Hi Creative Mamas! It is no secret that I absolutely love eco printing in all its forms. I love that we can create amazing prints by simply using leaves and flowers that are around us.
It’s such an eco friendly craft and a very economical one as well! Specially when it comes to Christmas, birthdays and special occasions.
Eco printing on paper allows you to create unique looking prints to make your own DIY gist tags, gift cards and gift bags.
You can create your prints in advance and have a stack ready for when you need to gift wrap your presents.
You can get really creative making your own paper by dyeing your paper with food coloring or tea staining your paper cards!
Cute paper bags
In this post I want to show you how easy it is to transform those amazing eco prints into one of a kind gift wrappings.
When you start gift wrapping in this way you get to add a special flair to your DIY handmade gifts and you will become a super popular mama among your friends and family!
Eco Printing with leaves and flowers
For this project, you will need your printed paper in order to decorate the paper bags. You can follow the instructions in this beginners guide to eco printing on paper.
Download your Eco Printing leaves and flowers list
Once you have a few prints you can get started decorating your gift bags.
Gift bag tutorial
Materials and equipment
- Paper bags (I use the brown supermarket ones so that I can recycle them, otherwise you can check out other bags here)
- Eco printed paper
- Paper scissors
- Glue stick
- Old buttons
- Twine or string
- Pencil/pen
Let’s get started creating this super eco friendly gift wrapping paper bag.
Step 1: Eco printed paper
The first step is to gather your paper bags.
I have collected a variety of them in different colors. These are recycled bags from different shops and from the supermarket.
They are super strong and very good quality so whenever I get given one in a shop I make sure I keep them in my studio to use in my own gift wrapping.
Gather the rest of the materials and start by choosing one bag to work with. I have chosen a little brown bag because I want to wrap an eco printed silk scarf so I don’t need a big bag 🙂
You also need to grab your collection of eco printed paper in order to choose the one that you want to use on your paper bag.
For this bag I am choosing a print of an avocado leaf from my garden. I like that the color of the print matches the brown in the bag.
Step 2: Making the gift paper bag
Measure your paper bag and cut the eco printed paper to the right size, so that’s nicely fitting the size of the bag.
Measure the paper bag and place the eco printed paper in the middle of the bag.
Using the glue stick, glue it in the center of the paper bag.
Step 3: DIY Eco print gift tag
Once the print is glued in place it’s time to add the tags to the bag. You will be able to write a little message in these tags.
It’s also a great way to identify the recipient of the gifts in case you have a few of these bags going into a christmas tree.
For this tag I have used a printed card and I cut it in thirds. I am using one third.
Make a little punch hole towards one end on the tag.
Grab your twine. Cut a piece that measures 8 inches or 50 cms. Fold it and make a knot.
Loop it through the punch hole in the tag and loop it through the handle of the paper bag.
You can also add old buttons at this stage, let me show you how…
(Before folding the twine) Thread the twine through the button.
Make sure that both end of the twine are touching and close it with a knot.
Run this twine through the gift tag punch hole and make another
Write your little message on the printed paper.
Loop the gift tag through the paper bag handles and …Voila! here is my eco printed gift bag made out of watercolor paper and avocado leaves 🙂
The silk scarves inside the bags have been either bundle dyed or eco printed.
Eco Printed Gift Wrapping
Another great option is to simple use the eco printed paper as gift cards and place them on top of the wrapping paper.
These cards were made by using coreopsis flowers and avocado leaves in combination with a more advanced technique that uses left over scrapbooking paper.
You ca get the ECO PRINTING ON PAPER VIDEO TUTORIAL here.
Once you are done with your gift wrapping you can also make little eco printed handmade books which can be a gift in itself or something cute you add on top of the gift wrapping.
Another great idea is to complement the bag or box by adding a naturally dyed pom pom, or a hand dyed fabric twisted as a bow.
Also check out these creative sustainable gift wrap ideas!
If you are curious about natural dyes and their application for fabric or paper check out this beginners guide to the different natural colors that you can make using plants, insects and foods.
Save this tutorial to your favorite Pinterest Board
Super idea to recycle bags or improve the look,
Thanks,
Margaret
Cheers Margaret 🙂