the bag up to form a rectangle and then begin to fold the sides in. From the top you should see this...

 Squish the bag down flat.

Step 5:
This bit is tricky to do and even trickier to explain. Begin to open the bottom of the bag up.

 Grab the triangle on the left with your thumb and forefinger and begin to flatten it.

 Continue pushing the triangle down whilst you bring the 1.5inch edge of the paper upwards.

 Then fold the edge over on top of the triangle.

 Repeat on the other side.

 ...and you should have something that looks like this.

Step 6:
Fold the flaps into the centre and secure with tape.

you're done! Getting the bottom bit right might take a bit of practice but, as long as you've measured accurately you should be fine. The first fold you do at the bottom must be double the fold you did on the sides.