One of my favorite papercrafting things is decorating the front of a bag I may have picked up while shopping and turning it into a gift bag like this Candy Cane Christmas Gift Bag! It’s so easy to do and you can quickly increase your stash of gift bags that are ready for the holidays or other occasions throughout the year! Basically, it is like making a card to put on the front of the bag!

Since this bag was green, I thought I would use the Sweetest Christmas paper. I copied (pretty much) a sample in the Holiday Mini Catalog on page 11. My cute Sweetest Christmas Designer Series Paper is almost gone so my bag looks a little different than the sample in the catalog. Also, they made stamped and diecut leaves but I just stamped the holly and other leaves.

The leave, berries, and banner are from the Christmas Banners Stamp Set. The candy cane I just hand-cut from designer paper but I could have used a die in the Candy Canes Dies. I’m not sure how they made the banner on the card in the catalog, but I stamped mine with Memento Ink and then colored it with Pool Party Stampin’ Blends. Instead of the red ribbon behind the banner, I just tied a bow at the top of the tag shape that is the background for the candy cane and leaves.

Look at your stash of grocery sacks and shopping bags and see what you can find! If you don’t have one of these special bags, you can purchase them at a craft store.

Have fun decorating some Christmas gift bags!