Paper Goods and Recycling

I save everything, especially if I find it attractive. I have a huge stack of wall and desk calendar dating back years. So I began transforming them into gift bags. I first started making them for family gifts, but now have made a few for my shop. I look for two pages that coordinate nicely, usually from the same calendar, but not always necessary. If I have a gift I need a particular size bag for, then I work from there. When needed I add other pages, paper or cardboard to form the sides and bottom. Sometimes I just fold the calendar page over to form the sides. I tape them together and then look for ribbon, yarn, string or even twisted paper to form handles. I also collect a lot of old books, mostly from thrifting or garage sales. I turn them into lovely little pillow boxes. You can find instructions and patterns on the net for how to construct the boxes. I don’t use a set template, but size the boxes so that I can work a particular photo or illustration into the front of the boxes. I especially like the ones I made from “The Big Book of Pets”, I allowed the text from the story to wrap around the boxes. They can also be embellished with ribbon, buttons and other decorations. My sister-in-law and niece have made some lovely ones with embellishments. The lighter the weight of the pages, the less sturdy the box, so they need to be used for lighter gifts, or you need to reinforce them by double the thickness or adding cardboard.