DIY Christmas Gift Bags

Hello, Graphics Fairy friends! I’m Diana from Dreams Factory and I’m happy to be here again to share another creative project with you! Today, I will show you how to make these lovely nostalgic DIY Christmas Gift Bags with a Faux Glassine style! We will use a special type of paper that will help you achieve the distinctive look glassine paper usually has. Add a touch of gold to these beauties and they will be perfect for vintage Christmas decorating or gifting!

The special type of paper we will be using today is tracing paper! This is one of my favorite papers to use because it can bring so much sheerness and delicacy to any of your creative projects. It is quite unique and the fact that you can print and personalize it as you want is definitely a huge plus. In fact, it doesn’t need any special setups, you can just feed it through your printer and use it to your heart’s content.

I experimented a little bit while designing this project for you and I knew right from the beginning that I needed to keep things simple so you can make these Christmas bags in no time. I actually went that extra mile to simplify things for you and I created 8 designs (some are wider and some are taller) that you can just print and use as you want! So you will find below 8 printables with some of the most beautiful Christmas images from The Graphics Fairy. These images are definitely among my favorites and I have a feeling they are on your favorites list, too!

I included a larger and a smaller bag on each of these printables, so you will be able to make two glassine bags from one printable, which will give you a total of 16 bags.! And just to make sure we don’t waste any of this amazing paper, I also included a bonus image that you can use as you want on a different project!

Free Printables:

—-> Click HERE to Download the Full Size Printable PDF  – Angel <—-
—-> Click HERE to Download the Full Size Printable PDF  – Red Santa <—-
—-> Click HERE to Download the Full Size Printable PDF  – Angel with tree <—-
—-> Click HERE to Download the Full Size Printable PDF  – Boy <—-

—-> Click HERE to Download the Full Size Printable PDF  – Girl <—-
—-> Click HERE to Download the Full Size Printable PDF  – Red Santa <—-
—-> Click HERE to Download the Full Size Printable PDF  – Green Santa <—-
—-> Click HERE to Download the Full Size Printable PDF  –  Birds<—-

DIY Christmas Gift Bag Supply list:

• tracing paper
• home printer
• scissors
• pinking shears or decorative edge scissors
• Glossy Accents, paper glue stick or double-sided tape
• gold marker – I used my favorite Decocolor
• gold washi tape (optional)

Step by Step Tutorial:

Print the printables on tracing paper. If you are using an inkjet printer, make sure you handle the paper with care and leave it to dry for one or two minutes before using it. If you are using a laserjet printer, you are good to go!
You can see below how sheer and beautiful this paper is!

Use your scissors to cut each rectangle along the inside of the black border that you will find all around the edges. We need to completely remove this black border, its only purpose is to guide us while cutting each design.
You will have a larger design and a smaller one with a vintage background, plus the bonus image that can be used on other projects.

Place one of the rectangles with the design on your table with the printed side facing down. Use the shape of the printed Christmas image as guidance to vertically fold the right side inward. The design will be visible on the back too, so it will be easy to use it as guidance while folding the paper. Press the paper with your fingers to burnish it and create a perfect line.

Now fold the opposite left side following the same steps.

Moving on to the horizontal folds. Follow the shape of the image to fold the top downward and the bottom upward.

Unfold the top and use your scissors to snip off the corners, while trying to keep the same angles on both sides. Then move on to the bottom and snip off those corners as well.

Use your scissors to remove all the overlapped paper above the folded line on top. Only cut the paper facing you and not the one underneath.
Follow the same steps for the bottom and remove the paper (facing you) below the folded line.

Our bags are now ready to be glued! You need to add a vertical line of glue where the two sides overlap, and a horizontal one on the bottom flap. I conducted several experiments to determine which glue works best. Here is what I found.
1. The Glossy Accents medium works, but because it is a wet medium, it tends to warp the paper and leaves a noticeable trace after drying. I would scratch it off the list for this project.
2. The Uhu glue stick works great! It does tend to warp the paper here and there, but that is not too visible after drying. This one is definitely a keeper!
3. The white double-sided tape does a great job, but it shows too much through the tracing paper, so I would probably scratch it off the list.
4. The clear double-sided tape works great and even though it leaves a small trace that shows through, you get clean lines and great results. The only thing is that you need to apply it and then cut it at an angle to follow the shape of your flap.

The glue stick and the clear double-sided tape were definitely the winners, they both worked great for this project! You still need to make a few tests before deciding which one you prefer. Depending on the type of tracing paper you are using, you might get similar or different results.

If you have pinking shears or any decorative edge scissors, you can use them now to further embellish the top flap of your bags.

Once you get the hang of it and start relaxing, without worrying too much about making them perfect, you will notice that you become quite proficient at cutting and assembling these beauties!

One last thing you’ll need to decide is whether or not you want to add some final touches of gold. You know I can’t resist adding a little bit of gold, so I’ve decided to use my favorite Decocolor gold marker to add some gold accents all over the edges. I actually used an old marker that has definitely seen better days, but I love the perfectly imperfect results its frayed tip helps me create. Try to add some irregularities to your gilded edges, from place to place, just enough to break the rhythm of a simple line and make it more vintage-looking and intriguing.

I have a feeling these bags will exceed your wildest expectations, as they have mine! I can’t even tell you how much I love them, I think they turned out absolutely stunning!

You can add a small piece of torn gold washi on the top flap. It will have a beautiful decorative role, but it will also be practical if you decide to use the bags closed.

The sheerness of these beauties is absolutely mesmerizing!

You’ll have plenty of bags to fill all your needs and if you want, you can even color coordinate them as you wish. You’ll have the cream and green group that has more of a universal vibe and can be easily adapted to any of your creative Christmas ideas.

And the red group, which will bring more of a classical, quite magical Christmas vibe.

If you prefer to skip the gold washi, you can use gold thread, some delicate ribbons or even lace to close the bags. That is after filling them with all sorts of goodies or small gifts!

If you don’t have tracing paper but still want to give this project a try, you can! Just use regular printing paper to create some more regular-looking Christmas bags. They will still look beautiful and can be used to your heart’s content!

I hope you will love this project and decide to give it a try! Schedule a creative session with your friends and enjoy making these for Christmas. They will be perfect to have around for small gifts but can also be used as envelopes to hold all your Christmas wishes or thoughtful messages for your loved ones.

I hope you liked my DIY Christmas Gift Bags. You might also like How to make a Bow out of Wrapping Paper and my DIY Chic Gift Box Idea HERE.

Happy crafting,
Diana / Dreams Factory