Hello & Good Morning!

I'm Halak and I'll be taking you through a really cool tutorial today.

How to make paper bags without any fancy tools and equipments!

I have used the AWESOME sheets from Papericious - Orange Fall paper stack.

It's Halloween time folks, and even though it is not exactly celebrated in India, I thought it'd be fun to make small paper bags and fill them with treats, Halloween style!

Let's get cracking then!

These are the beautiful 12" by 12" sheets from Orange Fall paper stack that I used. (Soooo pretty....)

I'll explain the process by showing you what I did with one sheet of paper. I made all the bags in this exact same way.

So, I took one sheet and turned it over and drew a line at 14.5 cms.
(If you get confused, see the cutting mat, each square of the cutting mat equals 1 centimeter.)

I haven't cut the sheet yet, the photo is cropped to show you the line that has been drawn a tad better.

After this, I scored the line using a scoring tool and folded the sheet.

Then I measured 1 centimeter (cm) from the right hand side edge and scored that too.

You can see the 1 cm scored edge in the picture below.

After that I applied glue on the edge and pasted it.

At this stage, this is what my project looks like :

After this, I scored 2 cm on the right and the left hand side of the project.

Here's the picture :

The key to getting a perfect bag is to score correctly.

After scoring, remember we had a 1 cm edge on the right hand side that we glued down?

Well we do the same and create a 1 cm edge at the bottom of the bag, because without it, the stuff we put in the bag will fall right out!

So I created a 1 cm edge at the bottom which looks like this :

After this I applied some glue on this edge and sealed it up too, just like how I did the first edge.

Then, just like how I scored the right and left hand side, I scored the top and bottom of the bag using the same measurement of 2 cm.

After scoring, it's time to shape the bag.

Have you noticed in paper bags how the edges of the bag's base are neatly foldable making the paper bags easily stackable?

We have to do the exact same thing and that will lead us to this :

They kinda look like kitten ears, don't they? Lol... Stay with me guys, we're almost there!

Glue down those triangles (kitten ears) and fold the scoring that we did on the top of the bag and push it inside the bag.

If you want, you can make a bag without scoring at the top, just score on right hand side, the left and bottom.

The reason why I  scored at the top is to give the bag a uniform neat look. (Yeah, I'm kinda weird that way!)

Ta Dah! Check these out! (You can see here the scoring on top that I pushed inside the bag for that neater look!)

Once the bags were ready I punched holes in the bags and set black and white eyelets.

It's time to decorate!!! ^__^

Yup, I did a Halloween themed look complete with ghosts, skeletons, sticker sentiments and a whole lotta sequins!

You can use strings to make your bag a cool little carry bag or you can affix a ribbon through the holes and tie them up into a neat little bow to make it a cute treat bag!

You can make bigger bags using two sheets of Papericious 12" by 12" instead of using a single sheet per bag like I did.

I had a blast making these bags which I filled with candy (and also ate a whole lot of candy in the process!) ^__^

Till next time folks! Have a lovely day!

Hello hello!

Once again, it's me Halak and Iet me warn you.... I definitely will be breaking some of your notions and ideas today pertaining to crafting.

Crafting is for experts.
Nope, not at all, it is for everybody, is easily accessible and a stress buster.

It takes up a lot of time!
Hell no! ^__^ Stay with me and I will prove you wrong!

Materials are always expensive.
Nope... you don't need to spend a bomb for quality products.
(The Papericious embellishment sheet that I used today, barely costs Rs. 120/-.)

I will take you through two projects...
A fun take on a traditional Christmas decoration - The Wreath
And,
A Bonus Project, classic Halak style!

So what are we waiting for... let's get to it.

The Wreath has cool step by step photos and I will be giving written step by step instructions for both projects. (Bonus project is pretty self-explanatory so just one picture there!)

The Wreath - (Project #1)

You know, this pretty wreath base is made out of recycled material. An old packing cardboard box that I had.
(Create Art + Save the environment, is that awesome or what!)

I cut up a part of the box and drew a 5.5" circle on it and cut it out. (Using a rounder from an old geometry box)

I drew another circle using the same point as center within the bigger circle. This circle was 3.5".

Then, I cut this smaller circle too which created this ring. (Reminds me of a donut, so let's just call it that!)

Here's the picture.

So with the base for my Wreath ready, I began gathering the pretty decorations that'd go on top of this.

1. The embellishments I fussy-cut from the beautiful Papericious embellishment sheet - My Golden Garden.
(It's a pack of 2 sheets having the same design and is absolutely GORGEOUS!)
IT IS JAM PACKED with loads of designs so all you gotta do is fussy-cut them.

Here are my beautiful embellishments all ready to be adhered onto the project.

Look at them... soooo very pretty!

2. After this is done, all you need are a couple of flowers in different sizes and some sequins.
(Those teeny tiny butterflies that you see are punched out using Papericious Vintage Attire paper stack!)

I love the whole white Christmas, golden glow theme so I used golden sequins, but hey, you can pick whatever color you like!

Here are the additional embellishments.

So now we are all set...

What to do now?
Just layer the pretty Papericious embellishments and the additional assortments in a way and pattern you fancy.

It could be so much fun sitting to craft this with your kid and letting them pick and arrange stuff! ^__^

Here you can see I layered the Papericious embellishments and the flowers first.

Once I was pleased with the arrangement, I glued it down (using fevicol) and finished it off with some sequins.

And there you have it! One easy peasy project that looks pretty, is cost effective and takes barely 25 mins to make!

(As an afterthought, I also added some flowersoft in the inner circle edge of the wreath, {see first pic} but you could also use glitter or flocking powder... or, just leave it as-is like how you see in this last picture!)

Tips : I made this small Wreath for my cupboard but you can make a bigger one for your room door or make tiny ones and adhere them to cardstock to make beautiful Christmas greetings too! ^__^
Also, because it has an unconventional design, you can keep this all year around and not just during Christmas!

Now, when I finished this project, I had some Papericious embellishments remaining.
(I punched out some more butterflies from the GORGEOUS Vintage Attire paper stack, took some pink rhinestones, inked up a stamp and got to my second project!)

Project #2

Ta-dah!

^__^ Simple little card just created to brighten your day and inspire you.

Here's how I made this :

1. Stamped Sentiment

2. Placed butterflies (punched out from Papericious Vintage Attire Paper Stack)
(Yes, don't give me that look. I am smitten by this paper stack..
Absolutely LOVE it!)

3. Placed my remaining embellishments from Golden Garden embellishment sheet.

4. Glittered up the word "Be" and the two big blue butterflies in white glitter and added the remaining golden sequins + 2 pink rhinestones.

5. The border at the bottom you see is a 1" tacky tape covered with golden glitter! (Yes, it is that easy!)

Total time taken for Project #2 = 12 minutes.

So you see, it's not as tough as it seems. Dream, imagine, create, recycle and have a lot of fun!

Till next time! *Hugs*