Learn how to make your own gift tote projects

Want to learn how to make your own gift totes? It's easy and I am going to show you how!

I love making my own small boxes, totes, and bags. It is fun to coordinate colors, patterns, stamps and dies - and the best part is that it only takes a bit of time. Not to mention the cost savings!

This project can be adapted to suit any occasion, theme, or season for which you need a gift tote. I started off my choosing my designer paper and then let the colors in that paper guide me for the main base and handle color. I decided to use up a left over piece of the Forever Greenery paper. The patterns feature elegant greenery with painted watercolor patterns to give your projects an organic feel. One side of each sheet has large, leafy designs; the other side has painted patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love all the combinations of green in the paper designs:

• Old Olive
• Soft Sea Foam
• Garden Green
• Just Jade
• Pear Pizzazz
• Shaded Spruce
• Pretty Peacock

I have a lot of Soft Sea Foam so I chose a Forever Greenery pattern that had this color so that I could use Soft Sea Foam as my base color. That immediately made me think of using Pretty Peacock as my ink color - nice, dark contrast.

For the phrase and leaf embellishment, I chose my Forever Fern bundle and images:

And after these choices were made the project came together quite well! My final touch was to use three Woven Threads Sequins - this assortment has both Soft Sea Foam and Pretty Peacock sequins, the perfect match with the paper colors.

One tool that I feel is essential for any kind of box or bag project is the Simply Scored. This is the time of year to purchase a scoring tool as after seeing this video you will be making scores (no pun intended) of little boxes and can quickly and efficiently score all your holiday cards in one easy step.  

I use this tool in my video for today's gift tote projects so that you can see how handy this tool is. 

 

If I could do over two bits of this project, I would round the top corners of the gift tote and make the handle a bit longer. I might even stamp the Soft Sea Foam base for additional visual interest. What do you think?

Stamp set: Forever Fern bundle (154094

Ink: Pretty Peacock

Paper and cutting dimensions:
        Soft Sea Foam: 3 1/4" x 7 1/2"; 2 1/4" x 8 1/2"; 1 1/4" x 8"
        Whisper White: 3 1/2" x 2 1/2"
        Forever Greenery: 2" x 10"

Other: Forever Greenery designer series paper (152492); Tear & Tape Adhesive; Layering Circle dies; Simply Scored (   ); die-cutting and embossing machine

Here's my video - listen along for additional tips and suggestions. 

Comments

[Terri]

I love my Simply Scored tool - perfect for the holiday season and all those fun projects that lie ahead!

[Terri]

I completely agree Marilyn - why not make your own gift bags and matching cards - and presents!

[joanne]

I just pulled out that same tool yesterday for my son to use on one of his projects and warned him not to ruin it since it was one of my favorite tools.. even if I don't use it nearly as much as I could. Pinned.

[Marilyn]

These are so much better than paying top dollar at the store!