Brown Paper Goodie Bags {Guest Post}

December has been a blur for me, I just realized I’ve only posted twice this month on the blog! It’s not that I haven’t been busy crafting, throwing parties or making memories with my kids…I just haven’t had the time to write it all done! So, that’s why I’m bringing in an expert! I am so excited to have my creative muse and one of my favorite people in the whole world as my guest today! Introducing, my wonderful, brilliant, SUPER creative and talented mom…

Hi! I’m Barb, Mariah’s mom, and I’m tickled to be her guest today. I’m sharing a tutorial on how to make a cute inexpensive (for me it was NO cost!) goodie gift bag that you can use for treats for friends and co-workers.

This time of year I usually have a long list of people I want to give appreciation gifts to. Unfortunately, budget constraints are always an issue, so this year I decided to see what I could do for my neighbors and co-workers without spending any money. As a committed crafter I always have lots of leftovers from various projects, so I dug through my stash and fussed around until I came up with these adorable bags.

For this project you will need:

· Brown paper bags

· An edge punch (I used one made by Martha Stewart)

· Left over scraps of paper and fabric

· A hole punch

· Old book pages

· Jingle bells

· Brown ink for distressing

Trim the jagged edges off the top of each paper bag (it makes it easier to get a clean punch), then punch the upper edge of each bag. Fold down the upper edge of the bag about 2 inches.

Next make the tags. Cut a piece of white or buff cardstock into 2” by 3” rectangles. Cut the book pages into2” by 3” rectangles and glue to the cardstock. Distress edges with the brown ink. Using a commercial or printed tag as a template, cut off the corners of the top of the tag. Add embellishments, hole punch and attach bell.

Tear fabric into strips about 1” wide and about 18” long. Insert your goodies into the bag (I put the treats in a cellophane bag before placing them in the paper bag) and tie up the bag. Add the tag, and wah-la…a beautiful gift package.

Like I said, the gift bag itself was no cost, but in case you’re wondering about the cost of the goodies, well there is good news there too. I made 7 layer bars from ingredients I had on hand, and mint cake balls dipped in red chocolate. The chocolate was left over from a previous project, and I had cream cheese in the refrigerator so the total tally for all 10 goodie bags was the cost of a package of Oreos (which I got on sale—SCORE!) Everyone who received a bag has passed on rave reviews both for the packaging and for the contents. Hope you can adapt this project and make it your own.

Thanks mom for sharing! These little packages were darling in person and such a great idea for making inexpensive gifts for all those loved ones. Come back later to see another darling and inexpensive project my mom made (and I copied) using mittens.