upcycle: cereal box to gift bag (tutorial)

Today I bring you a very easy and useful upcycle idea. We have a lot of birthday parties coming up in the next two weeks and instead of buying a lot of gift bags, I decided to make my own, using cereal boxes and turning them into this:

Want to try it?

Here is what you need: an empty cereal box, wrapping paper + glue or self adhesive paper (I used self adhesive because I have a huge roll of it leftover from another project and I'm trying to declutter) and matching ribbon (for the bag handles).

First, cut the top flaps of the cereal box, so you're left with something that looks like this:

Start with one of the largest sides of the box and glue the paper:

Cut the paper at the top of the box as shown below. The extra paper is folded over and glued to the inside of the box:

Next, glue the sides:

 And finally the bottom and other large side of the box. You'll be left with this:

If you want, you can add a matching tag. I glued some leftover paper over a piece of pink cardboard (to be able to write a name or a message in the tag) and used the Sizzix to cut a flower shape:

tag front

tag back

Fold the sides of the box slightly towards the inside (only at the top), so that it starts to look more like a bag and less like a box:

Cut two pieces of ribbon, punch two holes at the top of each side of the box (measure to make sure they are centered). If you're adding a tag, punch a hole in it too, start threading the ribbons through the holes and tie a knot at each end of the ribbons, to keep them in place...

...so you're left with something like this in the end:

And you're done. You have one personalized gift bag at almost no cost, sturdier than most store bought paper gift bags.

Now, the next time you have an empty cereal box at home, remember you can turn it into something useful and cute instead of just throwing it away!

Enjoy,