Hello Doodlebug Friends!  It's Wendy Sue here today, sharing a layout I created with the "Santa Express" Collection.  I just love the super cute trains on the papers, stickers, and embellishments and knew they would be perfect to document our little family excursion on the "Santa Claus" Train.

I couldn't resist the awesome "chippers!" chipboard letters - they are just the perfect size for a title!

  Sometimes I like to add foam adhesive behind my stickers to add a bit of dimension.

I added a few extra "just because" embellishments too - check out the washi tape, mini paper clips, and Christmas sprinkles!

Santa Express: 12 x 12 Gift Bag Tutorial

Hi there Doodlebug friends! Tya here to share with you a fun and festive tutorial on how to make a nifty gift bag from just 2 sheets of your favorite papers from Doodlebug Design's new Santa Express line.  

It never seems to fail- every year I seem to always run out of gift bags and the LAST place that I want to go during the hustle and bustle of the holidays is back to the store. Why head to the store when I have oodles of darling paper right at my finger tips that would look great as a gift bag? With that being said - let me share with you this fun (and easy!) tutorial on how you can make a gift bag of your very own!

This bag is made using 2 of the same pieces of pattern paper - or you can use cardstock as well. The scoring measurements are the same for both pieces of paper.

Basically you score both of the papers on 3 sides at 3 inches, and then on 1 side at 2 inches. Here is what the paper with look like with the score marks when you are done.

 Side 1 - score at 3 inches

 Side 2 - turn paper and score at 3 inches

 Side 3- turn paper again and score at 3 inches

Side 4 - Turn paper on last side. This is the 2 inch scored side.

Now go ahead and fold that top 2 inch strip down to make the top section of the bag. I love that I get to use BOTH SIDES of my paper! The hardest part was choosing which side I wanted to show where!

On both pieces of paper - fold on all of your lines and then trim on the scored lines as show above.Just snip up to the bottom scored line.

Add adhesive to the 2 bottom flaps as shown.

Glue the box together as shown. 

On the other sheet of paper add adhesive to the bottom and the sides of the paper. This paper is going to slide into the other one so we need the outside edges to be sticky :)

 

Here is the box all glued together.

Now take a hole punch like a Crop-A-Dile and punch 2 holes on each side.

 

Add your  favorite ribbon or trim for the bag handles.

Now for the fun part - Decorate it however you like. I added some tags from the Christmas tag craft kit. I also added some stickers from the This and That sheet and the Icon sticker sheet. I finished my tags off with a bit of the Holly Berries Sprinkle Shapes.

Now add your gift and tissue paper and any other goodies you'd like and just like that you have a custom made gift bag I am sure your recipient will love because YOU made it just for them. Happy Holidays and Happy Crafting everyone!

Santa Express: Tags and Card Inspiration

Hello there! Sharm here to share some tags for inspiration this Christmas featuring the new Santa Express Collection. I think these also add up as perfect Secret Santa Tags instead of the usual tags that adorn gifts..Use them any way you like it, tags are always fun to make! Be sure to keep scrolling to see the peek-a-book cards I created as well. 

Here they are, I used a Silhouette cut file for the tag shape and then embellished with Doodlebug Embellishments:

Close Ups

Materials Used:

Item:4337 very merry double-sided cardstock 

Item:4341 sweet santas double-sided cardstock

Item:4347 evergreens double-sided cardstock

Item:4361 christmas tags craft kit 

Item:4373 santa express icon sticker

Peek-a-Book Cards

Some Close Ups

Materials Used:

Item:4340 merry mistletoe double-sided cardstock

Item:4343 christmas confetti double-sided cardstock

Item:4373 santa express icon sticker 

Item:4374 santa express fancy frill sticker 

How I Made This:

First, Cut a cardstock to 4x12

Fold in Half

For the Top of the card into another half

Cut out another cardstock to 4x6

Embellish and adhere on top of card (on the folded side)

On the inside of the card, create a border which will act like a stand

Your easel card is done! :)

Easy isn't it! Happy Crafting & Merry Christmas Lovelies!!