How to make and stencil a giant paper bag

This giant paper bag DIY is super easy and dead cheap to make. This one was stencilled but by making your own you can customise it however you like. Use it in your home or give it as a gift if you can bear to give it away!

I've been fascinated by these huge paper bags for a while now and they are super trendy at the moment. There are plenty of places where you can buy these ready made but they seem pretty expensive to me considering that they are, after all, only 'paper' bags. I suppose you pay for the text really but that's exactly the bit I don't like. Whenever I've seen these for sale, the text says 'The paper bag' in any language you care to mention – boring! I decided to make my own and I use my lovely dandelion & grasses stencil to give it a custom look.

This is the same stencil I used on my media stand makeover and it's so gorgeous that I've been dying to find another use for it.

Uses for your giant paper bag

Store rolls of wrapping paper and or stencils which come in cardboard tubes (which is what I use mine for).
Under the desk for hiding all the cables.
Use it to store away winter throws while they are not being used.

Uses for smaller paper bags

I bought some flowers for my office and the only vase I had available was made from blue glass which didn't really fit in with the vibe I'm going for in that room (did I mention I'm gradually revamping my tiny office?). To get around this, I just made a smaller version of my giant paper bag and popped the vase inside it. Et voila – it looks fabulous and suits my natural office decor much better.

If you are giving someone the gift of a plant, why not make a small bag like this instead of buying an outer pot? Just make sure you insert a saucer for the plant pot and be sure not to water it on the day you plan to give the gift. That way you can be sure that the bag won't be spoiled by water leaking out of the pot.

The giant paper bag in children's rooms

As a side note, I've seen these being used in children's rooms for storing toys and such. While that might look great in Insta photos, I can't imagine it's a very practical solution in the long term. These bags are a fabulous storage solution for things you don't use much, like for me here with my stencil tubes and wrapping paper. If little ones were pulling toys in and out of these every day, the bags would be torn to bits in no time. What looks pretty on Insta, is not always practical in real life - just saying!

How to make and stencil your paper bag

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Here's what you'll need:

A roll of brown paper – I used thick packing paper.
Scissors
Paint – I used white chalk paint from Rust-Oleum
Paint roller or brush (For painting the paper)
Paint tray + Aluminium foil for lining the tray
Glue – I used a glue stick
Clear tape
Stencil – (you can buy gorgeous stencils from Etsy or if you're on a tight budget you can make your own. See the post 'How to make a beautiful fabric paint print' which shows you how to make a handmade stencil.)
Contrasting paint – for the stencil. Again, I used Rust-Oleum Chalk Paint this time in Graphite.

Shows Jayne rolling out a section of brown packing paper to the desired length for making a paper bag.

A can of white chalk paint and a painting tray lined with aluminium foil rest on a square of brown packing paper.

The square of brown packing paper has now been painted which and is left to draw for around 30 minutes.

The paper has been glued together to form a tube and is now folded up from the bottom to make the base.

once folded, press along the creases to make a crisp fold.

The DIY paper bag is almost finished and now just needs to be stencilled

Showing the dandelion seedhead stencil after the graphite chalk paint has been applied.

photo shows a DIY giant paper bag painted white with the top rolled down to reveal the natural tan colour of the inside. The bad is stencilled with dandelion seedheads in the colour 'Graphite'. A smaller bag in natural brown holds a vase of white freisers.

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