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Craft Origami Paper Tutorial

Tutorial: Upcycled paper bags

I’ve made gift bags similar to this from old sheet music, but they are great made from old magazines. 

You can easily make this simple upcycled version yourself, all you need is an old magazine page and some tape. If you’re after something fancier, you can use any nice sheet of paper you like (A4 works well) and instead of taping, overlap the edges slightly and glue them down for a neat finish.

  • Lay your page out landscape
  • Fold one side in to the middle (you needn’t be exact) and run your thumb over the fold to crease well.
  • Fold in the other edge so that it meets the first one.
  • Tape it up, right the way from top to bottom (or overlap slightly and glue).
  • Fold up the bottom – roughly a quarter, but again, it needn’t be exact.
  • Open up the bottom section you’ve just folded over…
  • …then squash each corner down in turn, so they make triangles.
  • Fold the edges of the bottom section to meet each other in the middle.
  • Tape it up! Again, you can overlap slightly and glue at this point- just make sure you’ve glued the edges well, as this forms the bottom of the bag.
  • Ta da! Done! Stick your hand in (carefully) to open it out; the bottom should make a nice flat base.

Once you get going, they’re really quick to make. They make great bags for small gifts instead of using wrapping paper; they look so colourful!

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