If you've been sitting on a pile of wrapping paper scraps, packaging paper, and leftover bits from other projects with no clear plan for them, this tutorial shows you exactly what to do with all of it. I walk through making small paper bags — the kind that become pockets, tuck spots, and layered ephemera pieces inside a junk journal — using whatever flimsy or patterned paper you have that isn't quite right for journal pages but is too good to throw away.
What we cover
This is Part 1 of my Ephemera Making Series, and it focuses entirely on constructing and decorating paper bags from scrap paper. I show how to fold and glue the bags, how to build small decorative clusters using book pages, lace, tea bags, postage stamps, and other offcuts, and how to use finished bags as tuck spots and pockets once they're placed in a journal.
What you'll learn
How to construct a paper bag from a single sheet of scrap paper — including how to overlap and glue the seam, fold up the base, and trim the corners so the bottom sits flat. No measuring, no templates.
Why cutting off the inner back flap makes the whole process easier — when you fold up the base, you end up with two flaps overlapping on the back. If you cut off the inner one, you only have one layer to glue down. It's a small step that saves fussing.
What papers actually work well for this project, including:
- Packaging paper (the kind that comes wrapped around wine bottles or glassware — crinkled is fine)
- Butcher or deli paper, even if it's been painted over
- Leftover wrapping paper, including thinner gift wrap
- Music pages
- 6×6 scrapbook paper sheets you're not sure what else to do with
How to ink and distress the bags before and after construction — I use distress ink on the torn edges and all around the borders. Inking before assembly means the edges are done before you glue things together; inking after lets you see the full shape first. Either works, and I show both.
How to build a small decorative cluster for the front of each bag, including:
- Layering pieces at different angles — one going this way, one going that way — so they don't all line up in a boring stack
- Using a mix of textures: a book page underneath, then something contrasting like a scrap of tea-dyed fabric or a torn tea bag, then lace, then a focal point on top
- Choosing a focal point — a postage stamp, a small paper flower, a button, a brad, a die-cut — that covers the staple and gives the eye somewhere to land
How to staple a cluster without locking the bag shut — the staple goes through the cluster in the middle, not through the bag itself. That way the bag stays open and usable as a tuck spot.
How to place finished bags in a journal, including:
- Gluing the side and bottom edges onto a page so the top opening becomes a pocket
- Using two bags together — one glued on top of the other — so you have a tuck spot on the back bag and an open pocket at the front
- Adding a tag inside so the finished spread looks full and layered
Tips & gotchas
Staple through the cluster, not through the bag. This comes up every time: if your staple goes through the bag itself, the bag can't open. Layer all your pieces together, then staple them as a unit through the middle of the cluster. The bag stays completely functional.
Ink the edges before you assemble the cluster. I didn't do this in order during the video — I inked afterwards and it still worked — but doing it first means every edge on every piece is inked before things get layered and glued together. The difference in how finished it looks is real. Bare white or unfinished edges stand out against everything else, and once pieces are glued in place they're harder to get to.
Trim the inner back flap before gluing the base. When you fold the bottom up and look at the back of the bag, you'll see two overlapping flaps. The inner one can be cut away — not all the way to the crease, just most of it. What you're left with is a single clean flap to glue down instead of two. It's optional but it does make things tidier.
Make sure your bottom edge is straight before you fold. After you've glued the seam and you're ready to fold up the base, if the bottom edge isn't straight the fold won't sit flat. Just trim it with scissors. It doesn't have to be precise — just even enough that the fold lies nicely.
Don't judge the bags while you're making them. This is something I say partway through and I mean it: in the middle of construction, with bare paper and bits of lace scattered around, they honestly don't look like much. Once the cluster is assembled, the edges are inked, a tag is tucked inside, and the whole thing is sitting on a journal page alongside charms and ribbons and other layers — that's when it comes together. The making process looks rough. The finished result doesn't.
The series continues from here with other shapes and types of ephemera made the same way: working through the scrap pile, building up a stash of ready-made pieces that are there when you need them.
