Recycled Paper Bags

Don't you hate to throw away used gift bags?  Sometimes they are all wrinkled up, or creased, sometimes even torn, but here's a way to make them pretty and useful again!

This white gift bag was a bit wrinkled and needed to be updated!

I bought some sticky back foam sheets, gathered some gift wrap paper and a paper pattern I printed from my computer.  I traced the pattern onto the foam sheet....

....cut out the shape, and when I peeled off the backing....

....I adhered it to the back side of the gift wrap paper:

and then trimmed the paper to the edge of the foam bow:

This made the bow sturdy and also covered up a small tear on the top of the bag!  A little glue adhered it to the bag:

Here's one a friend made:

A used brown paper bag can be recycled into gift wrap and flowers!

I cut 1" wide strips on a grocery bag....

...and soaked them in water for a few minutes to make them more pliable:

I twisted and folded 3-4 strips into flowers, cut out a few "leaves" and glued them to a paper bag wrapped gift:

What can you do with a gift bag with a ripped handle?

Remove both handles, make two slipd on one side of the bag....

...and slide a flower through the slits.  Fold over the top and punch two holes and tie a string or ribbon through them to secure it closed:

You can also hand paint used bags with acrylics or markers for reuse:

Let's hop around to see what others have recycled this month:

Exquisitely Unremarkable

Little Vintage Cottage

Modern on Monticello

Purple Hues & Me

Unique Creations by Anita

Sum of Their Stories

Vintage Style Gal

The Apple Street Cottage

Birdz of a Feather

Pandora’s Box You are here!

Every craft room needs a pair of MacKenzie-Childs Check Kitchen Shears  !

Thanks for stopping by, Patti