DIY: Birthday Favour Bags

Here is an easy peasy DIY for turning a plain old paper bag into a gorgeous gift bag. All you need are some paper bags* and some MT Tape to decorate them:

1. Stick lengths of MT Tape along the gusset of the paper bag. Don’t worry if it doesn’t go on straight the first time, the great thing about washi tape is that it’s very easy to take it off and reposition.

2. Use a shorter length of striped MT Tape for the candle and position it on the front of the bag. Then use a solid coloured MT Tape to cut out the shape of a flame (you could draw the shape of the flame onto the tape before cutting). Position the flame above the candle on the bag.

3. Voila!  All you have to do now is fill with treats and seal with another strip of tape.

Using MT Tape is the one of the easiest ways to dress up a paper bag. These bags are great for party favours, wedding bonbonniere or packaging baked goods and gifts.

* (If you would like to buy some of these paper bags from me just shoot me an email)

A special thanks to my gorgeous little assistant, pictured below, who helped with the photography for this post…

MT Tape

MT Tape is one of my favourite stationery items and I’ve recently become a little bit obsessed with it.  You’re probably thinking, as I did, what’s so good about tape?  Well, it’s more than just your standard sticky tape, for starters it comes in a range of gorgeous colours and patterns that are great for decorating wrapped gifts, envelopes and gift tags.  It’s surprisingly versatile; it’s removable and it’s textured which means you can write on it.  So it’s great for things like sticking photos to the fridge and bookmarking pages in your diary.

The MT Tape website features the history of the company in a colourful publication called “The Birth Story of MT”.  It’s an interesting little read so I thought I would share an abridged version:

MT Tape is made in Japan by Kamoi, a company that has been producing masking tapes for over 80 years.  Kamoi were producing a small range of coloured tapes and a few years ago, they were approached by three women who had been using these tapes for decorative purposes.  The three women; a gallery owner, an artist and a graphic designer, wanted Kamoi to produce masking tapes in new colours.  So they presented a book to the company, featuring the work of 17 artists, who had designed patterns and prints of masking tapes they wished to have.  Consequently an exhibition featuring the artworks was held in Tokyo.  Realising that these ladies were onto a good thing, Kamoi went on to produce their ideas and launched the masking tape (mt) label.

Here are some inspiring ways in which MT Tape can be used:

1. Keyboard by Her New Leaf  2. Vase by How About Orange  3.  Plastic Cups by Craft and Creativity  4.  Table by Lady Croissant  5.  Cocktail Stirrers by Martha Stewart