A Simple Gift Bag.

     I needed to make a gift bag for a gift (yes, it's a Christmas gift, still - it was something that was ordered and didn't come until after my friend and I got our families together for Christmas - OK - don't you judge me ;- ) and the Cricut didn't have a file for one that was large enough, so I checked the Internet and this was what I came up with. It's really simple, but since I looked it up, I thought I'd share it with you and maybe save you some time. I found this template from the About.com people and you can find all of their directions here. They have a template there that you can print out and it looks like this.

     It shows the measurements in units, so that you can make the back about any size. This will make the front and back twice the size as the sides. (You can click on the image to enlarge it.) Since I wanted to make as large a bag as I could from a 12 inch sheet of card stock 2 inches was my basic unit. Now you may be saying, "Hey that doesn't divide out right!" Probably not, I don't do that kind of math in my head either, I would have just believed you, but it doesn't, because you need to leave that edge that is in grey in order to glue it. So, my sides are 2 inches (because I wanted the extra ease on the sides) and the front and back are 3 3/4 and the extra 1/2 inch is in the grey area used to glue it together. I just made that up to make the numbers work (it made more sense to me than have fractions all over the place and used the whole sheet of paper across.) I scored it on my Martha Stewart score board. It was scored up 2 inches from the bottom as well, in order to make the  bottom flaps and that is how far up you cut from the bottom. I didn't use the whole sheets height, because my gift isn't that tall. I didn't take a photo of the scored bag, but here is a photo of the part that I had cut off of the top with the score marks.

     The bag was made with DCWV's Holiday Collection Christmas Stack from last year. I used Terrifically Tacky tape down the side seam first (the smallest area on the right) first. Now remember, on the actual bag I cut on the score lines for 2 inches up on the bottom, to make my flaps. (the template never tells you what to do with the part in the grey are here. I cut it off.) I then folded them in to form the flaps, first the smaller side flaps and the the larger flaps and used the Terrifically Tacky Tape from Provo Craft to hold them together.

     Now from here you can decorate your bag any way you want. If you used plain paper and had wanted to stamp it, of course you would have done that while it was still flat ;- ) I thought about add some poinsettias that I had meant to make for Christmas, but didn't (don't judge...) but they wouldn't have gone with the paper I ended up using. In the end I decided jus to add a handle. I didn't have an eyelets that matched, but I knew the gift is light, so I just punched holes in the front and back of the bag and threaded some ribbon through and then knotted the ribbon.

     To keep the ribbon from twisting I added some discreet tape on the inside ;- )

     So, just switch this out with some valentine paper and fill it up for you sweetie <3 Thanks for stopping by and not judging me today. Please leave a comment before you rush on with your day. I really appreciate hearing from you! I'll be leaving christmas behind now!!!