DIY Paper Gift Holder

Hi there! I have a quick and easy little project for you all today.



Last week I was in need of a cute holder for some little gifts that I was sending in the mail.

My requirements were:
* Lightweight and able to fit in a padded envelope
* Cute
* quick to make
* cheap inexpensive

does that last one shock you? I kid.....

I thought of a pair of earrings that I was given for my birthday this summer. They came in a cute little paper pouch with the store name on the front. I did not throw it out (of course) thinking that I may re-use it.

Well, instead of reusing it, I chose to copy it to make as many as I wanted in colors that I chose. The original white one became my template. Here you see the original packaging in white and the cardstock paper I purchased for 50% off of $0.59. That's less than $0.30/each!



This picture (with a very BAD shadow - oops - photographer I am not) shows how you hold and pinch the sides a bit to get it to pop open. Then you fold in the rounded end areas to close it.



I traced around it and made a template out of an old manilla file folder. Then I used that template to trace and then cut out a shape from one of my colored pieces of paper.



Have you all used a bone folder? It is such a small tool that is so awesome! When you fold a piece of paper and want a really crisp fold without any bumps, use a bone folder. I also use mine to score paper for folding. It can be used for other things I am sure.... Here I am showing how to use it when you fold the paper in half, making certain to line up the top and bottom curved edges.

This picture does not show how I fold over the small flap left that is how it becomes a pouch. You will be able to see this on the template at the end of this tutorial. After folding it over and pressing the fold with the bone folder, I used a glue stick to secure it.



Next I made a small template of where the fold was on the original white packaging. I used a manilla file folder for this too. Then I placed this on the outside of my newly folded pocket and lining up the corners I scored along the edge with the bone folder. The curved end you see is the opposite end of the bone folder you see in the previous picture. (In this photo I had folded it and then opened it flat to do the scoring. You can do it anyway you like. It worked quickest for me to do this after it was folded in half and to NOT open it up flat)



This next photo shows how you fold in the flap with the cut out first. That way when you open it you can just put your finger in that little spot and open it easily without bending it. When you first fold it the score will tell you where to fold and you just need to give it a little assistance to fold on that score line. Depending on the thickness of your paper and how you scored the paper, will determine how easily this folds. I did find that without scoring using the template, I had a mess of a fold and it did not look nice and neat at all.



This shows the contents and size of your holder. You could put some tissue paper in or some shredded/confetti paper. It could be used for jewelry, gift cards, little items like mine or really anything that will fit in there! The possibilities are endless. I chose to tie colored twine around the outside of mine. You could easily add a sticker with a label, decoration, a "To: From: " tag, or anything at all.





My TOTAL COST: $0.30 each!

The only purchase was the paper. I had a glue stick, bone folder, and twine in my stash.

Do you want to make your own?

Click HERE to get your own template for a cute DIY Paper Gift Holder!


Thanks and have a great day. Please let me know if you can't get the template to work. It is my first time scanning and using something that is to scale and it should work....but should work doesn't mean it does work!!!!

I would love to see any pictures of your creations!



Today I'm linking up to:
Lines Across, Between Naps on the Porch, Rain on a Tin Roof, Making the World Cuter, Dwellings, Life with the crust cut off , Thrifty Decor Chick