Tek Tuesday - Paper Bag Purse

Hi all,

It's Kendra here, with your Tek Tuesday installment. Angie E is out of commission for a bit and we hope she's back up and running soon, but for today, you're stuck with me.

I have never done a tutorial before, but I came across this paper bag idea while thinking of something to share with our Sparks and Brownies group this Thurs. I have been enlisted to do the craft for the night and since Angie couldn't make it for today's post, I figured I'd share with you how we're making our "treat bags" for Valentines day....

It's SUPER EASY, and versatile... you can decorate this for anything... I'm thinking, Birthday Parties, Easter, quick thank you bags and really, just because!

Here it goes...

For supplies you will need

• an 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock (you'll have left overs)
• a 12" strip of 1" width ribbon
• 2 brads
• 1 paper bag
• velcro piece (or other type of closure)
• adhesives and embellishments

First off, my paper bag is 5" across and I am making them 4" tall, so I cut a piece of cardstock at 4"x5" for the front...

and 4"x6" for the back and lid... score the lid at 4" and 5"...

Next, I'm showing you how I attached the cardstock because those darned paper bags are not always straight and even (I so wanted to rip them apart and re-make them, but didn't!)... I cut the paper bags at 4" tall (sorry, I didn't get a pic of this, but if you fold over the bottom part of the paper bag that sits flat so that it tries to line up with the extended side already - it won't line up if your bags are like mine but that's ok - then score at 4" and cut)... line up your cardstock with the TOP of the paper bag - the part you cut... You may have cardstock that overhangs the bottom a bit. This will make your bag stand better if that's the case (uneven bags)... having said that, put your adhesive on the bag, not the cardstock... In the pic below, you see how I folded the cardstock BACK so I could see how it lined up with the paper bag and it hangs over the one bottom edge a bit...

Then (and you could probably do this FIRST), I lined up the lid on my ScorPal so that I could easily mark at 1/2" for my brads (you see my ooops, score line? LOL)...Then, I folded over my ribbon so it would be purty and added my brads (this was a tester I had done (we're not using that old magnet, it was just for show for my Sparks/Brownies leaders to get the idea)...
Then, just embellish as you see fit... I went to the dollar store and got a whole bunch of glittery goodness for the kids... then I decided when I was making this for you all, that it was missing something... A STAMP!!!! I've decided, I'm going to pre-stamp all the cardstock pieces because it just makes it IMO... no, sadly, it's not a TCC Stamp, but it's still super cute and works perfect for this. When I added the velcro, I decided it'd be better with some sort of reinforcement so I added a 1" stripe of heavy DP to help keep it from tearing when the kiddies are opening and closing their purses. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how to apply the velcro right? I bought the little circle dots at the dollar store (16 sets, not bad).

The kids are also going to get to make cards for their love ones (those will be with TCC stamps), but you don't get to see them unfortunately, because I'm not done preparing them yet! LOL.

Here's the finished product (well, as finished as it'll get for 5-8 yr olds!), however, I did decorate the back too, same sort of stuff...
Sorry for the bad pics in spots, my 19 month old has decided that naps are not an option the past couple days and it's really been throwing me for a loop so this last pic was done tonight under poor lighting, but you get the idea!

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and can find some way to use it. I actually LOVE how easy it is (my tester with NO direction/instructions and embellishments added, only took me 10 minutes, that's how easy it was!).

Happy crafting!
Kendra