crafty christmas: reduce paper waste and reuse paper bags

i usually do a little shopping the day after christmas and get all the wrapping paper i'm going to need for the next year. but after having the same couple rolls of wrapping paper for three years, i realized my wrapping paper needs weren't as great as i thought. so i thought about it, and decided to use up the last bit of my wrapping paper and then stick to the three r's principle.

the stronger force behind this post though is that i live in iowa city now and the entire city will judge me if i don't reduce, reuse and recycle. just call me a people pleaser.

i think i should thank pinterest as another contributor to this idea, because i saw so many classy pins of kraft paper wrapped presents.

combining the powers of the three r's and pinterest, i believe that i made the ideas i saw even better by making this little project free and eco-friendly. [on a braggy side-note: my friend kaylee and i were just talking how we are the best at making ideas we find on pinterest even better]

i started asking for paper bags instead of plastic at the grocery store [who has too many plastic bags? i do!] in early november. i folded the bottom up and stored them flat. when i started wrapping presents i simply cut the paper bags like this:

are you wondering about the print that is usually on the outside of grocery bags? well, i've never seen one with print on the inside! flip that sucker over and you've got yourself some free kraft paper.

i doodled the names with a sharpie and used my gray industrial thread again. the cute bags in the first photo are also reused from home-ec workshop where i get my yarn.

speaking of yarn, stay tuned for pictures and patterns of my christmas knitting projects!


happy krafting! [pun absolutely intended]